384 
FIELD ARTILLERY POSITIONS. 
were just too small, owing to an obstruction such as I bave indicated, 
and on part of which guns had therefore perhaps to be put at reduced 
intervals, which might have been readily and safely taken up if some 
aid, such as I ask, could have been called in. I commend the notion I 
have in mind to those of our Regiment who have mechanical talents, 
and I am sure, if they can invent an instrument on the lines of the 
richt-flache ” they will confer an immense benefit on our Field 
Artillery. 
But, in speaking of positions from which nothing of the enemy 
can be seen, the moral influence, which the uncertainty as to their 
situation relatively to the foe, may have on the men is a factor which 
must be reckoned with. Except in the very earliest phases of the 
battle, or under special circumstances, when natural features may 
render surprise or swift counter-attack an impossibility, it will be 
difficult for them to escape that vague distrust which always paralyses 
energy and vigour. They will be haunted by dark imaginings, and 
will perhaps think more of what may be than of what is. In the letters 
of “ Redan Windham,” just published, there is an excellent illustration 
of how such terror of the undetermined and unseen may cowe men who 
have just displayed undaunted courage. Our storming-party carried 
the parapet of the Redan at the last assault, but no effort, no example 
could urge them to cross the interior space and drive the Russians com¬ 
pletely out of the work. They had got into their heads the idea that 
it had been mined, and the suspicion of the underground danger was 
more terrible than the actual menace in their front. And yet it was 
afterwards discovered that the very spot on which they hung back was 
directly over the magazine ! 
Not only, however, should we think of the immediate effect of 
a position in the dark, but we must weigh the consequences of teach¬ 
ing men to seek safety in concealment. It is to be remembered that 
artillery trained to keep at a safe distance of the enemy, and to drain 
the last drop of advantage out of its long range, has never fulfilled its 
role completely on the battle-field. The early portion of the American 
war taught us that, and in the Prussian gunners, who did so much 
four years later, only performed their part in a comparatively feeble 
manner, because they were kept too much in rear. The cause 
of the Russian artillery failure before Plevna was also largely a lack of 
enterprise, as I had the honour to show at this place some few years 
ago. All these considerations should be pondered overby anyone who 
may be bitten by the.possibilities, long range and improved materiel 
have placed before us. We ought all to be able to fire by indirect 
laying, and we will sometimes find it a most valuable aid to us. But 
that it can ever become the usual method of fighting guns I do not 
believe, and I doubt greatly whether it will ever be more than an 
unusual one on the battle-field. 
And now, having devoted some time to the various sites where guns 
may stand and the manner of bringing them there, I want to say a word 
or two as to changes of position. I think I ought to dwell on this point, 
because there is a mistaken notion prevalent amongst officers of the 
