The School of Military Engineering

Abstract

THERE are few educational establishments, in this country at any rate, that fulfil their object so aptly and so well, as the School of Military Engineering at Chatham. When we remember the many sciences and technical accomplishments with which the officers of the Royal Engineers are conversant, and the practical use that many of them are required to make of their acquirements, it is very obvious indeed that, to be successful, the system of education must be a most complete and substantial one. It is, in truth, necessary that a man entering either of the scientific corps of the army—the Royal Artillery or Royal Engineers—should not only be intuitively quick and clever, so as to grapple with the multifarious subjects of study, but it is moreover quite as indispensable that he should be at the outset sufficiently strong and healthy to withstand the wear and tear of so much hard work. To become a Mr. Toots would, we fearlbe the fate of many young gentlemen, were they passed through the Woolwich Academy, and into these; departments of the Army, without first undergoing a rigid medical examination; for the severe and lengthy curriculum is such as would certainly jeopardise the health of any but the strongest constitutions. Commissions in the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, be it remembered, have for many years past been obtainable only by open competition, the successful candidates being admitted into the Royal Military Academy, whence they are passed into the Army when found properly qualified. But to compete successfully for admission to the Academy in the first instance, involves already a knowledge of mathematics, of experimental and applied sciences, of languages, and other subjects too numerous to detail, such indeed as is scarcely possessed by other well-educated professional men; and this, bear in mind, is but the starting-point of the scientific soldier's education. At the Academy, where the. course of special instruction sometimes continues for three years, he has to pass from a lower to an upper section, and when successfully through the examinations that, beset him at every turn, he receives his commission in a provisional sort of way only. The successful Academicians highest on the list are sent to Chatham, to commence instruction in their duties as Royal Engineers, while the remainder complete their education at Woolwich and Shoeburyness, as lieutenants in the Royal Artillery. And if, after all this, there are yet dissatisfied spirits, who still exhibit a craving for more, then there is the staff college, the advanced class, instruction certificates, and other ends to be attained, enough in all conscience to satisfy the most ambitious.