VI. The successful candidates will remai_Military schools and courses of instruction in the science and art of war, in France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Sardinia, England, and the United States. Drawn from recent official reports and documents. Revised Edition

two years and a half, or until they are sufficiently advanced in

scientific knowledge to pass a satisfactory examination, and they will

then be qualified to receive commissions in the Royal Artillery or Royal

Engineers. If, however, they should be found unable to qualify

themselves within three years in their professional studies, or to

acquire a sufficient proficiency in military exercises, or if at any

time, by failure at the half-yearly examinations, it should appear

improbable that they will ultimately succeed in qualifying for a

commission, they will be removed. Further, every cadet will be liable to

be removed temporarily or permanently on the commission of any of those

offences to which such penalty is awarded by the regulations of the

Royal Military Academy.

VII. Each cadet on joining will be required to pay a sum of 25_l._ to

cover the expense of uniform, books, etc., and to bring with him the

articles of clothing of which he will receive notice, and which must

afterward be kept up at his own expense. He will also be required to pay

a contribution of 62_l._ 10_s._, payable in advance, for each half year

of the time during which he remains under instruction; and a deposit of

5_l._ into the hands of the paymaster on account, for contingent

expenses, which latter sum he will be required to make up on returning

to the Royal Military Academy after each vacation, to cover any

unavoidable expense that may be incurred on his account during the

ensuing half year.

The annual contributions, however, for sons and orphans of naval and

military officers will be regulated at the following rates, as

heretofore:

For sons of admirals and of generals having regiments, £80

For sons of generals without regiments, 70

For sons of captains and commanders of the navy,

and of colonels and regimental field officers of the army, 60

For sons of all officers of the army and navy under

the above ranks, 40

For sons of all officers of the army and navy who have died

in the service, and whose families are proved to be left

in pecuniary distress, 20

The sons of general officers who are paid only on their commissions as

field officers will pay the same contributions as the sons of field

officers.

Officers who have sold their commissions are in this classification

reckoned as private gentlemen.

The cases of officers who have retired voluntarily upon half pay

previous to having served 25 years on full pay will be specially

considered.

Officers who retire on half pay after 25 years’ service on full pay

will be entitled to be classified for payment with the rank they last

served in.

The sons of officers of the civil departments of the army and navy, of

officers of the permanent Militia Staff, and of adjutants of the

Volunteer Force, are admissible to the Academy upon the same terms as

those prescribed for naval and military officers.

The sons of Indian naval and military officers will be admitted on the

same terms as the sons of officers of the Queen’s service.

The sons of professors at the Staff and Royal Military

Colleges, at the Royal Military Academy, and at the

Royal Military College, Addiscombe, £60

The sons of masters at the above institutions, 40

If a cadet be absent a whole term in consequence of sickness or

rustication, a payment of 10_l._ will be required for the privilege of

his name being kept on the rolls of the establishment, and for a vacancy

being guaranteed at the commencement of the next term.

If a cadet be absent from sickness during a portion of the term, his

pay will continue to be issued and credited to his account; but no

refund of the contribution will be permitted.

If rusticated during a term, the daily pay will cease from the date on

which the cadet is sent away, and the contribution made for the half

year will be forfeited.

In the case of a cadet of the orphan class, whose annual contribution

is only 20_l._, the amount to be paid when absence extends over a whole

term is to be determined by the Secretary of State.

VIII. Any gentleman who wishes to present himself at one of the

half-yearly examinations must send in his name to the military secretary

at the Horse Guards one month before the time of examination, forwarding

with his application to be noted the following papers:

1st. An extract from the register of his baptism, or, in default of

that, a declaration before a magistrate, made by one of his parents,

giving his exact age.

2d. A certificate of good moral character, signed by a clergyman of

the parish to which he belongs, and by the tutor or head of the school

or college at which he has received his education for at least the two

preceding years, or such other proof of good moral character as will be

satisfactory to the Commander-in-Chief.

3d. A statement of the subjects of examination in which (in addition

to mathematics) he may desire to be examined.

A candidate who has been examined before, when he applies for leave to

present himself again, will only be required to forward the list of

subjects he selects, and a certificate from his tutor or the head of his

school, etc., for the interval between the two examinations.

IX. The candidates will be inspected by military surgeons on the first

day of the examination, in order that it may be ascertained that they

are free from any bodily defects or ailments calculated to interfere

with the performance of military duties.

Extreme short-sight, or any serious defect of vision, is regarded as a

disqualification.

The responsible parent or guardian of every successful candidate, and

the candidate himself, before he can be admitted as a cadet, are

required to sign, respectively, obligations to conform to the

regulations.

SUBJECTS AND STAFF OF INSTRUCTION.

For instruction the Cadets are divided into five classes of equal

strength, according to length of residence; forty-four in the first four

classes, and forty-six in the junior. The subjects are:

1. Mathematics, under a professor and four instructors, is studied in

three classes, and the final examination is held after a residence of a

year and a half, with a maximum of 6,800 marks in all.

2. Fortification, under a professor and four instructors, is studied in

four classes. The final examination is in the last class, and the

maximum of marks attainable in all is 6,300.

3. Artillery, under a professor and three instructors, is studied in two

classes; the second and first, and the final examination, is in the

first, with a maximum of 6,200 marks.

4. Surveying and topographical drawing, under a professor and four

instructors, is studied in all the classes, and the final examination is

at the completion of the course, with a total of 4,200 marks.

5. Practical Geometry, under a professor and two instructors, is studied

in two classes, and the final examination is at the close of the first

year, with an aggregate of 2,100 marks.

6. Mechanics and Natural Philosophy, under one professor, are studied in

the last two terms, and the final examination is in the last, with a

maximum of 1,600 marks in the former, and 900 in the latter.

7. French and German are studied, each under a professor and two

instructors, for four terms, and after the final examination in the

second class. The total marks in each is 1,500. Hindustani can be

substituted for German.

8. Landscape Drawing, under two instructors, is studied in three

classes, and the final examination is in the third class, with a maximum

of 1,500 marks.

9. Military History is taught by one professor in the last two terms,

and has a maximum of 2,000 marks.

10. Chemistry, under one lecturer, is taught in the last term, and

receives a total of 1,200 marks.

11. Gymnastics, drill, and riding are taught as follows: Regular

gymnastic instruction is conducted by a superintendent and three

sergeants, for at least six months, and practised through all the terms.

Artillery drill, with gun, sword, and other military drill and tactics,

are conducted partly by military officers and partly by the professors

and instructors of artillery. Riding drill is conducted under the

officers of the Royal Artillery, in the last two terms, and is practised

four or five hours a week. Swimming is taught optionally.

12. Recreations and amusements are optional and at the expense of the

Cadets. Workshops are maintained by the government, but tools and

materials are furnished at the expense of the Cadets. There are two

reading rooms.

SCHOOL PREPARATION FOR WOOLWICH.

From the returns and evidence furnished, it is an extremely rare

occurrence for a candidate to go up direct from a public school which

does not possess a Modern Department to the examination for admission to

Woolwich. Out of 855 candidates admitted to Woolwich in 10 years--from

1858 to 1867--the six public schools of Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester,

Westminster, and Shrewsbury, only sent up five direct. Colonel Addison

states that at Sandhurst, out of 320 admissions during the last two

years, there have been only 16 from the nine schools mentioned in the

Report of the Royal Commission on Public Schools; but from Cheltenham

and Wellington College the admissions have been more numerous. Even for

the direct commission examination, those who present themselves from

public schools (including Cheltenham and Marlborough, where Modern

Departments exist), without seeking the assistance of a private tutor,

scarcely amount to five per cent. of the whole number of candidates. At

the same time, it may be observed that the proportion of failures among

such candidates in the latter examination is comparatively slight, not

amounting to more than 8 per cent., while the average number of failures

among the candidates generally during the last four years has been very

nearly 25 per cent. In fact, the general tenor of the evidence goes to

show that, in the case of the examinations both for direct commissions

and for admission to Sandhurst, there is, or at least should be, no

necessity for candidates who have had the ordinary education of a

classical public school to have recourse to private tuition. The

Woolwich examination appears generally to be regarded in a different

light. Its higher and more special character, and the great importance

attached to mathematics, coupled with the competition which exists for

it, render it apparently doubtful whether success would generally be

obtained by candidates from public schools--other than those where, like

Cheltenham, instruction is given with a particular view to this

examination--without a special preparatory tuition.

The general character of the “Modern Side” at Harrow, which was

established in September of 1869, “for the benefit of boys for whom,

from various causes, an advanced classical training seems undesirable,”

is explained as follows in a circular issued by the Head-Master when

announcing the intention of adopting the institution:

The principal subjects of instruction on the “Modern Side” will be

mathematics, French, German, Latin, history, English literature, and

physical science.

The requirements of boys not intended for the Universities will be

specially kept in view, including the case of those who are candidates

for Woolwich or the Indian Civil Service. It is hoped that this

provision may obviate the supposed necessity for removing boys to a

private tutor’s precisely at an age when the influences of public school

life are most powerful and most salutary.

Except for purposes of instruction there will be no distinction

whatever between boys on the Modern Side and boys on the Classical Side.

No boy will, for the present, be admitted to the Modern Side unless he

has been in the school for at least a year, and has hitherto shown

diligence and made fair progress.

The nature of the instruction in the “Army Class” at Eton is described

by the Head-Master (Rev. Dr. Hornly) as follows:

The Army Class was established by Dr. Goodrich in the year 1858. It

was established in order to give Eton boys greater facilities for

preparing certain subjects which were required in the army examinations,

and to obviate the supposed necessity of giving Eton boys a special

preparation, elsewhere than at Eton, in order to fit them for the army

examinations.

