The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-07 00:00:00

Prince Augustus4of Wurtemberg, being at the head of the
special commission appointed for the purpose, and my cele-
brated opponent, Braun, likewise included in it. I had
brought with me a hundred cartridges to b 3 lof off from
the saw gun. It was a long time before the gentlemen of
the commission relaxed a muscle of their countenances, but
when one shot followed the other in qu'ck succession, the
ammunition gradually decreased, and the gun would not
oblige them by exploding in their faces by degrees became
longer and longer. I did not utter a word, but rejoiced at
the unmixed pleasure evinced by General Witzleben.
Prince Augustus became very red. He rode up and down
gazing with astonishment at the heap of cartridges, which
was diminishing one by one. For the space of ten minutes
the firing was kept up, till at last the riflemen declared he
could shoot no more, for the barrel was too hot to hold.
Fifty cartridges had been fired from it. You may imagine
the expression on these gentlemen's visages when upon
opening the barrel they found the breech instead of being
stuffed full as they anticipated, as clean as that of a common
double-barrelled gun. Prince Augustus was visibly moved.
Shoot again,' he cried, as soon as the barrel had cooled a
little, and in ten minutes more not a cartridge was left. In
less than half an hour 100 shots had been fired from the
same gun, and not one of all the mischances prophesied by
the gentlemen of the commission had taken place."
" Your triumph was complete," I cried, " after enormous
difficulties, it is true, but still perfect and entire."
" You are mistaken," said the old gentleman with a sigh.
" I had now another difficulty to combat. It was asserted
that a common soldier could not possibly learn to use the
weapon properly, and when years of experience had silenced
this objection it was only to give place to another, and this
again to a third. When at last I received orders to furnish
no inconsiderable number of the weapons they were all
safely stowed in the arsenal ! Thanks be to God, for hav-
ing blessed our country with a long interval of peace, for
if war had broken out before the manufacture of the needle
gun had been finished, I think I should have gone out of
my mind."
"And was not opposition silenced at last 2" _

" Oh, yes. Let us say no more about it. The desire of
my life has been fulfilled, and to God be the praise. All
else is easily forgiven and forgotten, if I can only bring
myself to believe that my invention has helped to secure
our victories. But the number of wounded drives me to
despair, for it is a convincing proof that our weapons are
not yet what they ought to be, and must be made to be."
" But how do you suppose that the greater perfection
of our weapons is to protect our soldiers from being
wounded in the fight ?"
"Of course, I do not mean entirely, but the proportion
must not be so large. In many cases we must, by better
weapons, be able to prevent the enemy from occupying
those impregnable positions which have occasioned our

Losses."

" I have not an idea how you will bring this about."
"You see," said he, "it is the most likely thing in the
world, that after this war, almost all other nations will in-
troduce the needle gun into their Armies. They do not
know the secret of our Zundspeigel, but they will make
some sort of a substitute more or less like it, and have this
advantage in constructing their new guns that they can
avoid all the faults they observe in ours, while we must
put up with what we have, and thus other nations will
excel Prussia in this particular. I fear France especially,
having a very high opinion of the French manufactories
of arms, and am convinced that though they have not tho
Zundspeigel the Frenoh will succeed in producing a very
capital needle gun, with all those improvements which it
may, perhaps, be too late to make in ours. In a word, they
will try to surpass us once more in weapons of warfare;
but this ought not to be—it must not be."
"You, sir, will take good care, I am sure, that such a
thing does not come to pass," I said, full of admiration at
the youthful zeal of the old man.

"But what if it be too late to prevent the mischief," he
replied. "I am now 78 years of age, and it was my duty
to have provide ,against such a chance. Here I possess
the answer to whether foreigners can improve on our
needle gun or not."

As he said this he rose, fetched a gun from the
corner close to his writing-table, and showed it me.
I was quite struck with the singular appearance of
the weapon. He began to explain its construction
to me.

