THE ENGINEERS.
Gibraltar is well named the Key of the Mediterranean. In peace it
protects our commerce and our fleets, in war it affords equal facility
for harassing our foes; by its position and its strength its possession
is of the utmost importance to the English, and it has excited for the
last century and a half the suspicion and the jealousy of other nations.
The rock of Gibraltar projects into the sea about three miles. Its
northern extremity, owing to its perpendicular altitude, is inaccessible;
its southern extremity is known as Europa Point; and the southern
and eastern sides are rugged and steep, affording natural defences of
a very formidable character. It is only on the western side fronting
the bay that the rock gradually declines to the sea; but the town of
Gibraltar is so built that an attack upon it, however well planned,
however strong or long continued, is almost certain of failure. The bay
formed by the two points already named is more than four miles across.
The depth of its waters, and the protection afforded by the headland,
render the harbour remarkably secure, and it is well adapted for vessels
of every description. The extreme depth of the water within the bay is
a hundred and ten fathoms. The security of the harbour has been still
further increased by two moles, one extending eleven hundred feet, and
the other seven hundred feet into the bay. The bold outline of the
rock is conspicuous and striking, as it lifts its colossal proportions
into the sky, and against the intense blue of that sky every crag is
sharply defined. From the water to the summit, from the land forts to
Europa Point, the whole rock is lined with formidable batteries. Like
a crouching lion it looks out to sea, and every foe is daunted by its
aspect.
Gibraltar is essentially military. Sentinels, gateways, drawbridges,
fortifications, guns pointing this way, that way, and the other, looking
as if—supposing them to be fired—they would inevitably blow up one
another; narrow streets of stairs which it is hard work in the hot
sunshine to ascend; nothing to see when you reach the top but a line of
ramparts, and another street of stairs in perspective. Excavated passages
in the rock lead from point to point; every new position seems more
impregnable than the last; awful heights rise above, terrific depths
yawn below; guns peer—at the most unexpected points—from the sides of
the rock, as if they were natural productions; tunnelled galleries open
to the right and to the left, inviting or deterring the visitor. There
is one huge chamber cut out of the solid rock, and serving as a battery
or a banquet room as occasion may require; it is called St. George’s
Hall, and is the most formidable and singular cutting of Gibraltar. There
is another excavation of the same character christened by the name of
Cornwallis, but it is neither so spacious nor so elegant as that of St.
George.
The people one meets in Gibraltar are a mixed multitude—the familiar
English uniform is of course conspicuous, but for the rest it is only
what we have read of, or heard of, or dreamed of in connexion with Gil
Blas and Don Quixote. There is so much that is Spanish that you might
fancy yourself in Barcelona; so much that is Moorish that you might fancy
yourself in Morocco; so much that is English, Italian, Greek, Polish,
Jewish, African, and Portuguese, that you might conceive yourself to be
in the midst of an animated Ethnological museum on a large scale, opened
at Gibraltar, regardless of expense.
The rock of Gibraltar, forming with Abyla in ancient times the far-famed
pillars of Hercules, was captured from the Spaniards by Sir George Rooke
in 1704. During the nine following years the Spaniards in vain tried to
recover it, and in 1713 its possession was secured to the English by the
treaty of the peace of Utrecht. But treaties are liable to be broken.
When the men of the pen have finished their work the men of the sword
may undo it. To hold the rock of Gibraltar by treaty was one thing, to
hold it by strength was another. The fortifications required for its
defence were necessarily on a gigantic scale, and the men of the pick and
the shovel were in request. When we glance at the subterranean passages
cut in the rock, the huge caverns scooped out of it, the long lines of
rampart making the place impregnable, even though attacked by an enemy
having the command of the sea, we may readily understand how important
was the service rendered by the engineer and labourer. So important
indeed was their work, that it added a new division to the British army—a
division, that wherever our flag waves has done good service—namely, that
of the Engineers.
