ore, before charging, use every effort to _draw the fire_ of the
square, or of the fronts which threaten it. This is sometimes
accomplished by sending forward a few skirmishers to fire on the square.

8. When one square fires to assist another, the firing square should be
_instantly charged_, before it has time to reload.

9. To succeed, a cavalry charge should be made with a _desperate,
forlorn-hope recklessness_, and with reiterated attacks on one point. If
the fire has been delivered at very close range, though its effect has
probably been destructive, the smoke will momentarily shut out the line
of infantry from the horses' view, thus removing the chief obstacle to
their breaking through it. The survivors of the fire should therefore
rush desperately on.

If the French attacks on the British squares at Quatre Bras had been
made in this manner, instead of opening to the right and left, and
diverging to a flank at the moment of closing, they would probably have
succeeded.

But this sudden divergence is often the fault of the horses, which
instinctively recoil before a serried line of infantry, with bayonets at
the charge. Cavalry should, therefore, never be practised on the
drill-ground in charging a square, as the horses would thereby acquire
the habit of suddenly checking their course, or of diverging to a flank,
on arriving at the enemy. This would so strengthen their natural
instinct that they could never be got to break a square. Or, at least,
when this manoeuvre is practised for the purpose of instruction, the
horses used should never afterwards be taken into the field.

10. The cavalry most formidable to an infantry square are _Lancers_.
Their lances, which are from eleven to sixteen feet long, easily reach
and transfix the infantry soldier, while the sabres of the other cavalry
are too short to reach him over the horse's neck, and over the musket,
lengthened by the bayonet. But Lancers are usually no match against
other cavalry, who can parry and ripost before the lance can resume the
guard.

11. When cavalry has succeeded in completely breaking a body of
infantry, it may often inflict _fearful slaughter_ upon them.

At the battle of Rio Seco, in Spain, after Lasalle's twelve hundred
horse had broken the Spanish infantry, they galloped at will among
twenty-five thousand soldiers, some five thousand of whom they slew.

IX.--General Remarks.

1. Besides its uses on the field of battle, cavalry may re