At first fortification and military drawing were included in the

course, and a considerable proportion of the ordinary school work

(_e.g._, Latin verse writing) was remitted.

This was not found to answer. The course included more than was

necessary for the ordinary army examination, and not enough for the

higher examinations at Woolwich. There seemed to be a danger of the

class becoming a sort of refuge for the idlest boys in the school.

Dr. Goodford subsequently altered all this, and placed the class upon

its present footing, which is as follows:

Two lessons a week (repetition lessons) are remitted to make time for

lessons in modern history. English essays, or abstracts of what has been

taught in school, are written by the boys out of school (one exercise a

week), and carefully looked over. No other part of the ordinary school

work (except the two repetition lessons) is given up. Boys cannot join

the class till they are 16 years of age. They are expected to stay at

Eton till the time comes for their examination. The class consists at

present of 28 boys, with an average of 25.

The class has certainly been successful. No boy going up from Eton has

failed yet in the army examination since the reconstitution of the class

of which I have spoken. I think the class has done good in the school.

It will be seen that nothing more has been seriously attempted as yet

than to secure boys from failure in the ordinary examinations. If boys

are to be prepared at Eton for any higher competition, such as that at

Woolwich, a very different course will obviously be necessary, and

probably a system of “bifurcation” will be found indispensable.

I am not prepared to say that this may not be introduced with

advantage at Eton; but the impending changes in the governing body at

Eton, and the anticipated changes with regard to army examinations, make

it difficult to commence any work of reconstruction at the present

moment.

The most successful institutions in preparing candidates either for

Sandhurst or Woolwich are the Cheltenham and Wellington Colleges--each

having a Modern Department, in which Latin and Greek yield their

supremacy to modern science and living languages.

The Modern Department in Cheltenham College was established in 1843 as

a Military School, and is claimed to be such at this time. The studies

of subjects consist of mathematics, drawing of all kinds, physical

science, two modern languages (French and German), English, surveying,

and fortification, both field and permanent. The principal (Rev. T. A.

Southend), in his evidence before the Military Education Commission in

1869, states that his pupils, at the age of eighteen, went through the

whole Addiscombe course, and all that was done at Woolwich, and a good

deal of what was done at Chatham. The whole of his class, in 1868, went

up for the entrance examination at Sandhurst, and passed. From twelve to

fifteen go to Woolwich every year, and in 1869, forty out of one hundred

and twenty in the Academy were prepared at Cheltenham. The special

military instruction is based on a course of Latin and Greek.

Out of three hundred and twelve students in Wellington College,

ninety-six boys are in the Modern Side, entering at the age of twelve

and thirteen, and remaining till seventeen or eighteen. But of the

ninety-six, forty are preparing for the Engineers or Artillery, and

twenty for the Line. The subjects taught in the military division are

the same as at Cheltenham, except fortification; and the head-master

(Rev. Dr. Benson) claims, in his evidence before the Commission, that

his graduates are as well trained in the same subject as the pupils of

Sandhurst or Woolwich. He advises the establishment of exhibitions in

the Military School, open to competition to the pupils of all the public

schools, and regards the modern side as an essential feature in all

public schools.

Rugby School was the earliest of the great Public Schools of England to

make Physical Science a regular part of its curriculum, and to give any

considerable prominence to modern languages and history; but its

governing authorities have resisted all efforts to establish a distinct

Modern Side.

The Rev. Dr. Temple, head-master of Rugby School (now Bishop of

Exeter), in his evidence before the Commission, remarked that the

general education of boys entering Sandhurst should be the same as that

given to other boys of the same age, destined for any other profession

than that of arms. His opinion was adverse to having a modern

department, in which the ancient classics held a subordinate place, in a

school in which the classics held the first, and over which the

head-master presided. The modern studies should have an independent

scope, and their own master, who will by his character and personal

attention fix the standard of attainment. The great public schools

should hold on to their present aim and methods, introducing other

studies to perfect their mental discipline and results. No side sections

or departments in any existing school can do the work of scientific

school culture so thoroughly as an independent school, in which the

natural sciences and modern languages are taught by the main staff of

professors. All teachers, in any school, civil or military, should be

specially appointed for their educational qualities.

In Marlborough College, a modern department exists, which was

established to prepare boys for definite examinations in which they

would not succeed if they competed direct from the classical side of the

College, and at the same time to solve the problem of giving a good

school education on a basis of instruction in which the dead languages

hold a subordinate place. Boys enter the Modern School after they have

reached the fourth form in the classical department, so that Latin and

Greek constitute a substantial part of their attainments and discipline.

The success of the graduates of this institution in competing for

admission into the military or civil service of the government, or in

any of the walks of active or professional life, shows conclusively that

the modern curriculum with its studies properly adjusted, and a well

trained staff, under an able head-master, is quite equal to the

classical, not only in practical utility, but in comprehensive and

liberal discipline.

ROYAL SCHOOL OF MILITARY ENGINEERING AT CHATHAM.

ORGANIZATION, ETC.

The Royal Engineering Establishment at Chatham was instituted in 1854,

to furnish a sound course of practical instruction in Military and Civil

Engineering to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and sappers of

the corps of Royal Engineers, in addition and prior to which both

officers and men pass through the ordinary drill and military duties

common to the army generally.

The present organization and staff are composed of a director; an

instructor and assistant in construction and estimating; an instructor

and assistant in field works; an instructor and assistant in surveying;

an instructor and assistant in telegraphy, photography, and an assistant

in signalling; a brigade major; quartermaster in charge of stores, and

field officer for military discipline.

The number of officers under instruction, recently

commissioned, captains and subalterns, 81

Non-commissioned officers and sappers, average, 1,200

NATURE AND LENGTH OF COURSE.

There are six distinct courses:

1. Drill and military duties, which occupy 107 days. This includes,

besides the interior economy of a company, proceedings of

courts-martial, boards of survey, courts of inquiry.

2. Telegraphy, signalling, submarine mines, etc., which occupy

thirty-five days. This includes the construction and maintenance of

lines, a knowledge of instruments and batteries, application of

electricity to explosions, management of torpedoes, etc.

3. Chemistry, which occupies fifteen days. This course comprises the

analysis of limes, cements, and other building materials.

4. Field works, military bridging, etc, which occupies 122 days. This

comprises instruction in earthworks, pontooning, rafts, spar, and other

temporary bridges, reports on existing fortresses, construction of

railways, escalading, diving, etc.

5. Architectural course, which occupies 183 days. This course includes

building material, design, estimate, and specification for a building,

instruction and report, with hand sketches of various works in

execution, lime and cement works, quarrying, brickmaking, etc.

6. Surveying and Astronomy, which occupy 183 days. This course includes

trigonometrical survey, military reconnoissance, special survey, road

reconnoissance, astronomical memoranda and calculations, adaptation of

works of defence to a contoured site, inspection tours of works of

defence in England, and report on same, isolated lectures on geology,

electricity, machinery, etc., by selected professors.

The first allowance toward expenses of junior officers of the Royal

Engineers, in visiting engineering works, at home and abroad, was made

in 1854, and is now 500_l._ per annum.

INSTRUCTION FOR NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND SAPPERS.

All recruits for this corps join at Chatham, and for about sixteen

months are subject to daily drill and military duties in field work and

all branches of the engineer service, and are drafted off, from time to

time, into the special classes in construction, photography, telegraphy,

lithography, printing.

_Synopsis of the Course._

The following synopsis of the instruction given at the Royal School of

Military Engineering at Chatham, was drawn up by Major General J. L.

Simmons, the Director of the establishment.

I.--THE SURVEY COURSE.

The course of surveying for the officers of the Royal Engineers is

intended to qualify them for carrying on survey operations of every

description, and for designing and laying out engineering works, so far

as these are influenced by the features of the ground on which they are

placed, or over which they are carried.

The course consists of two parts,--the one relating to surveying

processes exclusively, the other to the uses made of the plans and maps

prepared by such processes, for engineering purposes.

Under the first of these divisions the officers are practically

instructed in astronomical, general, special, and reconnoitring

surveying, including the accurate delineation of the inequalities of

ground by levelling and by contours traced instrumentally, and also the

giving reliefs to hill forms by sketching with the pen and drawing with

the brush.

Under the second division they are exercised in the adaptation of

works of fortification to contoured sites, and in the selection and

survey of lines of communication by roads, railways, and canals, and in

drawing up projects for their execution.

_Astronomical Surveying._

The officers are taught the construction and use of astronomical

instruments, and are practised in making observations with them. They

study from published works and memoranda printed at the establishment,

the most useful problems for finding the time, the latitude and

longitude, the direction of the meridian, and the variation of the

compass.

Examples of each problem are worked out by them from their own

observations or from observations made in their presence.

The use of meteorological instruments and the reductions of the

observations made with them are also practised.

_General Survey._

As a preliminary exercise in drawing each officer constructs a plate

of scales from data supplied to him. For particular information on the

delicate and powerful instruments and apparatus which have been used in

great national surveys, and which cannot be studied in the establishment

observatory, the officers are referred to published works; and they are

instructed in the adjustments, the unavoidable errors of construction,

and the powers of the instruments put into their hands for the execution

of their survey course.

The general survey comprises:

1st. _The selection and measurement of a base._--The base is measured

with an ordinary chain and a five-inch theodolite, and this measurement

having been reduced to its horizontal value at the level of the sea, the

section of the base is laid down on paper.

2d. _Triangulation._--The measured base is extended by a triangulation

over 10 or 16 square miles of country, and the relative altitudes of,

and the distances between, the stations selected are determined from

observations. The computed horizontal distances are laid down, and the

azimuth of one of them is determined.