Previous to the year 1772 all our great engineering works in connexion
with military operations were mainly executed by civilians. The works at
Gibraltar were entrusted to ordinary mechanics obtained from England and
the Continent. These operatives were not engaged for any term of years,
neither were they amenable to military discipline; they worked when they
pleased, they idled when they pleased; they were wholly regardless of
authority; received good wages; and their dismissal was in all instances
more injurious to the Government than it was to the men.
The hindrance and inconvenience of this system led to the formation
of a corps of _military artificers_. The idea was suggested to
Lieutenant-Colonel Green by the useful result of the occasional
occupation of soldiers who had learned mechanical trades previous to
enlistment. He thought it possible that a sufficient number of these men
might be banded together for the carrying on of all necessary engineering
works, and that their employment would lessen the cost while it secured
the completion of any engineering operation, and at the same time, that
the men so employed would at any period be ready to participate in the
defence of the place.
Lieutenant-Colonel Green submitted his suggestion to the Governor of
Gibraltar. The governor approving the plan, it was recommended to the
attention of the Secretary of State, and royal consent was given to the
measure in a warrant dated March 6th, 1772: thus originated the corps of
Royal Sappers and Miners.
The warrant authorised the raising and forming of a company of
artificers, to consist of a sergeant-major, as adjutant, who was to
receive 3_s._ a day; three sergeants, each of whom was to receive 1_s._
6_d._ a day; three corporals, whose pay was 1_s._ 2_d._ a day; and sixty
privates, and one drummer, each of whom was to receive 10_d._ a day.
The rank of adjutant attached to that of sergeant-major was not adopted,
but it appears to have been taken by Thomas Bridger, who so describes
himself on his wife’s tombstone at Gibraltar, adding thereto a touching
tribute to her charity, and a sneer at the end—like the sting in the tail
of the serpent—at the parsimony of the Government.
“A more loving wife or friend sincere
Never will be buried here;
Charitable she was to all,
_Altho’ her income it was small_.”
Recruiting for this company was a service of but little difficulty, as
permission was granted to fill it with men from the regiment then serving
in the garrison. The whole of the civil mechanics were not discharged
from the department on account of this measure; a few, on the score
of their merit, were retained in the fortress; the foreign artificers
were dismissed; most of the English “contracted artificers” sent home;
permission, however, was given to any “good men” who chose to enlist; but
not one availed himself of the privilege.
Before the close of the year 1772, the ranks of the company were
almost full, and the system was found to work so well, that on the
recommendation of the lieutenant-governor a fresh warrant was issued
for the increase of the corps, and no sooner was it completed than the
engineers proceeded with great spirit in the execution of the King’s
Bastion. On laying the foundation of this work, General Boyd, in his
speech, desired that the bastion might be as gallantly defended as he
knew it would be ably executed, and that he might live to see it resist
the united efforts of France and Spain. His desire was fully realised.
He not only lived to see what he wished, but materially to assist in the
operations of the siege.[1]
In October, 1775, the company of Soldier Artificers was still further
augmented, and consisted of one hundred and sixteen non-commissioned
officers and men.
Gibraltar, ever since its capture by the English in 1704, had been
a source of jealousy and uneasiness to Spain; as soon as ever an
opportunity offered for the commencement of hostilities, Spain assumed
an aggressive attitude, and in 1779 sat down before the place at St.
Roque with a powerful camp, and sent out a fleet to cut off supplies.
The gallant old General Elliot, and the no less gallant veteran Boyd,
defended the rock nobly, and found their best help in the Soldier
Artificers. The sufferings of the undaunted garrison were great—the
price of mutton or beef being 3_s._ 6_d._ a pound, eggs sixpence each,
and mouldy biscuit crumbs 1_s._ a pound; but the indomitable energy
of the men never slackened; they laboured night and day, piercing the
rock with subterranean passages, and forming vast receptacles for
stores and ammunition in the solid stone. Failing in their efforts to
reduce the garrison by famine, the French and Spaniards, after three
years’ beleaguering, began a terrific bombardment. Fire was opened with
unexampled fury, and continued incessantly for days and weeks. The
battering flotilla was warmly received by the “dwellers in the rock.”
