From one of their own number the whole
story of the corps may now be learned; for
its approved intelligence has lately led to the
production of a history of the corps by one
of its own number, a non-commissioned
officer, QUARTERMASTER-SERGEANT T. W. J.
CONOLLY. And this historian who steps forth
from the ranks has gathered his materials
with diligence for twenty years; has
consulted documents and sought information
with the zeal of a Macaulay or a Milman;
has, in fine, made himself master of his
subject; having done which, he has set down
his knowledge with a thoroughness and a
straightforward soldierly precision that
maintains the credit of his corps. Whether he
dives into the sea to fetch up a ship piecemeal,
or dives into old papers to fetch up bit
by bit a history, your Sapper and Miner, it
would seem, does what he undertakes to do.
A few years ago there was a wooden house
balanced on the topmost pinnacle of Saint
Paul's, and we were told that the Sappers
and Miners were up there, carrying on a
survey of London. We knew then that not
an alley would escape attention. Quartermaster
Conolly has been instituting a survey
of his own corps, and we dare answer for its
completeness. We are pleased to see that his
officers and commanders answer for it too,
and that Sir John Burgoyne has given due
encouragement to a right honourable enterprise
by recommending Mr. Conolly's History
of the Royal Sappers and Miners to the study
of officers of the Royal Engineers, as heartily
as we here recommend it to the warm
appreciation of the public, for its value as a manly,
useful, and most interesting publication.

The first idea of a body of military artisans
—perfected since into the corps of Sappers and
Miners—arose, as we have said, at Gibraltar;
where, before the year seventeen hundred and
seventy-two, the works were being executed
by civil mechanics from the continent and
England, who were hired in the ordinary
way, and were at liberty to leave the Rock
whenever they pleased. These workmen had
their occupation to themselves; taking their
own way, they became disorderly, and a
great plague to the authorities; and, to
replace those who were dismissed became
inconvenient and expensive. Thus it
happened that Lieutenant-Colonel William
Green was led to suggest the formation of a
company of military artificers who should
supersede the civil workmen. Mechanics
attached to regiments in garrison had always
been found good workers. What, then, if a
little regiment were formed, consisting wholly
of trained workmen. The Governor and
Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar assented to the
suggestion, and submitted it to the Home
Government. The result was, that on the
sixth of March, seventeen hundred and
seventy-two, a warrant was issued for raising
a company of sixty-eight men—namely, sixty
privates who were to be stonecutters, masons,
miners, limeburners, carpenters, smiths,
gardeners or wheelers, one sergeant-major, three
sergeants, three corporals, and a drummer, to
be called the Soldier Artificer Company. This
was the corps of Royal Sappers and Miners
in the first year of its life.

Very good fellows, at first, these soldier
artificers were—at first; for, they became at
last, while still excellent workmen, rather
sottish men. But before that time came, the
idea represented by their constitution had
begotten new Sappers and Miners, which are
the more direct progenitors of those now in
existence. It was a fine company at the very
first, nevertheless. By it was built the King's
Bastion on the Gibraltar Rock. By it, in the
memorable siege of Gibraltar by the allied
forces of France and Spain, the defence of the
fortress was maintained with wonderful effect.
"A thousand dollars," cried the Governor,
one day, "to the man who will say how I
can get a flanking fire on the works of the
enemy." After a modest pause, forth stepped
from the ranks Sergeant-Major Ince, of the
company of Soldier Artificers, and suggested
the formation of those subterranean galleries
and batteries, like that of St. George's Hall,
within the bowels of the mountain, which
constitute now the most noted marvels of the
place.

These men and their families often had no
little experience of the outer world. One of
them had a High-Admiral for nephew. This
nephew, Peter Lisle, entered into the service of
the Bashaw of Tripoli, and was appointed
gunner of the castle, under the name of
Mourad Reis. He throve as an African, was
nominated captain of a Xebeck of eighteen
guns, and in the course of time, through his
ability as a seafaring man, became High-
Admiral of the Tripoline Fleet and Minister
of Marine. He married one of the Bashaw's
daughters, had a fine family, wore a fine dress,
lived in a palace in the midst of date-groves,
and spoke with a broad Scotch accent. This
dignitary used to pay visits to Gibraltar; and
whenever he did so, he fired a salute in honour
of his uncle, Sergeant Blyth, of the Soldier
Artificers. He was not by any means
ashamed of his relation; but was obliged to
change his method of saluting after having
once, in a burst of affection, fired by mistake,
shot along with his powder.

If anybody wants to know all that was
done by the Soldier Artificers at the great
siege of Gibraltar, let him read Drinkwater.
To Sergeant Conolly, however, we
will be indebted for the rest of the story of
the two boys mentioned by Drinkwater in
the succeeding passage. In the course of a
certain day, we are told, a shot came through
a capped embrasure on Princess Amelia's
Battery; and, by that one shot, four men had
seven legs taken off and wounded. "The boy
who was usually stationed on the works
where a large party was employed, to inform
the men when the enemy's fire was directed