Chapter XXII: Part II: Military System and Schools in Prussia (2)

In consideration of the especial importance of this discipline for officers of the artillery and engineers, a higher predicate (_i.e._ a greater number of marks) will be required in the exercises of candidates for these two services; the knowledge expected in their case will be, though not more extensive, more thorough and deep.

5. Geography:--The general principles of Mathematical and Physical Geography, knowledge of our planetary system, of the motions of the Earth, and of the phenomena immediately dependent upon them. Readiness in drawing from memory the outlines of the more important countries, with their principal mountains, rivers, and cities. General outlines of Political Geography, in the case of the mere states out of Europe; a detailed account of the elements of European statistics, more particularly in the case of Germany and Prussia.

6. History:--A knowledge of the more remarkable events in the history of great nations, of the general connection, causes, and consequences of these events; a knowledge of the remarkable men of all such nations down to the present time. Special knowledge of the history of Greece, Rome, Germany, Prussia, with particular reference in this last case to its external growth, inner development, and to the principal events of the most important wars since the middle of the eighteenth century.

7. Readiness in general drawing, and in constructing mathematical figures; some skill in drawing plans of positions and mountains, in the way of preparation for military plan drawing.

8. The candidate may, in addition, be examined in other subjects, in which his certificates show that he has been instructed; for example, in Natural Philosophy, so far as included in his previous course of instruction.

It must be remembered that either before or after this examination some months must be spent in actual service with the troops by all but the pupils belonging to the _Selecta_ of the cadet school; and that nine months of study at the division and artillery and engineer schools intervenes before the officers examination takes place.

2. _The Second or Officer’s Examination._

The second or final examination for a commission, which generally ensues when the work of the division school is over, is held in Berlin only, and is conducted immediately by the central commission, to which reference has so often been made--the supreme Military Examinations Board, the _Ober-Militair-Examinations Commission_. This board or commission, a list of the existing members of which is given in page 179, consists, for the purpose now in consideration, of a president and five examiners, selected from the larger number to examine candidates for commissions.

The examinations are held continually; two opportunities are afforded every year to the candidates sent from each of the various army corps. The requisite papers must be forwarded to the commission eight days at least beforehand, and the candidates must appear in Berlin, and take up their quarters in the buildings placed at the disposal of the board on the Friday preceding the day fixed for the examination. The examination usually begins on the following Monday, and lasts through the week. The expenses of the journey are allowed, except, perhaps, when the candidate comes up a second time.

The certificates to be presented are the following:--

1. The certificate of birth, age, parentage, &c. (This is called the _Nationale_.)

2. The _Curriculum Vitæ_, (an account of the circumstances of the candidates’s past life, his education, employment, &c., &c.)

3. The certificate that he has already passed through a previous examination (the _Tentamen_,) held by the authorities of the division school.

4. A certificate of conduct during his stay at the division school.

5. A military drawing (_Croquis_,) with an attestation given by his instructor that it is the candidate’s own doing.

This examination, like the preliminary one, is partly on paper and partly oral. General directions are given that the examiners in both cases shall look mainly to the question whether the candidate has sufficient positive knowledge of his subjects, and capacity to explain and express himself, that mere lapses of memory shall not be regarded, and that natural endowments shall be principally looked to.

In the written examination, the candidate has four questions given him in what is called the knowledge or theory of arms (_Waffenlehre_,) including under that term all kinds of ammunition; three in tactics; one question in the rules and regulations which touch the duty of a subaltern officer; two questions in permanent and two in field fortification; one exercise in surveying, to test his acquaintance with the common instruments, and one to try his knowledge of the principles of plan drawing (_Terrain-Darstellung_;) while his general skill in military drawing is proved by his either copying a plan placed before him, or drawing one from a relief model of a mountainous district (_nach Bergmodellen_.)

There is a _vivâ voce_ examination in all the subjects.

The commission meets once every month to consider the examinations held since their last meeting. The result is announced under the form of the _predicates_ or epithets already more than once referred to. Honorable mention is accorded to an _excellent_ examination, and mention to a _good_ one. If there has been an unsatisfactory result in one of the subjects, the candidate may compensate for it by superiority in other subjects, but can only in this case be qualified as _satisfactory (befriedigend,)_ and an adequate knowledge of “arms” and tactics is regarded as indispensable in candidates for the infantry or cavalry, and in “arms” and fortification in those for the artillery and engineers. No superior work in other subjects is allowed to make up for a deficiency in these.

If a candidate’s work is marked as _insufficient (nicht hinreichend,)_ he is sent back for another half-year, and if he has done _unsatisfactorily_, for a complete year of additional study, with leave to appear for re-examination after that interval. In a case of re-examination, the two last _predicates_ (_nicht hinreichend_ and _ungenügend_) entail final rejection.

The report of the board is submitted to the king; the results are communicated to the various corps. The announcements sent to the candidates state the predicates assigned to the various portions of their work. Those who have passed, receive certificates of being qualified for the second lieutenant’s commission:--

This rank, however, is not immediately granted. A vacancy may be long in occurring, and must be waited for. Promotion is given according to their seniority on the list of ensigns in the regiment. Another condition must also be satisfied. When a vacancy occurs, the senior ensign’s name can not be submitted to the king for his appointment without a document stating on the part of the officers of the regiment that he has the requisite knowledge of the duties of the service, and that they consider him worthy of admission amongst them (_würdig in seine Mitte zu treten_.) If the majority is opposed to his admission, the name of the next ensign in order of seniority is, without further discussion, brought forward; if a minority or merely some individual officers take exception, they state the grounds of their opinion, which are then submitted for consideration.[6]

[Footnote 6: This certificate, according to a statement received
in conversation, is in the first instance from the officers of the
company, to the effect that the ensign in question is well
conducted and likely to be a desirable addition to their number;
then from the major of the battalion, and from the colonel of the
regiment.]

