The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-21 00:00:00

THE NEW " LONG-RANGE" CANNON.

Captain Ilarryatt, whose writings are so well known
to all of us, wrote, amongst other works, one which he
called the " Pirate." The work to which allusion is
made contains the history of a sentimental scoundrel, who
found no other vent for his energies than piracy on the
high seas. At the present moment we have nothing to
do with the work in question, except in relation to an
incident which the gallant anther records or invents.
The pirate hero gains his ends by pommelling his ad-
versary with a gun having a long range. His adversary
could not touch him ; but by means of the long range
gun the pirate was enabled to silence any opposition
which might have been offered to him under other cir-

eumstances. It seems for the first time now to have
struck our authorities that that which is good for
pirates may be useful to honest men. Marryatt's pirate,
with his long-range carronade, riddled his enemy with
shots which could never be returned. Why should not
honest men be enabled to adopt the same measures so
graphically described as useful to pirates 1 Marryatt's
work was written 20 years ago, at least. For the first
time since that period we begin to have evidence that
his sketch may be realised. We learn, for instance,
that one of the lono-range Lancaster guns has lately
been mounted on the Arrow, and has been trying its
range at Sebastopol :
"One of the long-range Lancaster guns has been mounted
on the Arrow, and for the last few days been trying its
range upon the fortress. Its success has exceeded the most
sanguine expectations, and there is no doubt that had we
more of them we might, in a fortnight, destroy the whole
town, shipping, and fortifications of Sebastopol, without
the loss of a man on our side. The first few shots fired by
the Arrow, at three miles, the gun was too elevated, and
the ball passed far over the whole place. Afterwards the
range was precisely taken, and for three. hours shot and
shell were thrown into the nearest battery until it was com-
pletely destroyed. For the last half-hour of the firing it
never returned a shot. But this, it appears, is by no
means the sole merit of the gun. It weakens the resources
of Sebastopol still more fatally than by knocking up bat-
teries. Under the natural-belief that because their works
were in range, the vessel which fired must be in range
also, the Russians returned a tremendous fire, but every.
shot sank in the sea at about three-quarters of a mile dis-
tance from the Arrow. Unless there are incredible stores of
ammunition in Sebastopol, such a mode of fighting must
soon leave them without a shot."
The success of the long-range Lancaster seems to
have exceeded the most sanguine expectations. We
are told that there is little doubt that were there more
of them, " we might in a fortnight destroy the whole
shipping and fortifications of Sebastopol without the
loss of a man on our aide." This would be the very
triumph of science. We have no right to expect th
we can ;beat the brute force of barbarism exceot by
the means which our civilisation puts into our I;ands.
The Czar is as powerful a man as Lord Raglan. His
soldiers are not very much below the standard of physi-
cal strength which we require in our own men. We
believe certainly that the pluck and constancy of our
troops render them invincible NI lien opposed to the soul-
less bodies which form the legions of the Autocrat,.
Nevertheless, numbers mean something in warfare. It
is quite clear, that if the struggle between Great Britain
and Ruma were to be decided by the opposition of man
to man, the numerical superiority of Russia, with re-
spect to inhabitants, would give it supremacy. But
we do not intend that the contest shall be decided
by brute force. We cannot give up the advantage
which we have obtained by our civilisation and cul-
ture. We will not allow the Czar to come to us and
say, let us decide the contest between us by mere
brute force. No. We have got beyond mere brute
force. NVe have made irruptions into the regions of
earth and air by means of science, and have dragged
• the..ce treasures which we intend to render available
against our future enemies. We are lords of earth,
air, fire, and water ; and we do not intend to spare
our servants-when we want their assistance. The Czar
has millions of serfs. We have tifousands of reasoning
men. The man of reason rnu,it not lower himself to the
dimensions of the serf. He must show that he has re-
sources which are beyond the reach of the savage. It
Las been- said before in The Suss that enough notice has
not been taken of the great resources which science put.;
into our hands. We ought to call upon science to re-
lieve na from the dirty work of beating barbarism with
its own tools. We have lived for nothing if our strength
is to be estimated by the comparative magnitude of the
census of England and that of our opponents. We must
call all our scientific resources into play, and show the
Czar that his physical strength is a mere nothing when
brought into collision with that which the mental ener-
gies of civilised England can generate. We hear that
when the range of the Lancaster gun mounted on the
Arrow was precisely taken, for three hours shot and
shell were thrown into the nearest battery until it was
completely destroyed. It must be remembered that the
Arrow and the Lancaster gun were thoroughly out of
the reach of the enemy's batteries. Whatever damage
the Arrow with its gun did to Sebastopol it could suffer
no punishment in return.
This surely is a great lesson to us. We ought to turn
our attention to the scientific improvement of our re-
sources, without neglecting those which depend upon
mere physical force. We ought to be able to destroy
Sebastopol and Cronstadt, and any other stronghold,
without suffering from the attack in our own persons.
'We ought to weaken the resources of Sebastopol, as the
Arrow did, by enticing them to fire upon us when we
are beyond their range. Unless there are incredible
stores of ammunition In Sebastopol, observes a report,
such a mode of fighting must soon leave them without
a shot.

Let us have them, then, without a shot. We have
force enough in our own hands to compel the Russians
to accede to our own term; if we know how to avail
ourselves of it. We have no right to sacrifice men if
we can attain the object of the sacrifice by scientific
moans. The Czar's strength lies in the number of his
serfs. Ours lies in the com.age of our men and the cul-
tivation of the national intellect. It is our fault if we
give up the chance which Providence has decided in our
favour.

THE "TIMES" AND THE BENEVOLENT

FUND.