COAST ARTILLERY IN ACTION. 1638 
tion to, and others I have omitted, are, I doubt not, well known and 
practised in some places, whilst in others, local circumstances entirely 
prevent anything of the kind, except in a modified form. I only say, 
when it is possible, it ought to be done. 
In conclusion, there is one other matter, very germane to the present 
subject, which I would beg permission to touch on: I think every 
effort should be made to encourage esprit de corps amongst the younger 
officers. A subaltern, for example, would be more happy and have 
less of that feeling of unrest, if he had more, I will not say to interest 
him, but more to do him credit, something to take a pride in. I know 
there are many practical difficulties in the way, but if a certain portion 
of a gun-floor was an officer’s own, so to speak, and if he were more 
intimately associated with the training of a definite portion of the bat- 
tery, we might hope to establish in the Garrison Artillery that healthy 
emulation which exists amongst section officers in the mounted branches. 
Drill that is not carried out smartly is worse than no drill, and this 
smartness is very difficult, nay impossible, to obtain, when an officer is 
in charge of squads 200 feet apart ; there can be no interest in the drill 
and the men get into slovenly habits, while the officer often consults 
his watch ; but, on the other hand, there are parades, which would con- 
vince anyone, that there was no prouder command than a smart battery 
of Garrison Artillery. When local circumstances permit, regard should 
be taken of the place of parade. 
There is also an idea that in the Garrison Artillery, there is little 
chance of active service ; as to that, | think if we read the records of 
the Regiment, and look back upon its story of honourable endeavour, 
we shall have to admit, that the Garrison Artillery-—the sturdy trunk 
from which the Regiment sprang—has, in comparison with its more 
brilliant branches, borne a fair share of the heat and burden of the day, 
and that it may claim to an equal heritage in that long record of 
services, which is crystallised in our motto “ Ubique.” 
DISCUSSION. 
Tue CHarrmMaNn—After the very interesting and able lecture that Colonel Jocelyn 
has given us, in one sense there hardly remains anything further to say, unless 
it be that the subject is so vast that more than double the time might have been 
spent upon it without tiring our attention. 
I do not propose, to go over all the points that Colonel Jocelyn has touched upon, 
but I think that one of the most important is the necessity for preserving flexibility. 
There is great danger, in the fighting of Garrison Artillery, that we should become, 
as it were, manacled by the necessary buildings and fixed communications with 
which we cannot dispense. This flexibility should, in my judgment, extend not 
only to the duties of the different officers, in giving them a very wide discretion, 
but in adapting the principles, rather than the letter of the book, to the circum- 
stances of the place they have to fight. I think the communications should be 
put down in such a way that they could be very easily removed and changed 
from time to time as our knowledge advances and the necessities of the problem 
a7 