Special merit in the examination may be, at the king’s pleasure, held a sufficient reason for promotion before all candidates examined at the same time.

The following is the programme of the studies, proficiency in which is expected of candidates at the second or officer’s examination:--

I. KNOWLEDGE OF ARMS AND MUNITIONS.

A. _Of Gunpowder_.

1. General views on gunpowder and its application.

2. Ingredients of gunpowder; its qualities and use.

3. Fabrication of the same; principles on which the manufacturing
process is based.

4. Statement of the various kinds of gunpowder in use, and their
distinctive qualities.

5. Of the ignition, combustion, and power of gunpowder.

6. Qualities of good powder; examination of the same:

_a._ According to their external characteristics.

_b._ According to force developed.

_a._ By the mortar eprouvette.

_b._ By the smaller eprouvette.

_y._ Or, in default of such instruments, by practical experiment.

7. Manner of preserving gunpowder; characteristics and treatment of
damaged gunpowder.

8. Precautions to be taken in working with gunpowder, and transporting
the same.

9. The most ignitible materials for percussion caps, and the like.

B. _Of Artillery_.

1. Classification of guns, according to species, calibre, and the kind of warfare for which they are intended. (Field, siege, and standing artillery.)

2. General qualities to be required of a properly constructed piece of
ordnance.

3. Construction of the piece; description of the same according to the various kinds of guns, specifying the use of the different parts. (An exact statement in figures is only called for in reference to the length, weight, and diameter of the piece.)

_a._ Materials; qualities required of them; enumeration of the
materials generally employed.

_b._ Interior construction of the piece; length of bore, chamber,
windage, and touchhole; their influence on the range.

_c._ External construction of the piece; appliances for pointing and
managing it, and connecting it with the gun-carriage.

4. Construction of the gun-carriages; enumeration of the different kinds of the same, according to the description of gun, its destination, and materials.

_a._ Specification of the principal component parts of the
carriages.

_b._ Distinctive characteristics of the construction of the various
denominations of carriages.

_c._ General principles for determining the proper construction of
the same.

_d._ General notions relative to the proportion of the weight of the
carriage to the piece.

5. Construction of the limbers.

_a._ Enumeration of the different kinds of limbers.

_b._ Principal component parts and distinctive characteristics of
the construction of the various kinds of limbers.

_c._ General notions relative to the weight of the limber in
proportion to the piece and the gun-carriage.

6. Statement of the various descriptions of wagons used by the field
artillery, and their destination.

7. Ammunition; enumeration and description of the objects belonging to it. (Exact statements in figures are only required for the diameter and weight of the principal kinds of projectiles.)

_a._ Projectiles; statement of the species of projectiles used for
the different kinds of guns, and their construction.

α. Bound shot, cannon ball, grape.

β. Shells; their various species.

γ. Light balls.

δ. Stones.

_b._ Charges; general description of them,

α. In field-pieces.

β. In heavy artillery.

_c._ Primings; enumeration and description of the various kinds of
primings.

_d._ Other military fireworks; statement of the principal species,
and their general construction.

_e._ Transport of ammunition by limbers and carts; packing of the
same.

8. Moving and working the guns:

_a._ General notions on the working of field-pieces.

_b._ Different kinds of operations with field-pieces; unlimbering
and limbering up.

_c._ Position of field-pieces in firing, with regard to effect,
cover, and celerity of movement.

_d._ Principal manipulations in working the same.

α. Loading.

β. Pointing.

γ. Discharging; the process according to the different kinds of
projectiles.

_e._ Ascertaining the efficiency of a gun previous to using it.

_f._ Momentary unserviceability of guns.

_g._ Expedients for repairing a disabled carriage.

9. Artillery practice.

_a._ Exposition of the theory of firing (as far as it can be elucidated by a knowledge of the elements of mathematics;) general notions concerning the curve of round and hollow shot, and the influence of the force of powder, of gravity, and of the air’s resistance upon their velocity; the curve after the first graze; trajectory of grape shot.

_b._ Classification and denomination of the various methods of
firing or throwing projectiles.

_c._ Range; conditions on which it depends; its practical limits.

_d._ Effect of projectiles.

α. Probable accuracy of practice; circumstances on which it
depends.

β. Force of the blow; circumstances on which it depends.

_e._ Recoil, jumping, or bouncing; explanation of such occurrences.

_f._ Application of the various descriptions of guns, projectiles, and methods of firing, according to the nature of the mark, the distance, the position of the adversary, and the ground.

C. _Of Small Arms._

1. Classification and denomination of small arms.

2. General principles applied to the construction of the musket, the infantry and wall-piece rifle, the carbine, the cavalry rifle, the pistol, and the engineer musket (if the candidate is in the engineers.)

3. Description of their construction and arrangement in particular; enumeration of the separate parts (an exact statement of dimensions only required for the principal ones;) object and effect of the same.

4. Estimate of the practical utility of the various kinds of fire-arms as employed by one infantry and cavalry (no technical or theoretical investigation, but only practical remarks.)

5. Ammunition, as the ball, cartridge, and patch:

_a._ Its preparation.

α. In the usual manner.

β. In cases of need, in default of the usual implements.

_b._ Preserving, packing, and transporting it, both in carriages and
by the soldier himself.

6. Management of small-arms:

_a._ Theory of firing (in its general scientific bearings, _vide_ artillery) as applied to small-arms: repeated elucidation of the curve, line of metal, axis produced, and the relative position of these three lines in the different ranges.

_b._ Practical rules for loading, presenting, taking aim, and discharging, at different elevations of the adversary, and at different ranges.

7. Cleaning and preserving the arms.

D. _Of Side-Arms._

1. Classification and denomination of the same:

_a._ Cavalry side-arms.

_b._ Lances.