3d. _Traversing._--The positions of the roads, streams, boundaries of

woods, and other marked features, surrounding and intersecting an area

of six or eight square miles of the country triangulated, are then

determined by running traverses with a theodolite from one station to

another, so as to cut up this area into spaces which will admit of being

filled in by a less accurate method, without introducing an error in the

plan.

4th. _Plotting of detail and completion of the work._--The protracted

lines are now transferred to another sheet of paper, and the detail,

obtained as the traverses proceed, is plotted from the field-book. From

this plot sketch sheets are prepared, and the remainder of the work is

sketched in with the aid of a prismatic compass, the form of the ground

being represented by pencil strokes, assisted by contours put in with

the aid of a portable level.

The sketch sheets are etched in with a pen, and a finished brush-work

plan of the complete survey, embracing all the information collected, is

prepared from them, with the original plotted detail, as a basis.

_Special Survey._

A piece of ground, about half a mile in area, is surveyed with minute

accuracy as for some special purpose, and is laid down on a scale

sufficiently large to admit of the calculation of the areas of the

enclosures from the paper. The method followed is the same as that

pursued on the Ordnance Survey, and with the Tithe Commutation Surveys,

etc.

_Contouring._--On the ground thus specially surveyed contours are

traced instrumentally at given vertical distances apart and are plotted

on the plan.

_Military Reconnaissance._

This is conducted on principles similar to those which govern the

operations of the general survey; the instruments employed, however, are

all portable. The measurement of a base is made by such means as readily

offer themselves (generally by pacing), and the trigonometrical points

are fixed simply by protracting angles observed with a box sextant or

compass. The whole of the remaining features and details considered

necessary in a military point of view are sketched in with the aid of

bearings and pacing. The reconnaissance embraces about six square miles.

In addition to the topographical sketch of the ground, each officer

sends in a detailed report of its general character, its resources, and

military capabilities. Each officer also makes a hasty reconnaissance of

a road with a view to its employment as a military communication. All

the information which can be obtained as to the character of the

country through which it passes, and towns and villages near it,

together with the construction, gradients, etc., of the road, are noted

on the face of the sketch.

_Fortification Branch._

Every officer is required, in this branch of the survey course, to

design one or more works of defence for the occupation of a site, of

which a contoured plan is furnished to him.

In performing this exercise the officer becomes, expert in reading the

various forms and slopes of ground, as expressed by contours; he meets

with and learns to provide for some of the many modifications of the

conditions of defence which the occupation of irreglar sites

necessitates, and he acquires facility in the application of descriptive

geometry to the determination of the planes of defilade and the several

planes of a work.

The data upon, which, the design, is framed consist of a plan of

ground shown by contours and of some of the conditions to be filled by

the proposed fortification, such as the objects for which; the site is

occupied, the strength of the garrison, the extent, of the works, the

nature of the defence of the ditches, the trace, or the, profile to be

adopted, etc.

On the completion of his design the officer writes a report

explanatory of the character of the works, he has adopted, and

describing his arrangements both for the distant and near defence, with

any improvements which have suggested themselves in working it out; and

since the scale of the design, admits of considerable accuracy in its

preparation, he is required to enter very fully into the detail of the

arrangement he proposes.

The report is accompanied by tables showing how the remblai and deblai

are equalized, and that the distribution of the latter is, economical.

_Civil Applications._

_Projects for a line of communication, general plan, and trial

sections._--The officers are instructed in the general principles which

should guide them in laying out lines of communication, whether by road,

railway, or canal, and are then sent out to examine the country between

two points five or six miles apart, and are required to decide on two or

more routes which apparently offer the greatest facilities in point of

gradients, soil, and the materials of construction. Availing themselves

of the best map or plan they can obtain, they draw a plan showing

approximately the divisions of the properties through which the trial

lines are run; they then make trial sections; and from these sections

and their previous examination of the ground, they determine on the

line, to be adopted, embodying in a report a general description of the

country, the obstacles encountered on each route, the gradients, curves,

etc., and also the calculations which led to their decision. In their

calculations they estimate the cost of the necessary constructions on

each of the trial lines, the cost of conveyance for heavy goods on an

assumed basis of daily traffic, and the time occupied in each case for

quick transit.

_Working plan and section._--A length of one mile of the route

determined on as the best is selected, and for this a special survey is

made, which is laid down as a working plan, the line being picketed out

when no objection is made by the owners of the property through which it

passes. A working section of the line is also prepared from accurate

levels.

_Plan of details, etc._--For the works proposed on that portion of the

line Which is, included within the limits of the working section, a plan

of details Is prepared, as well as a specification for the works and an

estimate of their probable cost.

II. THE COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION AND ESTIMATING.

For this course 142 days, including Sundays, are allowed. The course

is divided into four parts.

_Part I--Theory of Construction._

This part consists of a series of examples in construction, about 50

in number, which will be varied from time to time.

They are drawn up with a special view to the application of the

mathematical knowledge already possessed by the officers to some of the

cases, which they are likely to have to deal with in practice.

References are given in the margin of the printed paper of examples to

some of the many books in which the information, necessary for their

solution can he found.

The instructing officer will explain every morning, except Saturday,

as many of the examples as he considers the officers can work during the

remainder of the day, and the officers are expected to study these

subjects from some one of the books referred to.

The object of these short explanations is twofold: 1st, to explain the

principles on which the particular cases or similar cases are to be

dealt with; 2d, to impart in a condensed form some of the varied

information which is familiar to all engineers of experience, but which

an engineer at the commencement of his career often has a difficulty in

finding.

The officers will take notes of these explanations, and write each

morning notes at the head of the fair copy of the examples, to which

they refer. The examples explained on each day are to be worked out on

that day in the fullest manner; the reasoning of each step is to be

stated, and all rough calculations are to be left on the paper, so as to

lessen as much as possible the labor of examination. They are to be

brought to the instructing officer the following morning, and after

examination are to be written out fair on ruled foolscap,

quarter-margin, on the right-hand sheet, with explanatory diagrams to a

large scale, where necessary, on the left-hand sheet.

The fair notes of each week’s work must be sent in before the end of

the following week.

The weights, strength of materials, and other information, will be

found in the printed tables.

This part of the course occupies about 40 days, and while it continues

leave will be granted on Saturdays and Sundays only.

_Part II.--Materials._

The object of this part of the course is to give the officers some

sort of guide in judging of the quality of the principal materials which

they will have to use, as well as to afford them information as to the

particular material most suitable for a building or engineering work.

It may be subdivided into three parts, viz., lectures given by

professors in the lecture theatre; lectures given by the instructing

officer; and visits made by the officers to lime works, cement works,

brickfields, etc.

The lectures in the lecture theatre are delivered at the periods most

convenient to the lecturer, but the notes taken by the officers form

part of this course, and will be bound up with the rest of the papers.

The notes of the lectures delivered by the instructing officer are to

be written out fair immediately after the lecture, in accordance with

the instructions given, and brought to, the instructing officer on the

following morning.

A printed paper detailing the particular points to which officers

visiting manufacturing works are to direct their attention will be given

to each officer, and a report is to be sent in as soon as possible after

each visit to the instructing officer.

Sketches to illustrate the lectures and visits are to be as numerous

and complete as possible.

The value of these sketches for future reference, and as aids to

officers in their professional constructions hereafter, will be very

much enhanced by having the dimensions clearly written on them, which

should include at least those of all principal parts of machines and

structures.

This part of the course occupies about three weeks, inclusive of the

time required to visit the works referred to.

The officers will also be instructed, after they leave the course of

construction, in the method of testing the quality of some of the

materials by chemical analysis, for which a fortnight is allowed.

_Part III.--Valuation and Measurement of Work._

This part of the course will occupy in all about 37 days, and will

commence with a series of lectures, the subject matter of which will be

found chiefly in the printed “Notes on the Practice of Building” and

“Notes on the Building Trades.” They will comprise, in separate lectures

for each trade,--

1. The materials, tools, etc., and apparatus employed, together with

their application to the different kinds of work produced.

2. The technical terms in vogue.

3. The general practice of measuring and valuing.

Hints and memoranda useful in designing, estimating, and carrying out

works will be given, and explanations afforded by reference to models

and drawings, from some of which colored sketches, with the names and

dimensions of the different parts given on them in full, will be made by

each officer and attached to his printed notes. These sketches will be

done in the Hall of Study from the originals deposited there.

A lecture will be given explaining the different steps taken in

preparing the annual estimates of a district, to be laid before

Parliament, and the various methods of carrying out the services which

may be authorized.

The cost of a building will be approximately estimated by cubing it

out from the general plans and elevations.

The quantities of the same building will then be taken out from the

specifications, working drawings, and a model, by filling in a

measurement form having the details of work done printed on it.

Details and estimates of the same building will be made out on W.O.

Form 1554, the items and prices being taken from the W.D. Schedules of

the district, and the descriptive part printed on.

Lastly, the quantities will be abstracted and brought into bill, as

though the work were to be put up to tender, or as would be done in

drawing out contractors’ bills for work to be paid for on a schedule of

prices.

The portions of the copper plates to be colored will be partly done in

the course of lectures, but about a week at the close of this part of

the course will be allowed to complete the whole. They are to be colored

in the Hall of Study from pattern drawings deposited there. No drawing

whatever to be removed from the Hall of Study.

_Part IV.--Design._

At the commencement of this part of the course each officer will read

through the “Notes on Military Buildings,” by Colonel Collinson, Royal

Engineers, studying more particularly the parts which have special

reference to his own design. The lithographed drawings which accompany

them are not intended to be models to be copied from, but are given as

examples of works executed, many of which with the advance of sanitary

science have become obsolete as a whole. They contain many useful

details still applicable.

The design is intended to afford to each officer an opportunity of

applying the knowledge he may have acquired in the course to some case

which he may actually hereafter have to deal with.

