COAST DEFENCE. 
185 
undertakings, of clever men to elaborate. In their great zeal they are 
apt, in perfecting the means, to forget the end, or rather, perhaps, to 
mistake one for the other. 
The framers of our Coast Artillery Drill have not escaped the charge 
of complicated methods. Those who lightly bring this charge cannot 
have realized the difficulties to be dealt with. It is noticeable, too, 
that they rarely suggest a satisfactory and simple substitute for that 
with which they find fault. Let me assure you the authors of the 
Drill Book have made it an object to simplify drill in all its details, 
and to make every accessory appliance as automatic as ingenuity can 
devise or experience suggest. Here we should bear in mind that in 
our many and inconsequent units lies an inevitable hindrance in the 
way of simplicity. We have to deal with inches, feet, and yards, and 
in addition the deflection leaf has two quite unnecessary units—degrees 
and minutes. Between them all it is not to be wondered at that diffi¬ 
culty sometimes arises ; and we can well congratulate our Continental 
neighbours who use the metre and its decimals for all purposes of linear 
measurement. 
Once more to revert to the lesson of Wei-hai-wai. We are told that 
“ the state of the garrisons (of the forts) was indeed hopeless, for the 
men had no drill beyond the mere loading and firing of their big guns. 
They had no night exercises, nor instruction in any kind of night 
signals, and were entirely ignorant of any kind of emergency duty ; in 
short, neither officers nor men had an idea beyond the working of their 
guns.” 1 If we are to be of use, if we are to be truly “ efficient,” we 
must do better than the Chinese coast artillerymen. 
High v. Low Sites for mounting Guns. 
As to the advantages of mounting guns on elevated positions, Sir 
George Clarke, in his valuable work on “ Fortification,” says : “ It is 
always desirable to mount guns upon high sites when possible. The 
teaching of the Wasp and Telegraph Batteries at Sebastopol was 
sufficiently clear, but, on account of some strange misunderstanding of 
ballistic laws, this teaching is only now beginning to bear fruit.” I 
fear the harvest from this tree is not at present bounteous. I find on 
all sides the strange misunderstanding of ballistic laws only too prevalent. 
As the question of value of height is but little referred to in the Drill 
Book, I will endeavour to point out to you.in detail some of the 
advantages it offers. 
General Kichardson has admirably summed up the value of a high 
site in one short sentence: “ On heights less protection is needed, the 
guns cannot so easily be rushed by landing parties, their practice is 
better, their target is always larger, while they are difficult objects for 
a ship to hit.” 2 Colonel Jocelyn 3 has proved General Bichardson’s 
statements analytically for us. In spite of history and the efforts of 
1 Blackwood, November, 1895. 
2 Proceedings Royal Artillery Institution, No. 1, Vol. 20. 
3 Proceedings Royal Artillery Institution, No. 4, Vol. 20. 
25 
