dents in Edinburgh may still remember,that of the promptitude and skill displayed by a subaltern of engineers clearing away the dangerous ruins left by the disastrous fire which occurred in our old Scottish capital in 1824. In telling this story, in his own modest and earnest way, Lord Napier at length bowed his head towards an old gentleman whose black coat was somewhat conspicuous among the red ones which surrounded the table, and proceeded to say that although that example had ever been present in his mind, yet it was not till the day on which he now addressed them that he had had an opportunity of seeing his ideal engineer. This engineer was Sir Francis Head.

Here were gathered together, red-coated records of almost every English battle of the present century. Veterans of the Peninsula and of Waterloo; the less mature soldiers of Sobraon, Chillianwalla, and Meeanee; a fresher group still representing those who laid out the batteries at Sebastopol; and here too were the sharers of the siege of Delhi and other operations of the Indian Mutiny campaign; along with engineers who had fought in China, New Zealand, and at the Cape.

In returning thanks for the words in which the Duke of Cambridge, as Colonel-in-Chief of the corps, conveyed the satisfaction which his brother officers felt in his success, Lord Napier took occasion to allude to various incentives to high aspirations which at different times of his career had influenced his efforts. He told his brother officers that as a very young subaltern one circumstance had made an indelible impression on his mind, as an example of the self-reliance and energy which ought to animate an engineer officer. The circumstance was one which some resi

military. Mathematics, fortification, military surveying and sketching, naturally occupy a prominent position in this course, which is all along supplemented by a rigid training in drill and discipline, and is eventually completed by a careful instruction in the practical part of an artillery officer's duties, carried out daily in the Royal Arsenal, among the various apparatus, models, and machinery stored in that repository of gunnery, which cannot fail to interest and impress the minds of the pupils. The cadets who have finished their course at this Academy undergo a final examination before leaving it. From the thirty or forty who pass this test at the close of each half-yearly term, the half-dozen* who show the highest proficiency are selected for the corps of Royal Engineers. The remainder join the Royal Artillery. In the case of the lads who are at the top of this half-yearly list, it is of course optional to go to that corps which seems best suited to them; but the number who, having qualified for engineers, do after all become artillerymen, is not great.

The engineer, in the embryo state we now find him as he leaves Woolwich, is provided with as fair a knowledge of mathematics as is possessed by the average men who take a degree at Cambridge. With the theory of fortification he is well acquainted. In its application too he has made some progress, in the shape of throwing up an occasional fieldwork, or modelling some celebrated fortress on a smaller scale in sand. His hand and his eye have already acquired the experience and aptitude necessary to comprehend the conformation of a country-side, and to render this in an intelligible manner on paper. As regards drill and discipline, he has gone through a more severe training than most men in the ranks of the army.

notice, affords every opportunity for his acquiring a knowledge of this apparatus of war, and the many useful combinations of which it is capable. The survey of a portion of the neighbouring country, representing several square miles of field, forest, and river, is required of him, under conditions of exactness and artistic finish such as regulate the well-known Ordnance Maps. From time to time he is called upon to submit, at a short notice, a project for attaining some object that is prescribed for his considerationthe means of carrying on a siege against some specified fort or strong place-the method best adapted to repel an enemy landing at some defined point on our coast.

It is in this condition that he joins the Royal Engineer establishment at Chatham. Here his efforts are now directed to appreciate and exercise the application of the principles which have thus far been instilled into his mind. In the operations of sapping, mining, throwing up batteries, laying out the works of a siege, and contriving expedients for a defence, he undergoes a thorough course of instruction. He is constantly practised in the duty of throwing bridges over ravines, or across the ditch of a fortress under attack. An admirable pontoon train, ready as it now stands to take the field at an hour's

*The precise number is fixed according to the requirements of the corps of Royal Engineers. Six may be considered the average half-yearly number; but at times more than this number are selected,

and at times fewer.

Meanwhile his training in the ordinary duties of a soldier is being enforced with as much attention as is bestowed on his brethren of the line. Attached as a subaltern to one of the companies of Royal Engineers present at their headquarters, he goes through the regular routine of the barrack discipline of our army. According to his place on the roster, he takes his turn of the duties of the corps and the garrison-of the work of "officer of the day" in his own barracks-of that of a member of a courtmartial there or elsewhere.

In addition to the company and battalion drill in which he is exercised on his own parade, he takes a part in the brigade manoeuvres periodically occurring on the neighbouring lines of Chatham,-so that by the time he has completed his two years' course of training at the Royal Engineer establishment he may be said to have had altogether four and a half years of constant and careful drilling. Having thus completed his preliminary courses, the subaltern is in all probability drafted to do duty with one of the forty companies of the corps which are stationed separately in almost every part of the British dominions. In any case it is almost certain that before quitting the grade of second captain, the young engineer may yet have to go through more drill and more barrack work, so that it is not too much to assert that in the early part of his career he has been subjected to so severe a training in the purely mechanical duties of the soldier as to render him qualified for ever after in this respect. Henceforth he may be employed, without detriment to his military efficiency, in any capacity in which he may prove useful to the State.