About six weeks are available for this part of the course, and the

conditions under which the design is to be made will be furnished to

each officer.

As a rule the design will consist of a general plan and report, with

some part worked out in detail, this part being specified for and

estimated.

The drawings are to be prepared in accordance with the instructions

deposited in the Hall of Study.

_Tour Reports and Lectures._

All tour reports and lectures pertaining to the course of construction

will be written in accordance with the general regulations for reports,

that is to say, on foolscap paper, quarter margin, on both sides of the

paper, divided into paragraphs, with headings in the margin, and signed

and dated by the officer. They will form part of Part II. of the course,

and will be bound in the proper places.

In writing tour reports and lectures the object should be to condense

as much practical information and fact into as small a space as possible

without abbreviating the language or omitting any of the facts. Sketches

should be made by hand, approximately to scale, but should be clear, and

contain full dimensions. Statistical and tabular information should be

given in full.

For the tour report each officer will receive a statement of the

particulars of each work he has to report on.

_Binding._

The whole of the notes, etc., of each officer will be bound in one or

more volumes. Therefore, before leaving the establishment, each officer

should arrange his notes in the order in which he wishes them bound.

III.--FIELD WORK COURSE.

The time allowed for this course is 122 days, including Sundays. While

on it officers may be required to attend drill one day in each week, and

also brigade field days.

The course comprises instruction in all those duties (with the

exceptions mentioned below) which devolve upon the Royal Engineers when

employed with an army engaged offensively or defensively, either at a

siege or in the field.

The exceptions are surveying, reconnaissance, telegraphy, firing mines

by electricity, etc., torpedoes, and demolition of permanent works; on

all which subjects instruction is given to the officers while on other

courses.

The officers are required to read carefully the notes on field work

instruction, to make models in sand, etc., of such works as admit of

this practice, to take part in the construction of the several works in

the field, etc., and to draw up projects on the subject.

Before leaving the course an officer must be competent to impart

instruction to sappers in all their field duties.

The practical instruction is divided into seven parts.

_Part I.--Modelling in Sand, etc._

This part consists of making models of gabions, fascines, hurdles, and

sap-rollers; of throwing up models in sand of portions of a first

parallel and its approaches, of a second parallel, of single and double

saps, both kneeling and standing, of a trench cavalier, of a lodgment by

half double sap, of rifle-pits, and of trons-de-loup.

Also of making models in sand of field powder magazines, and of

elevated, sunken, half sunken, and screen, gun and mortar batteries

(ordinary and indented), revetted with gabions, fascines, and sand bags.

It includes the laying of model gun and mortar platforms, the making

of a salient of a field redoubt, with gun en barbette, of a field

kitchen, and of the passage of a wet ditch by means of gabions and

fascines.

Also the erection of spar bridges of different forms with model spars,

and the laying in of a cross-over road to connect two lines of railway.

_Part II.--Siege Works._

This part consists of making gabions, fascines, hurdles, and

sap-rollers; of tracing (part by night) parallels, approaches,

batteries, etc.

Also of seeing parallels, approaches, batteries, saps, trench

cavaliers, etc., constructed by the sappers; and the mode of extending

men and setting them to work.

The officers are also required to take up for enfilade the

prolongation of faces, etc.

_Part III--Works of Defence._

This part consists of instruction in forming abattis, entanglements,

rifle pits, trons-de-loup, etc., and in putting up stockades, palisades,

fraises, etc.

_Part IV.--Mining._

This part includes boring and blasting rock, sinking shafts, driving

galleries, making chambers and powder hose, loading, tamping, and firing

mines, also the preparation and firing of fougasses.

_Part V.--Bridging._

This part includes knotting, splicing, and lashing spars, diving,

rowing in boats, packing pontoons, and forming temporary military

bridges over streams with large and small pontoons, casks, etc.

Also the construction of spar, timber, and suspension bridges to

reëstablish a communication by turnpike road or railroad.

_Part VI.--Railways._

This part consists in seeing the mode of laying down and repairing

lines of railway, and of putting in a cross-over road to connect two

lines of railway, and also the mode of destroying railways.

_Part VII.--Sundry Practices._

Under this head are included boring for water (with the American tube

wells as well as with the ordinary apparatus), erecting field kitchens,

filling and throwing hand grenades, and escalading, also the erection of

field observatories.

The officers are, in addition, required to draw up the following

projects:

1. Project of attack of a fortress actually in existence.

2. Project for the restoration of a bridge.

3. Project for a floating bridge.

4. Project for a field work as a bridge-head.

5. Hasty project for a temporary bridge, or hasty project

for the demolition of a portion of a line of railway.

IV.--MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS.

(_a._) _Course of Telegraphy.--Fifteen days are allowed for this

course_.

All officers under instruction learn the theory and practice of

telegraphy and visual signalling, bearing in mind that a thorough

knowledge of the theory will enable them to overcome difficulties which

would be perplexing to the men, who can only be expected to learn the

practical working of the telegraph.

The various instruments in use for signalling and testing are

explained to them, and they are taught the ordinary methods of measuring

electrical forces and resistances, and of testing conducting wires for

insulation and conductivity, and for determining the nature and

positions of faults. The degree of accuracy which may be attained in

these measurements is pointed out to them.

They learn the European Morse alphabet, and the method of sending and

receiving messages, but they are not expected to devote so much time to

the subject as would enable them to become expert telegraphists.

Each officer is required to give in a project for the construction of

a line of electric telegraph, including at least three stations. In the

report are described the instruments to be used and the modes of

connecting them in circuit; the batteries, the conductors, the supports,

the insulators, and the mode of putting up the line; and the number of

cells required to work the line is calculated.

An estimate of the stores and materials required accompanies the

report, with a general plan showing the route proposed.

The various methods of exploding gunpowder by electricity are taught

while the course of telegraphy is going on; the application of this

branch of electrical science is made when the officers are employed on

projects for demolitions by mining.

In the School of Telegraphy a certain number of the men of the corps

are trained every year as telegraphists.

The instruments of which the use is taught are.--

The single needle instrument worked by voltaic electricity.

The Morse recording and sounding instrument.

The double needle instrument.

Wheatstone’s magneto dial instrument.

Also day and night signalling with the approved visual apparatus.

Each man is required to read a specified number of words per minute,

and to send correctly by each instrument, before he passes on to the

next.

The European Morse alphabet is used with all the instruments, except

with the double needle instrument, which has a special alphabet.

The men are taught how to make up and repair the voltaic batteries and

instruments, and to put up conducting wires over ground, and to lay them

underground, and also to test roughly for the position of faults. Their

previous education does not generally admit of their acquiring a

knowledge of the theory of electricity, or of performing the more

delicate tests required in telegraphy.

The men who enter the Telegraph School are also instructed in the

practical manipulation of Grove’s voltaic batteries, Wheatstone’s

magnetic exploder, and the dynamo-electric machine, in the use of

frictional electricity, in making the electrical fuzes, and in

connecting and arranging the wires necessary for firing mines by

electricity.

(_b._) _Chemical Laboratory Course.--Fifteen days are allowed for this

course_.

The object of this course is to enable officers and men at the

establishment, who may show an inclination for chemical studies, to

pursue them practically.

The course is confined to the chemical relations and behavior of the

substances which affect the qualities of building materials, or which

may influence the questions which are most likely to require the

professional investigation of a military engineer. It is arranged with

the idea of supplying the want of practical experience in dealing with

substances used in construction, by giving an insight into their nature

and composition; and also with that of imparting such information as may

lead in a new colony, should an officer be called upon to act as its

explorer and pioneer, to a more rapid development of its resources.

The course for the officers consists,--

1st. In making themselves acquainted with the action of reagents, both

by wet methods and by the blow-pipe, on different simple substances, in

experiments to which they are directed by a text-book.

2d. In applying the information so gained to the qualitative

examination of substances, simple and compound, specially prepared as

exercises for analysis.

3d. In the quantitative as well as qualitative examination of building

stones, lime and cement stones, gypsum, brick earths, paints, solders,

and other building materials. A sample of water is also examined, and a

qualitative examination is made of one or more ores.

4th. In preparing, on an experimental scale, bricks, limes, cements,

and plasters, directly from natural stones or earths by simple

calcination, and also by the more complex method which it is often

necessary to adopt.

5th. The chemistry of the voltaic battery.

The course for the men only differs from that for the officers in

respect of the order in which the several divisions of the subject are

taken up. The men, instead of commencing with a thorough examination of

numerous simple substances, begin with a few easy experiments on

recognizing lime and cement stones, and on the mode of ascertaining

their comparative values, so that, in case it is judged inexpedient, in

any instance, that the whole course shall be completed, the knowledge

which has been gained may be of a character requiring comparatively

little skill and intelligence to apply to practical uses.

A certain number of men only are taught.

(_c._) _Course of Photography._

This study is not compulsory; but any officer and a limited number of

men who have completed the prescribed course satisfactorily, and who

wish to study photography, are allowed to do so.

The officers devote their attention more particularly to the chemical

theory of the subject, in order that they may be able to overcome the

practical difficulties which constantly occur when this art is pursued

in foreign countries under circumstances of climate and situation

different from those in England, and when chemicals get out of order and

produce anomalous results. In such cases men who have acquired

considerable skill in manipulation, but who have no knowledge of

chemistry, are unable to devise remedies or to overcome difficulties,

and it is the place of their officers to assist them by their superior

knowledge and intelligence.

The men are taught the negative wet collodion process in all its

branches (except the manufacture of pyroxyline), also the dry process,

and photozincography.

They are also practised in the use of the dark tent, and in taking

negatives in the field, and of photographic reductions of plans.

It is seldom that their previous education admits of their becoming

well versed in the chemical theory of the art, but the means of

overcoming the usual practical difficulties are pointed out to them.

