The Goodhue volunteer., 1863-10-28

American W. English Artillery.

! American W. English ARTILLERY.
General Gilmore's batteries appear to
have created = greater panic in London than
they did in Charleston. The last mail from
England comes to US filled with discussions
touching tho respective merits of English
and American cannon, in which it is fairly
conceded that the British navy and war o.
ficiaIs have much to learn from their Amer.
Iicancousins in the manufacture of monster
guns and rifle ordnance. Indeed, tho tone
o. the English press is quite despairing, and
We are inclined to believe that they make
out q worse case for themselves and q bet
ter one for US than the facts will warrant.
Still it is very clear that We have taken an
immense stride ahead Of the rest Of the
world in the matter Of heavy smooth bore
aud rifed guns, and that other nations are
even more impressed by our performances
10 that way than We are ourselves.
The London Herald states the case against
England very strongly: 1t says, in SO
many words, that England has only one
gun-the Armstrong-and that that is now
notorious failure; yet, recording to the
Htrald.
The whole Of the siege, fisld and horse
batteries Of the Regiment Of Artill cry, the
Notifications Of Gibralter, Malta and other
important strongholds, besides the wo,k ks Of
defense at homo, and every ship in the roy.
al navy; are now, almost without exception
armed with guns built up aud fitted on Sir
William Armstrong; pattern, There may
he battery or two Of Mr.. Whitworth's or
Captain Blakely's; there may be large
numbers of tho old smooth bore pattern in
store, but the service gun of the British ar
my and navy, its sole point Of dependence
in the event of hostilties breaking out is
tho rified breach loader, which, with such
implicit confidence and at such enormous
cost, has been issued as our recognized heavy
ordnance arm.
But it goes on to say that this gun, upon
which for the present, the power Of Eng
land depends, is total failure We
quote:
The week before last. At Now Haven an
Armstrong gun, of no very great caliber or
weight Of metal, sIenced itself IN . few
rounds, and was pronounced utterly unfit
for use on board ship from its violent and
unmanageable recoil last week, again, fresh
complication and additional precautions
gave no better results; and, to sum up, it
was day or two ago announced that after
: fair trial of the wedge gun that most per-
feet form Of the Armstrong breech. loader
extant-the general opinion formed of it
is that in its present state it is utterly unfit
for sea service. It must be observed that oil
these experiments are not in consideration
Of tho weapons powers Of destruction. but
simply regarded its capabilities Of being
served safely, easily, and quickly on each
Of which points it is now definitely pro.
nounced to be . total failure.
To show the enormous sdvsntags the
Americans have over English in the matter
OF heavy guns, tho London HsraA admits
that tho heaviest piece Of ordnance now
known to bs reliable by tho British admi.
ralty is tho old smooth bore sixty eight
pounder, while Americans have in SUCCESS /.
ful use smooth bore guns which throw $40
pound shot, and rifle guns which throw
200 and 800 pound shot.-.St. Paul Demo.
crat.