102 
CHANZY^S CAMPAIGN. 
the army at Le Mans would have gone up by Chartres to Paris. I take it that is 
almost an absolute certainty. If General Curten' could move from Chateau 
Eenault to St. Amand (and Napoleon says that where one man can move a 
division can move), if a division of Frenchmen could move there I should say 
that a Corps of British men could just as well move there. And, therefore, 
when the Germans were going from Le Mans they would have been assailed from 
the lower Loire on their left flank. To follow the gallant Captain’s idea out 
would take some time ; but I will go a little further. I do not see any reason 
why we should not be proud of our people and of our country; the Eussians and 
the French are so proud of themselves that they go on kissing in the streets and 
devouring each others faces in patriotic emulation. Supposing when the Eussians 
got down towards Constantinople in 1878 (to follow on the question of strategy) 
and were only about 60,000 men fit to stand to arms, the remnant of the host 
that had crossed the Danube and began to fight at northern portions of the 
Balkans, supposing that an English army 40,000 strong had joined Suleiman 
Pasha about Enos Bay, where would the Eussian Army have been ? When the 
English, in 1808, determined to use their command of the sea and put a force in 
the Peninsula, where were the Marshals of France, from Junot to Marmont ? In 
1807 had the English put a force at the mouth of the Elbe when Napoleon 
was going on towards the Niemen, where -would Napoleon have been? When¬ 
ever the English make up their minds to act according to the traditions of their 
ancestors and insist on holding their place among the nations of the earth, I pity 
the Corps that will be in the position that the German Corps were in between the 
6 th and the 10 th of January, 1871. 
Lt.-Gen. Goodenough, c.b. —I should like to make a remark or two. It would 
almost seem as if Dr. Maguire and Captain Grierson had come down in league 
together, they have played so admirably into each other’s hands. I do not sus¬ 
pect that, I believe it is all bond fide ; but I do not know which to admire most, 
the good point that Captain Grierson has made, or the admirable way in which 
Dr. Maguire has taken it up. And I think that without encouraging ourselves 
in any aggressive tendencies, or with any bloodthirsty views, there is no doubt 
that the time might come when the action of British troops in the way indicated 
would be rendered imperative for the interest of the country. It has been very 
much the fashion lately, no doubt, to regard the fact of the enormous size to 
which the continental armies have grown as being a reason why we should not be 
able to show our noses anywhere near. But it has been shown to us very clearly 
that when Dr. Maguire talks of a Prussian force of 58,000 infantry confronting 
and driving back Chanzy, it is obvious that if they had been suddenly confronted 
by a force of 75,000 English from some other direction it would have made a 
great difference in the operation. I think we are very much indebted to both 
these gentlemen in the most particular manner for the very good illustration that 
they have given of the necessity of keeping our powder dry. 
The Chairman —It only remains for me to thank Dr. Maguire, in the name 
of all here, very much for his most interesting lecture. I hope we shall very 
soon see him here again. 
