mals, carts, wagons, etc.; that the reserve stores and provisions should be sent on board in advance; that regimental equipment and transport must come next, carts and wagons going into the hold, then the horses and the men in charge of them; and last, the main body of troops.
It is evident that for the proper carrying out of this complicated process a very large body of thoroughly instructed, experienced staff officers will be required. Now, German staff officers may be thoroughly instructed—that is to say, may have learnt all about embarkation that books can teach—and a few may have practised embarking a regiment or a battery; but no officers in the world have had experience of putting 50,000 troops—the number assigned to each of the three ports—and their belongings on shipboard. English officers have never had to deal with an oversea expedition numbering more than a few thousand men, and in all such expe-
