The royal engineer

Front matter

THE

I

D'XAL

Preface

which I received an official printed letter permitting me to join in the subscription for the proposed dinner, which I accordingly attended, as also, on the following day, some important " siege operations." And there, for the first time in my life, I saw and was introduced to General Frome, the Inspector- General of the Corps of Boyal Engineers, and to Major-General Simmons, C.B., the " Director of its Establishment for Military Instruction" at Chatham.

In a short " Memorandum/' published by me (dated 7th August last), on the subject of Lord Napier's Campaign (see Appendix B), I had ventured to demonstrate that our army — especially for defence — must henceforward submit to be directed by a man of science ; but as the English public — generally speaking — really do not know what Military Science is, I resolved to apply for official permission to ascertain, and to make known — as accurately as I could measure it — how much or how little of that article we possess.

The following correspondence on the subject — which I have been permitted to publish — will speak for itself : —

PREFACE.

vii

I. " Croydon, August 22ud, 1868

"My dear General Frome,

" If you see no public objection to my going over the Eoyal Engineer Establishment at Chatham, and taking notes of its proceedings, in the same way as some years ago, by order of Her Majesty's Postmaster- General, I was enabled to describe the interior management of the London General Post Office, I should feel obliged if you would be so good as to supply me in such way as you may think proper with an order to that effect.

" I feel it would not be proper for me to go to Chatham for the purpose I have mentioned without your knowledge and approval.

" I have the honour to remain

iC Yours very faithfully,

"F. B. Head,

" late Captain Eoyal Engineers."

II. " War Office, Aug. 22nd, 1868

"My dear Sm Francis,

"I can see no possible objection to your making notes of the system of education at the Eoyal Engineer Establishment, Chatham, and shall personally rejoice at your taking the matter in hand.

" I will therefore write at once to the D.-A.-General, and ask him to send a Memorandum to M.-General Simmons, the present Director, and also to let you know either from himself or through me.

" I look upon the School of Instruction as so practical and excellent, that I feel truly glad its description should fall into such hands as yours.

" Yours very faithfully,

" Edwd- 0. Frome."

III. From the Deputy- Adjutant- General

" Royal Engineers, Horse Guards, " 27th August, 1868.

"My bear General Simmons,

" The Adjutant-General has approved of Sir Francis Head visiting the Eoyal Engineer Establishment.

"Will you write a line to Sir Francis Head, and invite him to come.

"Yours sincerely,

" J. F. Browne."

With this authority I proceeded to Chatham; and, in compliance with my request, General Simmons — who, I may observe, entered the corps after I had left it — billeted me in two comfortably-furnished barrack-rooms, vacated by an officer absent on sick leave.

Of the 112 Engineer officers under his command I was totally unacquainted with all ; and as more than nine-tenths were young ones, undergoing

PREFACE.

ix their course of instruction, we had no time to hold any communication with each other.

General Simmons gave me, without a moment's hesitation, in every way, all the assistance I could possibly desire. He conducted me himself over a small portion of the establishment of which he is virtually the Governor ; but as the greater part of my time was occupied in committing to very short-hand writing what was before my eyes, and as he had innumerable claims on his time, he - — generally speaking — handed me over to the officers of Engineers in charge of the various departments, who, besides laying before me whatever statistics I required, and instructing me with great intelligence, very liberally allowed me — ■ whenever I chose — to diverge from them, to question, and, in return, to obtain useful knowledge from, the non-commissioned officers and sappers, who, besides the young officers of Engineers, were studying in their respective halls.

For four days, of eight hours each, and for three hours of the fifth day,* I was intently occupied in the duty I had undertaken, and in

* As to many people this amount of time may appear insufficient, I venture to state that it took me exactly four days (including travelling over the whole line) to make notes sufficient for my published description (' Stokers and Pokers ') of the London and North- Western Eailway.

X

PREFACE.

less than half an hour after I had closed my second note-book I drove from Brompton Barracks, by myself, to Chatham Railway Station, and proceeded by the 1*25 p.m. fast train to London.

In submitting to the public — verging on my seventy-seventh year — a very rough sketch of what I witnessed, with a few observations and reflections thereon, I feel very strongly that, if my appraisement of a national establishment which I voluntarily undertook to estimate for the public at its true value should prove to be partial, exaggerated, or incorrect, I shall stand in the world destitute of excuse.

Croydon,

January 1, 1869.

Contents

KX

Dedication

Preface.

PAET I.

