430

EQUIPMENT OF ARTILLERY.

6. Horsing field batteries for foreign service was regulated upon the principle ofproviding for every

\%-pounder gun and 8 -inch howitzer .10 horses .*

12, 9, and heavy §-pounder gun, and 24-pounder howitzer . 8 ,,

Light ^-pounder, heavy ?>-pounder gun, and 1 2-pr. howitzer 6 „

All four-wheeled carriages belonging to field batteries . . 6 „

The reasons given for adopting this arrangement were, that entering on a campaignwill not be the guide for horsing batteries, with good roads, stables, and forage ; butwhen the animals are exposed, traversing bad roads with a precarious supply offorage will form the principles to regulate the number, and that by rather over-horsing the lighter carriages attached to each battery, the animals of the gun andammunition carriages will be kept effective, and the Officer in command preventedthe necessity of requiring aid from the infantry, and the artillery movements keptfrom interfering in obstructing the former.

7. The only observation offered is to draw attention of the General Officers andStaff Officers to the vast supply necessary to a field battery,—of importance in theaccommodation and provision for forage.

8. Drivers.—The Committee assumed the principle that one Company of Artillery ,consisting of 5 Officers, 1 company sergeant, 2 other sergeants, 3 corporals, 6 bom-bardier's, 2 drummers, and 90 gunners,\ was not more than adequate to the service ofa 9-pounder battery, being that in most general use ; and as the \2-pounder batterywill require a little more, and the light b-pounder battery may be worked with a lessproportion, they adhered to the principle of a company per battery; and that theartillery drivers must be kept distinct, as they are liable to separation in emergenciesof service ; and that therefore the equipment of a field battery will take a few morenon-commissioned officers and soldiers than it might require if formed into one bodyconstantly acting together, as in the Service of the Continental Powers, and in ourRoyal Horse Artillery.

9. Notwithstanding the opinion thus given upon the previous practical working ofa Field Foot Artillery in the British Service, it may be remarked that this arrange-ment has been subverted, and the present organization of a Company of Artillery isof ‘ Gunner’ and * Driver,’ in which the men are capable of acting in either capacity.This change was probably threefold: 1st, to disembody a defectively organized force;2nd, experimentally; and 3rd, as a Peace Establishment. It is considered, however,that in the event of a War, a Corps of Drivers, or Field Train, must be re-organized,as a necessary and a useful adjunct to the Artillery ; for the former body, the Corpsof Drivers, was brave and effective, considering the duty of a driver is more passivethan active, and hence requires a greater proportion of determination. Probably inthe re-organization of a Corps of Drivers, the Officers of the Royal Artillery would be

* The Duke of Wellington appeared averse to this very large demand of horses, as inconsistentwith the means of almost any country; and latterly, in the French Service, six is the maximumnumber of horses allowed to Field Artillery , even for 12 -pounders and 6-inch howitzers, upon theprinciple that rapidity of movement cannot in any case be required for those pieces, and that themen should be always on foot,f The strength at present (Jan., 1853) is5 Officers,

1 Colour-Serjeant,

4 Serjeants,

4 Corporals,

4 Bombardiers,

120 Gunners and Drivers,

2 Drummers and Trumpeters.