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life was in its morning glow, and the world lay before him like a country to be explored. He had seen much of that world in the forty-seven years which had passed since then. To use, as he would have done, the words of his favourite author, "multum ille et terris "jactatus et alto." On the very spot where he and Adair had held converse together, he could now stand and contemplate the work of a life already long. He remembered the Treaty of Bucharest, his first, and, in his own eyes, always his greatest triumph. He thought of the brilliant throng at Vienna, and the sudden shock, like the boom of a distant gun, when the news came that the "Enemy of Europe" was again at large. His thoughts quickly sped from the tidings of Waterloo, which blazed forth like a beacon-fire in the midst of "rustic "diplomacy" in Switzerland, to that lonely island in the Atlantic where the mighty enemy had breathed his last, while the man who had successfully opposed him in the East was enduring the rude experiences of a mission in the Western world. Then memories of the Greek struggle for liberty crowded upon his mind; he fought his battles o'er again with the Porte, recalled the tragedy of Navarino and the final founding of the state of Greece; and there was sadness in the thought, for the kingdom had not realised his hopes. With the recollection of the War of Independence came memories of the first step in its aid— his mission to Petersburg-and then his rejection by that second "Enemy of Europe," whose armies had but lately been worsted in open fields and stubborn forts by the men of the West. Nicholas Paulovitch, Emperor of All the Russias, had fought his long duel with the Eltchi and was dead, and there on the littered table lay one of his last letters, a despatch to Lord Stratford himself, thanking him for his kindness to the Russian prisoners. . . . There was no hardness in his mind as the memory of Nicholas arose. The Czar he had detested, for the man he had no feeling but pity. . . . In his hour of crowning glory, moreover, there was much to make him grave. . . . Turkey had been sustained for a while in her corner of Europe; but if she was to keep her place as Warden of the Marches over against Russia, she must look to herself. . . . The one great aim of his later years in the East had been to raise up a new Turkey, a state worthy to be defended, a moral as well as a material barrier to the encroachments of Russia. . . . Reform after reform had been enacted, and the main difficulty that remained was to insist that they should be rigidly enforced. The Turks as a body were not to be trusted to do this. . . . Effective supervision could only be exerted by the personal influence of a European; and as the great Eltchi meditated on the long years of his work in Turkey, he could not but see reason to distrust the future.'

With the Crimean war the work of Lord Stratford's life came practically to an end, although after his retirement in 1858 he continued for more than twenty years in the full enjoyment of his rare faculties, speaking occasionally in the House of Lords, amusing himself with literature, and taking, to the last, a keen and intelligent interest in the Eastern Question,

Only a fortnight before his death, when approaching the end of his ninety-fourth year, he was visited by Sir Robert Morier, the son of his old friend, who wrote:

His intellect was as clear, his speech as incisive, his interest in poetry and politics as keen as when I last saw him three years ago. It was a beautiful English afternoon: a warm sun lit up his pale features, which fully retained their splendid outlines, and were entirely wanting in the wrinkles or withered look of extreme old age. I could not help thinking of the line

"Slow sinks more lovely ere his race be run."

He seemed some grand old Titan majestically sinking to his rest in all his glory, as if he knew the Infinite was waiting to receive him with all due honour.'

After a few days of weary restlessness, rather than of illness, he died on August 14, 1880. Four years later, a monument to his memory was placed in Westminster Abbey, side by side with that of his cousin, the Prime Minister, and his cousin's son, the Governor-General of India, and bearing an inscription by the Laureate:

Thou third great Canning, stand among our best

And noblest, now thy long day's work has ceased:
Here silent in our Minster of the West

Who wert the voice of England in the East.'

In writing these pages we have felt it our duty to dissent from some of Mr. Lane-Poole's statements and opinions; but we must express our thanks to him for the pleasure he has given us, in enabling us to revive old memories and receive new impressions of the career of a great, and the life of a good, man. The life of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe covers an ample page of history, which his biographer has filled with an authentic record of memorable events; and the personal qualities of the illustrious ambassador, his lofty patriotism, his high spirit, his romantic and enthusiastic character, entitle him to be ranked amongst the foremost Englishmen of the age. Of such a life these volumes are a fitting memorial.

VOL. CLXIX. NO. CCCXLV.

R

ART. IX.- Report of the Committee on the Reorganisation of the Royal Artillery, with Minutes of Evidence and Appendices. April 27, 1888.