Each man is required to enter in a note-book the various solutions, and

to make memoranda of the processes.

(_d._) _Lectures._

Lectures are delivered between the months of September and April on

civil and mechanical engineering, metallurgy, architecture, electricity

and its applications, and on other subjects of a professional character.

The lectures are attended by all the officers and men under instruction,

and the former are required to take rough notes, and afterward to write

them out fairly, for binding with their other work.

(_e._) _Visits to Professional Works._

With the object of giving an idea of the best methods of carrying on

extensive works, and of imparting practical information on professional

subjects, a certain number of the junior officers are selected every

year to visit engineering, architectural, and other works of

professional character, accompanied by one of the instructing officers

of the establishment.

Of the various constructions and processes seen during these tours

they make notes and drawings, which are embodied in the form of reports

to the director, and are subsequently bound up with the other parts of

the course.

_General Note._--Further explanations of the mode of filling up the

details of the course, and of the forms for the notes and drawings, are

given in the special instructions.

(_f._) _Demolitions._

The ignition of gunpowder or other explosives by powder hose and

Bickford’s fuze as well as by electricity, both on land and submerged

under water, is taught to all officers.

In order that the best methods of using gunpowder or other explosives

for the demolition of works and buildings by mining may be thoroughly

understood, each officer is required to make projects for the following

demolitions, viz.:

1. A front of fortification, or some similar work, exhibiting various

sorts of revetments, and requiring the simultaneous explosion of a large

number of mines.

2. A casemate, powder magazine, or other substantial military building

under two suppositions: 1st, that there is plenty of time, that

sufficient men and tools are available, and that it is required to

effect complete demolition without wasting gunpowder unnecessarily; 2d,

that time presses, and that the demolition must be effected in the most

expeditious manner possible.

3. A bridge or viaduct under two different suppositions, as in No. 2.

The mines in some cases are directed to be tired by powder hose, and

in others by electricity.

Each of these projects consists of a memoir and explanatory drawings.

The memoir comprises,--

1st. A description of the building, or work to be destroyed, in all

points which may influence the mode of demolition.

2d. A general description of the proposed mode of demolition.

3d. The calculations for the charges of the mines.

4th. The mode of preparing and firing the mines.

5th. An estimate of the men, tools, and materials required and of the

time necessary for the operation.

6th. An estimate of the gunpowder.

7th. When electricity is to be employed for firing the mines, a full

description of the batteries, etc., is given, with calculations of the

number of cells, etc.

The drawings include a plan and such sections as may be required to

explain clearly the situations of the various charges of gunpowder, and

of the shafts and galleries.

(_g._) _Submarine Mines._

All officers and a certain number of men are practised in the use of

submarine mines.

The course consists of,--

1. The nature and construction of case.

2. Mode of mooring.

3. Mode of arranging and laying insulated cables.

4. Mode of testing fuzes, also testing cables for conductivity

and insulation and for the detection of faults.

5. Modes of firing at will and by self-acting arrangements.

PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION FOR COMMISSIONED OFFICERS

HISTORICAL NOTICE.

Although examinations preparatory to promotion had been instituted by

the Duke of Wellington in 1850, no attempt was made to provide any

general machinery for affording to officers of the army means of

instruction, even in those subjects a knowledge of which was by the

regulations of the service required of them. The Department of Artillery

studies at Woolwich, originally instituted on a small scale in 1850, and

the Royal Engineer Establishment at Chatham, supplied to the officers of

the scientific corps, though to a much more limited extent than at the

present day, opportunities of carrying on their professional studies

after entering the army. But to officers of other branches of the

service no means of instruction were afforded in any subjects beyond the

mere routine of drill and regimental duties, except by the Senior

Department at Sandhurst and the School of Musketry at Hythe. The state

of the former institution, the advantages of which extended only to a

very small proportion of the officers of the army, is described in the

accounts of the Royal Military College and of the Staff College. The

school at Hythe was first established in the year 1853, for the purpose

of training a certain number of officers and soldiers in the new system

of musketry, which was adopted on the introduction of rifled arms into

the service.

The first official suggestion, with the object of remedying the

deficiency of professional knowledge among the officers of the army, was

made by Mr. Sidney Herbert, when Secretary at War, in 1854. The outline

of the plan proposed by him at this time was sketched out in a letter

addressed to Lord Hardinge, then Commander-in-Chief, and its details

were subsequently more fully explained in speeches in the House of

Commons. The scheme contemplated a general reorganization of the system

of military education,--the improvement of the examinations instituted

by the Duke of Wellington for admission to the army and for

promotion,--the conversion of the Senior Department at Sandhurst into a

special school for the staff,--and the introduction of a system of

professional instruction for officers after entering the service. With

the view of carrying out the latter part of the scheme, it was proposed,

in 1854, to appoint garrison instructors at certain large stations both

at home and in the colonies. It was not intended to make attendance at

the instruction thus given compulsory, but a stringent examination in

the subjects which entered into the course was to be a necessary

condition of promotion to the ranks of lieutenant and captain

respectively.

The scheme of garrison instruction proposed by Mr. Sidney Herbert met

with the approval of Lord Hardinge, and obtained the sanction of the

Treasury. A sum of 2,000_l._, for the purpose of making a commencement

in carrying it out, was inserted in the estimates for 1854-5, and the

plan, as explained by Mr. Herbert in moving the army estimates, met with

the entire approval of the House of Commons.

The outbreak of the Crimean War, however, in the first instance,

interfered with the practical realization of the scheme, although it

appears that some of the instructors had been actually selected for

their posts, and that it was intended to send them out to the Crimea to

acquire a practical acquaintance with such of the minor operations of

war as would fall within the intended course of instruction. This latter

intention was not carried out, and after the resignation of Mr. Sidney

Herbert, which took place in the beginning of 1855, no further steps

appear to have been taken in the matter. At the same time money

continued to be voted for the purpose of carrying out the scheme

(although no application of the funds was made), until the general

reduction in the estimates which took place on the conclusion of peace

in 1856; it appears also, from statements made by the Under Secretary at

War, in the House of Commons, that the Government had never abandoned

the idea of adopting some measure for the professional instruction of

officers.

In the debates in both Houses of Parliament, during the Crimean War,

numerous discussions took place on the subject of military education;

the failure of the existing examinations for promotion, the lax mode in

which they were carried out, the want of acquaintance with many of the

mere rudiments of military science displayed by the majority of

officers, and the necessity of supplying them with some means of

instruction in the practical duties devolving upon them on active

service, formed frequent subjects of remark. On the 5th of June, 1856,

after the termination of the war, Mr. Sidney Herbert, then a private

member, again brought his proposal for the appointment of garrison

instructors before the notice of the House of Commons, in connection

with his more general scheme for the improvement of the education of

officers; but, although the proposal again met with the approval of

nearly every speaker who took part in the discussion, the Government

declined to pledge themselves to the adoption of the scheme in its

details, as the question of the reorganization of the whole system of

military education was then under consideration.

During the latter part of the year 1856, as has been elsewhere stated,

the attention of the military authorities was seriously directed to the

question of improving the education of the army. Nearly all the plans

submitted to Lord Panmure with this object included, as an essential

feature, the adoption of some means of professional instruction for

officers after entering the service; and the machinery suggested was, in

almost every case, based in its general principles on Mr. Sidney

Herbert’s original proposal for the establishment of garrison

instructors. The Commissioners appointed in the same year to visit the

military schools of the continent, while their inquiries were chiefly

confined to the improvement of the education of the scientific corps,

recommended in their report that young officers of all branches of the

service should, after entering the army, go through some course of

professional study; at the same time they suggested no machinery for

carrying their recommendation into effect. The military witnesses

examined, during the years 1856 and 1857, before the Royal Commission on

the Purchase System, very generally concurred in the opinion that higher

professional acquirements should be demanded from officers, and that

means of instruction should be afforded to them; and the Commissioners,

in their Report, endorsed this view in the following terms: “Nor can it

be fairly said that the purchase system is the obstacle to introducing a

better system of military education. A stricter examination before

granting the first commission, an improved training afterward, and a

further examination on promotion from ensign to lieutenant, are measures

perfectly compatible with the system of purchase.”

The system of garrison instruction suggested by Mr. Sidney Herbert

appears to have found general favor at this period. The instructions

issued to the Council of Military Education, on their appointment in

1857, directed them, in connection with the subject of the professional

examination of officers up to the rank of captain, to consider the

question “of the establishment of instructors at the large stations.”

The plan proposed by the Council, in 1857, did not contemplate the

general appointment of either garrison or regimental instructors; its

main feature was the establishment of officers’ schools at depot

battalion stations, through which all young officers, who were in the

first instance to receive provisional commissions, should pass before

joining their regiments and being permanently commissioned. This

recommendation was supplemented by one for the partial establishment of

district instructors at stations where classes of ten officers could be

formed, for the more advanced instruction of those who had been some

years in the service.

The great demand for officers occasioned by the Indian mutiny, combined

with practical objections which were made to the Council’s scheme,

prevented their proposals from being carried into effect. The only

immediate result of their recommendations was the establishment, in

1857, of a class at Aldershot for the instruction of officers quartered

at the camp in military sketching. A full account of this institution,

which has since been considerably developed, and is now called the

Survey Class, will be found further on.

At a subsequent period the attention of the Council appears to have been

directed more to the question of securing the professional competence of

officers by a special military education before entering the service,

than by compulsory instruction at a later period. The proposal,

originally made in 1858, for requiring all candidates for commissions in

the line to pass through Sandhurst, has been already described in

connection with the Royal Military College. The Council have, however,

never ceased to urge the expediency of providing officers, after they

have entered the service, with facilities for instruction in the higher

branches of military science; and in their last General Report they

recommended the establishment of institutions similar to the Aldershot

Survey Class at other large stations.