2. Statement of the general principles on which their construction is
based.

3. Examination of the state of side-arms on receiving them (within the
limits mentioned above in C. 4.)

4. Effect and management of the same.

II. TACTICAL BRANCHES.

A. _Army Organization._

1. General sketch of the organization of the Prussian army.

2. Characteristics of the different kinds of troops (arms;) their peculiarities (their weapons are included under the former head,) their equipment and destination.

B. _Elementary Tactics._

1. Account of the regulations concerning the distribution and formation of a battalion of infantry, a regiment of cavalry, and a battery, in line or column.

2. Formation of the different columns from the line, forming square, deploying and forming line, movement in advance, to the rear and to the flank, changing front and direction in line and column.

3. Formation of _tirailleurs_ and skirmishers; posting, covering,
moving, reinforcing, reducing, and relieving the same.

4. General rules on the conduct of the separate arms in action.

_a._ Engagement of infantry under fire and hand to order, in attack
and defense.

_b._ Charge of cavalry, attack _à la débandade_, wheeling off of the
fourth subdivisions (platoons,) skirmishing.

_c._ Employment and conduct of artillery in action.

5. General principles relative to the combined action of the different
arms.

6. Tactical advantages of ground; level, hilly, open, close,
uninclosed, and broken ground.

7. Attack and defense of localities, such as heights, woods,
farm-buildings, villages, and defiles; false attacks, demonstrations.

C. _Field Service._

1. Of Marches. General rules, method, and object; precautions, van and
rear guards, covering parties.

2. Escort of transports of powder, provisions, and prisoners of war,
in one’s own and in an enemy’s country.

3. Surprises, ambuscades, and reconnaissances.

4. Service in cantonments, camp, and bivouac, outposts, picquets,
advanced picquets, reserve picquets (movable and stationary,) patrols.

5. Taking up quarters in ordinary marches and cantonments.

III. FORTIFICATIONS.

A. _Field Works._

1. Object of breast-work and ditch profiles in plains. Plan of
field-works; open works, salient angle, its dimensions.

2. Dead angle and dead ground. Removal of dead ground; flanking; line
of defense; dimensions of re-entering angle.

3. Inclosed works; dimensions and space inclosed; works with salient
angles only, and with both salient and re-entering angles.

4. Erection of works to be defended by artillery; firing _en
barbette_, and through embrasures; platforms; magazines.

5. Communication with interior of inclosed works.

6. Artificial obstacles for strengthening field-works; requisites for their selection and application; method of construction; advanced ditches (demi and entire;) trous-de-loup; abattis; palisades and fraises; barriers; chevaux-de-frise; pickets; caltrops; harrows; sluices and inundations; fougasses; blockhouses; caponiers; double, single, and demi-caponiers _à revers_.

7. Strength of garrison of field-works.

8. Defilading, horizontal and vertical, of open and inclosed works;
traverses and bonnettes.

9. Construction of small open and inclosed field-works; marking out; tracing; profiling; number and employment of workmen; excavating the ditch; formation and revetment of the slopes with sods, fascines, wicker-work, gabions, sand-bags, wood, or stones; selection, preparation, and application of the reveting materials. (Of the execution of the revetment only so much as may show whether the examinee will be capable of undertaking the direction of such works in an efficient manner.)

10. Fortification of heights and defiles.

11. Object, general arrangement, and advantageous situation of a
tête-de-pont.

12. Arrangements for the defense of woods, hedges, houses, churches,
and churchyards.

13. Attack and defense of a redoubt; surprise; attack by open force.

14. Repairing and destroying roads, fords, and bridges, wooden and stone; construction of foot bridges, carriage bridges, bridges across swamps.

B. _Permanent Fortifications._

1. Construction of a bastioned front in a plain, with ravelin, tenaille, and covered way, in plan and profile, after the first system of Vauban, with the improvements of Cormontaigne; name and destination of every single part, angle, and line.

2. Brief description of a regular attack upon a bastioned fortress; sketch of the preparations for attack; lines of circumvallation and contravallation.

Description of parallels, approaches, demi-parallels, and the duties of the infantry in them; saps, trench cavaliers; carrying the covered way, crowning the glacis, passage of the ditch, escalade of the rampart. These operations to be detailed according to their object, position, and arrangement, but without special reference to their technical execution.

General notions relative to the batteries of a besieging army, their
position, object, calibre of guns, and practice.

3. Outlines of the system of defense of a fortress relative to the employment of infantry and cavalry in garrison, and of the standing artillery in arming the fortress and placing it in a state of defense against a regular attack or an attack by open force in all its stages.

Especial knowledge of the duties of infantry and cavalry in garrison, in guarding, occupying, and defending the works, and in sallies, required.

4. Historical sketch of an actual siege (on which the examinee has attended a lecture,) and the principles of the attack and defense of fortresses in general.

5. Account of the situation, form, arrangement, and object of some of the means employed for increasing the permanent strength of fortresses, exclusive of the more technical points.

_a._ The rampart of the body of the place. Angle of the bastions and its effect; length of flanks and faces; auxiliary flanks; empty and solid bastions attached and detached fausse-brayes.

The escarp, earthen wall, revetment, demi-revetment, simple crenneled wall, arched crenneled wall, revetment _en décharge_; perpendicular and parallel casemates.

_b._ The main ditch, dry, wet, and dry or inundated at pleasure;
sluices, coffer-dams, reservoirs.

_c._ Outworks. Ravelin, tenaille, counterguards, cover-faces,
envelopes, tenaillons, lunettes.

_d._ Advanced works. Simple and double tenaille; horn-work before a bastion or redoubt; crown-work; double crown-work; advanced ditch, with advanced covered way.

_e._ Detached works, open or inclosed at the gorge.

_f._ Interior works. Cuts inside the bastions; réduits; citadels.

