THE LAST REGIMENTAL PARADE.

347

tween three and four thousand strong, this was very satisfactory. There was nothing which could be objected to in the working of the system I introduced, and it was very effective. Surely a similar boon might be conferred on the British Army at all our foreign stations, and possibly some of the home ones.

The sad, very sad day came at last, on which I was to have my last parade. The four years' tenure of command is unquestionably an excellent one for the service in general, but for the colonel, when the time comes to go, it is a horrible wrench. The day before I intended to leave, my servant let out that the whole regiment was going to turn out next day and drag my carriage to the station; so I at once saw the general and told him that although such a proceeding was very flattering, especially to a commanding officer who had been such a hard taskmaster, it was not according to my ideas of discipline that a colonel should go in that manner through the main street, and that I purposed going off at once by that night's train, which I did.

My duty in taking over command of the regiment was to make it, if possible, a perfect fighting machine. I also tried to make soldiering pleasant to all: apparently I had succeeded in both.

I omitted to mention that when I was invalided from Cairo, after the accident in the Durban Roads, I reported myself as soon as I was able at headquarters, where I was asked if I had yet seen H.R.H. the commander-in-chief. My answer was, "No. After the very independent way in which I have been trying to train my regiment I was afraid my reception would not be agreeable." The reply to this was, "You are wrong. H.R.H. is so pleased

with what you have done that he has directed your name to be placed on the special list, and you will get a letter of approbation written by his express orders." This I duly received: it was particularly satisfactory to know that if an officer took special responsibility on himself for the good of the service, and succeeded in his work, he need have no fear about his conduct not being approved of.

The rest, even on half pay, after continuous work, is at first pleasant, though it does not take long for one who is physically fit to tire of a quiet life. However, as I had not altogether shaken off the effects of the fever attacks I had in Maritzburg and Cairo, I decided to put in a summer amongst the pine trees of the Black Forest in South Germany, where there was good trout-fishing and comfortable living at a very moderate cost. I should then also be able to arrange for my elder boys to live in German families in order to learn the language thoroughly, as they had already done with French, similarly acquired. Freiburg in Baden was the place I selected as my headquarters, and there I made the acquaintance of some of the officers of the garrison. I could not speak German, but they knew either French or English. Belonging to the same social class as our own officers (which is not the case in other armies), I thoroughly enjoyed their society. They were all keen about their profession, and very kindly gave me any information I required. Whenever anything new was tried on the Exercierplatz-a fine grass plain-they let me know about it, and explained anything special. The system for training their men to shoot at unknown distances, and at moving or unexpected targets, was excellent,

opened with shrapnel. This system of training I had no difficulty in carrying out from Melbourne: all that was necessary was to get some squatter friend to send his boundary-riders to clear the stock off the land in good time.

I made some changes in the forts at the Heads, organising each as if it had been a ship, the magazines being filled up to 200 rounds per gun; and each fort had also a supply of tinned provisions. When mobilised for the week's training at Easter, the Militia garrison gunners went at once to the gun and quarters they were accustomed to.

The submarine mining establishment at the Heads, under an Imperial Royal Engineer officer, was perfect -everything ready for instant work.

On my arrival I was just in time to stop the purchase of a dynamite gun, which would have cost a large amount and been very expensive to keep up. 7000 magazine-rifles had also been all but purchased before the authorities at home had satisfied themselves that the pattern was a good one: these also I was able to stop. The system by which military stores, from 26-ton guns downwards, were supplied from England was not satisfactory; but it required two years' pressure after I came before the other colonies could be induced to agree to have their military stores inspected and passed by a thoroughly competent officer on the active list, who was to be selected by the Director-General of Artillery at the War Office. To get a first-rate man unconnected with any manufacturing establishment a good pay was necessary-viz., £1000 a-year. After I left Australia the imperial officer, who had done excellent work, died. Another was named by the War Office;

There are innumerable beautiful walks about the bend of the Rhine which I thoroughly enjoyed, not only on account of the scenery, but also by reason of their military interest to me. I was told that when Von Moltke was in the same district, examining the frontier, a policeman arrested him for trespassing. Von Moltke went quietly with the policeman, when some of the general staff came up and congratulated the man on making a capture which all the armies of France had been unable to effect!

I did not do much in trout-fishing until I heard of Bad Bol on the Wutach, at no great distance from Donaueschingen, where there was a most comfortable little hotel, the charge for board and lodging being only 4 marks per day: the cost of a trout ticket was 10 marks a-week, and well worth the money. Now that the Bad Bol fishing has become a commercial concern, both hotel and fishing charges are possibly different from what they were when I was there.

During my sojourn in the State of Baden I was particularly struck by the pleasant, well-bred, courteous manners of the country - people. The officials also, although bureaucratic to a degree, and apparently living on red-tape, were always polite, and did their best for the foreigner. Since then, while travelling in other countries, I have met with what is now so common, viz., the German tourist, and should say that few of them come from South Germany.

When

On the weather beginning to get cold we went south to Cimiez, near Nice, for the winter. there I could not help noticing the difference between the German and French military training. In the north every one was in grim earnest, as if war were almost in sight. It was not so in France. It was

BECOME A MAJOR-GENERAL.

351

almost painful to me one day-France being our old ally-to see a company, which was supposed to be receiving instructions out in the country in outpost work the two officers were walking about on the road, well away from their men, who were skylarking!

My only chance of forming an opinion on the Italian army was from those perfect soldiers-the Sardinians in the Crimea; but by permission from Rome, I went over the dockyard at Spezzia. From what I saw and heard there, I gathered that the Northern Italian makes a good sailor, which is not the case with the Southern Italian: they are evidently two distinct and different races.

The system I had tried for the battle-training of regimental officers having been approved of, I thought it my duty, on returning to London, to deliver a lecture at the United Service Institution, giving full details of the work: the majority of the headquarter staff did me the honour of attending. The next day I got a note from the military secretary saying he wished to see me. I thought it might be to point out that I was rather too advanced in my ideas, but that was not the case. It was to inform me that, owing to the Indian regulations, I could not hold the appointment which he wished me to have in that country, but he could offer me the post of commandant of the Australian forces in Victoria, with the local rank of major-general. I was under the impression that in such a position I should be expected to do a good deal of entertaining in a very expensive part of the world, and therefore was afraid I could not accept his very kind offer; but on the military secretary informing me that if an Australian Contingent