The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 2, 1866.

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Sir J. S. Lillie on Increasing the Destructive
Powers of Musletry.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—As a great waste of ammunition' is oc-
casioned by infantry soldiers in engagements
with an enemy, through the want of steadiness
in the mode of firing musketry, the constant
movement of troops, loading and firing while
in a state of great excitement with fixed bayo-
nets, rendering the muskets topheavy, and with-
out that steady support so essential in the act of
firing to keep the barrel at its proper level, the
consequences have been that scarcely one shot
in several thousands has taken effect, as proved by
comparisons made in various armies between the
quantity of ammunition expended in action and
the returns of killed and wounded--a fact to which
I can myself bear evidence from my experience
during the Peninsular War in the different en-
gagements which took place, from the first landing
of the British troops in Portugal, in 1808, to the
battle of Toulouse, in 1814, which terminated the
war.

The superiority of artillery over infantry in strik-
ing objects, although at much greater distances, is
well known, as, notwithstanding muskets being
generally depressed or raised to a greater elevation
than that at which pieces of heavier metal are fired,
the bullets mostly either fall short of their object or
pass over the enemy's head ; whereas a cannon ball
seldom or never strikes the ground until it reaches
the object at which it was aimed.
Under these circumstances it occurred to me that
if musket barrels were placed on gun-carriages the
same advantages possessed by heavy guns Auld
be thus obtained. I consequently pointed out to
the late Lords Hardinge and Herbert how easily
this could be effected, by producing by way of
example a small gun-carriage, on which were placed
six rifle barrels at intervals of eight or ten inches,
and each barrel provided with a revolving
cylinder containing twenty charges, by which means
120 shots per minute, if necessary, could be dis-
charged in rapid succession by one man simply
turning a winch handle ; but I suggested at the
same time that I considered several minutes prefer-
able for such rapid firing. On each of these car-
riages or rifle batteries, when in action, being re-
moved for reloading, they should be replaced with
the greatest expedition by others ready loaded, so
as to render it impossible for an enemy's column to
escape almost total annihilation if allowed to ap-
proach within 100 to 150 yards. To produce these
results the batteries should be masked by lines of
cavalry or infantry until after the commencement
of an engagement, and the enemy's column allowed
to approach within the aforesaid distances ; then,
on being unmasked, this destructive fire should be
opened. Portable iron-faced screens presenting
angles that would turn off every musket ball can be
folded up and carried on these gun carriages for the
protection of the men employed in firing ; and as
for artillery, no man or horse could stand within the
range of these batteries ; moreover, no field guns
could be brought to bear on them at such close
quarters without committing greater havoc on
their own troops. These batteries being
of slight construction could be easily trans-
ported from one place to another on the backs
of horses or mules, and when in the field of battle
can be wheeled about by one man with as much
facility as a wheelbarrow. The direction of the fire
can be elevated or depressed, and traversed to the
right or left with the same facility as a field-piece.
Their advantages in engagements in streets or
narrow passages must, therefore, be obvious.
Although Lords llardinge and Herbert admitted
these advantages they replied that they considered
the approbation of the Ordnance Select Committee
indispensable for all improvements in the art of
war, notwithstanding that the batteries in question
were highly approved of by Colonel (then Captain)
Boxer, who, though inferior in rack, in my humble
opinion far exceeded in scientific acquirements any
of the members of the special committees thus em-
ployed, who may, moreover, never have seen a
shot fired in action.
It is likewise an implied reflection on infantry
officers to have it inferred that they are less capable
of forming opinions as to the value of improvements
in the musket than officers of a different branch of
the service, who in the field of battle have nothing
to do with that weapon, and without whose assist-
ance battles have been fought, as proved when
Soult, advancing for the relief of Pampeluna, at-
tacked our forces at Roncesvalles on the 25th July,
1813, on which occasion our troops were engaged
until the 2d of August without the use of artillery,
and during the whole of which time the rifle corps I
commanded was engaged every day—three days in
retiring until the 28th, when our different divisions
having been concentrated a general engagement took
place, in which the enemy were defeated ; and the
remainder of the time in driving them back to Ron-
cesvalles, from whence they came.
It is to be hoped, under these circumstances, that
our Ministers of War will, in future, adopt all re-
cognised improvements in the art of war, more par-
ticularly as regards small arms, without going
through the ordeal of obtaining the approbation of
any ordnance officer ; and as an instance has been
thus given of victories having been won without the
aid of artillery, it may be presumed that engines of
war connected with small arms could be adopted
without a reference to artillery officers being consi-
dered indispensable. The desire, however, to con-
tinue in the old rut of routine is so inherent in our
system that it is difficult to hope for a change un-
less a commanding mind is placed at the head of the
War Department.

As a further proof of what I have stated, I can
observe that when the late Lord Herbert came to
my house to see one of these batteries he seemed
much pleased with it, more particularly when I
showed him a letter from Major Vandeleur of the
Artillery, under whose care one of them had been
placed for trial at Woolwich, and who was so satis-
fied with the results that he said that if we had
had forty or fifty of them at the battle of Inker-
mann, where he was engaged, the havoc on the
dense column of Russians which closed on our
troops would have been enormous, as in such a
dense mass at such close quarters a rifle ball would
have passed through several men. However, an
Ordnance officer who accompanied his lordship dis-
approved of this evidence on the part of Major
Vandeleur, which, like that given by Colonel Boxer
on a previous occasion in favour of these batteries,

was sufficient to induce the Ordnance Committee to
...

----
adhere to their previous unfavourable decisions.— -
The superiority of the rapid firing of the Prussian
breech-loaders, to which the recent defeats of the
Austrians are to be attributed, may, however, in-
duce the present Minister of War to consider that
he will be rendering as great a public service by
causing an inquiry to be made as to the merits or
demerits of the engines of war adverted to, as he
rendered by ordering the conversion of all our
Enfield muzzle-loaders into breech-loaders without
consulting any Ordnance Committee ; as we know
not how soon it may be necessary to introduze
improvements of this nature to compensate for the
numerical inferiority of our army compared with
those of other Powers.—l am, Sir, yours, &c.,

JOHN SCOTT LILLIE.
Union Club, July 31, 186 G.

METROPOLITAN POLICE.—The following return
has been made of the number of each rank of police in-
jured during the meetings in Hydo Park on Monday, Tues-
day, and Wednesday, the 23d, 24th, and 25th of July :
Rendered Unlit for Duty—Superintendents, 1; inspectors,
2 ; police-sergeants, 9 ; police-constables, 33 ; total, 45.
Slightly Injured—Superintendents, 9 ; inspectors, 18 ;
police-sergeants, 23 ; police-constables, 170 ; total, 220.
Total Number Injured—Superintendents, 10 ; inspectors,
20 ; police-sergeants, 32 ; police-constables, 203 ; total, 265.
The Commissioner was struck several times by stones
thrown at hinr; he received a severe contusion on the side
of the head and a cut on the temple which blackened his
eye. Each of the Assistant-Commissioners was struck
several times by stones thrown at them.
NEW ACT ON REVISING BARRISTERS.—Yesterday
an Act of Parliament was printed declaring that a bar-
rister, being a commoner under the Act 16 and 17 Viet.,
c. 57, is not disqualified as a revising barrister. Under the
Registration of Voters Act (6 and 7 Vie. c. 18), the Chief
Justice of the Queen's Bench appoints, in the months of
July or August in every year, a revising barrister for the
county of Middlesex and Metropolitan boroughs, as well
as the City of London.