, 1861-06-22
RIFLED.: CANNON.
A,fRENeH VIEW Of The WEAPON.
EXPERIMENTS WiTH IN AMERICAN GUH.

In the spring Of 1850, the French army was.
On IT ,9t May to lt bearing IN IL <aa those
I'LL Europe With their renown. untn then
untried, they had been the subject Of long md
mysterious study, and were regarded. BY the
Frerch gnune1s: as an assured instrument Of
y1cto1y-a confidence that WINS speedily justi-
ns .sta pateF sr MN y
| French guns played SO decisive q part, there
has appeared suddenly in Ill quarters new In.
vtntions that claim far to excel the tried guns
OF the French Those, however, who are
aware Of the minute -research,-th patient
seIentc aes sas he ID aea Il
Pile mcans, Were pursued through ten years
before results were arrived at, regarded with
1u4lt1ereDce the new crop OF Inferior Inventions
that obtrude themselves On nu sides. Those
guns, so much yaunttd and 80 promptly in
tions, although net get put to the test Of actu-
al service. Born II mystery, they haye not
Jet emerged from tt, and their det:i1s cannot,
therefore, be- discussed Z ;;,11nerat principle
may, however, be ad7zuccd; 1t IL, TINT how
great the precision Of tro may have been OBJ
taI1ed, that quality Is only secondary to CO.
paclty for good, easy and durable service.
England has been Lees reserved than the n.
tlora Of the continent, and We arc there In
that respect more at ease. The London TINES,
while announcing tic entire deanitfye SUCCESS
OF the Armstrong gun, gave the details Of COZ
ai6erable length: Dehnitiye- Il however,
word that should never be hastily used, more
especially in respect Of gunnery. We may
resdily call to ui11d the two Lancaster guns,
for which such high destlnics were claimed,
when In 1854 they were placed In 9 battery
before Sebastopol- For some months preyi-
ously their future prowess had been noislly
| proclaimed after q few discharges they were
abandoned. Tho English .pnblic regarded
with surprise the numbers that descIfbed the
| distances tt which the Armstrong and Whit
worth guns could reach small objects On
those occasions, however, had they been more
| acquainted with the French experiments, they
would hare betayed lcss admiration. The
results obtained by the English are no doubt
| Ts1y surprising, but 1t Is important to meas.
| rrc their value.
! For this purposc we admit, as perfectly ex.
set, all the details as published, aud even ID.
! NIT the word deanttiye as applied to them, al'
| though there were but lew rounds fired from
u.w pieces. Yrt We shall hove little occasion
to be excited in respect to them. Tbs nav
| EneHsh guns are not Of bronze, like the ma.
joriIy Of the French guns, but Of forged iron.
ll1ble to injury from the shock Of the ball.
| But It must be observed that in the French
| piece the body Of the ball never touches the
piece-1jEgs Of 1amfnated zinc alone come In
coEtact with the grooves, and this ar1apge
ment removes tue principal obstacle to the
employment Of bronze. This English, whc
tated to eo1ve the difficult problem Of loading
at the breech, and In this respect the Arm
| strong guns are euccess. Those guns. B,
the experiments mnde, have shown great
range and precision Of firing; but wlethe.
they will maintain this after few discharges
is matter Of douht-the more 60, that from ths
FESfn iD Ynt3hl had
vas diminleaed at tyery fire. II this dispo5l.
tion should show itself in q long series o
discharges, That will remain Of the new in
TGnlion
! We now contemplate the part which the
new artillery Is to play In war, NC might bet
guEs. For this purpose wo will leave nava
gunne1y, which, like the vessels themselves
is undergoing complete change out Of the
question. Land artillery Is Of two sorts o.
service, essentially distinct, viz: siege and
held ice. The first has vest career opeG
IN inc future, since, WHEN both besiegers and
besieged MI provided With guns that will car
II with the utmost precision many Thousand
yards, the old rules Of attack and defense vii
have become obsolete. To which party viii
rsmain tue ultimate advantage, is 8 problem
net eesi1y solved It may be remarked thai
tie vast revolution shout to take place in tht
rtof Eautan 1as seriously engaged the atten
ton Of artillery and engineer officers.