Although no general machinery has been introduced for affording

instruction to officers of the cavalry and infantry after entering the

service, various steps have, from time to time, been taken with the

object of extending their professional knowledge to subjects beyond the

mere routine duties of their own arms. In January, 1859, commanding

officers were directed to require from the officers of their regiments

reports and, if possible, sketches of the roads traversed when route

marching in winter; and later in the same year an order was issued that

officers of infantry should, whenever practicable, be instructed in

great gun drill. In the present year a system of instruction in military

signalling has been introduced at the School of Engineering at Chatham,

to which detachments of officers are periodically sent. In addition to

the recommendations of the present Royal Commission for the introduction

of a system of garrison and regimental instruction, the Royal Commission

on Courts-martial, in their recent Report, recommended that more

attention should be paid to the education of officers in military law,

and that stricter examinations in the subject should be enforced.

The necessity of an improvement in the professional acquirements of

officers appears to have been almost universally recognized from the

time when Mr. Sidney Herbert brought the subject to public notice in

1854. Various opinions, however, have been entertained as to the means

by which the desired object could best be effected.

The different plans which have from time to time been suggested may be

classified under two main divisions:

(1.) Those which propose a special military education for all candidates

for commissions before entering the service.

(2.) Those which advocate, in preference, the postponement of

professional instruction, at least for the majority of the officers of

the army, until a later period, after the service has been entered, and

the rank of officer been attained.

Under the former head comes the scheme suggested by the Council of

Military Education in 1858, the adoption of which was at one time

determined upon by the military authorities, for requiring all

candidates for commissions in the cavalry and infantry to pass through

Sandhurst. A similar proposal was suggested by witnesses to the Royal

Commission on the Purchase System in 1856; it was supported by the

authority of the Duke of Cambridge and Mr. Sidney Herbert (who had

originally been opposed to it) before the Select Committee of the House

of Commons on Military Organization, in 1860; and the Committee, in

their Report, though declining to pronounce any decided opinion on the

subject, stated that they considered the measure “well worthy of the

most careful consideration.” Of late years the same principle has been

publicly advocated by Sir C. Trevelyan, who considers that there should

be but two modes of admission to the rank of officer,--one through a

military college, and the other by serving in the ranks; and the

advantages which would result from passing all candidates for

commissions through a military college have been urged by several

witnesses, including His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, before

the present Royal Commission. On the other hand, opponents of this view

have pointed out the objections entertained by them to any such measure.

Allied to the plan for making a military college the sole channel of

admission to the commissioned ranks of the army is one for requiring all

candidates for commissions to serve as cadets, in order to acquire a

practical acquaintance with their duties, before obtaining the rank of

officer. This proposal, originally suggested by Lord Clyde, before the

Royal Commission on the Purchase System, has more recently been

supported by the authority of Sir W. Mansfield and Lord De la Warr; the

latter officer, however, appears of late to have somewhat modified his

views, and to advocate at present, for all young men who obtain direct

commissions by purchase, a probationary course of six or twelve months’

instruction in military subjects and drill, at their parents’ expense,

prior to joining their regiments, in accordance with a plan submitted to

the Commission. The cadet system has also been advocated by Lord Walden

before the Commission.

To the class of plans which advocate the postponement of professional

instruction for the majority of the officers of the army until after the

service has been entered, belong Mr. Sidney Herbert’s original proposal,

in 1854, for the introduction of a system of garrison instruction--the

recommendation of the Commissioners of 1856 “that young officers after

entering the army should go through some course of professional

study,”--the suggestion made by the Royal Commission on the Purchase

System for “an improved system of training after the first commission is

granted,”--and the proposal of the Council of Military Education, in

1857, for the establishment of depot battalion schools for young

officers. Opinions founded on the same principle have been expressed by

several witnesses before the present Commission. The system of garrison

instructors at large stations, that of regimental instructors in each

corps, and, lastly, a combination of both systems, have been

respectively advocated by various authorities as the machinery by which

the later instruction of officers should be carried out. Even those who

advocate a special education at a military college as the universal

condition of obtaining a commission do not, in the majority of cases,

contemplate the cessation of all instruction on the commission being

obtained; at the same time in many instances they do not consider that

this later instruction should be made compulsory on officers, and, while

recommending that facilities should be afforded for it, they maintain

the superior efficacy of a system of preliminary military education at

an earlier age.

I. SURVEY CLASS AT ALDERSHOT.

The survey class at Aldershot originated in an order of the

Quartermaster-General in 1857, appointing two extra deputy-assistants to

afford professional instruction to officers of the division stationed

there in military sketching and surveying, field and permanent

fortification, and photography.

These courses and conditions of attendance are as follows:

1. An elementary course comprises practical geometry, so far as is

necessary for the understanding of the principles of surveying and

fortification, plan drawing, the construction and use of scales, and

military sketching.

The other course embraces surveying in its more advanced branches,

military reconnaissances and road reports, field fortification,

including the attack and defence of small posts, the construction of

simple intrenchments, redoubts, and field works, profiling and tracing

on the ground, gabion and fascine making, camping, and the construction

of field ovens and cook-houses.

2. Officers will not be allowed to go through the course of

instruction unless their commanding officer will certify that they are

intelligent, zealous, and well conducted; but considering that the stay

of regiments at this camp is frequently limited, the Lieutenant-General

Commanding would wish that every facility should be given to officers to

avail themselves of the instruction, even though they may not be

thoroughly acquainted, with all their duties.

3. Every officer wishing to attend the course of instruction will

submit his application to his commanding officer, who will forward it

with his recommendation and the certificate mentioned in the last

paragraph, or with such remarks as he may have to offer, should he

consider it his duty not to recommend the application.

4. Officers going through the elementary course will be struck off all

duty for two months (Sundays excepted). They will go on flying columns.

5. Officers anxious to attend the second course will be allowed to do

so for four months, during which time they will take all regimental

duties which would entail extra work on the other officers, but will be

excused all brigade and divisional duties, except those mentioned in

paragraph 7.

6. Officers permitted to attend are not to absent themselves without

leave from the Lieutenant-General commanding.

7. Officers are to be present at divisional field days, and when the

division marches into the country during the winter months, either with

the deputy assistants quartermaster-general sketching the ground, noting

the movements, preparing reports, etc. (in undress, without swords), or

if not so employed they are to fall in with their respective corps.

8. The number of officers attending is restricted to two per regiment.

9. The instruction will extend from 10 A.M. till 1 P.M., excepting on

Saturdays, when all the officers will attend till 12 only.

10. Staff officers who may wish to avail themselves of the instruction

given at the Survey Office, or in the field, may attend at such hours as

the nature of the duties they have to perform will admit.

11. Officers of the division generally will be assisted by the

D.A.Q.M.G.s as far as practicable, in pursuing their studies in other

branches.

12. A diary will be kept showing the names of all officers attending,

the hours of attendance, the work done, etc.; this diary is to be

submitted for the inspection of the Lieutenant-General commanding, and

from it a monthly report will be prepared for the information of the

Field Marshal.

13. Officers will be allowed the use of surveying instruments but will

have to provide their own drawing and other materials. They will,

however, be permitted to retain all sketches, plans, and reports thus

made on their own materials, after they have been returned from the

Council.

The course actually carried out in 1868-69 was as follows:

Explanation, use, and construction of scales--several examples worked

and a plate of scales drawn--mode of using the usual drawing

instruments, protractors, and Marquois’ scales.

Use of the prismatic compass--a road is traversed with the

compass--bearings and measurements entered in a field-book, and the

result plotted indoors on a large scale.

A plate of the conventional signs used by the topographical

department, and a set of the seven examples of shading ground (by the

late Major Petley), according to the latest scale of shade, are given to

each officer to copy.

The general principles of plan drawing, and the mode of conducting a

survey by means of measuring a base, and by a triangulation, are

explained, and a flat piece of ground is sketched with the compass, and

plotted in the field.

The method of representing ground by contours only is now explained

and illustrated by models, drawings, etc., and it is shown how from a

contoured plan sections and elevations of ground are made, also how by

adding shade to the contoured plan, a certain pictorial effect is

produced, etc.

Abney’s pocket level and clinometer is explained, and various modes of

rough levelling illustrated.

The method of using the pocket sextant is next shown, and the officers

are taken to a plateau with strongly marked slopes, a base is measured,

triangulation made by means of the sextant; and the artificial features

filled in.

Contours at 25 feet vertically apart are now sketched in chain dotted

lines, and several sectional lines taken by means of the level,

clinometer, compass, and a scale of hypothenuses, and the various angles

of inclination written on the sketch. The scale of shade is explained,

and the officers taught how to apply it to the sketch of ground so

contoured, and the sketch finished up as directed in the memorandum by

the Council of Military Education.

Major-General Napier’s pamphlet on reconnaissance is given to each

officer, and four or five miles of road reconnoitred, sketched, and

reported on.

A sketch on a small scale of as large a tract of country as time and

weather will permit of is next made, triangulation done with the sextant

or theodolite, and lastly, a rapid eye-sketch, without instruments, of

some hilly ground.

Some work on field fortification, chiefly the chapters describing the

defence of buildings, villages, and positions, also some work on

surveying, is read.

At the conclusion of each course all sketches and reports, with a

return showing the number of hours’ attendance of each officer, his

attention and progress, are forwarded to the Council of Military

Education.

ADVANCED CLASS FOR ARTILLERY OFFICERS AT WOOLWICH.

The necessity of more advanced attainments both in the science and

practice of gunnery was pointed out by the Commissioners in 1856, but

nothing was done till Colonel Lefroy urged the matter on the Council of

Military Education in 1862, and in November, 1863, regulations were

issued for the establishment of Advanced Classes of Artillery Officers

at Woolwich.

