145 ' 
THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE 
CONTINENT OE EUROPE . 1 
BY 
THOMAS MILLER MAGUIRE, E.S Q ., LL.D. 
(A Lecture delivered at the Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich. Thursday, 26th Nov., 1896 ) 
Major-General J. F. Maurice, C.B., in the Chair. 
Chairman —Gentlemen, you all know Dr. Maguire so well that I am 
sure I need not introduce him and, therefore, 1 will at once ask 
him to favor us with bis lecture. 
Dr. Teomas Miller Maguire —Gentlemen, I need scarcely say that 
I feel it a very great honor indeed to be allowed, in the presence of 
the Royal Artillery, to direct your attention for a short time to the 
exploits of the British army on the continent of Europe. 
The British nation has had vividly brought to its notice recently by 
a great many articles in all the public journals the absolute necessity 
of maintaining its navy in a state of efficiency. A lecture which would 
embrace the operations of the two branches of the service, including 
the men who serve on board ship as well as the men who serve in the 
field, would occupy us a very considerable portion of the remainder of 
the year, and the operations of the British army in all the distant 
possessions of the British Crown in India and America, would take us 
almost to the end of next year. But we have not had our attention 
much directed in recent days to the long continued action of the British 
soldier as maintaining the balance of power as well as celebrating the 
fame of his nation on the continent of Europe itself. Yet from the 
middle ages till 1856, the most distinguished and trusted soldier in 
Europe was the British soldier. The infantry of Edward III. and 
the infantry of Henry V., the archers at Crecy and Poictiers, the 
\ This lecture was extempore and illustrated by wall maps. In the Appendix will be found . 
several data that could rot be included in the text. The sketch maps contain all the places 
mentioned in the lecture. 
4. YOU. XXIV. 20 
