The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-05-28
The Great Gun of France in the
Italian Campaign.

tors-The English Folloxvcd-Why the FIRST
! Napoleon Rejected the Rshe-Can Rifi'ng
be Successfully Applied to Cannon:- The
| One sticn Answered by Louis NapOleOn-f ,e-
seription Of HIS Gun.
| The new cannon Of France viewed in connection
| with the which has just begun, s creating
great interest both Europe and in the United States,
| and various rpeculatons aiort as to the pro-
babe effect OF the weapon deciding the fate Of bat
tie. An account of it, therefore, will BIO acceptable
70 the readers OF the HERALD. IL is rihed gun Of
superior description The superiority Of the musket rifle
usuay called the MIME rife, over she smooth bored
pom is now universally acknowledged 1t that supe
rory which decided the fate of the Crimean "rhe
queen Of weapons" said the London Times,
fight" Above $50 yards the ordinary has very
little effect body Of tr,ops and Ut 800 useless A.
SEQ yards tie modern rife If properly be d. can hit IN N
| in tie heart head every shot-even at 1000
yards u is effective than the common musxet at 100
To give the reader idea OF the difference we may sate
that the soldier with the old muske distance of 600
yarss was told TO aim $50 feet above the man-just as
be could measure at that distance $50 feet above
head IN the air AT l00e yards, or at any distance at
which DC discerned by the naked eye or with
the glass which is attached TO the rifle long distances
the reman brings the sight directly on tue object and
The steadily he does the surely will he hit t.
By the contrivance of elevated eight breech,
graduated according TO the distance the muzze OF
ia held exactly at the right height and the parksman
shoots as If he firing point blank 40 yards with
an ordinary gun If he only certain the distance he
must eucceedthe spiral spinning motion OF toe ball
produced by the grooves OF the CUR, causing il TO fly
straigh, as arrow; whereas a bullet from a smooth
bored gun proceeds with rolling and devates in
the direction of its heaviest end for bullet made
perfectly round and of uniform density BY the
musket is sad requires weight in lead 20 kill
him in battle military
it requires 500 or GOO balls 70 make one hit The
French admit to have fred away rs 900 of cartridges
the Crimea and certainly they did not hit Is 600 men,
| or half that number, by musketry. Il is wonder,
therefore, that veteran troops boldly advance against
ether, knowing that not shot in goo hits. 1t
the American people Who frat established the superiority
Of the rifle in battle, both in their with Eoglaud
and in the Mexican war. The French in Algers were the
fret European nation to follow the American example,
and in that the rifle was decisive of the issue.
The first Napoleon made little use Of the rhe-jndsed
he abolished it altogether, for it did not his sys
| tenn account Of the difficulty Of losdpg The
secret Of his system rapid aud pected
| ton Of large maves on given point combined with
great celebrity of movement and rpdty and quantity OF
Ere. These produced moral effects far greater than by
slowly killing given number of men. But had Napoleon
lived in this age when by modern improvements the
rife be loaded fast the musket ne would
nave musket III ARMY, anu tndt soon DC
| the case in all the great armies of Europe
the question is, this impros ement in small
which has such an effect modern warfare neutralzng
great extent the effect Of artillery cutting the
eunnerg-can it be applied effectively cannon If So
then the Paixhan smooth bored gun, in its most in
proved form, even Dahlgrens modification of it,
is nothing compared with the arm. Bl.
there difficulties in the way, which many in
ventors have attempted to overcome but hitherto
with indifferent The last Of tbese tried
fare the British invention known the Lancaster
\ gun, which failed go completely in the Crimea.
in the Of the MIME rife the French got the
OF the English and said 10 have completely
the obstacles in the way. In fact, ried had
come regulation weapon 10 the French navy before any
England appeared to be Of the the
gun; writer the London Daily Ne,os thus up
the government the end Of February last
Orr government had for failed in discovering aud
pilferng the inventions Of neighbors. Their own
roundabout atten pts TO obtain the advantages of rled
gun by repudiang its principles, have failed 10
most shameful manner and they have at length adopted
a course which they might and ought TO have followed
long ago by ordering gone of Armstronps guns Arm
strong gun far from being the Improvement of
the last few months has been at the disposal Of
ment for One OF the experiments with made
at ShoeburyneEs in the winter OF 1885, as ] am
from having it, From that time, although the size of
the gun has been increased material Improvement has
been made in IL, and none at all in it's principle.
In work published by Mr. Dahlgren in 1885, after
the truth known about the Lancaster gum he says =
may say however that the failure OF these projeces
or Of the Lancaster gum not to be considered finally
determining the interesting question Of im atng the rife
movement to the Shot shells Of heavy ordnance. Other
efora have been made which, though not well known,
promise TO afford better results" Among these be men.
lions experiments in France with shell gum the pro-
ectile of which is Of cyindro conf; form, weighing
ftyfou and half pounds. The gun is ried with two
spiral grooves and the surface of the shell two pro-
MIN vrh;
give the shell the spira motion. 1t is understood says
Mr. Dablgren, that order for forty of them was then
given is said that ranges Of 5,40O yards have been
obtained with ,hs ordnance the elevation being fifteen de-
greea and the charge and three quarter pounds
This cannon tested in Belgium, proved satsfac
tory.
But we come to later improvements 10 France-the |
new Napoleon gum manufactured at vincennes, which |
has been distributed the French army and is now per-
hsps moving down the Austrans. Some Of the Eoglisn
journals and magazines deprecate this Invention But the
correspondent of the London Tines speaks OF it as fol-
lows
The system Of artillery which has been under ex
ann aon for more than two years past s assured
completed, and the last experiments have decided it's
adoption The various calibres tina. before existed are
according to this plan, reduced 10
or siege guns and four Founders field guns The pieces
are riec the projeces are hollow, produce double
enecttha Of soid shot and Of she'll Their form is conf
CAL and leaden a,ees (ttle wnfs) give the ball pre-
cisicn never obtained before. Ny informant says:-
In order give idea Of the terrible effects Of these new
pieces sulces TO say that l2pounder modeD will
With q halt the number Of shots OF the old pieces pro-
me I'd ss
e ss s
tent OF 90 censuetres 81 nche and breach 10
made by The explosion The advantages the FOUNDER
au ore remarkable requires but $50 grammes OF pow
der 10 throw ball distance of kome,rica league The
precision such that at the distance OF 300 mees s5s
yards or nearly two mles strikes single man on horse
and at that distance would de.troy cavalry
nienIy Al the pieces instructed on the
oaced the muze the loading the breech being
many experiments have sho Sn 70 bs inconvenieuL
% much 40 as TO counerbaance advsn
uees Scientific affirm that these improvements have
raised the art Of destruction by artillery all perfection
lot loaded at the breach but at the muzzle-Iouis
Napoleon being far too practical 10 doubtful uven.
nons The French journals are very chary in their
counts OF this gun, giving only vaguesdescripons of it.
nothipg precise or scientific We suppose the Emperor
MQnld Mn 10 70 |