A Director of Artillery Studies was first appointed in 1850, upon the

recommendation of Field-Marshal Sir Hew Ross, G.C.B., R.A. (then

Adjutant-General of Artillery). His duties were to take charge of and

direct the studies of the young officers of artillery on first joining

at Woolwich, to assist them in their professional pursuits, and read

with them military law, military history, treatises on artillery,

fortification, etc.

The appointment was made provisionally in the first instance, but

confirmed before the close of a year. In April, 1853, the department was

increased by the addition of French and German masters, who, besides

assisting the young officers, were called upon to afford instruction in

their respective languages to officers of artillery of all ranks who

might be desirous of profiting by it.

An allowance of 300_l._ per annum was also made to enable a proportion

of the more intelligent of the young officers to accompany the Director

in visits to arsenals and fortresses abroad and manufacturing districts

at home.

In July, 1855, the Director of Artillery Studies was allowed the

following assistants: 2 Captains of Artillery, 1 Instructor in

Surveying, 1 Instructor in Military Drawing, etc., 1 Lecturer on Natural

Philosophy and Mechanics, 3 Non-commissioned officers, for the purpose

of giving instruction to certain gentlemen provisionally commissioned

from public colleges or schools after a competitive examination, but

without passing through the Academy.

The Director was expected to advise and assist the efforts of officers

of the Royal Artillery in improving their professional qualifications,

and to arrange classes of officers for instruction in chemistry,

photography, drawing, French, and German, at the Royal Artillery

Institution. He was to inform himself of all the more interesting

experiments under the Ordnance Select Committee, as well as the

operations and processes carried on in the Government manufacturing

departments. He was to arrange and conduct the annual military tour on

the continent; and direct the studies of young officers.

Upon the formation of the Advanced Class in 1864, the staff was

greatly increased, and an Assistant Director appointed, to take charge

in the absence of the Director; to give instruction to classes of

officers of the regiment sent to Woolwich from time to time, to officers

from the Staff College, and to Militia and Volunteer artillery officers;

to prepare questions for the examination of subaltern officers Royal

Artillery for promotion, and report on the results of such examinations;

to attend on foreigners of distinction, and other duties performed by

the Director prior to the formation of the Advanced Class.

The following shows the attendance for the year ending 31st March,

1869:

Advanced class of artillery officers, 6 2 years’ course.

Firemasters’ class, R.A., 7 9 months’ course.

3 short course classes, “ “

{ Royal Artillery, 29 } 2 “ “

{ Military Store Staff, 8 }

Shoeburyness gunnery class, R.A., 20 3 “ “

Officers of the late Indian brigades, 3

{ 1 for 3 months’ course; 2 for 2 months’ course.

Officers from the Staff College, 13 1½ months’ course.

Militia artillery officers, 6 2 “ “

Volunteer artillery officers, 2

-- Total, 94

_Non-commissioned Officers and Men, Royal Artillery._

2 long course classes,

non-commissioned officers, 19 6 months’ course.

10 short course classes,

non-commissioned officers and men, 200 2 “ “

Shoeburyness gunnery class,

non-commissioned officers, 36 3 “ “

--- Total, 255

The young officers lately joined attend here twice a week to receive

instruction, by lectures, from the Assistant Director of Artillery

Studies on military law, courts-martial, and interior economy.

REGULATIONS FOR ADMISSION IN 1869.

The examination will be early in February of each year, at Woolwich,

under the Council of Military Education.

Candidates for this examination must have undergone a course of

instruction at Shoeburyness; or they must pass satisfactorily a

preliminary examination in practical artillery.

No officer will be admitted who will not have completed six years’

service on 31st March, 1870.

The subjects in which the candidates will be examined, and the

relative importance attached to the subjects, are as follows:

Mathematics, 700

Chemistry and physics, 300

_Mathematics_ includes--

Plane trigonometry (so much of it as is included in the first 16

chapters of Todhunter’s treatise).

Coördinate geometry of two dimensions (Hymer or Todhunter), viz.:

Straight line referred to rectangular, oblique, and polar coördinates.

The circle, parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola, referred to rectangular

and polar coördinates. The equation to the tangent, and the normal to

the circle, parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola referred to rectangular

axes, the sections of a right cone made by a plane.

Applications of the above to solutions of simple problems.

_Differential Calculus._--Differential coefficient of simple, inverse,

trigonometrical, and complex functions; proof of Taylor’s and

Maclaurin’s theorems and examples of expansions of functions;

differentiation of functions of two variables; limiting values of

functions which assume an indeterminate form; change of independent

variable; maxima and minima of functions of one variable; tangents,

normals, and asymptotes to plane curves; differential coefficients of

arcs, areas, etc.; radius of curvature (Hall or Todhunter).

_Integral Calculus._--Meaning of integration; examples of simple

integration; integration by parts; lengths of curves; areas of plane

curves (Hymer, Hall, or Todhunter).

_Elementary Mechanics._--(Whewell or Parkinson.)

_Chemistry._--The general laws of chemical combinations,--the

chemistry of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen, and of their chief

inorganic compounds. The metallurgic chemistry of iron. The chemical

principles of the manufacture and explosion of gunpowder.

_Physics._--In heat,--the subject of “thermometric heat” as treated in

the first seven chapters of “Tyndall on Heat.”

In electricity,--the subject of frictional electricity.

Officers competing are expected to be able to read French scientific

works, such as Helie’s “Traité de Balistique,” Piobert’s “Cours

d’Artillerie,” etc., etc., reference being constantly made to such works

during the course of instruction.

At the conclusion of each year’s course there will be a final

examination in the subjects read during the year; the marks gained at

the first examination being carried forward to the second, when

certificates will be given to those students who are found qualified.

The course of instruction extends over two years.

The subjects of study the first year are: Pure mathematics;

metallurgy; chemistry; mechanism and the steam engine; royal gun

factories; royal laboratory, Part I.

The subjects for the second year are: Mixed mathematics and applied to

gunnery; metallurgy; chemistry; heat and electricity; royal laboratory,

Parts II., III., IV.; royal gunpowder factory, including manufacture of

gun cotton; royal small arms factories, Enfield and Birmingham; royal

carriage department.

In connection with the instruction on metallurgy, the class visit each

year some of the principal private establishments in England and Wales,

accompanied by Dr. Percy, F.R.S., the lecturer on this subject. They

also visit locomotive and marine engine works in connection with the

lectures on the steam engine.

The following processes of manufacture are noted:

In the Royal Gun Factories: Metallurgy of copper, tin, zinc, and their

compounds; mechanical and chemical properties of gun metal.

Metallurgy of iron, including cast iron and wrought iron, steel and

alloys; mechanical and chemical properties.

Principles of construction of cast guns.

Principles of construction of built-up guns, welding, etc.

The steam hammer.

Turning, boring, rifling, and sighting guns. All the machines, lathes,

special tools, and processes.

Comparison of systems of rifling and breech-loading for cannon.

Gauges and micrometrical measurements.

Organization of labor in the Royal Gun Factories.

System of account keeping, pricing, and payment in the Royal Gun

Factories.

Relations to the Director of Stores, Director of Contracts, Principal

Superintendent of Stores, and Director of Ordnance.

Patterns, system respecting them.

Examination of Stores.

Duties of the Inspector of Artillery: proof of guns; examination of

guns and stores.

The Small Arms Departments, Enfield and Pimlico, will follow the Royal

Gun Factories, and be treated in the same comprehensive manner,

including the system of supply of small arms to the army, their repair,

and comparison of systems of rifling and breech-loading for small arms.

From the Royal Gun Factories the class will proceed to the Royal

Carriage Department, where the subjects will be:

Selection and purchase of timber.

Seasoning of timber.

Sawmills.

Planing and other machinery applied to working of timber.

Construction.

Mechanical principles as applied in military machines.

Friction, draught, traction, locomotive power.

Harness.

Organization of labor in the Royal Carriage Department.

System of accountability and payment.

Prices.

Relations to Director of Stores, Director of Contracts, Principal

Superintendent of Stores, and Director of Ordnance.

Patterns, systems respecting them.

Examination of stores.

Here will evidently conveniently come in the organization and duties

of the department of the Principal Superintendent of Stores, including

the detail of equipments for all services, and proportions of stores,

packing ammunition, arrangement of magazines.

The last term will be devoted to the manufacture of gunpowder,

ammunition, and generally the duties of the Royal Laboratory, including

the chemistry of the subjects.

Selection and purchase of pyrotechnic material.

Examination and refining of saltpetre, etc.

Gunpowder and powder-mills.

Theory of gunpowder, qualities, effect of different sized grains.

Electro-ballistic apparatus, and other modes of proof.

Gun cotton.

Detonating compounds.

Other laboratory preparations.

Small arm ammunition, cannon ammunition, fuzes, rockets, etc.

Manufacture of bullets.

Casting of every description of projectile for smooth-bored and rifled

ordnance.

Organization of the Royal Laboratory Department.

Supply of raw material.

System of account keeping and payment.

Prices.

Relations to the Director of Stores, Director of Contracts, Principal

Superintendent of Stores, and Director of Ordnance.

Patterns, inspection. Examination of stores.

III. SCHOOL OF GUNNERY AT SHOEBURYNESS.

Shoeburyness first became a station for artillery practice in the year

1849. The practice was, however, at that time confined to experiments,

which were conducted on a very limited scale, under the department of

the Director-General of Artillery. A battery was constructed and some

wooden huts erected at the station in that year; but for several years

nothing but experimental practice was carried on by batteries of

artillery who were sent to Shoeburyness merely for the summer months,

and were quartered, at least partially, under canvas. No permanent staff

were employed, the senior officer present with the troops being in

command of the station. In 1854 the establishment assumed a more

permanent character, and was placed under a lieutenant-colonel of

artillery as commandant, who was also at the same time superintendent of

experiments. It still, however, continued to be merely a station for

artillery practice and experiments, until 1859.

