15. Inspection of Cavalry.

The general officer commanding the district inspects the cavalry under his command as regards interior economy and well-being in quarters. Besides this the inspector-general of cavalry inspects the whole of the cavalry during the drill season, and reports on all matters connected with the efficiency and fitness for service of cavalry regiments. At this inspection particular attention is paid to the riding of officers and men, to the knowledge of fitting saddlery, and to stable management; while, in the field, not only is the efficiency of officers and of all ranks in drill ascertained, but the general training in detached duties-outpost, reconnaissance and dismounted service-is thoroughly tested. The inspectorgeneral is called upon to write a separate report, based upon his own observations, and upon the commanding officer's opinion, as to the qualification of each officer, as well as of the regiment; so that a fairly accurate knowledge of individual capacity is in the hands of the authorities. The system of employing the cavalry inspector-general to conduct special manœuvres in the autumn, as practised in Germany, has not yet become an annual institution, though the advantages to be derived therefrom, as well as the difficulty of commanding considerable bodies of cavalry without practice, have been fully demonstrated in the recent manœuvres of 1890, 1891 and 1892. In India the brigading of cavalry in annual winter camps has been practised with encouraging results.

See also chap. viii., Inspection of Infantry.

214

CHAPTER XII.

ROYAL ARTILLERY.

1. Purpose, Duties, and General Organization.

The artillery of the army is in tactical and numerical importance a great branch of the land service, ranking with cavalry and infantry. It is, however, organized and governed as one corps, and is proud of its traditions and of its timehonoured title of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. The practical result of this organization is that all its officers are on one list1 for promotion and that all the men are enlisted for service in the Royal Artillery, and are available to serve in any part thereof.

The purpose of the artillery is the handling, transporting, and fighting guns, howitzers, and mortars, in fact, ordnance of every kind, and the custody of the ammunition appropriated for its use. It has also the duty in the field of transporting and issuing the small arm ammunition for the rest of the army. Thus the essential duty of artillery is to study and direct the working of the guns or engines which throw more or less heavy projectiles, and to have charge of and distribute ammunition and explosives in immediate reserve for army

use.

1 The separate lists in the Army List show only the officers of the late Indian Artillery which were incorporated with the Royal Artillery in 1862, and which are being gradually absorbed. The old regiments, the Bengal, Bombay and Madras, bore a most distinguished part in all the Indian campaigns up to and including the Mutiny, and their records added lustre to those of the Royal Artillery with which these corps were amalgamated. Their history dates back to 1748, in which year the H.E.I. Company directed the formation of a company of artillery for each presidency. The famous Bengal Horse Artillery was raised in 1800 and did good service in Egypt in 1801. For the history of these corps see works by Capt. E. Buckle, and Lieut.-Col. F. W. Stubbs.

It has

The so-called machine gun is not a gun in an artillery sense. justly been classified as a small arm weapon, to be used by infantry or cavalry who are trained to the use of fire-arms which project small bullets.

The artillery does not, customarily, in the British service construct or build works or batteries in garrison or at sieges, nor construct platforms or gun mountings, but confines itself to the use, setting up, or adaptation of the material or appliances provided for it, or which may come to hand. Nor does the artillery construct or fire mines on shore or in the water, nor employ its men in the storage or custody of general reserves of ammunition, powder, or explosives.

The above duties group themselves under two heads-viz., Field, i.e., work with guns for field use, equipped and transportable; and Fortress, i.e., work with guns mounted or to be mounted on land or sea forts, with which work is associated that of guns for the attack of fortresses, called siege artillery. It may here be observed that work with guns in the defence and in the attack is now more than ever materially connected, since the recognition of the fact that, for fortresses, the essence of a good defence is the employment of its ordnance in counter attack, aggressively, from new and unexpected positions, the same means and appliances being often used for these purposes by the defenders as are, necessarily, by the attackers.

The organization naturally follows this grouping, the units being batteries in the field branch, and companies in what we have called the fortress branch.

2. Historical Retrospect.

The Royal Artillery has undergone many changes before reaching the present system of adaptation of its means to the ends in view.

Each successive form of organization may be held to have been, more or less, well adapted to the exigencies of the service and the requirements of its own time. Some, if not all, have beneficially left their mark, and have had, like episodes in the history of a nation, their educational effect. See p. 217 for the brigade system of 1859 and the good result it had in spite of its imperfections.