But for a long period the battering ships seemed invulnerable. At length
red-hot shot was employed by the garrison, and sheets of resistless flame
burst in all directions from the flotilla: the whole of the batteries
were burnt; the magazines blew up, one after another; and it was a
miracle that the loss of the enemy by drowning did not exceed the number
saved by the merciful efforts of the garrison.
The contest was still prolonged: the enemy were bent on reducing their
invincible opponents at all cost. The British were in no mood to yield;
red-hot shot was their grand specific; the Artificers were instantly
employed in erecting kilns in various parts of the fortress, each kiln
capable of heating a hundred shot in an hour.
The struggle continued for some time; from one thousand to two thousand
rounds were poured into the garrison in the twenty-four hours, and this
was kept up for months. During the cannonade, the Artificers under
the engineers were constantly engaged in the diversified works of the
fortress, and they began to rebuild the fortification known as the Orange
Bastion, on the sea line, and in the face of a galling fire completed
their work in three months. The number of the Artificers had been
augmented by the arrival of one hundred and forty-one mechanics, under
Lord Howe; but, even taking this into account, the erection of such a
work in solid masonry, and under such circumstances, is unprecedented in
any siege.
Failing to obtain the submission of the garrison either by famine or
bombardment, the enemy attempted to mine a cave in the rock, by which to
blow up the north front, and thus make a breach for their easy entrance
into the fortress. The secret was revealed by a deserter; but very little
attention was paid to his statement, until the discovery of the enemy’s
proceedings was made by Sergeant Thomas Jackson, who, making a perilous
descent of the rock by the help of ropes and ladders, ascertained beyond
all doubt the work in which the Spaniards were engaged. The ratification
of peace put an end to all military operations, and terminated a siege
which extended—with circumstances of unparalleled difficulty and
danger—over a period of four years.
During the whole of this memorable defence, the Company of Artificers
proved themselves to be good and brave soldiers, and no less conspicuous
for their skill, usefulness, and zeal in the works—works, as the
commander of the hostile forces [Duc de Crillon] remarked, “worthy of the
Romans.”
At the close of the siege, there were twenty-nine rank and file wanting
to complete the number of Soldier Artificers. The deficiency was
speedily supplied, and the company was never allowed to sink beneath
its established number. A force of more than two hundred and twenty
non-commissioned officers and artificers were employed in restoring the
work which had suffered during the bombardment; and to expedite the
labour, the Soldier Artisans were excused from all garrison routine,
as well as from their own regimental guard and routine, and freed from
all interference likely to interrupt them in the performance of their
working duties. Still, to impress them with the recollection that their
civil employments and privileges did not make them any the less soldiers,
they were paraded, generally under arms, on Sundays; and to heighten
the effect of their military appearance, wore accoutrements which had
belonged to a disbanded Newfoundland regiment, purchased for them at
the economical outlay of seven shillings a set. Perhaps no body of men
subject to the articles of war were ever permitted to live and work under
a milder surveillance; and it may be added, that none could have rendered
service more in keeping with the indulgences bestowed.
In the summer of 1786 the company was divided into two, the chief
engineer still continuing in command of both companies. About the same
time, those men who were disqualified in any way for service were removed
from the corps, and the enlistment of _labourers_, in addition to skilled
hands, was authorized by the Government. Five batches of recruits were
sent to the Rock in rapid succession. The second party of recruits,
comprising fifty-eight men, twenty-eight women, and twelve children, were
destroyed in a storm off Dunkirk. Only three persons escaped.
The valuable services rendered by the corps, and the hearty good-will
with which they invariably laboured, led to a still further extension
of their privileges. They were allowed to pass in and out of garrison
on Sundays and holidays without a written pass, and to wear at pleasure
whatever dress suited their inclination. It was not uncommon, therefore,
for the non-commissioned officers and the respectable portion of the
privates to stroll about garrison or ramble into Spain, dressed in black
silk and satin breeches, white silk stockings, and silver knee or shoe
buckles, drab beaver hats and scarlet jackets, tastefully trimmed with
white kerseymere.