DURING the thirty-three years which have elapsed since the conclusion of the Crimean war, artillery has made greater progress than in the whole of its previous existence. As to that arm in England it had, when in February 1852 Lord Hardinge became Master-General of the Ordnance, sunk very low. The only permanent field artillery consisted of seven troops of horse artillery. There were no permanent field batteries, for, though nominally there were six, these were only for instructional purposes, a company being passed through it in about a year. When a field battery was required for active service the practice was simply to take a company of foot artillery and hand over to it the guns, harness, wagons, and horses, leaving it to the captain to do the best he could towards extemporising a field battery. The men were enlisted as 'gunners and drivers,' the latter being found by a process of natural selection. The services of the field battery being no longer needed, it was broken up, and the company which had constituted its personnel reverted to garrison duty. In fact, there was still a survival of the old idea that, given a certain number of trained gunners in barracks, and guns and equipment in store, the only thing needed was to bring the two together and add the horses required, in order to create a field artillery. As in those days all movements were slow, and the field gun was only a light garrison gun mounted on a travelling carriage, the system answered sufficiently well, and the necessity of special training for different branches of artillery work did not make itself felt. The term regiment' was even then obviously a misnomer, composed as the artillery was of seven troops of horse artillery, nine battalions of eight companies each, a riding establishment, an invalid detachment, and a company of cadets. Still it had grown up so gradually, having been a century previously a body of two battalions of twelve companies each, that the size of the corps did not strike anyone as excessive.

Since the Crimea, however, the size of the corps has largely increased, there has been a great developement of power in ordnance, and an extensive application of science, together with, as regards field artillery, what may be termed an expansion of tactics. From these causes, and the military renaissance in the army generally, there sprang up some

fifteen years ago, among certain of the younger and more progressive officers of the Royal Artillery, as well as among a few military journalists, a conviction that the system, organisation, and condition of the arm were not absolutely perfect. The artillery officers could only express their opinions privately, for, had they spoken out, they would have been, so to speak, professionally burnt for their professional heresy, so great was the complacency of the senior officers of the corps. These latter, justly proud of the achievements and reputation of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, were perfectly content with the system under which those achievements had been performed, that reputation obtained, and under which they had risen, and could not tolerate a suggestion that it was not perfect. So perfect, indeed, did they consider it, that they conscientiously believed it to be capable of assimilating all progress in artillery science, all changes in tactics. In fact, its infallibility was an article of faith, and criticism from men who were not gunners' was regarded with calm contempt. The artillery also, probably owing to the fact that up to the Crimean war they were under the Board of Ordnance, considered themselves as a body apart from the rest of the army, which in its turn entertained a similar, though less strong, view of the artillery. The Duke of Cambridge was known also to be strongly opposed to any radical change, and this fact of itself deadened, if it did not stifle, the voice of the reformers. As years, however, rolled on, the young artillery officers who had joined the ranks of the reformers became majors or lieutenant-colonels, and were daily reinforced by captains and subalterns, the criticism of the press became more and more severe, and facts came out in Parliament tending to prove that, pace the Brahmins of Woolwich, the state of our artillery in more shapes than one was unsatisfactory. Mr. Stanhope, recognising this fact, convened some fifteen months ago a Committee to deal with one, and not the least important, part of the question, viz. that of reorganisation. At the head of this Committee he placed, as Chairman, Lord Harris, Under-Secretary of State for War, while the members were Sir Archibald Alison, an infantry officer, Colonel R. Harrison, Royal Engineers, Mr. R. H. Knox, Accountant-General at the War Office, and the following officers of artillery: Sir R. Biddulph, Major-General H. Brackenbury, Major-General R. Hay, Major-General W. Stirling.

For a committee to be efficient, it is indispensable that they should be men not only of ability and special knowledge

of all or some of the questions to be investigated, but also of broad, impartial, independent minds. In this case, the composition of the Committee was at least open to criticism. Lord Harris's only military experience had been gained as a captain of yeomanry and by a few months' tenure of office as Under-Secretary of State for War. Those, however, who have been energetic enough to wade through the printed proceedings will see that Lord Harris had taken the trouble to study the subject, and that he displayed great acumen in putting questions and in directing the course of the inquiry. The only justification for placing Mr. Knox on the Committee was that questions of finance might possibly come up. As a matter of fact, these only presented themselves in a general way, and this constant civilian member of all committees on military subjects, this representative of unsympathetic officialism, might with advantage have been replaced by some one who had a knowledge of the art of war, a practical experience of the working of the existing organisation of the Royal Artillery. Sir Archibald Alison is a soldier who has graduated in the field, is thoroughly versed in his profession, has held such appointments as entitle him to speak with authority, and is notorious for simple-mindedness and independence of character. Colonel Harrison is an officer who has studied his profession and held high staff appointments at Aldershot and in the field, but is nevertheless scarcely one who would have been selected by the public opinion of the army for a place on the Committee. The artillery generals-viz. Lieutenant-General Sir R. Biddulph, Major-General H. Brackenbury, Major-General R. Hay, and Major-General W. Stirling-are all officers of distinction and experience, and, with the exception of Major-General Hay, whose only active service was in the China war of 1860, have seen much of war. Major-General Hay, moreover, was only recently Deputy Adjutant-General of Royal Artillery at the War Office, in which post he had ample opportunity of learning how the present system works. On the whole, therefore, there is little fault to be found with the composition of the artillery portion of the committee, though it would have been, in our opinion, an improvement had two of the members been replaced by a couple of lieutenant-colonels or majors of artillery to represent the more advanced school of thought in the corps.

But it is not sufficient to have a judiciously composed committee. Much depends also on the selection of the witnesses. While an undue multiplication of evidence from

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