And indeed he is called upon to perform very varied work. He is charged with the construction and conservation of the fortresses and defensive works throughout British territories, with the maintenance of barracks and other military buildings, and with car

1

rying out the Ordnance Survey of the Uni- | Badajoz, four were killed and six were
ted Kingdom; while those officers who serve wounded. At the first siege of St. Sebas
in India undertake labours of a still more tian the casualties were still more severe, four
comprehensive kind, in furnishing means of officers being killed and seven wounded out
communication and of irrigation for that of a roll of eighteen. Nor have recent sie-
country.
ges been much less death-dealing: 550 officers
and men having been killed or wounded
among the 1650 of all ranks of the corps
engaged in the Crimea. Indeed, throughout
each phase of a siege the engineer is under
more constant exposure to an enemy's fire
than any other soldier of the army; and
when at length the supreme moment of the
attack has arrived, when the stormers have
to make their short, sharp rush at the
breach, here again we find him performing
the duty of showing the way. What this
duty means may best be understood by look-
ing back at our siege of Delhi. Of the four
engineers who led the columns which finally
assaulted that place, three were struck down;
and indeed of the seventeen officers of the
corps engaged there on that day, only seven
escaped unscathed.

And while these are the principal occupations of the corps during peace, there are others allotted to individuals among its seven hundred and fifty* members, of which we may here mention a few in the order they occur to us:-Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Bombay; Governor of Bermuda; Governor of the Straits Settlement; Military member of the Council of the Viceroy of India; Chief Commissioner of Police in London; Consul-General in Egypt; Director of Works to the Lords of the Admiralty; Mint-Masters at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, and Australia; Government Inspectors of Railways in England and in India; Member of the Ordnance Select Committee; Director of Telegraphs in India; the Department of Science and Art at South Kensing

ton.

Having thus seen how numerous are the duties cast upon the Engineers in time of peace, let us now look at some of their doings on active service in the field. And to begin with the work which common belief assigns as their sole occupation on service that of siege operations, it may be safely asserted that no duty of a soldier demands more energy, more resolution, or more readiness of resource than this task of the engineer. It is one thing for a man to gallop headlong into action, excited by the emulation and encouragement afforded by comrades, who ride stirrup to stirrup with him in the charge. And it is another thing to expose one's-self as a solitary target for the deliberate practice of an enemy's rifle men, as is the lot of the engineer who, in unimpassioned isolation, undertakes the reconnoissance of a fortress or the inspection of a breach. A man must have a clear head and a stout heart who can grasp the features of the ground and the fortifications he is called upon to scan under circumstances of this kind.

Nor is less quiet fortitude needed in the trenches. There the Engineers who lay out the batteries, and their old college companions of the artillery, who serve the siege guns, have a hard enough time of it, as the casualty lists invariably show. Of nineteen engineer officers employed at the siege of

*Within the last ten years the corps of Royal Engineers has been nearly doubled in number, by the enrollment of officers who, although educated at the Chatham establishment, were formerly reserved for service in India only.

One incident of that assault will long be remembered by every soldier who was present-the blowing open of the Cashmere gateway of the fortress. This operation constituted one of the main features in the projected attack. It was an awkward task to accomplish, for imperfect means had prevented our reducing the fire of the place to that condition of comparative harmlessness which is required for prosecuting the advanced operations of a siege. Our most forward trenches were yet far from the fort walls, so that any party attempting to approach the gate must pass over a wide space of open ground commanded by the ceaseless fire of a vigilant enemy. No such attempt could be made under the cover of night; for cach evening, so soon as darkness prevented our riflemen from sweeping the glacis with their fire, parties of the enemy came out and kept strict watch at the foot of the walls. Whatever might have to be done must be done in daylight, in full view, under the very muskets of the men who guarded this important point.

In the corps of engineers that practice which is termed "calling for volunteers" is unknown. There, as duty falls to be done, it is allotted as a matter of course to the officer who heads the roster. In this instance two engineer subalterns were wanted to blow open the Cashmere gate. On Home and Salkeld this duty fell.

Assisted by Sergeants Smith, Burgess, and Carmichael of their corps, the two officers made their start from the advanced trenches, and moved down upon the gate with as much expedition as the burden of bearing the ex

to. If an occupation of it is intended, these must be repaired. Otherwise it may be necessary to proceed at once with still further measures of demolition. Then, too, accurate surveys and sketches have to be made of the scene of the operations as a necessary accompaniment to a report of the proceedings, which is now drawn up by the Commanding Engineer. And these different duties have to be done without delay. Time in such cases is limited, and in all probability other work lies not far ahead. Yesterday's task was blowing in a gateway of one fortress. That of next week may be the escalade of the walls of another.

