The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1861-12-12

Bcllo't de M,ueres, entitled "La Question
Amsrcsine, In which the author endeIvors "a
| prove that 1t is not slavery but tariff which fr
| nifty years has been the bone o, contention bo-
tween the North ard South, and which has been
The immediate cause Of tho southern rebellion.
| lilo draws e contrast between President" Davis
/ ,no MIR Lincoln, not favorable 20 the lattsr, en-
utlirE the former "a tho gallant hero Of II leni
| Vista, AID calling the President ''tho psr.oai.
iic,'ion Ct irrgsoiut'on, always agreeing with the
| las' pr.on with whom hr cOnvcrsos.'
| ShuIkeepcfs, hotel lccpors ptopric'ors Of
restaurants, couricr' and guides, aud all who
| tcpcnd to a greater or loss cN'cnt upon tho Gus.
tom Of traders, are complaining terribly Of tbs
| -scs caused by the American war throughout
| lufup'. americana have tho reputation OF
| h,i the most literal pur,ho'crs, ami ,cit ter
"r' oi money, 9nl thcit CONF iraivc scarcity this
| '-'n mtkey those among whom their money
tt- heretofore been 30 liNis' " di,tti luIc1, OK
| coo'inglN Interested In our affairs, en- auNiuu,
that the war shall be brought to a close, when
| agr'st inituN Il Americans ~ Anticipated
A journal devoted To The liquor interests states
That the oN3orta'ion oi b'aHic. ant wi",, from
| France to tho Iri'rd at,- al he .rc, an tim,
amouut 10 almost u thing II the month rf S,a
t'mbof of l'st yea, sj.jSn h'ctolitr6s Ono Acc.
toliuc /, 22i! gallons) OF vino, anil 3 pGl hccto-
| liti,4 of brandy were sCnl t. tho I'uifCd St,.c.
whie in the corresponding month e N, p.c,cn,
| year there have been exported but l $50 hecto
| htrcs Of wine AMI ls2 Of brandy.
Tho TEfrrNE con.inuca TO niulge in com.
mou's upon p.or Sambo. Il claims that THE is
war Of ideas and that tho Idea Of Slavery 70
| lighting againct tho Ilca Of Frscdom;" that
in tho loyal statoS the party which refuses 10
ADOPT the idea ol Freedom will bc cycrborne by
| the rushing currents of Proyidcrtial events
| n q colored gentleman is thcn dismissed f5r tho
day, and the uEEAIn receives broa isido on
tho circulation question.
From an article upon tho Accuracy OF la.
fsntry Fro We mako extracts:
Civilians are continually surprised At reading
that in every battle which has boen either hot
| ly contested or long continued, 80 small A num-
| lor Of comhataDts have bcen Killed or disabled
II seems to hc the popular idoz that every can
noa shot must Kill i,s dozens, or that every rifle
shot must ho fatal But the mountains of shot
and shcll which arc now hoing manufactured,
| OF themselves explode such an iica Ii
| Tut the half OF th0m occaSionod woun Is
or death, war would bo an ntni ely
| moro muriorous business than it ever has bocn.
| II has boen ascortainsd by tho beat Pnlssian
| military authority, that during tho long. con-
tinued wars Of Napoleon 1t required mans
own weight in lead to bc expended in disabling
'ingle individual by iufdr try, asd ten times
his weight in iron when discharged by ar
| tillcry.
| Ou Atlt Ol AHo Dillle OF NhlOIlit tV-
cry British infantry soldier hal ia his cutouch-
box 90 ball cartridges. As near as could DO as
| .,uIli oil, j,b,J,uUu Of these cartridge, wore
| corr tun,d IN the action. Ga that occ i,ion the
| Blush Encountered an army Of 81, 600 men, in
10 whose Ta' rs this astonishing number Of buls
| was II cd, Wills 30 pieces Of artillery lrod to-
ul OF $50 rounds Only 5000 Of the enemy
| wctc killed and wounded, showing that only
| bnc musket shot in iJ9 took eTsct, aud, count
| ,ng Il artillery, there was not on that occs-
81 above ono muskct ball In 800 which was
| not II tcrly thrOwn away.
| No European military authority estimates
| less than 900 cartrid ses AS necessary to bs ex
pended for every mau dnahlod. Sons go oven
~ hirh as 10000. Tho Fronch army in the
| Crimea expended % 900 0O0 G IrtrIyos without
having disabled %, 900 Russians. Yet on this
occasion they used the Minnie ball exclusively,
a missile which Is alleged to have doubled the
| effectiveness Of the muskot Of NapJloOnA time.
