Ml In UTES OF PKOCKKDINGS OF 
218 
and that it must be either perfectly efficient or wholly useless. “ An ill- 
appointed, uninstructed artillery is more an encumbrance than an advantage 
to an army.” 1 2 “ Something may be made of bad cavalry, or indifferent 
infantry, but bad artillery is good for nothing. Artillery, unless a powerful 
arm of assistance, is a clog and embarrassment to the movements of an 
army.” 3 Not only was nothing done then, but for many years after the 
field batteries remained in a condition which is best described in the words 
of Sir Augustus Frazer :— 
“At Woolwich, the head-quarters of the corps, and the source, or sup¬ 
posed source, of instruction, officers were occasionally directed by the orders 
of the garrison to take out field guns to exercise; receiving (garrison) 
artillerymen from the adjutant on duty, the drivers from the driver corps, 
and the guns from a park formed for the purpose. If, in seasons of more 
than usual diligence, this field exercise was repeated in the course of the 
same day, the artillerymen, drivers, and horses were generally different in 
the afternoon from those in the morning. It is needless to say that this 
strange mode of attempting to teach what is only attainable by patient, 
quiet, and repeated instruction under the same person, could lead to nothing 
but confusion. ..... On its being intended to send out an 
expedition from England, the companies of (garrison) artillery which are 
intended to accompany it receive orders to hold themselves in readiness for 
foreign service. These companies are generally—indeed it might be said 
always—at different stations, usually belong to different battalions of 
artillery, and, as may be supposed, are frequently in very different states of 
readiness and efficiency. A commissary of ordnance is also put under 
orders, and is charged with the responsibility of the ordnance, ammunition, 
and stores.The drivers and horses required for the service 
are assembled from various points, and are embarked under the direction of 
the senior officer of the driver corps. The drivers and horses are not told 
off, or distributed to any number of guns or carriages, but are embarked in 
one disposable body. In this situation it becomes the duty of the senior 
artillery officer, after he shall have received the directions of the general 
commanding the expedition, to arrange the arm committed to his charge; 
to fix the number of brigades 3 of artillery, and of how many field pieces, and 
of what calibre of those embarked they shall consist; to determine what 
companies shall be applied to the brigades, and what shall remain in 
reserve; how the field officers shall be distributed; how the drivers and 
horses shall be told off; how the reserves of ammunition, both for artillery 
and small-arms, shall be appointed; and, generally, how an organised body 
shall be formed out of the component parts which successively arrive from 
different stations at the point of debarkation. Let it be supposed that 
these component parts are all, separately, good; that the officers and 
men are well-equipped and well-instructed; the drivers in all respects well- 
appointed and drilled; and the horses strong and well-trained. Yet, even 
on this supposition, these parts must be unknown to each other; there must 
1 “Illustrations of the Numerical Deficiency, &c., of tlie Eoyal Artillery,” by Sir Eobert 
Gardiner, K.C.B., E.H.A. 1849. p. 11. 
2 4< Ee in arks, &e., on the Eoyal Artillery,” by Sir Augustus Frazer, K.C.B., E.H.A., p, 45. 
3 i.e. batteries. 