6. Historical notions of the characteristics of some of the principal systems of fortification, _e.g._ the old and modern Italian, the old Dutch, Vauban’s second and third manner, the ideas of Coehorn, Rimpler, the French school, and that of Montalembert, compared with Vauban’s first system, but without statement of proportions; in addition to this, the characteristics of the latest Prussian fortifications, always with the omission of details more especially technical.

7. Modified methods of attack; surprise, assault, bombardment, blockade; explanation and statement of circumstances in which attacks of this kind are practicable.

IV. SURVEYING AND DRAWING PLANS.

1. Knowledge of the instruments generally employed in military
surveying, and their use.

_a._ Instruments for measuring and marking out straight lines;
viz.--

Signals, bandrols, or _jalons_, common staves, picket posts,
rods, measuring chains, measuring cord, the step.

_b._ Instruments used for protracting the lines measured, viz.--

The step measure, calliper compasses, beam compasses, dividing
and reducing compasses.

_c._ Instruments for measuring and marking out horizontal angles:

The square, the plane table, caloptric compasses, the reflector,
the sea-compass, the prismatic compass, the astrolabe:

_d._ Instruments for measuring vertical angles:

Lehmann’s dioptric rule, Schmalkalder’s holometer, the quadrant.

_e._ Leveling instruments:

The ordinary mason’s level, the spirit level, the water level, the spirit level _à lunette_, the plumb rule, Lehmann’s dioptric rule in connection with the plane table, placed horizontally, the surveyor’s rule, Schmalkalder’s holometer.

2. Operations in surveying with the plane table, astrolabe, reflector,
and compass.

3. Topographical survey of a locality (theoretically and practically,)
reconnoitring, geometrical triangulation, detailed survey.

4. Hasty or rough sketch of certain objects, and entire (but limited)
sections of country.

5. Drawing plans.

_a._ Notion of the elements of topography; rising and sloping ground, running and standing waters, division of ground in a military point of view, and characteristics of the same; open, inclosed, elevated, hilly, mountainous, broken ground.

_b._ Theory of plan drawing.

α. The first elements of the science of projection, and the
construction of instruments for measuring slopes.

β. Fundamental rules for plan drawing in general, and for drawing mountains in particular. Statement of the various angles of depression of inclined planes through mountainous regions.

γ. Of the horizontals, and the laws dependent upon them, relative
to mountainous districts.

δ. On the laws of defiles.

ε. On ascertaining the difference of elevation, and drawing
profiles.

ζ. View of the accessories of plan drawing; the choice of colors and of type, and the order in which the operations necessary for preparing a plan are performed.

_c._ Practical plan drawing from copies and models.

V. MILITARY COMPOSITION AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE SERVICE.

A. _Exercises in Military Composition._

1. Drawing up reports on incidents connected with the service, and with the duties of a subaltern officer, directed to the military authorities and superior officers of every rank.

2. Instructions to subordinates.

3. Applications and memorials.

B. _Acquaintance with the General Regulations of the Service._

1. The laws on disciplinary and military punishments.

2. The proceedings in courts-martial, drum-head courts-martial, and
courts of honor.

The preparation for this second, severer, and professional test that has just been described, is usually obtained in the division schools, of which an account will shortly follow, and to which any young man once accepted as a candidate, who has served his six months with the troops, and has passed his preliminary or ensign examination, may be admitted, even though a vacancy has not yet occurred, and he has not yet received his definitive promotion to the ensign’s grade.

V. MILITARY SCHOOLS FOR PREPARING OFFICERS.

_The Cadet Schools or Cadet Houses._

The actual military education of Prussia commences with the cadet houses, the schools intended for pupils before entering the army. They are divided into two classes, the junior and the senior. They can not indeed be called exclusively military schools, since the education which most of their pupils receive is one which fits them for civil professions, and is not specially military; and there is no obligation even on those who have received the largest amount of pecuniary assistance to enter the military profession when they leave the cadet house. The highest class, however, of the Upper Cadet School of Berlin, called the _Selecta_, receives strictly military teaching for a year, and the schools may fairly come under this denomination, as being mainly intended to educate the sons of officers who are in want of assistance, and as possessing a military discipline, uniform, and spirit.

These are five in number, four preparatory schools, and one a finishing institution; the four first in the provinces, at Culm, Potsdam, Wahlstatt, and Bensberg, the last in the capital itself. At the four junior schools, boys may be admitted at 10 or 11, and may remain till 15; at the upper school the ordinary stay is from 15 or 16 to 18 or 19.

The whole constitute together a single body, called the cadet corps. Boys may enter the school at Berlin on passing an examination, without previously attending one of the lower schools; but those who are sent up by the authorities from Culm, Potsdam, Wahlstatt, and Bensberg, are received without examination, being already members of the corps. A single officer exercises the command of the whole; and a single commission, of which the general inspector is chairman, regulates all matters relating to the admission of candidates into the body.

The whole number at present is between 1,100 and 1,200, of whom 420 are in the Upper School at Berlin, 205 in the Preparatory School at Potsdam, and 200 at each of the other houses.

The cadets are of two kinds, the King’s cadets and the Pensioners or paying pupils; the former are 720 in number, the latter about 420. The pensioners pay 200 dollars (30_l._) a year for board and instruction together; the King’s cadets are aided in various degrees accordingly to the following scale:--

240 pay 30 dollars (4_l._ 10_s._) each.
240 pay 60 dollars (9_l._) each.
240 pay 100 dollars (15_l._) each.

