238 CO-OPERATION BETWEEN GUNS AND CAVALRY. 
together and being quartered together; but he says something more which I think 
you would care to hear, as it is interesting: “drill and mancuvres of Horse 
Artillery and cavalry together is made much more difficult by exaggerating the 
cavalry’s first line. If officers learn to drill and manceuvre cavalry and Horse 
Artillery as one command, they will not be inclined to come into action with their 
guns at other than shortranges. In most cases of finding, I maintain that nobody 
should begin at long ranges.” There are not many of us here probably who 
would accept everything that our friend General Williams says; but he has got the 
great true cardinal principle that artillery live, or are paid not to live but to kill 
people. If consistently with killing people they can live that is all very well ; 
but he was never tired of dinning into my head the drill-book which (whether he 
gave it the impress or not I do not care) as it stands, bears that ereat truth on it, 
that it is a good thing to save your skin if you can, but that artillery are not to 
regard any loss of themselves of any nature, whether it is of personnel or the guns 
themselves, but that they should go into action regardless of all that in order to 
win the action. Well, General Williams often says, what perhaps sometimes we 
cannot all agree with, but everyone who thinks about it will realise, that that is 
doing the work for which we are paid, and doing it in reality as we should all like 
to do it. 
There is one point upon which someone, Sir William Stirling I think, rather 
startled me, in saying that he did not want an escort for guns. Well, if we were 
all as good cavalry soldiers or gunners as a great many of you people here are, I 
should not mind so much; but if I were an opponent I should very much like 
to see you do without an escort. or if something occurs, some one charges you 
and you then withdraw very suddenly, then will arise an opportunity for cavalry. 
Perhaps I have this a little on the brain, because I have been studying cavalry 
achievements, and I have read of 21 guns taken with not one man wounded, 
and that was because the artillery had no escort ; they thought they were quite 
safe; they were going along a safe route. A very bold man saw that they had no 
escort, and got them! And that may be our fate if we have no escort I am afraid. 
I once said to the major of a battery who had just got a brigade-division—“ Are 
you happy?” he said “ No I am not happy ;” I asked, why “I have been hating 
my Colonel now” he said ‘‘for five years and now that 1 am going to be ‘one I 
shall have three fellows hating me.” You suffer from that no doubt; but you 
scarcely suffer so much as the cavalry did 80 yearsago. One of the most remark- 
able things at Waterloo, and to a certain extent in the Crimea, was that no 
cavalry General would ever allow his colonel to do anything; there were four 
cavalry brigades actively employed at Waterloo, but no colonel ever got a chance 
with his own regiment. General Vandeleur led one regiment and Lord Uxbridge 
led a squadron; but General Vivian, who is my climax, had three regiments in 
action. He halted two; he led one and told it to rally, and then he came back 
and took up the next one, and it was only night-fall which prevented his charging 
with the third regiment. 
I have kept you twice the time that I meant to do. 
Have you anything to say, Major May? I think we have agreed with you 
altogether. 
Mayor E. S. May—Gentlemen, I really think that I was very bold to give a 
lecture on this subject now that I see all these distinguished cavalry officers pres- 
ent, and indeed I feared when I looked at them that I might possibly be devoured. 
I am very relieved that you have let me down so gently, and am much obliged 
for your moderation. I don’t want to detain you longer, and I think there is 
only one thing that I seem to have made a mistake about—when I said that the 
cavalry would take 20 minutes to get into a preparatory formation. I want to tell 
you why I said that, You willremember in the first place that I said that I spoke 
