The Press.
London, England, 1857-08-01 00:00:00

1852'.

troops. Most of the modern English exploits
'for the last three hundred years, excepting the
immortal campaigns of Marlborough and
Wellington, have been chiefly colonial wars ;
and in attacking by sea and shore simulta•
neously the English army has often splendidly
distinguished itself. Our conquest of Canada
from the French, where we had enormous diffi.;
culties to contend against, and which at
various periods tasked our energies, was a
glorious achievement, the whole history of
which has never received adequate notice. In
that case we had to encounter a severe climate,
difficulties of navigation, a peculiar conforma-
tion of soil most unfavourable to invaders,
and, last, not least, the gallant soldiery of a
renowned nation, led on by scientific officers.
Some of the West Indian islands, also, gave
opportunities for showing the British prowess
in attacking by land and sea.

The Royal Sappers and Miners is a corps of
modern formation. It is not a century old.
The first passage in this work records the
origin of this distinguished body :

Before the year 1772, the works at Gibraltar were mainly
executed by civil mechanics from the Continent and Eng-
land, who were not engaged for any term of years, but
were hired like ordinary artificers, and could leave the
Rock whenever they felt disposed. Not being amenable to
military discipline, they were indolent and disorderly, and
wholly regardless of authority. The only means of punish-
ing them was by reprimand, suspension, or dismissal, and
these means were quite ineffectual to check irregularities.
The dismissal of mechanics and replacing them by others
was always attended with considerable inconvenience and
expense, and often failed to secure an equivalent ad-
vantage. Consequently, the works progressed very slowly,
imposing much additional trouble and anxiety upon the
officers. Even the better class of artificers—locally
termed "guinea men" from their high wages—who had
something at stake in their situations, could not be relied
upon. It therefore became necessary that steps should
be taken to put a stop to the evil, and to secure the services
of a sufficient number of steady, obedient mechanics,
upon whom dependence could, at all times, be placed, for
the proper execution of the works.
With this view, Lieutenant• Colonel William Greon, the
chief engineer at the fortress, suggested the formation of
a company of military artificers as the only expedient.
Of the value of this suggestion some experience had been
derived, from the occasional occupation on the works of
mechanics belonging to the different regiments in garrison.
Indeed, ever since the taking of Gibraltar, 1704, soldiers
had so been employed, particularly artillerymen, whose
services to the fortress were always found to be beneficial.
There was every reason, therefore, to expect that, when
the department became entirely military in its character,
corresponding results on a large scale would ensue.
Besides which it was considered, that the employment
of a military company on the works, organised expressly
for the purpose, would produce a great saving of expense
to the public ; and also, that the men would be ready to
participate in any military operation for the defence of
the place, either as artificers or soldiers, should our re-
lations with other countries render it desirable.

From that time the services of the corps are
traced down to the present reign. The ser-
vices in Flanders in 1793—the siege of Valen-
ciennes--capture of the West Indian Islands—
East Indian warfare—the war in the Penin-
sula, the Crimea, and Sebastopol, are all duly
detailed. Most of the facts, of course, we have
had before; but there is a detail in this work.
and a fairness of statement, which give it
much value.

" The Ordnance Survey of Ireland" was
one of the great works in which the Sappers
and Miners eminently distinguished them-
selves. Mr. Connolly only does them justice
in saying :

Seventeen years bad the Sappers and Miners been em-
ployed on the general survey and had travelled all over
Ireland. They were alike in cities and in wastes, on
mountain heights and in wild ravines, had traversed
arid land and marshy soil, wading through streams and
tracts of quagmire in the prosecution of their duties.
To every vicissitude of weather they were exposed, and
in storms at high altitudes subjected to personal disaster
and peril. Frequently they were placed in positions of
imminent danger in surveying bogs and moors, precipi-
tous mountain faces, and craggy rocks and coasts. Boat-
ing excursions too were not without their difficulties and
hazards in gaining islands almost unapproachable, and
bluff isolated rooks and islets, often through quicksand
and the low channels of broad sandy bays and inlets of
the sea, where the tide from its strength and rapidity
precluded escape unless by the exercise of extreme caution
and vigilance, or by the aid of boats.
• • • • • • •

