The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-30 00:00:00

THE ARMSTRONG GUN.

On Thursday evening the London Gunmakers'
Company entertained Sir W. Armstrong at dinner
on the cccasion of his receiving the honorary free-
dom of the company, which was conferred upon
him by a unanimous resolution, " for the important
services he has rendered to the nation by his great
improvements in the science of gunnery."
The visitors present consisted chiefly of officers
and gentlemen in the government department offi-
cially connected with fire-arms, and comprised,
among others, Colonel the Hon. Sir A. Gordon,
K.C.B. ; Col. Wire Fox, Mr. Howell, Director-
General of Contracts ; Col. Lefroy, R.A. ; Captain
Jervis, M.P. • Major Baddeley, R.A.; Mr. Ander-
son, Royal dun Factory, &c.
Mr. HEPTINSTALL presided as Master of the Com-
pany on this interesting occasion, and after the
usual loyal toasts had been drunk, proposed the
health of the guest in very eloquent and laudatory
terms.

Sir W. ARMSTRONG, after returning thanks to
the Gunmakers' Company and those present for the
personal honour done to him, proceeded to say--
Many of you have been fellow-labourers with me
in the improvement of fire-arms ; and I feel assured
that our labours will have the gratifying effect of
shortening wars and diminishing their frequency.
Much as appearances may be against us, I am satis-
fied we are genuine preservers of the peace, for
there is nothing so likely to discourage aggressive
designs as our possession of superior
the
weapons. The
recent operations in China have
to shorten illustrated
tendency of improvement in fire-arms
war, and they have also furnished a valuable oppor-
tunity of trying
our new artillery. The success
which has attended that trial is rendered the more
satisfactory from the circumstance of its having been
accomplished under all the disadvantages of novelty
and inexperience. The guns sent to China were
the very first that had been issued for service, and
were not of the present service pattern. They
were shorter and lighter than the present field gun,
and were originally intended for horse artillery
guns ; but upon trying these guns it was found
that no advantage was gained by the reduction of
weight, while the same projectile was used, because
it became necessary to add to the weight of the
carriage to enable it to resist the greater force of
recoil. These guns were used in China with a much
lower charge than has been found necessary to pro-
duce the best results, and their range and accuracy
were in consequence much below the present stan-
dard. Notwithstanding all drawbacks, however, it
is a matter of notoriety that the performance was
highly satisfactory. If any testimony on this point
could be desired, it is furnished by a letter which I
received as I was leaving to join this party. That
letter is from Major Hay, who you are aware acted
as brigade-major in China under General Crofton,
commanding officer of the Royal Artillery there.
Major Hay is now in Scotland, and having noticed
the unwarrantable use that has lately been made of
his name, has sent me the letter which I shall take
the liberty of reading to you:—
" Edinburgh, March 2.5, 1861.
" The Armstrong guns in China rendered the most va-
luable service, being always in the most efficient and ser-
viceable condition, although put to very severe tests. They
were never withdrawn from action, and their places sup-
plied by others ; on the contrary, the Armstrong guns were
invariably the first to be ordered up when artillery was re-
quired. At Tongchow on the 14th of August, and again on
the 21st at the capture of the Upper North Taku Fort, the
Armstronr, batteries were firing over the heads of our in-
fantry in advance, and the guns never ceased firing in con-
sequence of any casualty to our men ; quite the reverse, the
guns continued firing, whilst the infantry advanced to storni
the enemy's works. It would have been more surprising if
slight alterations had not suggested themselves in both
guns and ammunition, considering that they were being
tried for the first time, and that they were most jealously
watched by all. In fact, from the instructions I received
before leaving England, it was my duty to point out the
slightest defect. This I did, and was glad to observe in a
recent visit to the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, that those
defects had all been remedied in a manner which experi-
ments had proved to be most successful; and I now feel
confident that the British artillery have the first gun, with
the most perfect ammunition in the world."l
This letter leaves no room for further comment
from me, and I shall therefore merely observe that
the success which has attended the first trial of
these guns, while it reflects the greatest credit upon
the officers and men who had so many difficulties
and disadvantages to contend with, affords the most
comfortable assurance that whenever the guns are
again called into the field with all the improve-
ments suggested by recent experience their success
will be still more decisive. With regard to the
mode of manufacturing these guns, this is a subject
that cannot fail to be interesting to practical gun-
makers, more especially as the manufacture of can-
non has now become so much more assimilated than
• formerly to that of small arms. I may therefore
state that all my experience leads me to: the convic-
tion that the principle of constructing cannon by
the superposition of successive layers of iron coils
welded into cylinders is the best, and to that prin-
ciple I propose to adhere in the construction of guns
of the largest dimensions. Layer after layer may be
indefinitely applied, and I can scarcely see any
limit to the size of the gun which may by this
process be constructed. The difficulties which had
to be encountered in carrying this method into
practice induced me to some extent to deviate from
it. But now that those difficulties have been almost
entirely surmounted, I feel satisfied it ought to be
adopted in all its integrity. I see no other mode of
construction which affords so much strength, and
what is of still more importance, is so little liable
to hidden and treacherous flaw. Publicity has lately
been given in Parliament to the trials to which one
of my 12-pounder guns had been subjected. That
gun sustained 100 rounds fired with service charges
of powder, and bolts progressively increased in
length until they projected beyond the muzzle. It
afterwards went through a repetition of the same
ordeal, not with a single but a double charge of
powder, and ultimately remained a serviceable gun.
On the other hand, it has been announced that one
of my 12-pounder guns had succumbed to what I
must call very unmerciful usage. You have heard
how it was fired at from a distance of only 20 yards
and broken with round shot. But you have not
heard that the gun which was so treated was a
defective one from the first, and one which the Ord-
nance Select Committee had been for weeks before
vainly trying to burst. Although it had not been
burst by these efforts it had been cracked near the
middle in a manner which greatly weakened it
against an external blow. Now one might have
expected that after so gallant a resistance the poor
thing might have been spared. Its wound was cur-
able, and it might have lived to do good service to