The objects for which the School of Gunnery was established are to

ensure a completeness and uniformity in the instruction of the officers

and men of the Royal Artillery in the use of the weapons and military

machines they are called upon to use; impart to them a knowledge of the

ammunition, stores, and appliances made use of in the artillery service;

of the effect of shot and shell under various circumstances; and, by

constant practice from guns of every description, to train and educate

from year to year a number of officers and men who would carry with them

to their respective brigades an amount of valuable knowledge and

experience which would become in that way, and in due time, diffused

throughout the Royal Artillery, in the same manner as the gunnery

instruction for the Royal Navy on board the “Excellent,” and the

musketry instruction for the infantry at Hythe have percolated with such

advantage through those services.

On the first of April in each year a class of from 20 to 25 officers is

formed for what is termed a “long course,” embracing a period of 12

months; and a class of about 40 non-commissioned officers, for a similar

course.

These classes are formed into two separate squads, and entirely occupy

the time of the chief instructor, one gunnery instructor, and four

assistant instructors. They are instructed in the drills and exercises

of every species of ordnance, and the mode of mounting and dismounting

them under various circumstances and with different means; in

transporting the heaviest guns from place to place and mounting them

under difficulties; in making rafts; embarking and disembarking guns;

making up ammunition; preparing demands for stores; carrying on gun

practice with shot, shell, etc.; making signals; throwing up batteries

as at a siege, and afterward testing their efficiency by firing at them;

attending lectures on artillery subjects by the officers instructing the

classes, and on subjects of a scientific nature, and bearing upon the

science of artillery, by professional gentlemen engaged from time to

time for the purpose.

The non-commissioned officers attend these latter lectures, and also

receive from the schoolmaster, under the direction of the officer in

charge of the class (and with great advantage), instruction in

mathematics, and in mechanical drawing applicable to the course they are

being carried through.

In addition to these “long courses,” as they are termed, another class

of 33 non-commissioned officers is sent every three months to go through

what is termed a “short course,” for the purpose of being instructed in

the various duties connected with the service, transport, etc., of heavy

guns.

The result of this system is that an officer and two non-commissioned

officers highly qualified to instruct in all artillery duties and

exercises are sent annually to each brigade; also eight non-commissioned

officers well qualified to assist in the instruction of the

non-commissioned officers and men of their brigades in most duties

connected with heavy ordnance, and with enlarged views of artillery

subjects generally.

Further instruction is imparted to the regiment by sending batteries

from Woolwich, Aldershot, and other contiguous stations, to carry on

their practice, and regimental duty. They take guards and fatigues, move

guns, and otherwise prepare for experiments, and each in its turn goes

through a short course of instruction. The officers and a proportion of

non-commissioned officers of these batteries are formed into a class

under one of the gunnery instructors and his two assistants, and when

they have gone through a preliminary course, one of the batteries, or

more if practicable, are taken off duty for a month, in order to go

through a systematic course, which, though short, is nevertheless highly

valuable.

The staff for government and instruction consists of:

Commandant and Superintendent of Experiments, Brigade major, Surgeon,

Adjutant, Quartermaster, Master gunner, Sergeant-major,

Quartermaster-sergeant.

_School of Gunnery._

1 chief instructor, a field officer

4 gunnery instructors (including 1 at Woolwich), captains.

1 first-class clerk.

1 third-class clerk.

6 first-class assistant instructors.

1 army schoolmaster.

22 store, magazine, and lobbymen.

_Experimental Establishment._

1 Assistant superintendent.

1 second-class assistant superintendent.

1 first-class clerk.

3 laboratory sergeants.

3 range sergeants.

15 storemen, etc.

1 staff wheeler, 1 hospital sergeant, 1 photographer, 1 armorer, 2

wheelers, 2 smiths.

Elementary exercises for the purpose of instructing the squad in

dealing with heavy weights without machines, showing the best mode of

applying power in moving guns, commencing with light and progressing to

guns of 23 tons; instruction concerning ropes, tackles, knots, etc.

Field, garrison, and siege gun drill with smooth bore and rifled guns

mounted on various carriages and platforms; drills with howitzers and

mortars; throwing up works of offence and defence, arming them and

laying platforms, making up ammunition, and arrangements for night

firing.

Exercises with military machines; construction of sheers, derricks,

etc., and placing them in awkward places; construction of trestle and

other bridges for the purpose of passing heavy artillery across ditches,

etc., and of rafts for similar purposes.

Embarkation of artillery and horses.

Mounting, dismounting, and moving heavy guns without the aid of

machines.

Practice from heavy and field guns, smooth bore and rifled, at known

and unknown distances, with full and reduced charges.

Battalion drill and telegraphy.

In the lecture room, instruction in the mechanical powers, in gunnery,

systems of rifling, action and penetration of the service projectiles;

construction, examination, and record of guns.

Army administration as affecting artillery.

Lectures on gunpowder, gun cotton, and fulminates; on metallurgy; on

the various modes of computing velocities and the instruments employed;

on electricity and steam; on strategy and tactics.

Cordage, knotting, tackles, parbuckling, pinching, slewing, etc.

Mounting and dismounting with and without gins.

Drill and practice with 32-pr. and 8 seconds guns.

Drill and practice with mortars on standing and travelling beds, also

mounting and dismounting.

Drill practice with 40-pr. and 64-pr. guns, firing at moving target;

drill with 7 seconds B.L. guns; drill with 7 seconds, 9 seconds, and 12

seconds M.L.R. guns and practice; dismounting and mounting the above.

Laying platforms, etc.

Use of platform wagon.

Light sheers.

Rocket drill and practice.

Facing B.L. guns.

Practical examination, etc.

Cordage, knotting, elementary exercises.

Ordinary shifts and machine drill.

Mortar drill and practice.

12-pr. B.L. gun drill and practice.

40-pr., 64-pr. and 7 seconds B.L. gun drill and practice.

7 seconds and 9 seconds M.L. gun drill and practice.

Dismounting 7 seconds and 9 seconds guns by gins and jacks.

Parbuckling 7 seconds and 9 seconds guns and moving on sledges.

Laying platforms.

Rocket drill and practice.

Sheers (heavy and light), derricks, etc.

Facing vent pieces.

Redrilling and examination of the non-commissioned officers.

STAFF COLLEGE AND STAFF APPOINTMENTS.

HISTORICAL NOTICE.

The Senior Department of the Military College at Sandhurst was

constituted in 1808, to enable officers “to qualify themselves for the

Quartermaster-General’s and Adjutant-General’s departments;” and during

the Peninsular war, most of the officers in these branches of the

service were educated there. So high was its reputation, that the French

Staff School was suggested and modeled after it. From motives of

economy, its independent government and instruction was gradually

reduced, and its graduates, no matter how well qualified, were no longer

sure of appointment and promotion, as against purchase, until, in 1855,

it became virtually extinct,--the teaching force being reduced to two

professors in mathematical studies, and the number of students to six.

In the same year, the French Staff School, with its thirteen military

and five civil professors, and its range of instruction covering the

entire field of practical duties which belong to an efficient staff

officer, was held up as a model. In the plans and discussions respecting

the reorganization and extension of the educational system of the army,

which followed the Crimean war--in the Report (1855) of the Select

Committee of the House of Commons on Sandhurst; on the suggestions

(1856) of the Commissioners on the Training of officers for the

Scientific Corps; the plan of Mr. Sidney Herbert, as Secretary of War,

in 1854 and 1856; in the instructions of Lord Panmure, in 1856; in the

resolution of the House of Commons, July 28, 1857; in the recommendation

of the Royal Commission on the purchase system, in their Report of 1857;

in the plans of the Council of Military Education, in the same year--the

supreme necessity of a staff college, with admission by competitive

examination, and the assured encouragement of appointment and promotion

on ascertained proficiency and general fitness, was so clearly

demonstrated, that at the close (December 17) of 1857, the Senior

Department of Sandhurst was changed to that of a staff college, with a

corps of professors of its own. A separate building was completed for

its accommodation, in 1862; admission was open to officers of all

branches of the service by competitive examination. All appointments to

the Staff were limited to graduates of the College, who had been

attached, for specified periods, to each branch of the service, and to

officers of approved ability in the field.

The present establishment consists of

1 Commandant; 1 Adjutant; 2 Professors of Mathematics; 7 Professors

(1 in each) of Military history, Fortification and Artillery, Military

Topography, Military Administration, French, German, and Hindustani;

besides the services of the Riding-master, and the Professors of

Chemistry and Geology attached to the Cadet College of Sandhurst.

CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION IN 1868.

The college consists of thirty students. Fifteen vacancies will be

offered for competition annually. Only one officer at a time can belong

to the college from a battalion of infantry or a regiment of cavalry,

and only four officers from the Corps of Royal Artillery; but any number

can compete. The officer desiring to compete must be serving with his

regiment.

The qualifications requisite for admission are:

1. A service of not less than five years previous to examination,

exclusive of leave of absence.

2. A certificate from his commanding officer, as to his standing as a

regimental officer, and his general knowledge of the service, character,

habits, and disposition in respect to employment on the staff.

3. Certificate of having passed the examination for a troop or company.

4. Medical certificate of good health and fitness for the active duties

of the staff.

Military schools and courses of instruction in the science and art of war, in France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Sardinia, England, and the United States. Drawn from recent official reports and documents. Revised Edition · 第 11 / 20 章

VI. The successful candidates will remain under instruction for about