Page

Part I. The Enlistment And Education Of A " Gentleman Cadet."

Until 1855 the Master-G-eneral of the Ordnance, in addition to a salary of 3000?. a-year, enjoyed the perquisite or privilege of feeding the Royal .Military Academy at Woolwich with as many cadets as war, pestilence, or other causes might require — in fact, while lads were paying premiums or purchase - money for admission into other professions, civil as well as military, he had at his sole disposal— ~as a free gift — -admission, after due examination and competition, to every first commission in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and Corps of Royal Engineers.

Some people thought, and even said, that a nobleman or statesman of such high position . in the Constitutional Government of the country was not at all — and some people thought, and even said, that he was very— likely to abuse the patronage thus intrusted to him.

Rut whether he abused it or not, it is evident that, in either case, abstract merit would be " very

A B

THE KOYAL ENGINEEB.

Paet I.

likely " to fall to the ground ; and, accordingly, there can exist no doubt that — generally speaking —cadets obtained admission as competitors for the two scientific branches of our army, not so much, in virtue of their own abilities, as by the influence, moral or political, of a male or female patron, invisible to the public, who might possibly be careless, ignorant, or both, of the requirements necessary for either corps.

On the 25th of May, 1855, the fatal day of the abolition of the Ordnance Office,* the Master- General, with his salary and his patronage, his Lieutenant - General, his Surveyor - General, his Treasurer, and his Clerk, were altogether as suddenly swamped, as are cattle in Holland when " the pressure-from- without " of the wide wide sea — sans warning — carries towards them, as an unwelcome gift, the bank of the verdant meadow in which they are either grazing, or, after grazing, placidly chewing the cud.

And in lieu of the old system, Parliament, after a due period of gestation, gave birth to a new

* The first Master of the Ordnance was hatched about 1414. He had a small ordnance staff under him, with which he served at the siege of Harfleur, "battle of Agincourt, &o. This Master of the Ordnance was also Master of the Works, a title equivalent in after times to that of Chief Engineer.

The date when the Master-General, with a Board under him, was constituted, has not been traced. But it is believed that the Master- General and Board acted, as in late days, from the time of Elizabeth. The Office of Ordnance is supposed to have been constituted about

Paet I. ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION, one, which, with respect to patronage as above described, was exactly as different from that which it was to supersede, as a black baby is from a white one. Its principles were, and by authority are, explained and promulgated by orders officially printed and circulated in pamphlet form, of which the following are extracts : —

Hoese GlTABDS, 1st January, 1867.

Regulations for the Admission of Gfentlemen Cadets to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich

N.B. — All Candidates for Commissions in the Eoyal Artillery and Royal Engineers are required to go through a course of instruction at the Eoyal Military Academy.

I. Competitive Examinations for admission are held in London twice a year, in January and July. They are conducted by Examiners appointed for the purpose, in the presence and tinder the superintendence of the Council of Military Education.

The Candidates must be between 16 and 19 years of age. ,'

VIII. Any gentleman who wishes to present himself at one of the Half-yearly Examinations, must send in his name to the Military Secretary at the Horse Guards one month before the time of Examination, forwarding with his application to be noted the following papers : —

1st, An extract from the Kegister of his baptism, or, in default of that, a declaration before a magistrate, taken by one of his parents, giving his exact age.

2nd. A Certificate of good moral character, signed by a clergyman of the parish to which he belongs, and by

B 2

THE KOYAL ENGINEER.

Part I.

the tutor or head of the school or college at which he has received his education for at least the two preceding years, or such other proof of good moral character as will be satisfactory to . the Commander-in- Chief.

IX. The Candidates will be inspected by military surgeons on the first day of the examination, in order that it may be ascertained that they are free from any bodily defects or ailments calculated to interfere with the performance of military duties.

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

As soon as, by the above prescribed examination, the outsi&ea of the candidates have been ascertained to be sound wind and limb, and free from blemish, their msides are thus very severely tested : —

II. The admissions will be determined by the result of the examination, the subjects of which will be as follows, viz : —

Pure <

1. Mathematics /

''Section I. Arithme- ^ tic, Algebra, Euclid, Plane Trigonometry 2,000 Section II. Spherical Trigonometry, elements of Co-ordinate Geometry, and of the Differential and In-

. 500

Marks.