Foreigners are admissible at a yearly payment of 300 dollars (45_l._,) and a few extra day scholars (_Hospitanten_,) when the classes are not too full, are received for 20 dollars a year (3_l._)

The King’s cadetships are granted, according to the pecuniary circumstances of the applicants, to the children of officers of the standing army, or of the Landwehr, who have distinguished themselves or have been invalided in actual service in the field; to the children of non-commissioned officers who have in like manner distinguished themselves and received severe wounds in the service; and to those of any citizens who have performed any special service to the state. The sons of meritorious officers who have died in indigence or have retired upon pensions, the sons of indigent officers in general in the standing army, and the sons of meritorious non-commissioned officers of twenty-five years’ standing, are also in like manner eligible.

In very special cases of poverty, the supplementary payment is dispensed with altogether.

Pensioners are admitted from all classes and professions according to priority of application, and to their qualifications as shown by their examination. A great number of these are said to be the sons of officers, of those, namely, who are not in need of pecuniary assistance. And the number of the pensioners generally appears to be steadily on the increase. In the regulations printed in 1850, the places open for this class of cadets are stated to be only 216; at present, as has been seen, provision is made for something like double that number.

The four junior schools at Culm, Potsdam, Wahlstatt, and Bensberg, are all divided for purposes of instruction upon the same uniform plan into four classes, numbered up from six to three--_Sexta_ at the bottom; _Quinta_; _Quarta_; and _Tertia_ at the top. The upper school at Berlin succeeds with three classes, the second, the first, and the special or select--_Secunda_, _Prima_, and _Selecta_. Each of these classes, however, may contain any number of co-ordinate subdivisions, all taught the same subjects, and presumed to contain pupils of the same capacity. No teacher, it is considered, can satisfactorily undertake to give a lesson to more than thirty at a time; and the Secunda at Berlin was thus parted out in the year ending March, 1856, into eight little sets of rather less than thirty, the Prima into six, and the Selecta into two.

_Junior Cadet House._

The junior cadet house at Potsdam occupies four or five buildings a little way out of the town. The class-rooms are on the usual Prussian plan, not arranged for lectures to large, but for lessons with small numbers. One distinguishing feature is the character of the arrangements of the rooms up-stairs, in which the boys pass their time out of school hours. They are very comfortable chambers, perhaps rather small for the numbers at present placed in them; they are ranged along a corridor; ten pupils are placed in each, and between every two rooms is the apartment of one of the resident tutors (_Erzieher_ or _Gouverneur_,) who sees that all goes on right in these two rooms under his charge. Here the boys sit and work, and during the hours when they are expected to be preparing their lessons, are carefully looked after by their tutors.

These little apartments occupy one whole floor of the building. The floor above is that of the dormitories, containing each, perhaps, as many as sixty. The number at present in the school was stated to be two hundred and five, and the accommodation properly intended for only one hundred and sixty.

Colonel von Rosenberg, the commandant of the school, stated that eleven was the usual age at which the pupils came. This he appeared to think was rather too early, and he was inclined to attribute to this cause certain points in the character of young men who have been educated in the cadet corps. Eighty of his two hundred and five pupils were pensioners, or paying pupils; many of these also were the sons of officers. The teachers and tutors are partly civilians and partly military men, about an equal number of each. The four classes, Tertia, Quarta, Quinta, and Sexta, are subdivided into nine, so that the average number at a lesson would not be more than twenty-three.

_Senior Cadet House._

The upper or central cadet school is in the older part of Berlin, in the _Neue Friedrichs Strasse_, where on the pediment surmounting the gateway the inscription, MARTIS ET MINERVÆ ALUMNIS M.DCC. LXXVI, records the erection by Frederick the Great, ten years before his death, of the large and stately quadrangle which formed the original house. Here the pupils are quartered, and in the great court within, they go through their exercises. There are several houses on both sides of the street attached to the service of the institution, and buildings are in course of erection to accommodate additional numbers.

A large separate building contains the present class-rooms. In the first of these which we visited, thirty cadets were engaged in military drawing; in another, twenty-four of the second class, the Secunda, were busy at their Latin lesson.

The room was fitted up on what appears to be the usual plan, with a series of parallel desks on the same level, ranged along the outer wall, and a sufficient space between them and the inner wall for the teacher to pass freely up and down. His desk was at one end in front of the boys. The lesson was in Quintus Curtius. The teacher (a civilian) made them construe each a sentence, and asked questions in parsing, &c., &c., much in the English manner. There was no taking places. This in German schools appears to be confined to quite the lower classes. There is a separate lecture-room here again for lessons on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, with a small gallery of models, instruments, &c., attached to it.

A large hall is used on state occasions, and serves the purpose also of an examination-room; it is called the hall of the Field Marshals, and is adorned with portraits of the sovereigns of Prussia from the Great Elector downwards, and of the field marshals both of the time of Frederick the Great and of more recent date, among whom is the Duke of Wellington. Here also is kept Napoleon’s sword taken at “La Belle Alliance,” and presented by Marshal Blucher.

Passing to the first floor of the great quadrangular building, we found ourselves in one of the sitting-rooms of the cadets. Seven boys had a couple of rooms, consisting of a common sitting-room, and a common bed-room. Five is the number for which this amount of accommodation was intended, and to five the number will be reduced when the new buildings are completed. In a second and larger pair of rooms we found twelve boys.

Here also is the library, containing 10,000 volumes, and comfortable apartments occupied by the various superintending officers.

The boys, their morning lessons completed, had been going through their military exercises under the superintendence of their officers; but they were now collected in their studying-rooms, and were seen forming at the doors, each small party under the command of its senior, ready to march into the large and handsome dinner-hall.

Into this the whole body of young men presently moved by companies, proceeding to station themselves in front of the tables. The tables are ranged in parallel lines on each side of the central passage, and accommodate each of them ten, four sitting at each side, and a senior at each end. The order was given by the officer on duty for “prayer” (_Nun beten wir_,) and a short silent grace was followed by the immediate occupation of the seats, and the commencement of the meal. The arrangements in general appeared to be excellent.

