On one occasion, near St. Denis, all the sappers of the army, nearly 1,000 strong, were assembled to witness an execution, and strange to add, in that imposing force there was not a single fire-arm! At another time there was an inspection of the pontoon train of eighty pontoons and other carriages, with horses, drivers, and pontoneers, occupying a line of road nearly two miles in length. The sappers were present in their whole strength, but without a musket in their ranks to show the quality of protection they could afford to the immense charge intrusted to them. Fifty men with fire-arms could easily have destroyed the whole force in ten minutes. These instances and others equally striking, occurring in an enemy’s country, were strongly brought under the notice of the higher powers; but, where representations and remonstrances founded on the necessities of the service failed to obtain attention, accidental circumstances at last gained the desired object. At the great reviews in France, the bridges required for the passage of the army were thrown the evening previously, and the sappers consequently were free for any other duty. Usually they were employed to represent the enemy, and to show the line of the enemy’s position to advantage it was considered best to effect it by musketry fire. Orders were therefore given, on the 8th October, to supply the companies with muskets and bayonets from the stores at Valenciennes; and from this trivial incident may be dated the period from which the corps was properly and uniformly armed. To keep up the training and efficiency of the corps in France, Sir James Carmichael Smyth issued to each non-commissioned officer and fifty of the most steady and intelligent privates, books and useful articles for their instruction and improvement. Schools were also established for the men, and prizes liberally awarded for industrious application and advancement. To perfect the corps in the use of the firelock and marching evolutions, five serjeants from the light infantry regiments in France were specially appointed to the duty. Each company was also required to execute a certain portion of field-work every year and reports of individual progress in instruction were prepared weekly, which were carefully examined, and promotion distributed according to merit. The pontoon train, which was constantly in motion and sustained a high character for activity and usefulness, was only expected to do half the work demanded from the divisional companies; and this course of professional and general education, based upon the system of Lieutenant-Colonel Pasley, was scrupulously enforced until the companies quitted France in November, 1818.