} 3,500 tegral Calculus

J

Mixed : — Statics, Dyna-

mics,and Hydrostatics 1,000

2. English Language and Composition .. .. .. 1,000

3. History of England, its Dependencies and Colonies 1,000

4. Geography (Modern) 1,000

(Latin Language 1,500

(Greek ditto "# 1,500

6. French Language 1,000

5. Classics

Part I. ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION. 5

8. Hindustani ditto .. .. 1,000

The examination in French, German, and Hindustani will include writing from dictation.

9. Experimental Sciences, i.e. Chemistry, Heat,

Electricity, including Magnetism 1,000

10. Natural Sciences, i.e. Mineralogy and Geology .. 1,000

I Free-hand Drawing of Machinery,] Architectural, Topographical, Land-[ 1,000 scape, or Figure Subjects . . . . J

Every Candidate must qualify in Geometrical Drawing ; i.e. Drawing in Ink, with accuracy, neatness, and to scale, the several Problems of Euclid.

Considering that lads between sixteen and nineteen to be examined as above, "in the presence and under the superintendence of the Council of Military Education," are candidates, not for commissions, but merely for admission into an academy in which they are to be permitted to begin to study for their commissions, it would at first appear that the preliminary large amount of knowledge required (as above detailed) was amply sufficient.

However, for reasons, the wisdom of which I will endeavour to explain, a still larger amount is required.

The prize of free commissions offered by Parliament to be competed for by the sons of the community at large is so valuable, that the country is entitled, in return for these gifts, to obtain for the two scientific branches of its army the very

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part t.

best article which the market, when duly tested, is willing to supply.

Supposing, therefore, that the object of the competition was merely to obtain active, athletic young men, it is obvious that the higher the youths were required to jump, the faster they were made to run, and the heavier the weights they hurled or lifted, the more valuable would be the results of the contests.

And, in like manner, where the object of the competition is to obtain for Her Majesty's Service quick active minds, combined with stout reasoning faculties, a large amount of knowledge is required, not for its intrinsic value, but to attract candidates of high mental capacity.

Proceeding, therefore, on this shrewd mercantile principle of raising the price of a commodity in proportion to its demand, the Horse Guards, on the last page of their pamphlet, conclude their list of requirements by the following one, which,— just as a large, lean, savage dog, tethered to a tree of rosy-cheeked apples, is said by gardeners to be " good for keeping off boys" — -must inevitably have the effect of frightening from the competitive examination every idle, inattentive, pleasure-loving lad, be he ever so good-looking. Indeed, it really is, in the words of Sam Slick, " a caution for an owl"

Part I. ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION. 7

Syllabus of Examination in the Differential

and Integeal Calculus.

Differential Calculus.

The meaning of Differentiation.

The Differentiation of Elementary Functions of one independent variable.

The theorems of Taylor and Maclaiirin, with their applications.

The theory of Maxima and Minima, with its applications. The equations to the Tangents, Normals, and Asymptotes of Plane Curves.

The curvature of Plane Curves and their radii of curvature and evolutes.

The Differential Co-efficients of the Arcs and Areas of Plane Curves to rectangular and polar Co-ordinates, and of the surfaces and volumes of solids of revolution.

Integral Calculus,

The meaning of Integration.

The integration of Elementary Functions. The Integration of Eational Fractions. The determination of the lengths and areas of Plane Curves, and of the surfaces and volumes of solids of revolution.

But an owl, especially by sunshine, is much easier terrified than an eagle, and in like manner on youths of a higher class of intellect the above requirements have no deterring effect. On the contrary, the attractions of the national prize have, on the whole, proved to be so much stronger than the terrors of the examination, that, -for only forty vacancies offered to the whole community, as many as 100, 150, and even 200 candidates

Pabt I.

have simultaneously stepped forward ; and as, in their examination, favouritism is unknown, and interest nil, the cream of the whole mixture is, in the manner described in the following official document, every half-year skilfully skimmed off by the Horse Guards, and for the use and great benefit of Her Majesty's Service despatched to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich : —

REPORT.

The Council of Militaey Education have the honour to submit to His Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, the following Report of the Open Competitive Examination for Admission to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, which was held at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, in July, 1868.

The Examination commenced on Wednesday the 1st, and was continued according to the following arrangement :—

Medical Examination of Candidates.

Morning — Geometrical Drawing.

A f ternoon— French.

Morning — Landscape Drawing.

Afternoon — French.

Morning — Mathematics.

Afternoon — En giish.

Morning — Mathematics.

Afternoon — English.

Morning — Mathematics.

Afternoon — History.

Morning — Mathematics.