"Stop," said I, interrupting him, " I ought to apprise you
that it is my intention when I take my leave to write down
as faithfully as my memory will allow all I can recollect
of this conversation, which in a few days will be perused
by thousands of readers. Will you, then, be kind enough
to determine how far I may venture to describe this new.
weapon, the very existence of which is a profound secret
to the public at large ?"
" Pray do not describe it at all," was his reply ; " say
merely that it is three pounds and a half lighter than our
present gun, entirely made of iron, having just as long a
range and sure an aim as those now employed; much better
adapted for the soldier's use, whother for drill-practice,
marching or shooting ; that neither fire nor water has the
least effect upon it ; that it is superior to any similar one.
of the kind, for bayonet action—which in a battle is by• no
moans to be despised—that each gun costs three thalers, or
95., less than the price given for the weapon now in use.
And now I will explain its management, for an instrument,
which is to be handled by hundreds of thousands ought to
be so simple that every one can be taught how to use it."
It was the work of a few minutes for Herr von
Dreyse to do this. I went through the evolutions,
held the weapon in every possible direction, and
loaded and fired—of course without cartridges—as
quickly as possible. I have before alluded to my
being no novice in the art, for I have shot with
guns from the best manufactories in the world, of
all sorts and sizes, and I must confess, without in
the least wishing to set up my judgment as a
standard, that I have never yet seen or handled an
implement which so completely and perfectly came
up to all its requirements. An officer in the Go-
vernment Commission permanently stationed at the
foundry in Sommerda, who had repeatedly shot with
this gun, told me that he certainly shot as far, if not
further, and with as true an aim as did the present

gun.
Several other firearms newly invented by him
were shown me by Herr von Dreyse ; also his fal-
conets and explosive balls, which can be projected
from ordinary firearms.
" And what may this be ?" asked I, taking up something
that looked like a bomb-shell.
" That," he replied smiling, "is a surprise intended for
the army—do not let us speak of it. I will only just pre-
mise that, being fully persuaded that light artillery must
be light, in all'my inventions I have made this the basis of
my operations—viz., light weight."
"Does the Government know anything of these new
ideas of yours ?"
" His Royal Highness Prince Frederick Charles visited
me a few months ago, inspected the whole of my under-
takings, encouraged me to persevere, and presented me his
portrait with his name written underneath."
" You compared yourself just now with other disco-
verers," I said, as I rose to take leave, "but you cannot,
as they, reproach your generation with ingratitude and
unmindfulness of your extraordinary services."
" That indeed I most willingly admit I cannot," he re-
plied, with all the fervour of youth. "I am more honoured
than I deserve, especially by the Royal family, who have
most signally distinguished me. I have had several orders
and titles conferred upon me. My whole family has been
ennobled, and my foundry has made me rich. I can but
thank my Royal master with my whole heart, and regret
that only a few more years remain to me in which to de-
vote my knowledge and experience to the improvement of
the Prussian war implements."
We still passed a short time longer in comment-
ing upon the teeming events of the day; and, after
having uttered my acknowledgments for his ex-
treme kindness, I left him, with the feeling, but
rarely experienced, of having been with a man of
whom I had great expectations, and bad found
those expectations fully realised. The more minute
details of his life, which could not be asked of the
worthy inventor of the needle gun himself, I was
obliged to glean from the inhabitants of the small
town where he resides.
He is now
78 years old, and, notwithstand-
ing his advanced age, his mind is so fresh and
his whole appearance so vigorous, energetic, and
active, that he may well be taken for 20 years
younger. He rises at four every morning, and
spends the whole day in working out his dif-
ferent inventions. The Government foundry is
completely under the direction of his highly-
esteemed son, Herr Rath von Dreyse, while his
father's attention is chiefly engrossed with the recti-
fication and perfecting of the weapons he has in-
vented. lie has several workshops for this purpose,
to which but very few persons have access, where he
is busy several hours a day. When the weather is
fine, he practises shooting in the neighbouring fields,
and he is so scrupulously exact and conscientious in
testing the powers of his new improvements that
often whole months elapse before he pronounces
himself satisfied with this or that weapon. Perpe-
tual changes and readjustments have to be made,,,
and he is so painfully anxious upon all matters of
the kind that he does not speak to his most intimate
friends, not even to his own son, about a new dis-
covery until he himself can say he approves it.
A physician with whom I spoke told me that Herr
von Dreyse had so thoroughly identified himself
with the needle gun that life would be nothing to
him without it, and that many a younger man
might envy him his unwearied strivings after per-
fection.
4‘ Pray and work" does not seem to be merely a
ir