In 1787 the king’s authority was granted “for establishing a corps of
Royal Military Artificers.” It was to consist of six companies, of a
hundred men each. Officers of the Royal Engineers were appointed to
command the corps; and when required to parade with other regiments the
corps was directed to take post next on the left of the Royal Artillery.
The companies were ordered to serve at Woolwich, Chatham, Portsmouth,
Gosport, Plymouth, and one company was divided between Jersey and
Guernsey. The companies at Gibraltar, although similarly constituted,
remained a distinct and separate body until their incorporation with
the corps in 1797. The recruiting was carried on by the captains of
companies; there was no standard as to height fixed, but labourers were
not enlisted over twenty-five years of age nor any artificer over thirty,
unless he had been employed in the Ordnance Department and was known to
be an expert workman of good character. The bounty given at first to
each recruit was five guineas, but during time of peace it was reduced
to three. Labourers promoted to the rank of artificers received a bonus
of two guineas, an additional 3_d._ a day, and were privileged to wear a
gold-laced hat.
By the operative classes some opposition was offered to the enrolment of
the Royal Artificers, and on more than one occasion a serious outbreak
took place between the civilians and the military; the jealousy,
however, at last died out, and the old animosity was forgotten.
In 1791, a vessel bearing several recruits to Gibraltar encountered a
terrific storm in the Bay of Biscay. The wreck and its circumstances gave
rise to a song called “The Bay of Biscay O!”
The declaration of war with France, 1793, put an end to the comfortable
and easy life which the Royal Artificers had been leading. They were, as
soldiers, liable to be sent to any part of the world where the British
Government might require their services. The idea of this liability
ever being insisted upon seems to have been foreign to the minds of
the corps. When it was known that their services would be required in
the Low Countries and in the West Indies, many of them eluded service
by providing substitutes, and some resorted to the very dishonourable
alternative of desertion. Of the finest company sent out to the West
Indies, not a man escaped the ravages of “yellow Jack.” Those who served
in Holland distinguished themselves by their bravery, especially at the
famous siege of Valenciennes. The continuance of the war rendering it
essential that the artizan companies should be kept in foreign stations,
while the necessity for increased vigilance at home was each day becoming
more urgent, led to the extension of the corps, and four new companies
were enrolled—two to serve in Flanders, one in the West Indies, and one
in Upper Canada.
The special company destined for service in the West Indies sailed from
Spithead, November, 1793, and arrived at Barbadoes early in the following
year. From thence they proceeded to Martinique, where their spirited
conduct in the field commanded the admiration of the whole army. The
companies which were sent both to Toulon and Flanders behaved also with
much gallantry, proving that the Royal Artificers were not only skilled
workmen but efficient soldiers.
In June, 1797, the Soldier Artificers Corps at Gibraltar were
incorporated with the Royal Military Artificers; by this incorporation
the latter corps were increased from 801 to 1075, of all ranks; but its
numerical strength only reached 759 men. Detachments of the corps served
with credit under Sir Ralph Abercrombie at Trinidad, and also in the
unsuccessful attack on Porto Rico.
Among the measures suggested for reducing Porto Rico was one for taking
the town by forcing the troops through the lagoon bounding the east side
of the island. In order to ascertain whether the lagoon was fordable,
David Sinclair, one of the Military Artificers, picked his way across
at dead of night, reached the opposite shore in safety, and picked his
way back again to report. He was rewarded for this daring act, but the
fording of the lagoon presented so many difficulties as to be given up.
The memorable mutiny of the Fleet at Spithead was followed by the rising
of some unprincipled men, who by every means endeavoured to shake the
allegiance of the soldiery. The Plymouth Company of Artificers in an
especial manner distinguished itself by its open and soldier-like
activity against these disloyal exertions; in a printed document, bearing
date May, 1797, they avowed at that momentous crisis their “firm loyalty,
attachment, and fidelity to their most Gracious _Sovereign_ and to their
_Country_.” The declaration was well timed, and had the desired effect.