The number in the school during the past year had been 420. The four companies into which the whole body of the pupils is divided, each contain a certain proportion from each of the three classes; the senior in each company being invested with the charge of the juniors; those who are in the Selecta taking rank as under officers. In every room (_Stube_ or _Wohnzimmer_) there is one _Selectaner_, who is responsible. The ordinary ages are 15, 16 in the Secunda; 16, 17 in the Prima, and as far as 19 in the Selecta. No one is, as a rule, allowed to pass more than one year in a class; if in that time he can not qualify himself for advancement, he is dismissed. The rule does not, however, appear to be strictly enforced. The general preservation of discipline appears to be a good deal intrusted, as in English public schools, to these senior pupils of the age of eighteen or nineteen. There are Resident Tutors (_Erziehers_ or _Gouverneurs_) as at Potsdam, who see a good deal of the pupils, especially in the evenings, when they go into the sitting-rooms, sit with them, help them in their work, play at chess with them, &c., &c. But they do not sleep close at hand between the sets of rooms, as at Potsdam, but at some little distance off.

The official arrangements for the control of the discipline consist principally in the system of what are called _Censur_ Classes. This is a peculiar system which requires some explanation. There are five _Censur_ Classes quite independent of the ordinary classes of the school. A boy on entering the Cadet School is always placed in the third of these classes; if he behaves ill, he falls to Class IV. and is under restrictions. Class V. is reserved for serious cases of misconduct, and any one who incurs the penalty of descending to it, is subject to continual superintendence, and is confined to the walls. Class II. gives considerable, and Class I. still more ample privileges. The members of this class (usually only quite the elder boys) are allowed great freedom in the way of going out into the town.

In each of the studying-rooms (the _Wohnzimmer_) the list of the occupants’ names hangs up on the door inside. One for example was noticed containing twelve names. To each was attached his rank in the _Censur_ Classes, as well as his position in the ordinary classes. At the head stood one _Selectaner_, who in this instance was in charge of the room; then followed the _Primaners_; and the list was completed by nine of the _Secunda_. As at the time of our visit (just after the Easter holidays and the yearly examination) the whole Selecta of the year had just quitted, the room was in the charge of the senior _Primaner_. The authority exercised by these senior boys appears to be very considerable.

The competition for admission to the Selecta, and for the after selection for immediate promotion, was spoken of as very considerable.

The number who came to the Berlin Cadet House without previously going to one of the junior establishments was said to be only a small per-centage.

The boys both here and at Potsdam were of course all found dressed in a military uniform.

The studies pursued in the Cadet Corps agree nearly with those of the common public schools, but of these there are three different kinds:--

1. The ordinary first-class school, the _gymnasium_ of the Prussian States, is, strictly speaking, a school which prepares for the universities.

2. The second-class schools have the name of _Real_ or _Practical Schools_; they deal with the actual application to business and work, not with the theory of mathematics or of language, and they may be said to resemble in some degree the schools occasionally attached in English towns to Mechanics’ Institutes, or in the United States, to the Public English High School or the Higher Department of a Union School. Young men who have passed successfully through a gymnasium may be admitted to the army without passing the preliminary or _Portepée-fähnrich_ examination. Those who complete their time at a _Real_ School have not hitherto been allowed the same privilege.

3. There is a third and intermediate class called a _Real_ or _Practical Gymnasium_, and to this, according to the statements of the official books, the courses of the Cadet Schools have hitherto corresponded. It appears, however, that there is only one specimen of the _Real Gymnasium_ now in existence, the Coëln School in the old town of Berlin. The system here is said to be more practical than the _Gymnasium_, and less professional or mechanical than the _Real School_.

It is intended during the present year to assimilate the course of instruction at the Cadet Schools more nearly to that followed at the _Gymnasium_ or University School; the studies of the senior Cadet School at Berlin will be raised to a higher standard, but Greek and Hebrew, which are taught in all gymnasiums, will not be introduced.

The two systems have corresponded as follows :--

Class in the Cadet Corps. Age. Corresponding Class in the
_Real_ Gymnasium.
6th, or _Sexta_, 12 5th, or _Quinta_.
5th, or _Quinta_, 13 4th, _Quarta_.
4th, _Quarta_, 14 Under 3d, _Unter-Tertia_.
3d, _Tertia_, 15 Upper 3d, _Ober-Tertia_.
2d, _Secunda_ (at Berlin,) 16 Lower Second, _Unter-Secunda_.
1st, _Prima_, 17 Upper Second, _Ober-Secunda_.

The Selecta, the Military Class, corresponds with the classes of the Division Schools, and with the first year’s course of the Artillery and Engineers’ School.

The plan pursued, both as regards, first, the subjects taught, and second, the amount of time, is as follows:--

The instruction consists throughout, from _Sexta_ up to _Prima_, of lessons in Latin, German, French, Arithmetic, History, Geography. Natural History begins in the _Quinta_, at 12 or 13 years old, with Botany and Zoölogy; Mineralogy follows, at 14 or 15; Natural Philosophy at 15 or 16. The first elements of drawing, with the use of rulers, compasses, &c., begins also in _Quinta_, at 12 or 13. Practice in regular plan-drawing is gradually and increasingly given in every year. The first elements of geometry are taught in the _Quarta_, and Euclid I. 47. _Pythagoras_, has to be mastered at 14 years old. Theoretical Arithmetic, in combination with Algebra, is commenced apparently in the _Tertia_.

The subjects taught in the _Secunda_, _Prima_, and _Selecta_, that is, the course of the Upper School at Berlin, has hitherto been as follows:--

_In the Secunda:_

Quintus Curtius, Cicero’s Orations, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses; in Mathematics, the completion of Plane and commencement of Solid Geometry; Quadratic Equations; the Physical, Statistical, and Ethnographical Geography of Europe; Ancient History, and History of the Middle Ages, down to the Thirty Years’ War; a first course of Natural Philosophy; French and German Composition continued; Theory and Practice of Military drawing.