On page 126 the origin of our standing army, in 1660, has

been traced, but it was not until 1716 that the Royal Artillery came into existence as a regimental organization. Prior to this date the artillery required for a campaign was improvised on the outbreak of war, and had no separate existence in peace.

It is not proposed here to dwell on the early history of the British artillery. The late Colonel Duncan, C.B., R.A., has left us his admirable "History of the Royal Artillery," wherein he has dealt fully with those early days when the duties connected with fortification, the management of the engines of war which later took the form of cannon, as well as all engineering work in the field, were shared by the 'Ingeniatores, Gunnatores et Artillarii," &c., who were the direct ancestors of the present Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. He also gives lists of the trains of artillery sent on service from the year 1544 onwards, from which it is seen that the artillerymen and engineers were united under one head, though each had their own especial work allotted to them.1

The first colonel of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and father of the regiment, was Albert Borgard, a man whose extraordinary career in the services of Denmark, Prussia, and in that of England (1692 to 1751 when he died a Lieutenant-General), forms a history in itself.

Starting with but two companies, at a cost of £4,891 per annum, the Royal Artillery has grown with the Empire until it has reached its present large proportions.

For the first 140 years of its existence as a regiment it was under the control of a Board of Ordnance,2 presided over by a Master-General, and composed of civilians, who controlled the matériel, the master-general alone dealing with the personnel. In 1855, shortly before the death of Lord Raglan, the last holder of the office, both master-general and board were abolished.

1 The train of 1544 was under the command of Sir Thomas Seymour, Master of the Ordnance, who had under him, amongst others, a master of the armoury, a lieutenant of the ordnance, two master-gunners, 209 gunners, 157 artificers, 4 officials to look after "the king's great mares for the train of artillery," 6 conductors of the ordnance, 20 carters, a captain and 100 pioneers, &c. (Harl. MSS. 5753). See also chap. xiii (Royal Engineers). 2 See chap. xiii.

In 1794 was formed the Corps of Artillery Drivers, whose duties were to supply the necessary mobility to the guns in the field. The corps was not part of the Royal Artillery but separate from it; the officers were, until after Waterloo, drawn from a different source; and the men performed no artillery duties, but were merely for transport purposes. In 1822 the corps was absorbed in the Royal Artillery.

In 1801 the Royal Irish Artillery, which was formed in 1755 and did good service in America, the West Indies, and in the Irish Rebellion, was amalgamated with the Royal Artillery.

After the Peninsular war and the abolition of the corps of drivers, all soldiers of the regiment, except in the Royal Horse Artillery, for which drivers were recruited, were enlisted as gunners and drivers."

During the dead period, 1819 to 1846, the regiment was reduced to its lowest terms. There was no field artillery at home equipped except seven troops of Royal Horse Artillery, and these had in England only two guns each, with men in proportion. The only field batteries kept equipped were in Canada. At Woolwich we had the matériel and horses for three batteries, so called "of instruction; " companies were attached to them, or took them over,' and were instructed by their own officers in riding, driving, and drill for a few months, when the equipment was handed over to another company. In 1852, a great impetus was given to the field artillery, and guns to the extent of 104 were horsed in that year. Some of the new batteries appeared at Chobham Camp in 1853-the epoch of military revival. At this period the Royal Artillery was organized in battalions of eight companies each; the headquarters of the battalions, with an adjutant's detachment of recruits, were all at Woolwich where their numerous staffs had quite inadequate duties. The companies were distributed, and were relieved, as required.

In 1855, with the abolition of the Board of Ordnance, the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers came under the administration of the commander-inchief. Hitherto these, the scientific corps, had maintained an existence somewhat separate from the rest of the army, and were regarded as outsiders and specialists. This was a state of things very contrary to their natural military instincts, and the effects of the change were not long in making themselves felt in the more direct identification of these corps with the other branches of the army.

In 1859 a great and noteworthy transformation was effected by the introduction of the so-called "brigade system." Brigades of so many companies, thenceforward styled batteries, were formed, each under the command of a colonel, assisted by two or more lieutenant-colonels, some being permanently established as field and some as garrison artillery; and these brigades took the duties at foreign stations, and were relieved bodily like regiments of cavalry or infantry. The men were henceforward allotted as gunners or as drivers, there being separate standards of height, &c., for each.

This system did very much for the regiment, infusing new life and raising

This was at that time styled "going into battery."

* The establishment of field guns had been fixed at 180 in 1856.