Throughout the war in the Low Countries the Corps of Artificers rendered
eminent service. One of their most important achievements was that of the
total destruction of the Bruges canal.
About the same time a company of Artificers was sent to Turkey to operate
with the troops of the Sultan against Napoleon, in Egypt. There also they
distinguished themselves alike by their active service and good conduct.
A Turk having attempted to stab one of the men, was sentenced by the
Turkish governor to death; this punishment, at the earnest entreaty of
the commanding officer, was mitigated, the culprit being sentenced to
receive fifty strokes of the bastinado, to be imprisoned twenty years,
and to _learn the Arabic language_.
In the West Indies the Artificers were exposed to worse than human foe.
There the yellow fever decimated their ranks, but the conduct of the men
throughout was both intrepid and humane, and in the despatches reference
is frequently made to their exemplary conduct. When the mortality was at
its height, three privates voluntarily devoted themselves to the burial
of the dead, and worked on with unflinching ardour; surrounded by the
pest in its worst form, inhaling the worst effluvia, never for a moment
forsaking their frightful service, they laboured on inspiriting those
about them by their example, until the necessity for their exertions no
longer existed.
In 1806 a company of Military Artificers was established at Malta, and
remained a distinct and separate body.
The necessity for an efficient body of trained artizan soldiers became,
indeed, every day more obvious; and no expedition of any consequence was
undertaken without a body of these men being included in the forces sent
out. In America, in the Indies, East and West, on Mediterranean service,
in the Peninsula, in the Low Countries, they were alike needed, and
rendered excellent service. At home, also, they were continually employed
in erecting new and strengthening the old fortifications, for it was
anticipated that Bonaparte would visit our shores, and that stone walls
as well as wooden walls would be required for our defence.
Throughout the Peninsular war the services of the corps were invaluable;
in sap, battery, and trench work, in the making of fascines and gabions,
in repairing broken batteries and damaged embrasures, in constructing
flying bridges over the Guadiana, the Artificer vied with the regular
engineers. Major Pasley, R.E., on his appointment to the Plymouth
station, began regularly to practise his men in sapping and mining.
He was one of those officers who took pains to improve the military
appearance and efficiency of his men, and to make them useful, either
for home or foreign employments. He is believed to have been the first
officer who represented the advantage of training the corps in the
construction of military field-work. After the failure at Badajoz (1811)
the necessity of this measure was strongly advocated by the war officers.
Then it was recommended to form a corps under the title of Royal Sappers
and Miners, to be composed of six companies, chosen from the Royal
Military Artificers, which, after receiving some instruction in the art,
was to be sent to the Peninsula to aid the troops in their future siege
operations.
In April, 1812, a warrant was issued for the formation of an
establishment for instructing the corps in military field-work. Chatham
was selected as the most suitable place for carrying out the royal
orders, and Major Pasley was appointed director of the establishment.
Uniting great zeal and unwearied perseverance with good talents and
judgment, Major Pasley succeeded in extending the course of instructions
far beyond the limits originally assigned, and he not only filled
the ranks of the corps with good scholars, good surveyors, and good
draughtsmen, but enabled many, after quitting this service, to occupy,
with ability and credit, situations of considerable importance in civil
life.
At Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, and other places made famous in the
Peninsular war, the Military Artificers won the praise of Wellington,
conducting themselves with the greatest gallantry and coolness.
On the 5th of March, 1813, the title of the corps was changed from
that of Royal Military Artificers to that of Royal Sappers and Miners.
A change of equipment was also introduced. In this respect many
irregularities had crept in, the members of the corps in various parts of
the world being variously armed, rather to suit their own fancy than to
meet the exigencies of the work. Uniformity in the matter was of great
importance, and this was gradually and effectually introduced.