_In the Prima:_

Livy and Virgil; in Algebra, Progressions, Logarithms, Exponential Equations; Trigonometry, Mathematical and pure Physical Geography in general; Modern History; second course of Natural Philosophy, Heat, Electricity, Magnetism, Sound, Light; French, Exercise in Speaking, &c.; History of German Literature; Composition, extempore Exercises; Military Drawing continued.

_In the Selecta:_

Arms and Munitions, and Artillery; Fortification, Tactics, Military Literature Practical Exercises, Military Drawing and Surveying; exercises in French and German; Mental Philosophy; Chemistry; and the Differential and Integral Calculus for those who propose to enter the Artillery or the Engineers.

The Secunda have weekly--

6 hours of Latin.
3 “ of German.
4 “ of French.
5 “ of Mathematics.
2 “ of History.
2 “ of Geography.
2 “ of Natural Philosophy.
2 “ of Lessons in Drawing.
2 “ of Religious Instruction.
2 “ of French Conversation.
--
Total, 30 hours weekly.

The Prima--

The same amount in Latin, German, French, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, French, Conversation, and Drawing; in History 3, and in General Geography 2, and Mathematical Geography 1; of Religious Instruction 1. 33 hours weekly.

The _Selecta_ have--

4 hours of Tactics.
2 “ of Military Literature.
1 “ of Military Law and Regulations.
5 “ of Artillery.
5 “ of Fortification.
2 “ of Plan Drawing.
2 “ of Mental Philosophy, or English.
2 “ of Chemistry.
2 “ of Mathematics.
2 “ of French.
2 “ of German.
--
Total, 29 hours weekly.

The lessons appear to be going on from 8 to 11 or 12 in the morning, and from 2 to 4 or 5 in the evening. The pupils have two hours’ drill twice a week. They get up at half-past 5, have breakfast, and an hour’s preparation before lessons begin. There are similar hours of study in the evening from 6 to 8; and some of the pupils also take private lessons from the teachers.[7] During these special hours of study (_Arbeitstunde_,) the chambers are visited by the officers and tutors, assistance is given and diligence enforced. From 8 to half-past 9 they study as they please; the tutors are a good deal with them in the rooms; at 10 all are in bed. Wednesday and Saturday are half holidays; on Sunday they attend morning service in the garrison church, and after that is over, are allowed to be more or less absent in the town, to be with their parents, relations, and friends.

[Footnote 7: Not from the Tutors, but from the non-resident
Professors and Teachers.]

For the 420 cadets of the Institution at Berlin, there appear to be about twenty professors and teachers not residing in the school, the majority of whom are civilians; and in addition to these, twenty tutors and superintendents resident in the buildings. Of these, sixteen are military officers, half of whom are permanently attached to the corps, and half on duty from various regiments, and four are civilians. The cadets being divided into four companies, each containing so many of the Selecta, so many of the Prima, and so many of the Secunda, to each of these companies are attached one captain, one first-lieutenant, and two second-lieutenants, all of whom, however, take some part in the instruction; and one civilian (_Civil-Erzieher_) is added with the especial duty of looking after and assisting the studies of the cadets of the company.

The holidays are one month in summer (in July and August,) ten days or a fortnight at Christmas, eight days at Easter, and four at Whitsuntide.

The rules for the entrance of cadets into the army are as follows:--Those who complete their year in the Prima are considered to be sufficiently prepared for ordinary admission. They are sent in to an examination before the Supreme Examinations Board (the _Ober-Militair-Examinations-Commission_) before examiners entirely independent of and unconnected with the instruction of the cadets; and the majority, if they pass, are admitted simply as _Portepée-fähnriche_, on the same conditions as the young men already spoken of who enter upon the recommendation merely of the commanding officer of a regiment and the approval of the commanding officer of an army corps. Like these, they serve in the regiment, they attend the Division Schools, and in due time offer themselves for examination for a commission.

Out of this number, however, the sixty who do best are retained, and reserved to receive in the special military class of the Cadet School the instruction which the others are to seek in the Division Schools. These remain another year in the Cadet House, and undergo at its close, before leaving the Cadet House, their officers’ examination before the Supreme Board. The thirty best are once more selected, and receive immediate promotion. Their patents are signed and they join their regiments at once as second-lieutenants. The other thirty, if they have satisfied the examiners, receive a certificate of qualification, and enter with the rank of _Portepée-fähnrich_, and with, the prospect of receiving commissions without further examination, as soon as vacancies occur. Any one who fails to pass his examination must enter, if at all, simply with the rank of _Portepée-fähnrich_, and has to qualify himself in the Division Schools for attempting a second time the examination for the officer’s patent.

Such is the system as recently modified. Till quite lately only thirty were promoted from the Prima to the Selecta, and these thirty, unless they failed wholly, obtained immediate commissions at the end of the year. It has been found desirable to introduce the stimulus of competition, to offer a definite reward in the way of superior advantages to the best students, and to make it obviously worth a young man’s while to exert himself, and to be thoroughly diligent during this final year in the Selecta at the Cadet School.

Young men who, after passing the examination in the Prima, desire to enter the artillery and engineers, follow the usual course leading to the Artillery and Engineers’ School. They enter an artillery regiment, or a division of the engineers; they serve for nine months, they enter the special school, they are eligible after the first quarter to the grade of _Portepée-fähnrich_, and at the close of their first year are examined for their lieutenant’s commission. Those who remain in the Selecta have the great advantage of passing from the Cadet School immediately into the Artillery and Engineers’ School as lieutenants, and commence their course there accordingly at the beginning of the second of the three years. As, however, the school-year closes at the end of April, in the Cadet Houses, and begins in the Artillery and Engineers’ School on the 1st of October, these select cadets also pass five months with their regiment in actual service before recommencing their studies.

