THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
287 
he is to hold those liberal views which scientific pursuits especially 
demand ? If it be conceded that no necessity exists for every artillery 
officer being a philosopher, the truth still remains that a prejudiced man, 
whose mind runs in one groove, and who regards the business of life, 
as it were, through a single eye-glass, is an anachronism in a corps 
claiming to be considered “ scientific.” 
It is, I believe, by no means inconsistent with what I have just main¬ 
tained for the framework of the regiment, to affirm that the principle 
which has been adopted for some years past of dividing the men and 
horses into horse, field, and garrison is a true one. A soldier enters the 
service in most cases without any preparation or education worthy of 
the name. It is therefore impossible during his 12 years' service to 
teach him to perform intelligently the special duties pertaining to each 
separate branch. The widest gulf imaginable separates him from his 
officer—namely, education. Therefore, the restriction of an uneducated 
soldier, who only serves for 12 years, to one branch, constitutes no argu¬ 
ment for applying the same rule to his educated officer, to whom the 
service is the business, and artillery science the study of a life time. 
In the “ Studies on the Leading of Troops,” translated from the German 
by Col. Ouvry, C.B., the considerations upon which the German artillery 
organisation is based are well stated:—“In the situations in war on a large 
scale, individual batteries cannot manoeuvre of their own accord, as fre¬ 
quently happens in small detachment exercises. Where 12,000 infantry are 
striving to attain one object, the artillery distributed to them should not 
seek to act on its own account, but on the contrary it should contribute to 
the attainment of that object with its united power, which is possible only 
when the batteries do not act independently, but obey one will. In war 
on a large scale, employing the batteries in a mass is the rule; their 
isolated employment the exception. This principle must be rather the 
more maintained, inasmuch as the actuality frequently renders the ex¬ 
ception necessary.” The last sentence would seem to point to the 
possible danger of making the tactical unit too large. 
In one of the best papers on artillery which have appeared in the “Times” 
lately, datedBerlin, August 1872,it maybe gathered that the Prussian field 
artillery, having been divorced from the garrison artillery, has been 
organised into regiments, two of which form a brigade—the artillery 
complement of a corps d?armee —under a general officer. One of these two 
regiments, consisting of eight field batteries, is called the Divisional Regi¬ 
ment, being divided on service between the two army Divisions in divisions 
of four batteries each; the other is called the Corps Artillery Regiment, and 
consists of five field batteries and three horse artillery batteries, which 
latter are divided on service, between the reserve and cavalry division. 
Besides the artillery general and his staff for the whole, there is a colonel 
for each of these regiments, and a major for each division of four batteries. 
The writer goes on to say “ As far as maybe, these four batteries are 
kept together, though on actual service it frequently becomes necessary 
to separate them.” 
Now, I argue that if this paragraph be true of the artillery of the 
Prussian army—one of the largest in the world, an army having no 
obligation except that of constant preparation for war on a colossal 