Afternoon — History.

Wednesday, Jnly 1

Thursday „ 2

Friday, „ 3

Saturday, „ 4

Monday, „ 6

Tuesday, ' „ 7

Wednesday, „ 8

Part I. ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION. 9

J Morning — Mathematics. ( Afternoon — Geography.

J Morning — Mathematics. \ Afternoon — Geography.

, . Latin.

. . Greek.

.. German.

.. Experimental Sciences.

.. Natural Sciences and Hindustani.

The number of Candidates who presented themselves on the first day was 144; of whom one was rejected by the Medical Board, and two others subsequently withdrew; of the remainder 57 were found qualified in every respect, and the names of the 40 highest on the list were submitted to His Eoyal Highness the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, on the 23rd July.

Every cadet is liberally granted by his country a specified pay per clay, which, as will appear from the following extracts, amounts, with certain exceptions, to exactly 125/. a-year less than nothing :—

Regulation YIT. — Each Cadet on joining will be required to pay a sum of 25Z. to cover the expense of Uniform, Books, &c. He will also be required to pay a contribution of 621. 10s., payable in advance, for each half-year of the time during which he remains under instruction.

The annual contributions, however, for sons and orphans of Naval and Military Officers will be regulated at the following rates, as heretofore : — -

For sons of Admirals and of Generals having £ Eegiments . . . . . . 80

For sons of Generals without Kegiments 70

1 hursday,

July 9

Friday,

Saturday, .

Monday,

Tuesday,

Wednesday;

Thursday,

10 , THE EOYAL ENGINEER Part I.

For sons of Captains and Commanders of the Navy, £ and of Colonels and Kegimental Field Officers of the Army 60

For sons of all Officers of the Army and Navy under the above Banks . . 40

For sons of Officers of the Army and Navy who have died in the service, and whose families are proved to be left in pecuniary distress 20

Distribution of the Pay of a Gentleman Cadet in the Eoyal

Military Academy, "Woolwich.

s.

d.

8>

d.

Pay at 2s. 6d. per diem

Messing at 2s. for 280 days

Washing for 40 weeks

Subscription to Library Is. per month

Balance applicable to several ex-j' penses, such as Housekeeper's Salary, Servants' Wages, keeping up Class Books, Drawing Materials, Eepair of Clothing, and other con-

Every cadet, on joining the Eoyal Military Academy, is designated ua recruit" in which grade, especially deemed inferior by his comrades, " like the lobster in boiling water restless and never satisfied," he remains under the zealous

Part I, ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION. 11

tuition of a steady, highly intelligent, sharp, smart drill-serjeant for about four months, when, the anguish of his preliminary education being over, he is ordered " to join the ranks," where, unentitled to wear any weapon but a bayonet, he, in every respect, acts the part of a private soldier, unless, or until, by " steadiness " and good conduct, he may become one of the few declared in public orders to be " promoted to the rank of Corporal, and to be obeyed as such."

During the whole of their residence at the establishment, the infantry drill of the cadets, under strict but very considerate instruction, advances from simple goose-step to manual and platoon drill, to battalion drill, and even to brigade drill ; they occasionally taking their place on garrison field-days as infantry.

Their education, the details of which, though highly interesting and important, might possibly weary the general reader, may be very briefly described to him by the following list of the illustrious personage, experienced officers, and learned professors, who either govern the whole, or the particular study which it is the important duty of each to superintend : —

B0YAL MILITABY ACADEMY AT WOOLWICH.

Governor

G.C.M.G. Gren. Guards.

Lt.- Gov., Commandant Maj.-Gen. John Wm. Ormsby, B. Art.

Insp, of Studies, 2nd Commandant Lt.-Col. Geo* Thos. Field* E. Art.

Part I.

Assist. Insp, of Studies Oapt. E. J. Bruce, 11. Art.

(Capt. Oliver R. Stokes, R. Art.

Captains of Companies of ^«emew|2nd0aptt0hg>yaug^n^1)Uokle|it<A.

Gadefs (Bt. Lt.-Ool. Geo. A. Milman, R. Art.

(Frank Johnson, R. Art.

A. B. Cumiingliam,R. (late Beng.) Art. G. J. Burgmann, R. Art.

Chaplain Bev. A. 0. Fraser.

Paymaster and Adjutant Ohas. South, m.

Quartermaster G. A. Shepherd, R. Art.

Surgeon E. S. Protheroe, R. Art. {Surg, Maj.)

