In all other respects the Military School at Addiscombe may be fairly said to surpass both Woolwich and Sandhurst. In the first place, youths enter there almost invariably at a more mature age. Though eligible for admission after completing their fifteenth year, they seldom, if ever, come up for examination till after they have turned seventeen. In the next place, the entrance examination is more severe than either at Woolwich or Sandhurst; and in the third and last place—and this is the most important condition of the whole—cadets must complete their course at Addiscombe in two years, unless for special reasons, such as sickness, they be allowed to prolong their stay one half-year more. Now, lads may linger on at Woolwich four, and even five years, gaining this remarkable advantage from their stupidity, that when forced to compete at last for choice between Artillery and Engineers, they compete with youths who may have had but two years’ training. And at Sandhurst, the course which nominally covers four years, may, if the youth have interest at headquarters, be completed, as far as his appointment to a commission completes it, in four months.
The general education given at Addiscombe is certainly not inferior to that which the cadets receive either at Woolwich or at Sandhurst. It embraces, indeed, almost entirely the same subjects which are set down in the curriculum of the others—including lectures in geology, chemistry, and artillery. But it undeniably falls short in specialties. Hence, after completing his course at Addiscombe, the Company’s cadet intended for the Engineers proceeds to Chatham, where, side by side with young men from Woolwich, he receives practical instruction in his art. For the Artillery cadet, on the other hand, there is no practical school. Like his comrade intended for the service of the Infantry, he proceeds at once from Addiscombe to India, and learns there how to turn to account the theoretical lessons which have been communicated to him at home.
Another distinction deserves to be noted between the constitution of the school of Addiscombe, and that as well of the Royal Military College as of the Royal Military Academy: Though all alike put from them the eleemosynary element, at Addiscombe alone is strict impartiality in the matter of payments observed. The youth who enters there, whether he be the son of an earl or of a subaltern’s widow, must be provided with his £100 a year, besides about £25 more to cover the cost of books, instruments, and uniforms. Both at Woolwich and Sandhurst there is a graduated scale, which exacts more from a general officer than from a subaltern, and more from a civilian than from either. The orphan of an officer dying in poor circumstances is admitted into Woolwich on payment of £20 a year. He pays for similar privileges at Sandhurst £40. The son of a gentleman in civil life pays in both cases £125, a sum more than necessary to cover the expenses of his own board and education, but which is exacted in order that there may be a surplus out of which the deficiencies occasioned by the payments of the sons of officers shall be made good.
Most important changes in the system of Military Education in England have been introduced since 1855, by Lord Panmure and the Council of Military Education, inaugurated under his auspices.
1. Admission to the various Military Schools is now gained by open competitive examination.
2. The order and method of studies, and all examinations for promotion, are governed by an independent Board of competent officers, and men of service, called the Council of Military Education.
3. The amount and order of studies in each school are minutely arranged, and each Professor is kept to the prescribed course by the supervision of a Master of Studies.
4. The development of the Staff School has given completeness to the system.