THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
287 
Fig. 2 shows the ordinary disposition of infantry and battalion guns, ac¬ 
cording to the fashion of the day. 
Kff. 2. 
As Major Adye well points out, not only did “the infantry often suffer 
extraordinary inconvenience, such as being retarded on the inarch, &c.,” from 
the battalion guns, but the tactics of the three arms were impossible while such 
a system prevailed. Strange that his words should have been almost repeated, 
eighty years after he wrote them, by Capt. May, the author of the celebrated 
“ Taktische Biickblicke - ”! 1 2 
The establishment of regular corps of drivers all over Europe, was cotem¬ 
porary with the abolition of the battalion guns. Great is the obstinacy of 
man in general, but the obstinacy of soldiers is almost invincible; for the 
existence of an evil for ages past seems to be generally regarded by them as 
an argument that the evil should be perpetuated for ages to come. For a 
century, at least, the whole military world was well aware of the difficulty 
of dragging unwilling civilians under fire, and of the far greater difficulty of 
keeping them there. For a century, at least, the experience of every cam¬ 
paign showed that it was the wont of civilian drivers—were they English, 
French, Dutch, or Germans—to fly, with their horses, on the first available 
opportunity. As I have already mentioned, 3 in 1746 an English publica¬ 
tion of repute spoke in strong terms of the loss of the guns at the 
battle of Falkirk by the flight of the drivers, and recommended that they 
should be “enlisted under the military oath.” 3 Yet this state of things 
continued for another half century, and might have continued until now 
but for the sudden progress of mobility under the influence of the causes I 
have described! 
The establishment of a corps of mounted and regularly enlisted drivers, was 
1 “ W enn in einem Gefecht die Infanterie sich mit der feindlicben Infanterie herumschiesst, die 
■beiden Kavallerien sich gegenseitig attakiren, die beiderseitigen Artillerien sich einander bekan- 
noniren, oder wie der Kunstausdruck heisst, gegenseitig das Feuer auf sich zu ziehn suchen, 
so kann man nicht mehr von einer Taktik der verbundenen Waffen sprechen. Man begeht Fehler, 
die meistens nur desshalb ungestraft bleiben, weil sie der Feind auch begeht.”—“ Taktische 
Ruckblic-ke,” p. 32. 
2 See Mobility II., “Proceedings, E.A. Institution,” Yol. YII. p. 144. 
3 “Annual Register,” Yol. XYI. p. 28. 
