Chapter XXXIX: Part VIII (5)

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.