CIVIL BRANCH.

Professor of Mathematics Professor of Fortification Professor of Artillery Professor of Mechanics 1st Mathem. Mast. . . 2nd Mathem. Mast. .. 3rd Mathem. Mast. ■ . tth Mathem. Mast. . .

Instructors in Fortifications

, J. J. Sylvester, Esq., M.A., F.B.'S. , Capt. J. J. Wilson, R. Eng.

Bt. Lt.-Ool. 0. H. Owen, R. Art.

T. M. Goodeve, Esq.

Stephen Fenwick, Esq., F.B.A.S.

Bev. G. Y. Boddy, M.A.

Wm. Racster, Esq.

Morgan W. Crofton, Esq, j Bt. Maj. W. J. Stuart, R. Eng.

I Oapt. 0. N. Martin, R. Eng. ' * S Capt. E. L. Bland, R. Eng.

Professor of Geometrical Drawing . . Thos. Bradley, Esq.

, „ ± . 7 -n • (G. S. Pritohard, Esq. Masters for Geometrical Drawing Bra(j|ev

j Geo. B. Campion, Esq.

Masters for Landscape Drawing . . j ^ Penley, Esq.

Instructor in Artillery 2nd Capt. 0. H. Goodenough, E. Art.

Assist. Instructors in Artillery . . |2lld Capt. H. Brackenbury, R. Art,

Professor of Military History ..

Professor of Surveying and Topo-)Bt Maj> A w DrayS011j E# Art> graphical Drawing ...... J

!2nd Capt. G. A. Crawford, R. Art.

Capt. A. H. Hutchinson, R. Art.

Capt. F. E. Pratt, R. Eng.

Professor of French Alphonse Lovey, --Esq*

j Theodore Karcher, Esq., LL.B, (Edmund Valentin, Esq.

French Masters

Pabt I. ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION. 13

Professor of German [0. A. Feiling, Esq,.

„ (F. Schlutter, Esq.

German Masters j Q H ^ ph ^ M^

Professor of Hindustani Maj. E. Eobertson, ret. Ind. Army.

Lecturer on Chemistry 0. L. Bloxam, Esq,

Cleric William M'Gee, Esq.

Of the above squad of studies/ those which very properly are the most severely insisted on are mathematics, fortification, and artillery ; which latter embraces gun and mortar drill, with the actual practice of both ; standing drill with garrison guns of the larger calibres in battery; instruction and attendance at all the manufacturing establishments in Woolwich Arsenal.

Yisits to Shoeburyness, to Enfield, and also to Waltham Abbey, to learn the manufacture of gunpowder, each cadet being required to make copious notes, with drawings of the machinery, which are examined and credited according to their merit at his final examination.

The course of fortification teaches minutely the German and other modern systems, the cadets themselves executing field-works, as also fieldsurveying, contouring, sketching, and reconnoitring, in all of which they are .sedulously instructed.

As regards modern languages, every cadet is obliged to learn French, but if, as is very rarely the case, he prefers Hindustani to German, he is not required to study the latter.

In attending the lectures on mechanics, geology, mineralogy, and chemistry, each cadet is required

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Paet I.

to take notes (which are afterwards written out fair, and submitted to inspection), and at the conclusion of each lecture he is examined in it before he leaves the theatre, attached to which there is an excellent chemical laboratory, where all are practised. The lecturer, moreover, with unsatiated appetite, encourages and takes great* interest in voluntary attendances,, in which many of his pupils become good manipulators.

All the cadets, most properly, go through a course of riding, and, as already stated, of every description of drill — infantry and gun. All are required to attend as acrobats, at the gymnasium, for the first year, whether they like it or not, afterwards voluntarily.

For recreation between their studies, they have cricket, football, quoits, an American bowling-alley, a workshop for turnery and joinery, two first-rate raquet-cpurts, covered in ; billiard-tables, bagatelle-tables, and, lastly, a nasty smoking-room, with, per contra, a bathing pond, with also baths in each of their division barracks.

Their dietary is abundant, — their beverage, Inde and Coope's beer, brewed in March and October, on purpose for them.

Those cadets who have friends in the neighbourhood are permitted to go to them, -"on leave/' from Saturday at 3 p.m. till Sunday at 11 p.m.

Each has two suits of uniform given to him per year, so that his payment of the highest rate of

Paet I.

• ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

contribution (125?. per annum) is not, after all, a very bad investment, seeing that at the .end of two years and a half, in return for advances amounting to 312/. 10^., he has received a first-class education, has been fed, clothed, lodged, warmed, amused, and finally — on the top of all — presented, in a scientific corps, with a commission, for which, had he gone into the line, he would have been charged by his country for the privilege of fighting for it 450/.

It appears from the foregoing rough sketch that, during their residence at the academy, the cadets, besides a costly education, daily pay, &c, are provided by Government — that is, by the public—* with a most liberal supply, or rather mixture, of amusements of almost every description ; and as monarchical government, and, indeed, every other description of government, is based on the principle that he who receives from it protection owes to it allegiance, it follows that any set of students, and especially a litter of young sucking soldiers, are bound, and, if necessary, should be compelled, not only to obey the orders of their superiors, but, without murmur, to submit to punishment if they disobey them.

Now, the four military punishments which for ages had been inflicted on insubordinate cadets, at the old Royal Military College at Great Marlow (which I entered exactly sixty-one years ago), at Sandhurst, and at the Royal Military .Academy at

Part I.

"Woolwich Arsenal, and afterwards, when it was removed to its present site on the Common (I was a cadet at both), were drill, arrest, (that is confinement to his bed-room), black hole, and expulsion.

A beloved son, however, of that well-known and universally respected " fine old English gentleman " Paterfamilias, having lately, in the Woolwich Academy aforesaid, been subjected to the penultimate of these four punishments, such a quantity of indignation letters — -just as toadstools start up in a swamp — managed to appear in the broadsheets of our newspapers, that Government, finding themselves not in a " muddle," but simply in a puddle, assailed by a tremendous storm, deemed it advisable to tranquillise both, by abolishing the sable punishment which Paterfamilias — ■ majestically shaking his head— and his supporters, stamping their feet, had declared, and had therefore, they conceived, proved, "gentlemen cadets were too old to undergo."

Now, my own experience, my own reflection, I must say, have taught me that there is no punishment more harmless and more wholesome for a " gentleman cadet " than solitary confinement for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, on bread and water, in the " black hole."

It does not, as Paterfamilias and Co. may think, discolour the culprit's skin, nor raise on any portion of it either short weals or little red

Pakt I. ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

pimples. It does not cause a recumbent position to be uneasy, or make it at all uncomfortable to him to sit down. It simply, without inflicting any bodily suffering, deprives him of sunshine, of "Ind and Ooope's beer, brewed on purpose for him," of the cheery faces of his comrades, and, accordingly, left entirely to himself, with nothing in the whole world to do or look at, it forces him to think. And his reasoning faculties, strengthened by his mathematical studies, soon demonstrate, or, at ;all events, under the cold-water cure, have a fair opportunity of demonstrating to him, that he had acted insubordinately,— that his animal spirits had raised him in his own estimation a peg or so too high, — and thus he may, and I believe often does, gradually comprehend in darkness what he had failed to see in broad daylight, namely, the justice as well as the necessity of the long-established proclamation of his, as well as of everybody's, lieutenant-governor :—

SUPERB0S."

In reply to the new theory which forbids a cadet to be deposited in solitary confinement, it may be asked upon what reasoning should he — wearing a bayonet, and being himself a delinquent — be prevented during his military education, paid for by the public, from learning, and from practically feeling, one only of the list of soldier punishments

c

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part I.

which, when an officer, he will have power to inflict ? And again, if, within the precincts of our barrack squares, at the period in question, were occasionally to be heard the faint, almost suppressed moans of a veteran soldier, suffering, but manfully enduring, corporal punishment, — upon what principle of justice or common sense could a beardless youth of eighteen, equally subject to military discipline, be declared to be not, as many people would expect, too young, but too old (!) to be punished ? But the extraordinary fact is that the practical effect of the present alteration is, to increase instead of diminish the amount of the cadet's punishment, or, to use a commoner expression, to throw him "from the frying-pan into the fire." To shield him, while a lad, from an imaginary disgrace, lasting only a few hours, and, after all, known only to his comrades, he is, by rustication, now branded with a public disgrace, which not only, for many months, maims and dislocates his education, but which, if he be sensitive, haunts him through life, and, whether he be sensitive or not, — by the actual loss of steps in a seniority corps caused by others having, during his rustication, risen over his head, — lasts till his death.

But it will appear from the following extract from the official pamphlet already quoted that the hobgoblin Paterfamilias has, moreover, inflicted a pecuniary fine iipon the real Paterfamilias, — that is, the father of the rusticated youth.