At the battle Of Cherubusco tho Americans
disabled Mexican for evory l2j cartridges
fired, while it required 800 Mexican shots TO
disable an American. No such sharp shooting
as this Is on record in European experience; but,
striking M ii Is, whan compared with such
stan lard, II il not equal 10 the magnificent
firing made by the Americans at Bunker Hill.
Military men find no difficulty in accounting
| for III. nall effect produced by the expenditure
| of such vast amounts Of ammunition II con
sists in rapid firing, erroneous estimate Of dis
tAnCea long ranges, and insufficient target pric-
| tice. As to rdpdty Of firing, it is held that
the word rapid, in that conncc lion, ought to he
| eNpungod from the soldiers vocabulary. With
proper aim and dclibcIation, four to liys rounds
| may he fired in two minutes. So far from
| urging men to lire rapidly, they should 10 ur-
gently cautioned against IL. II is this exc hssye
haste which causes much Of tho useless cXpon-
| dIturo of CaTtIidgos.
In this country we have no schools for riAs
| practice but the forests aud the priries. Its
| thar, m RI ara pFaatpl- These
| would be the extreme Of folly to arm with any
| other than the most effective weapon. They
| understand distances to u nicety and fire hy
| rules which each man has learned Tor hun
self. The French, at 100 yards, aim at the
| breast from that 10 100 at tho shoulders; from
that to 100 at the head, and from that to 2lJ
| at the top of tho cap; for the schools have
taught them that muskot ball falls six inches
| in tho first 100 yards, and six more for each Of
the succeeding distances stated above,
| at 1000 yards distance a man Of ordinary
stature presents mark little more than the
| twelfth Of an inch in hight, and at 500, OF only
| a tenth OF an inch. Extensive firing A. marks
Of this description is throwing ammunition
away
A perfect weapon may be considered almost
| indispensable to precision Of fire. The trmcan
war proved the range of the Enfield ride 80 su-
| periOr to that OF the Russian small arm', that
The Russians freely admitted its tremendous
| pIwci. The BriU-h government calling Tor
| r-c lmbrrs, found tho Birmingham manu-
| tac'ucIs uual !, 10 supply thcm and abandon
| nP the contract syfton, proposed establishing
| , manuiac'ory Of its own a. Enfield, But
| The whole oily OF English gunm4kers op-
| ei the project, whereupon select commit
| ee was appointed to investigate the matter, and
| hu result was a volume Of over 800 pages.
| Nmplg the Witnesses examined was Mr.. Whit
| worth, since celebrated Tor his rifles aud can
| or aud i,om him more really practical lLiOr-
| 0dfiun vas derive than from all others. lie
| uuvCd that the correct performance OF a gun
| barrel depends on the accuracy Of the Interior
| that il was possible TO measure sizes, meChani-
callv up TO the millionth Of an inch; and that
| up 60 that time no steps hal been taken TO test
| by III. ans OF different guages, the accuracy Of
| the interior Of gun barrels. lie asserted
that until that plan was adopted, no conclu.
| sions on which any dependence could he placed
were sttanable for determining tho true form
| Of hOre, and that if q Government factory were
established without this knoWledge, the results
| would be illusory and unsatisfactory. Mr.
| WhitwOrh volunteered 10 conduct grdtuitOusly
4 series Of experiments for the sole purpose OF
! lucid tting this question. Accordingly, $50 900
| were furnished 10 deiHy expenses and "A gallery
| 500 wards in length was erected on Mr.. Whit
gorth's premises at Manchester, so contrIved
hat a series of experiments could be carried on.
| The ball in its flight was protected from at.
| mOspherc currents, and its exact course from
the gun TO the target was accurately observed
| by It's passing through a succession OF paper
GREENS Taking the regulation musket as his
standard, he brought into requisition an extra
4 - II.