plosive apparatus enabled them to exert. | defences of the place must also be looked
Across the open space thus traversed by this
little band, and afterwards on the spot they
reached at the foot of the wall, a hot fire
was poured from the parapets in front, from
the gateway itself, and from both flanks.
Yet the powder-bags were securely laid, and
the hose carefully adjusted-chiefly in the
end by Home, for by this time Salkeld
was lying prostrate with two bullets in
him. Sergeant Carmichael, in attempting
to fire the hose, was shot dead. His place
was taken by Sergeant Burgess, who suc-
ceeded; but he, too, at the cost of his life.
At this point, Sergeant Smith, thinking that
Burgess bad failed, ran forward; but seeing
the train alight, had barely time to throw
himself into the ditch of the fort to escape
the effects of the explosion. With a
loud crash the gateway was blown in,
and through it No. 3 column rushed to
the assault, entering the town just as the
other columns had won the breaches in ad-els who blocked the communication between
joining portions of the defences.

Home, Salkeld, and Smith received the Victoria Cross for this day's work. But neither of the young officers lived long to enjoy their honour. Salkeld, who had lost an arm, and had a thigh broken, died after several days of lingering agony. Home on this day escaped unhurt, and afterwards displayed much skill and daring in blowing open one of the gates of the Delhi Palace, under somewhat similar circumstances of danger and difficulty. But within a fortnight he too was killed by an explosion which took place in the operations at the neighbouring fort of Malagurh.

Of this other form of an engineer's duty we may here mention a remarkable example which occurred at Jhansi, a stronghold in Central India occupied by the sepoy mutineers in 1858.

Pushing his onward way through the reb

Eastern and Western India, Sir Hugh Rose
at length found himself in front of Jhansi,
then strongly held by the enemy, and con-
stituting a focus of insurrection for the dis-
tricts west of the Jumna. Indeed, the
Ranee who reigned over the city and its
dependencies was, although a woman, about
the most formidable enemy the British rule
encountered in that inland part of the pen-
insula. As a strategical point of great im-
portance, no less than from the prestige at-
taching to its possession, it became essential
to us to capture this fortress.
Time pres-
sed; Sir Hugh was eager to effect a com-
munication with the army then operating in
an easterly direction under Lord Clyde;
siege materials were scanty. The expedients
suitable for such a case were accordingly
determined upon--Jhansi was to be attempt-
ed by escalade at one point, and by
a breach battered from afar at another.

To most men of a besieging force the capture of the beleaguered city brings a cessation of labour; but not to the engineers. While those of the stormers who live throw themselves down to rest after the day's toil, the engineer officer has to set to work to explore the interior of the captured place. Riding rapidly through its streets and lanes, pushing his horse into public buildings or courtyards, and greeted at times with a stray shot from the musket of some irrepressible patriot ensconced at a lattice window, the explorer has to gather a rapid acquaintance with the resources of the place, so as to be able to report to the commander of the force what quarters can be made available for housing the troops, and what measures may be necessary to adapt the buildings of the town to this purpose. Arrangements for water supplies must also be made; and roads must be opened out to afford free passage for guns, and, if need be, for giving their fire a free play through streets liable to be occupied by a rallying enemy. The damage done to the

The escalade was to be undertaken by two columns, to each of which was attached a ladder-party composed of engineers. Lieutenant Meiklejohn commanded the party of the right column, Lieutenant Dick that of the left. Neither of the lads was well out of his teens.

Starting from the foremost trenches, the engineers moved well ahead of the columns, and bore down steadily on the point selected for their attempt, but so hot was the fire poured on them while crossing the open space thus passed over, and so many were the men stricken down, that out of thirteen ladders only three could be brought forward to the foot of the wall. In the midst of a storm of bullets and other missiles showered on them from the parapets and the adjoining

can in few cases be so perfect as the acquaintance with these duties which early training and maturer practice cannot fail to impress on every engineer. Moreover, the engineer on whom this training falls has been chosen from a select band of young Englishmen, and is at least as likely to prove specially fitted to excel in this branch of military skill as his brethren of the line who happen to have developed some amateur aptitude for such pursuits. But, indeed, so entirely has this circumstance been recognised by our army authorities, that engineer officers are no longer permitted to contest in the yearly competition for entrance to the Staff College, it having been declared that their training renders such an examination superfluous. In other words, it has been admitted that engineer officers already possess qualifications for staff employment which can only be acquired by the rest of the army by means of a severe course of study at a college devoted to this purpose.

Such, then, are some of the duties of the engineer in connexion with the operations of a siege or an escalade. As regards the ordinary routine work of a campaign his labours are already varied; and if due attention were paid to his capabilities, his employment would assuredly become still more comprehensive than it now is. As Sir Francis Head very justly points out, the qualifications prescribed for officers serving in the department of the QuartermasterGeneral of the army are simply such as are possessed by every engineer subaltern on leaving the establishment for instruction at Chatham. The rudimentary knowledge of surveying, field-sketching, and other acquirements requisite for the preparation of reconnoitering reports which an infantry aspirant for staff honours contrives to pick up in leisure hours as an accomplishment,