The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-14 00:00:00

KING WILLIAM'S PROCLAMATION.

The North German Correspondence alludes to the
circular of M. Jules Favre, and says that either he
had not read the proclamation of the eleventh of
August, or else his memory must be defective. King
William made no mention of the dynasty, but said,
" I carry on war with French soldiers, and not with
French citizens." It may be, adds the German
paper, that Jules Favre confounded the proclamation
of the King with that of the Crown Prince at Van-
couleurs on the twentieth of August, in which
his Royal Highness said they were making
war on. the Emperor of the French, anti
not on the French. The meaning of this
proclamation was that the Parisian press at that
time was anathematising the conduct of the German
troops towards the French people. The proclama-
tion of the Crown Prince, like that of the King, had
consequently neither a general nor a political signi-
fication ; it was simply a military and local measure.
It was said that the Prussians were forcibly enlisting
the peasairtry of Alsace and Lorraine and sending
those who rebelled as prisoners to Germany. It was
to refute those charges that the Crown Prince entered
into explanations, and not with the view of elucidating
public questions. Can it be supposed, asks the Cor-
respondent, that the Crown-Prince would confide to
the illiterate boors of Vaucouleurs a political pro-
gramme of which Germany knew nothing ?

SIR JOSEPH WHITWORTH ON RLIPLED SMALL ARMS,

Sir JosephWhitworth protests through the columns
of the Times, against the arming of our troops
and volunteers with short range rifles, whether of the
Snider, Enfield, or,jany other patterns. Other nations
are rapidly abandoning them, and arming their troops
with long range rifles. Sir Joseph Whitworth holds
that we should immediately follow their example.
The first element of success in long range shooting is,
he says, lei.gth of bullet, which alone can ensure
great range, accuracy, and penetration. As regards
bore, he prefers the French Chassepot to the Prus-
sian needle-gun, and thinks the former, when pro-
perly used, the most deadly weapon at long range.
At a given elevation at moderate range, the Chas-
sepot will range 500 yards, and our own Enfield only
295 yards. Sir J. Whitworth, like most inventors,
claims superiority for his own small-bore at all ranges
when its conditions are properly observed, but
whatever weapon the Government decide upon, he
demands that they should without further delay begin
to arm our troops with breechloading small-
bores. The disadvantage of troops armed with
large bore guns in presence of others armed with the
small bore is terrible, and he quotes, in support of
his appeal, the accounts of the war correspondents,
who state that many German soldiers only saw in
the hospitals what the French look like, having been
wounded at distances at which they could
,not dis-
tinguish the enemy. The range of the Chassepot
being 1,800 paces, and of the needle-guu only 600
or 700, the Germans in all their charges had to
traverse some 1,200 paces before using their arms
effectually. The superiority of their artillery has
more than compensated for this ; but, nevertheless,
the facts quoted are not without their lesson.