its country. But no, the committee ruthlessly sen-
tenced it to be pounded to death by round shot. For
this purpose a brass 9-pounder field gun, nearly
twice as heavy as the poor victim, was used against
it, and with a refinement of cruelty the committee
deliberately aimed at the wounded place and suc-
ceeded in breaking the gun in two at the crack. I
state all this in the presence of my friend, Col. Le-
froy, who I grieve to say is deeply implicated in
the murder. But a fate almost as bad awaited the
brass gun, which in its turn was fired at from ano-
ther brass gun at the same distance of 20 yards ;
and
_the very first stroke it received so crushed in
the
bore as to prevent the insertion of its shot.
Each succeeding blow inflicted similar injury;
and although the gun, from its greater weight and
mass, was not broken in pieces, it was so cracked
internally, as well as bulged, as' to be fit only for
the melting pot. I dare say the committee
were
right in what they did—severity is sometimes the
wisest course ; but whatever had been the result of
the experiment no sensible person would have
urged, and I am sure the committee would not, that
we ought to sacrifice the advantages of lightness
and mobility for the sake of rendering the gun
proof against such exceptional treatment. It must
he recollected that the carriage presents a far
larger surface to be struck than the gun, and little
would be gained by making the gun invulnerable
to round shot, while the carriage must necessarily
remain so much liable to be disabled. The 40-
pounder guns were made almost on the exact model
of the 12-pounder, but when they were brought
forward for proof I was disappointed to find that
several of them gave way at the breech. It there.
fore became necessary to remove the external coil
over the breech, and apply a stronger one. Since
this has been done there has been no further indi-
cation of weakness, and, indeed, one of these guns
has lately been tested in the same manner as the
12-pounder, and has endured 100 rounds, fired with
projectiles progressively increasing in length until
the entire bore was filled from the charge to the
muzzle. The next step in advance was from 40-
pounders to 100-pounders, a large number of which
have now been proved without in anv instance
exhibiting any' deficiency of strength. I have also
recently constructed • a muzzle-loading gun, de-
signed to throw a projectile of 120 lhs. This gun
Is riled upon a Flan which I have called the shunt
Plan, and which enables the shot to go in easy and
come out tight. For I need hardly tell you that
there is nothinF, more essential to accuracy than to
deliver nothing
while it
he
necessary,
shot without vibration from the gun,
rnpruerszelrve in the case of a
But it facility of loading should be
of my
must not be supposed from this
circumstance
•loader, thTtyl
a muzzle made this gun
11011ClaveifiTany degree given up
the principle of breech.
guns. On the contrary,tding, as applied to large
of the great advantages
more than ever per-
suadedmore especially for the navy, g:ns
,of_breech-loading,
way to the removal of every obui.eel.Folearl see my
with any degree of reason beged n which. can
heavy ordnance.
At the same time, against it in
however, I be-
lieve that muzzle-loading guns, from theirgreater
simplicity, will for some purposes be
preferable to
breech-loaders, and that both forms of guns will
have to be provided. -
A,nd now,
a 4 to the all -'
Irapor.