When Napoleon, escaping from captivity in Elba, re-appeared in France,
and the armies of the allies were again summoned to the field, at the
instance of the Duke of Wellington the whole corps of Sappers and Miners
was sent to Brussels to join his Grace’s force, and were employed in
constructing indispensable field-works, or improving the fortifications
at Ostend, Ghent, Tournay, Oudenarde, Boom, Antwerp, Lille, Liepkenshock,
and Hae. At the battle of Waterloo the Royal Sappers and Miners were
not engaged, but three companies were brought conveniently near, to act
in the event of their services being needed. After the battle, all the
companies of the corps moved with the army towards Paris, and rendered
valuable service in the construction of pontoon bridges. After the
capitulation the men were encamped in the vicinity of Paris, until they
could be removed to other stations or sent home. Two companies remained
with the army of occupation; and in the naval victory of Algiers three of
the companies worked at the guns with the seamen of the fleet, and gained
equal credit with the navy and marines for their noble support.
In the Canadas the Sappers and Miners rendered themselves very useful,
especially in the formation of a new citadel at Quebec; their efficiency
also in pontoon work was universally acknowledged; of all the soldiers in
the army no men more deserved well of their country—useful as they were
alike in time of war and peace. “Indeed,” says Sir John Jones, “justice
requires it to be said, that these men, whether employed on brilliant
martial services or engaged in the more humble duties of their calling,
either under the vertical sun of the tropics or in the frozen regions of
the north, invariably conducted themselves as good soldiers; and by their
bravery, their industry, or their acquirements, amply repay the trouble
and expense of their formation and instruction.” In taking a bird’s-eye
view of the formation and growth of some of our military institutions,
the Rev. G. R. Gleig thus speaks of the corps: “Besides the infantry,
cavalry, and artillery, of which the army was composed, and the Corps of
Engineers, coeval with the latter there sprang up during the period of
the French Revolution other descriptions of force which proved eminently
useful, each in its own department, and of the composition of which a few
words will suffice to give an account. First, the Artificers, as they
were called, that is to say, the body of men trained to the exercises of
mechanical arts, such as carpentry, bricklaying, bridge-making, and so
forth, which in all ages seem to have attended on a British army in the
field, became the Royal Sappers and Miners, whose services on many trying
occasions proved eminently useful, and who still do their duty cheerfully
and satisfactorily in every quarter of the globe. During the late war
they were commanded, under the officers of engineers, by a body of
officers who took no higher rank than that of lieutenant, and consisted
entirely of good men, for whom their merits had earned commissions. Their
education, carried on at Woolwich and Chatham, trained them to act in
the field as guides and directors to all working parties, whether the
business in hand might be the construction of a bridge, the throwing up
of field works, or the conduct of a siege. Whatever the engineer officers
required the troops to do was explained to a party of Sappers, who,
taking each his separate charge, showed the soldiers of the Line both the
sort of work that was required of them and the best and readiest method
of performing it. The regiment of Sappers was the growth of the latter
years of the contest, after the British army had fairly thrown itself
into the great arena of Continental warfare, and proved so useful, that
while men wondered how an army could ever have been accounted complete
without this appendage, the idea of dispensing with it in any time to
come, seems never to have arisen in the minds of the most economical.”
In the erection of the Great Industrial Exhibition of 1851 the Sappers
and Miners afforded very valuable assistance, and won for themselves a
warm eulogium from the Prince Consort. In the formation of the Camp at
Chobham they were also very useful, and they were especially complimented
for their exertions by Colonel Vicars and Lord Seaton; but it was during
the war with Russia that they again figured most prominently before the
public.
