The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-08-05
The "Mitrailleusen or tie French
Army-Descriptien ,-of, the Ns.
ehAire q Ehl as.,kE,

arms has been 10 carry tue greatest pos
sible number Of deaths to the greatest
possible distance. Grape, canister or
case, aud shrapnel, all contain bullets,
and are all means for multiplying
deaths. The feld;gun mows down its
hundreds by showers Of case at close
quarters, or at longer distances rains
bullets from the bursting shrapnel. The
mitrailleu5 or machine1gun, on the con-
trary, sends a large number of small
projectiles independently, and with pre-
cision, to considerable distance. We
may divide arms on the latter principle
into classes-frst, those which dis
charge their bullets from SIN
gle barrel, fed by manyrcham-
bered breech; and, secondly,
those in which each cartridge has its
corresponding barrel, the charging and
discharging of which is direct, and
more or less simple 1t is obvious
that, for rough usage and continuous
firing, it is better that large number
of rounds should be fired from con-
siderable number Of barrels so placed
as to support each other and add
strength TO the whole machine. The
French mitrailleuse, as well as the
Belgian Montigny, belongs to the aec-
ond class, and the following brief de-
scription is equally applicable to both
arms: The machine-gun consists Of
cluster OF barrels, either bound together
or bored ont of the solid, and mounted
On The same principle as an ordinary
IicId-gun. At few hundred yards,
indeed, it would be difficult to distin-
gaish between these weapons, as far as
outward appearance goes. To the bar
rel is attached a. massive breech-action,
capable of being opened and closed by
a lever In the Montigny arm the
cartridges are carried in steel plates
perforated with holes, corresponding in
number and position to the holes in
the barrel. This steel plate, in fact,
forms the went piece" OF the system.
The central fire cartridges being drop.
ped into the holes in the steel plate,
stand out at right angles frof, and
the plates, thus ready charged, are so
carried in Timber and axletree boxes
specially fitted for their reception.
When the gun comes into action the
breech is drawn back, steel plate full
6f cartridges is dropped into its cores
ponding slot, and the breech block
thrust forward and secured. The gun
is now on full cock, and contains from
thirty to forty cartridges, which are
fired by barrel organ handle, either
one by one as the handle works round
click click, or in a volley by a rapid
turn OF the wrist. When the gun is
empty the brcech-block is again with
drawn; the steel plate, carrying the
empty cartridge cases, lifted out and
fresh plate dropped in, if necessary.
The advantage possessed by the ma
over infantry fire is that it is
never in a funk. Bullets may rain
around, bursting shells may fill the air,
still the thirty-seven barrels Of the nit
railleuse shoot like one man, and at
500 or 1000 Yards will pour volley
after volley OF deadly concentrated
fire into circle of from ten OF
twelve feet in diameter. No boring or
fixing Of fuses is required, and the whole
operation is performed so rapidly that
two steady cool men could maintain
fire of ten discharges per minute. On
the other hand, the mitrslleuse could
not we'll compete with the field gun,
and 1t is with this weapon it will as
suredly be met. It's bullets would have
comparatively slight effect at the ranges
at which field artillery projcctiles are
perhaps most effective, while its size
would offer very fair mark to the
gunner The foreign press are vel
come to write .tdntaroNmades about the
sudden death of wretched horses at
incredible distances. This is peace
practice. The horses came from the
knacker's yard, not from the banks OF
the Elbe, and there were no Ulans sit
ting on them, we are also tempted on
such occasions to take the square
root of the reported distance as
the actual range. The future Of
the Mitrailleuse, however, depends
on coming facts. The days ex-
Periments are over; there are hundreds
OF machine-guns trundling toward the
Rhine. The drum like roll Of their
volleys may ere long be heard in the
Of Rudesheim, or on the edge !
of the Black Forest; and the "thud" Of
the bullet NAV come from something
softer than wooden target. Yes, the
machine,gun is en- route for the Rhine;
the experiments will now be on a
gigantic scale; and My Cardwell may
adjourn his special committee until
after Christmas, at any rate. By
that time the voice of war will have
given the verdict; by that time the
Chassepot, the acknowledgements, the
shrapncl and the volley gun will each
be credited with a CHASTITY account and
we shall knew which engine destroys
human life in the shortest time, the
easiest manner, and At the least possible