In respect to field service, or where gunt
| are required to move frequently. the m3ttel
Is more easily determined as to what are tbs
epeeial qualities desirable in field service, anl
what condition should they satisfy. Thess
two points being established, the conclusion
will be sell evident, Of al the qualitles
sought, it may be assumed that 1igbtness ant
mobility, which will enable them to follow
oil the movements Of the troops that the]
should always be ready to support, are tht
nest essential. It ls this quality Of ths
French guns that so largely contributed tt
success In the campaign OF Italy In 1853. III.
adoption Of tie Imperial plan Of unity Of cali
bre les been great progress since the i'm
po1tauce Of employing single species Of gun
capable Of firing au sorts Of projectiles, {snen
shot, Of grape, vas fully appreciated in th'
Crimea. Simplicity Is the great object. It i
a!so important that such . system should b,
adopted as will admit Of the transportation 0
the greatest supply Of ammunition. AIooilit,
and simplicity are the principal qualities tha
art1li.ry Should possess, Independent Of al
conditions Of firing. It is In these qualities
tl1t the French are far superior to all othe
systems.
The conditions OF firing relate to range ani
precision. The range OF Z gun depends, othe
things being equal, on the inclination Of th'
| piece, within certain limits. Two guns beins
either beyond or short, aud tho shut will dl
verge to the right or lett more or 1ess. Ther,
is, therefore, q precision of range and pre
cision Of direction. The latter is Of far les
Importance in battle than the former, sinc1
the fire Is 1T large bodies Of men. The diff
Eeach the object without passing it, On th'
field Of battle, the charges having been pre-
pared, are all equal. If the exact distance o
the object waa known, all that would be re-
:quired would be to adjust the Inclination o
the piece according to the tables, Untortu
KNOWN It cannot be measured, and the mos
sk1l1tul judge is liable to great errors In dis
tance OF two or three thoneand yards ttWha
is the distance?" iB the demand Of al gun
nefs when they commence fire upon the aelt
Of battle They fire at random, according tt
charges they can justify the aim so as to rea:l
the object, but new poeftion may be ther
ordered, and the uncertainty 10 renewed. I
ls, however, not so easy to trace the range O
shot or shell amidst rislng dust and blindlnt
smoke, to say nothing Of the accidents o
the mathematical conditions that are so easj
IN ecieEtiGc experiments. It may be the case
however, TINT the shots falling beyond th'
object aimed at may reach other troops il
rescsve, and thus not be entirely lost, Th,
rory difficult nt ao0o yards, but becomes i'm
possible beyond that range. Of Khat service
then, Is . gun which carries 1000 yards, TO
instances The distance is estimated, th'
piece Is charged, elevated according to th'
estimate, and fired. Wha. then happens
There has been an error Of One ns.quarter, O.
one-third, perhaps half, Of the distance, ami
shot tlJins. 1000 yards heyond the enemy doe.
not disqutet him, or he may see it fall short 0
him l0v9 yards With equal unconccrn. Insucl
firing one shot in hundred does execution
Tie piece has been pointed necessarily at
considerable angle, and Us the fall Of pro1ec
tile ts always more perpendicular than it
, 1iEe, the shot or bomb burles itself In tn
ground. II 1t is shot It may kill him o.
whom It falls, If a shcll 1t may wound man,
In It's explosion, by mere chance.
The Crimeau soldiers will remember tn
two Russian batteries estabIished.on the rish
bank OF the Teherny, which they had ironical
press their dis5ain Of them. During tn
whole eeige Of many months those batterie
eEoHered, night aud day, projectiles upon th
secoEd corps, occupying tho plateau Of Tras
tfr, range Of 200o to 1000 metres, and did 10
kill single man, although the distance ha
become fully establlshed.* On the other han
at the battle Of Traktir, one twelve poun
/ elot, at low inclination, killed seventeen Ru:
a1ans. Fire at crest distances will scarcel
J Iay for the ammunition. It is admitted tha'
WIN rare exceptions, the fire on the field {
battle ahould be limited to 1900 to 1000; q
| the mcst, that Is In easy sight To dislodg
9 an enemy from an Important poiut, a village
1cr Instance, or to produce particular efFec
| 1t mag be advisable to fire 8, 900, but not NOR
! | than that. Glnsaes, Of which the use Is in
) | portant, will not be Of service beyond ths
J fapge.
. These explanations will suffice to demon
sfrate that the really useful action Of artiller
Is at average distances Of LOCO to 1,500 yard!
| %fA AnI