On the outbreak with Russia a detachment of the Sappers and Miners was
sent out with the Baltic fleet, and a second company was despatched to
the Aland Islands. They played an important part in the destruction of
the forts and the capture of Bomarsund. Other detachments were sent to
Turkey, and did good service at Gallipoli, Boulair, and Ibridgi, winning
the “entire approbation” of Sir George Brown. At Scutari, Varna, Derno,
and Rustchuk they were still further distinguished. Before Sebastopol,
when shot and shell swept furiously into the trenches, the conduct of
the men was everything that could be desired. “The country,” wrote Lord
Raglan, “was covered with water; the trenches extremely muddy, their
condition adding greatly to the labours of the men employed in the
batteries, chiefly sailors, artillerymen, and sappers. _They conducted
their duties admirably._” Everywhere in posts of danger were the Sappers;
here piling up hides and fixing gabions; there fixing platforms, renewing
sleepers, and fastening bolts; here crawling on the earth, more like a
gnome than a man, but busy with pick and shovel, under a shower of rifle
bullets; there black with gunpowder, blasting the rock to widen the
trench; there the bright hammer of the Sapper plies on the newly-reared
parapet, and affords a mark for the enemy; here the horn lantern of the
Sapper gives feeble light to the busy workman, but a sure target to the
foe; everywhere, in battery, trench, and mine, the Sapper is the centre
of each party, toiling at his hazardous avocation through the long dark
night.
While the French amused their leisure with private theatricals, getting
up an impromptu theatre, the English Sappers built a church—built it
entirely of siege apparatus, the materials so arranged that they were
only in store, ready for use at a moment’s notice: scaling ladders,
gabions, fascines, timbers ready cut and shaped for gun platforms, a few
planks and pieces of rope. Two scaling ladders locked into each other
at the top, formed at certain intervals the columns which separated the
aisles from the body of the church and bore up the roof. The framework
of the outer wall was made of long upright timbers which leant against
the summits of each set of ladders respectively, and were secured by
cords. Across these a few joist beams were lashed, and the outer wall of
gabions in a great degree rested on these horizontal supports. The roof
was made by the platform timbers laid between the tops of the ladders on
each side, and at right angles to these, fascines were laid in regular
rows until a complete covering—but one admitting of free ventilation—was
formed. There solemn service was often held, and good words spoken by
good and brave men—with the Union Jack for a pulpit cloth.
Through the freezing winter and the wasting summer, for 337 days the
Sappers carried on their work before Sebastopol. The trenches they made
were nine miles long; twenty-two batteries were on the right, and twenty
batteries on the left; in the formation of the works there were no less
than 20,000 gabions, 4000 fascines, 340,000 sand bags, 7413 bread bags,
and a hundred different extemporaneous expedients to give shape and
solidity to the works.
They witnessed the triumphant end of their work; and they received
no small share of honour and reward, for the work they had done was
unsurpassed in ancient or in modern history.
During the Indian mutiny the services of the Engineers were of great
advantage, and the bravery and determination of the men both in defence
and attack were worthy of the highest commendation. In India there are,
we believe, still employed in the engineering arm of our service no less
than twelve companies of native Sappers and Miners.
We are all justly proud of our army, proud of its station among the
armies of Europe; its appearance, discipline, drill; proud of the history
of its achievements
⸺“of most disastrous chances;
Of moving accidents by flood and field;
Of hair-breadth ’scapes i’ th’ imminent deadly breach;”—
but there is no division of our army of which we should be more justly
proud than of the Sappers and Miners. It toils for us wherever our flag
is unfurled to the winds; it explores unknown regions; surveys and maps
new and old regions; it makes roads where no roads were, and iron roads
in place of common roads; it blasts rocks; heaves up drowned treasures
from the deep; it serves as the pioneer of civilization abroad, and
extends and consolidates civilization at home; it labours as hard in
peace as in war—labour often unseen and unsuspected, but none the less
worthy of the respect, honour, and admiration due to the brave sons of a
brave people.
The Engineer corps of officers now consists of about four hundred of all
grades, partly employed in building and repairing our defences, while
the rest are more immediately attached to the Sappers and Miners, a body
of some three or four thousand men, which now forms a constituent part
of the Royal Engineers; indeed, the Sappers and Miners are now to be
regarded as the main body of this arm of our service.
[Illustration]