Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-07-31
NeedIe Guns aua ,beIr Conseouepres


From the Chicago Tribune.l:
The invention of the needle gun has
given Prussia a superiority in European
council second only to that which a ma
ton might have, which should possess a
monopoly of the manufact' ire and use of
g~unpowder. 1t is becoming a serious
question whether a power which can top
pie Austria to the g'tound with SO small
an expenditure OF men and money, may
not become dangerous to France, and in
deed to all continental Europe. AS against
the needle gun valor goes for nothing,
generalshIp Is of little consequence and
numbers cut scarcely any figure. There
is no evidence that the Prussians have
been commanded on the field of battle
with any considerable ability. Their gen.
eral plan of campaign has been consum-
mate, but in the movements of corps and
divisions in the presence of the enemy We
have seen nc extraordinary ~generalship.
The execution of the needle gun and the
confidence which its possession gives to
the Prussians, constitutes nine factors in
the result. The Greek fire, with which
the Emperors of Con~stantinOple fought
of the barbarians, long after bravery had
| ceased to be a Byzantine virtue, was not
more terrible than the needle gun 10 the
Austrians. Naturally enough nations are
asking themselves what is to be the end of
all this. The Emperor Napoleon, as we
learn by the last steamer, is experiment.
ing vigorously with needle guns of some
sort at the Imperial ordnance depot of
Vineennes. If Prussia chooses to keep
her Rhine provinces, instead of ccding
them to France, she may be able to do so,
and even carry out the Napoleonic idea
of nationality by annexing Lorraine and
Alsatia without waiting for NapoleOn's
permission. An invention is at this mo-
ment overturning Europe more rapidly
than the first Napoleon overturned it
With the leverage of the French ReVolu-
tion.
1t is a matter of vast concern to every
civilized nation TO find out what is the
needle gun, or to invent something which
shall ~counteract its effect or equal 1t in pro-
ducing them. In the first place it is q
breech-loading arm. This is a point gain
ed, and il leads US to inquire why breech-
loading arms for infantry service were
discarded by our ordnance officers during
our late war, The reason assigned by Gen.
Ripley, chief Of ordnance, vas that SOL
diers using the Sharpe's rife, for instance,
would shoot away their ammunition so
fast that they would hit nothing-and that
soldiers could not carry enough ammuni-
ton to last them more than thirty min
utes. This is shown to be sheer bosh. The
Rrassisps take better aim by keeping the
gun in q horizontal position, and firing
rapidly, than the Austrians, who drop
their pieces after firing, and 90 to work
with their teeth and their ramrods to put
in a new charge. If the aim is good, 6
soldier had better fire away all his ammu-
milton in thirty minutes than protract the
operation through ten hours. He not only
save: his own strength but disables the
enemy from firing baek, which is the i'm
portant thing in war. The idea, so studi-
ously fostered in our army, that the great
thing is TO fire slowly, is exploded. If
there are any valid objections CO the
Sharpe's rifle, the Spencer rifle, and other
breseh-loaders, they do not lie against the
rapidity with which they throw balls at
the enemy. Heating or fouling Of the
breech piece may be an objection, but
rapid firing is not.
The next festl,r2 Of the needle gun Is
the secret chemical combination which
gives it an unprecedented range. This
secret is kept with %tyrrannical vigilance
by the Prussian government, as it proba-
bly, would be by any government WHICH
should be so fortunate as to possess it.
The needle gun, without this element, is
no better han any other breach-loading
arm. Can Prussia hope to keep this Sc
cret any considerable length of time? We
think not. The wits of the whole world
will be turned upon it. Specimens of the
strange ammunition will be analysed IN 9
hundred laboratories. The mechanical con-
~trivances will be copied without difficulty,
and the chemical ingredients will be dis
covered by somebody, and then the equi-
librium ofphysical force will be destroyed.
For the purposes of this war, however,
Prussia need fear no harm to come from
the counterfeiting of her weapon. Her.
a~rsenals are already supplied, while those
Of her enemy cannot be supplied till long
after the present war shall have ended,
however penetrating the wisdom which
other countries mey apply to the investi-
cation of her wonderful irearm.. The
real e%onqueror of Austria is not Bismarck,
nor Napoleon, but the inventor of the
needle gun.