Hardship and toil were the common incidents of their
everyday routine, for on mountain duty theirs was a
career of trial and vicissitude. Comforts they had none,
and what with the want of accommodation and amuse•
ruent in a wild country, on a dizzy height, theirs was
not an enviable situation. Covered only by a canvas
tent or marquee, they were barely closed in from the
biting cold and the raging storm ; and repeatedly tents,
It*TeSe .444 41, bye ),2,94 ,wept "Ili by /111 Wiad gi

consumed by fire, while the hardy tenants, left on the
bleak hilltop, or the open heath, have remained for days
together half naked and unsheltered. Such was their
discipline and such their spirit, they continued to
labour protected only by their great-coats—if haply they
escaped destruction--till, renewed with tenth or huts, they
pitched again their solitary dwellings far away on the
height or the moor.
Even on the less exposed employments of the survey
the men were subjected to many discomforts and fatigues.
The marching was harassing; miles to and from work
were daily tramped, frequently in a drenching rain ; and
in this kind of weather, soaked to the skin, they barely
permitted their work to be interrupted.l Night after night,
for two or three weeks together, have these men returned
to their quarters dripping wet ; and when, in frosty
weather, their clothes have frozen on their backs, the
removal of boots and trousers have only been accomplished
by immersing the legs in warm water.
In the second volume a very interesting
chapter is devoted to the labours of the
Sappers and Miners in making the camp at
Chobham ; and the realities of what real war-
fare must be are shown by thinking of the
trouble which the corps had in carrying out
operations even at Chobham. Of the events
at the siege of Sebastopol there aro several
interesting anecdotes. Here is a picturesque
incident, more or less of nightly occurrence in
that tremendous siege :

At night on the 27th, Sergeant Docherty accompanied
Lieutenant Penn, R.A., to a-point in the ravine near the
cemetery, where some rifle•pits were to be established.
After acquainting himself with the locality, he was directed
by the officer to return to the trenches and visit the work-
men. The night was very dark, and dancer was appre-
hended from some Russian screens near the garden wall.
Docherty picked his way as beat ho could, without a track
to guide him, over broken ground and by detached blocks
of rock and precipitous cliffs, till he clambered up a
beetling brow to the crest of the valley, where, lying down,
lie applied his ear to discover if any one was astir in his
vicinity. There were footsteps not far from him—the
measured pace of a sentinel—towards whom he cautiously
moved ; but, as he went nearer, he saw through the dark-
ness the shadowy outline of two men, whom lie suspected
belonged to a Russian picket. Wishing, as he was still
unobserved, to be assured of his position before proceeding
further, he used the faint whistle which the English sen-
tries knew how to acknowledge, and his signal was returned
by a purling sound equally faint. No longer in doubt of
his safety, he advanced to the two men, one of whom was
a sergeant ; but as Docherty, approaching them from the
front, was looked upon as a spy, he was msrche'l to the
field•ofcer of the trenches. Speaking English, and making
known his corps and rank, were only so many proofs to
the sergeant that his prisoner was a clever Russian. The
field•otficer examined him, and, receiving accurate replies
to his interrogatories on subjects which a sapper only
could have become acquainted with, dismissed him—to
the surprise of the sergeant, who was thus deprived of the
chance of recording, among the incidents of Ws trench life,
the capture of a Russian spy.
- - - -

And here is another incident, a fair sample of
the hairbreadth escapes mentioned in these
readable volumes :

Three days later seventy men were employed on the
left attack, forming, on the right extremity of the third
parallel, a work for two 9-pounders. Four hours they had
laboured at it, when, daylight having exposed them, the
field•otficer refused to permit the continuance of their
services. As, however, it was important to push the work
Major Chapman of the 311th Regiment, the assistant-
engineer on duty, ordered ten sappers, under Lance-
Corporal Robert Hanson, to repair to the trench. It was
a clear morning, and the work exciting. Gabions and
fascines had been laid by a previous party, so that the
sappers were covered from musketry, though not from
heavier missiles. As they were strengthening the parapet,
the earth thrown np being seen by the enemy, a fire of every
description of projectile, even links of chain, was burled
against it. In some measure to prevent accident, a " look.
out man," in turn, took his station at the head of the
trench to peep round the hot corner. Sweeping with a
quick eye the cordon of ordnance in front, the caution to
look out" came thick and fast. In time it was so rapidly
reiterated, occasioning interruptions which did not coin-
cide with the men's notions of progress, that,preferring to
toil without this species of ouestiunable assistance, the
" look•out man " was withdrawn, and made to unite his
strength with the shovellers. With faultless energy and
confidence they persevered in the work, though harassed
by an incessant fire, with grape in clusters, blown from
mortars, dropping into the trench. Presently a shot
crashed against the revetment, capsized three gabions and
two fascines, wounded Lance• Corporal James Veal in the
neck, and, knocking down Corporal Hanson, buried him
beneath the rubbish. There was great reason to fear
that the smash was fatal, and Major Chapman, who hap-
pened to be in the work at the moment, called out, in the
torlorn hope of receiving a reply, " Are you hurt, corporal ?"
Unexpectedly there was a movement in the mass; the
gabions rolled lazily aside as the corporal struggled from
the debris ; and in springing to his feet he cheerfnlly
exclaimed, " All right, sir !" The perils of the battery
were of a nature to induce Major Chapman instantly to
withdraw the sappers.

The total strength of the corps of Sappers
eonsists of 4,025 of all ranks, divided between
thirty-two companies. The- cadets at Sand.
44rkit and Woolwich nro instructed by them,
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