The average number who pass in this manner into the Artillery and Engineers’ School is stated by the authorities of the Cadet House to be three annually from the Selecta, and six or eight from the Prima.

It can hardly have escaped observation, that the studies pursued as a qualification for entering the army are, with the exception of the Selecta, almost entirely non-professional, even here in this part of the general system, which is in other respects most military in its character; and the tendency seems to be to carry out to a still greater extent the theory of continuing to as late an age as possible a good general education. There is evidently a general desire in Prussia, to take the officers of the standing army exclusively from the well-educated or the higher classes.

In the arrangements for the lessons, the very temperate or even timid use of the stimulus of competition deserves to be noticed. It appears, however, to have been lately employed with advantage in the highest class. At the same time, the provision made for giving really good instruction, and for placing all the boys in close relation with their teachers, can not but excite admiration. The small numbers of which the classes consist, and the care which seems to be taken in providing good teachers, both deserve attention.

The domestic arrangements, without being remarkable for the scrupulous cleanliness or the magnitude of the new institutions in Austria, certainly in some respects are more in accordance with English feelings. The greater privacy afforded by the use of rooms where few live together, is certainly more analogous to what has been found most desirable for English boys in large English schools, though most likely the contrary system is not less well-adapted to the national character in France and in Austria.

_2. The Division Schools._

There are nine Division Schools for the whole army, one for each army corps, and they are placed at the following towns:--

Potsdam, Königsberg, Stettin, Frankfort on the Oder, Erfurt, Glogan, Neisse, Münster, and Trèves.

Here the young aspirant finds himself with nine or ten companions and a body of teachers amounting to about half that number, appointed by the commanding officer of the army corps, and differing considerably in different districts in their talents and ideas of education. They are often, though not always, selected from officers who have been at the Staff School, and afterwards at the Topographical Bureau. Their additional pay for teaching is uncertain; it depends upon the surplus remaining after the expenses of the household, and the money paid in purchasing books, instruments, &c., is deducted from the yearly allowance made to the school by the government. At best it is not high. It is calculated by the number of lectures, and at the most amounts to something more than 4_l._ 10_s._ (30 thalers) for the lectures on a single subject, given, it must be remembered, during the course of little more than six months in the year. The highest pay given in the Potsdam School to any one professor amounted to something more than 15 _l._ (100 thalers) yearly for lectures on three subjects, averaging ten or twelve lectures weekly for about six months. This must be estimated by a Prussian, not an English standard, being nearly equivalent to five-twelfths of the annual pay of a second lieutenant in that service. Still the sum is very low; and this, with some other obvious deficiencies, injures the working of the schools.

The young candidate for a commission begins a course of Tactics, Fortification, theory of Drawing and Surveying, Military Literature, Artillery, &c., Military Essays, and Drawing of Plans, which must be finished at the school in nine months, although it may be continued longer in private if the candidate is not prepared to pass his examination. As long as it lasts, twenty-three hours a week are devoted to study, besides the time occupied by questions, which the teachers are required to set from time to time, in order to keep up the pupil’s previous knowledge of French and Mathematics. The course is divided into the purely theoretical and practical divisions, the first of six and a half months, the latter of two and a half. We have already given a very full account of the studies in p. 188.

The arrangement of studies is systematic, and the number of hours devoted each week to lectures on the various subjects of study and to gymnastic riding and fencing, is as follows:

WEEKLY:
Hours.
Fortification, 4
Artillery, &c., 3
Tactics, 4
Military Surveying (theoretically,) 4
Military Literature, 2
Instruction on Military Duties, 1
Plan Drawing, 5
Gymnastics, 2
Riding, 2
Fencing, 2
--
Total, 29

The subjoined plan gives the exact employment of time for each day during the week :--

PLAN OF LECTURES AT THE DIVISION SCHOOL IN POTSDAM, 1855-6.

-------+--------------------+----------------+-------------------+---
Hours. | Monday. | Tuesday. | Wednesday. |
-------+--------------------+----------------+-------------------+---
8- 9} | | Military | | *
9-10} | Fortification. | Literature. | Tactics. |
| | | |
10-11 | Instruction on |} | Plan drawing. |
| Military duties. |} | |
| |}Artillery, &c. | |
11-12 |}Plan drawing. |} | |
12- 1 |} | | |
12½-2½ | | Gymnastics. | |
-------+--------------------+----------------+-------------------+
| Thursday | Friday. | Saturday. |
-------+--------------------+----------------+-------------------+-
8- 9 }| | | |
9-10} | Fortification. | Artillery | Tactics. |
| | | |
10-11} | Military | Plan Drawing. | Military |
11-12} | Surveying | | Surveying |
| (theoretically.) | | (theoretically.)|
| | | |
12½-2½ | Riding. | Fencing. | |
-------+--------------------+----------------+-------------------+---

[* Dinner time, 3 o’clock. Time for studying, from 6 till 8 o’clock,
or from 7 till 9 o’clock every evening.]

The lecturer has to draw up what is called the thread of the lecture (_leitfaden_,) a sort of programme containing its leading heads, intended to assist the memory of the pupils in giving a full account of it afterwards; and the contents of the different lectures on Tactics, Arms and Munitions, Fortifications, &c., are written out very minutely by the students. Ten pages of close print are devoted to these programmes in Helldorf; and the translation already given (pp. 188-194) will show that the list of military subjects adverted to is considerable.

At the end of the nine months spent at the Division School, the “_Officier Aspiranten_” go to Berlin for the examination for their commission. If they can not pass this, they return to study by themselves for their second trial. Unless by special permission from the King, they can not try more than twice.

The examination is conducted by the Supreme Commission for Examinations at Berlin, and has been already described.