"The ordinary duty and discipline of the officers and private men of the Artillery is, in every respect, the same with that of every other Regiment of the Army. The qualifications of Artillery officers are not acquired by practice only, but are the result of long study and application. They must be proficients in several sciences, and Masters of several arts, which is not required from other officers. They are subjected to the Articles of War, and all the penalties of the Act for Mutiny and Desertion, and are equally a part of His Majesty's Forces with any other Regiment of the Army. The service of the Artillery is generally understood to be more dangerous and severe than any other; and although they are an essential part of one and the same Army, yet if they bear no rank in it, but at Courts-martial only, they are in a worse situation and under greater difficulties and discouragements than any part of the Army; for, let their service have been ever so long,—their conduct and bravery ever so conspicuous and meritorious,—they can only rise gradually and slowly in their own little corps, if they have no rank in the Army, and can never be promoted in any other, which is the usual and almost only reward of distinguished merit in other officers." While sympathizing with the spirit which animated the writers of the above, one may differ as to the nature of the reward they sought for meritorious officers of Artillery, in promotion into the other arms. For more than forty years after this letter was written this reward was one which was coveted by the senior officers of the corps for the younger members. Doubtless, the intention was to obtain a promotion for them which could not be found in the stagnation of a seniority corps. But, to the modern Artilleryman, the promotion which involved separation from the Regiment for whose duties he had been specially trained would be but a doubtful reward. ----- Footnote 11: Cust. Footnote 12: Macbean's MSS. CHAPTER XII. WOOLWICH IN THE OLDEN TIME. LIFE in the Barracks in the Warren, where the Artillery at Woolwich were stationed, with the exception of one company, which was detached at Greenwich whenever the Warren was overcrowded, can be gathered from the Standing Orders which survive in the old MS. order-books in the Royal Artillery Regimental Library and Royal Artillery Record Office. A few of these orders, extracted from the books whose contents extend over the period between 1741 and 1757, cannot fail to be interesting. The establishment of each company at the commencement of that period was as follows:—One Captain, one Captain-Lieutenant, one First Lieutenant, one Second Lieutenant, three Lieutenant Fireworkers, three Sergeants, three Corporals, eight Bombardiers, twenty Gunners, sixty-four Matrosses, and two Drummers—in all, one hundred and seven.