ions attach _as much
importance to the combat dismounted as they now do to the fight in the
saddle_, and submit the Leaders to an equally searching and practical
examination in each.

Amongst these changed conditions we must include the intelligent
co-operation of the Artillery with the skirmishers, and also of the
machine-guns, which latter may be expected to play a considerable part
in defence, and also on occasions requiring the sudden development of
a great intensity of fire. It is in this connection that lies (Book
I., Chap. VI.) the chief importance of the Horse Artillery batteries,
and yet in peace they have practically no opportunity to make
themselves familiar with its peculiarities.

Instead, we find in the great Cavalry manoeuvres the constantly
recurring tendency to theatrical display. Batteries accompany the
formal drill evolutions of the Divisions--a performance which, in my
opinion, has not the slightest practical value, but only subjects the
horses to unnecessary exertion, and prevents the Leaders from devoting
their attention to the really important elements of their
business--the enemy and the nature of the ground. Against all such
methods the sharpest protest should be entered.

As long as formal evolutions are being practised, the Artillery has no
place on the drill ground; the Cavalry only require its services when
the tactical training commences, and the batteries belong to the
places they would occupy in War--_i.e._, in the advance guard, or
before the front. But, above all, they must be given opportunity to
co-operate in the dismounted engagements, and not merely for their own
training--though this, of course, is of importance--but principally
for the education of the Cavalry officers, who must learn to employ
the power of this Arm tactically, wait for its effect, and utilize it.

That this object can only partially be obtained on the larger
exercising grounds, and not at all on the drill grounds, is
sufficiently obvious, and it is only necessary to call to mind the
attacks on villages, railway-stations, and the like, which are not
usually found on such places to make the difficulty apparent. The
keystone, therefore, for our purposes can only be found in the country
itself, or in manoeuvres, in which the application of every tactical
form develops naturally, and finds its justification in the general
scheme of operations, and in which the varying conditions are always
creating new situations