Louis XIV of France seems to have been the first to give permanent organization to the artillery. He raised a regiment of artillerymen in 1671 and established schools of instruction. The "standing army" principle that began about 1500 was by now in general use, and small armies of highly trained professional soldiers formed a class distinct from the rest of the population. As artillery became an organized arm of the military, expensive personnel and equipment had to be maintained even in peacetime. Still, some necessary changes were slow in coming. French artillery officers did not receive military rank until 1732, and in some countries drivers were still civilians in the 1790's. In 1716, Britain had organized artillery into two permanent companies, comprising the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Yet as late as the American Revolution there was a dispute about whether a general officer whose service had been in the Royal Artillery was entitled to command troops of all arms. There was no such question in England of the previous century: the artillery general was a personage having "alwayes a part of the charge, and when the chief generall is absent, he is to command all the army." [Illustration: Figure 7--FRENCH GARRISON GUN (1650-1700). The gun is on a sloping wooden platform at the embrasure. Note the heavy bed on which the cheeks of the carriage rest and the built-in skid under the center of the rear axletree.] THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY During the early 1700's cannon were used to protect an army's deployment and to prepare for the advance of the troops by firing upon enemy formations. There was a tendency to regard heavy batteries, properly protected by field works or permanent fortifications, as the natural role for artillery. But if artillery was seldom decisive in battle, it nevertheless waxed more important through improved organization, training, and discipline. In the previous century, calibers had been reduced in number and more or less standardized; now, there were notable scientific and technical improvements. The English scientist Benjamin Robins wedded theory to practice; his _New Principles of Gunnery_ (1742) did much to bring about a more scientific attitude toward ballistics. One result of Robins' research was the introduction, in 1779, of carronades, those short, light pieces so useful in the confines of a ship's gun deck. Carronades usually ranged in caliber from 6- to 68-pounders.