It is fortunate that an officer of the Regiment has been found, at once so capable and so patient in tracing out the circumstances which impressed on the world the necessity [Sidenote: Captain H. W. L. Hime, Royal Artillery. Proceedings R. A. Institution.] of this arm, as the author of the papers on ‘The Mobility of Field Artillery, Past and Present.’ According to this writer, England was the last among the leading nations in Europe to adopt the use of Horse Artillery. As early as 1788, the subject had strongly attracted the attention of the Master-General of the Ordnance; but, unfortunately, he referred it to a committee. The period of gestation, so to speak, in committees on military subjects is very great; in this particular instance the winter of 1792 had arrived without any result from their labours. The introduction of Horse Artillery into the Prussian service dates from 1759; and in 1792 this arm was introduced into the French and Swedish armies. In other European countries improvement had been made in Field Artillery, without, however, adopting the system of _mounted detachments_; but this latter is the distinctive mark of Horse Artillery. It has been asserted, and on good authority, that Horse Artillery was used in India prior even to its adoption by Frederick the Great--and dating as far back as 1756. If the existence of an Artillery without mobility was sufficient to impress on the authorities in that country a sense of the necessity of some improvements, the argument was not wanting. In an engagement between the English [Sidenote: ‘History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Hindostan,’ vol. i. pp. 312-368.] and French troops near Trichinopoly in 1753, “the English, _for more expedition_, marched without any field-pieces;” and when the infantry advanced against the French in an action fought shortly afterwards, “the _artillery, in the hurry, could not keep up with the battalion_.” The advantage of a more mobile artillery must certainly have been apparent after such melancholy exhibitions.