The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-07
THE SCIENCE OF WAR,

Development for Destructive Purp0ses-M onI-
; tors, the Hlurailieuse, Chnssepot and Needle
Gun-WhRt the American Var Produced.
The London STANDARD OF August 10 has the fol-
lowing suggestive article:-
In the present age every war seems TO be charac-
terized by the appearance OF some agent OF de-
structon. Inc french campaign IN Italy showed
the prowess OF rihed cannon. The a nerican strug-
gle developed iron-clags, monitors aud torpedoes.
The war between Prussia and Austria established
the reputation OF breech-loadiDg hrearB.s Now
comes the conflict between France aud Prussia, ia
which the mitrailleuse has made itself notorious.
But at present the mitrailleuse has doubtful fame
and IN order to test It the British Government has
set on foot an extensive series of experiments at
The particular Kind Of mitrailleuse which we are
thus trying is the Montigny, as improved by Major
FosbeTy. But we confess TO good deal OF surprise
at the slow rate of firing accOmp ished by this
weapon. The nine-pounder bronze field gun for
India, muZZle-oader, has been made TO deliver
eleven rounds in two minutes, while the M0ntigny,
on Thursday and Friday, never went beyond six. 1t
was reported that the mitrailleuse could accom-
plieh ten rounds per minute, whereas we ind IL de-
lSers only three. Something is said about the
trdges not being properly adapted to the gun,
the fret place the cartridges do not always go
readily into the barrels and in the next place the
empty cases are not always eaectually Withdrawn.
Therefore ii cannot be said that the mitraleuSe is
working with its maximum effect. Another ques-
tion is this-whether Major Fosberys alterations
have reduced the speed with which the machine
be worked IL seems remarkable that muzzle-
loading field gun should be made TO fire at very
nearly twice the rate of an apparatus in which ma
chinery is designed to give the utmost rapidly to
the discharge OF bullets Nor does the mitraeuse
transcend The field yum in the number Of bullets
which il throws in given time. Six discharges OF
the mitrailleuse accomplished in two minutes send
222 bullets against the foe But the Indian gun,
firing shot, launches 40 bullets at each dis
charge. On the first day ten rounds OF case were
thus fired in two minutes, which would amount to
110O bullets, about five times as many bullets as
the mtraeuse sends forth when fired at its present
maximum of six times In the two minutes. Neither
are the bullets of the field gun much lighter than
those OF the mtrailleuse. III the new machine were
to fire at the rate Of ten voeys per minute 1t would
only discharge $40 bullets, while five rounds OF
from the Indian gun would propel $50 bullets In
the matter OF range the field gun in sl probability
will be found highly destructive at distance which
will render the inltTailleuse powerless What then
can be said in favor of The new machine? It is far
less wasteful OF its bullets than the field gun firing
case shot The Montigny has much higher per-
centage Of hits than the field gum
But our correspondent at Shoeburyness argues the
matter thus AS the business OF war is to destroy
the enemy, 1t would be more to the purpose to put
$50 men hOTs de combat with waste Of eighty per
cent. OF bullets within four minutes than to bring
So%a nne,y Only "a'n fa 'ne same peraou @ oy r. te S
fair 70 observe that the data employed In this argu-
ment are derived from experiments in which pre-
Cision and not speed was the object desired We
may take an instance in which both precision and
speed were required. Thus we nnd the Montgny
firing six rounds in two minutes, comprising 22l bull
let's, giving 17S hits, which the 12-pounder braecn-
loader fired nine rounds, giving 1912 bullets, of
which only i6G hit the target. In this comparison
the MontiSnv placed seyentythree cavalry or eghty
four infantry hOTS de conl6Gt, and the field gun
seVenty-twe cavalry or seventy-nine infantry. We
hits with 222 bullets as the 12pounder field gun with
1242 bullets, and the effect on troops is slightly In
favor OF the mtrailleuse. Moreover, this occurs
despite the unsuitable cartridges which have
plagued the new weapon at Shoeburyness.
Could the speed of the Montgny be treblei, or
even doubled the results Would he immensely af-
iected. It remains to be noticed that the Montgny
is considerably less than half the weight of the
Indian gun aud can be served by One-thrd the num-
ber OF men, at most by one-haf. 1t also requires
only one-third the pumber of horses. We may be
allowed to ask, If the mitraileuse be brought up to
the weight OF the nne-pOunder what will then be
the relative merits OF the two arms? If the barrels
OF the mitrailleuse continue the same in number
we may have an enlarged calibTe and increased
range. Or il the cabre is unaltered we may per-
haps double the number OF barrels. If with one or
the other OF these advantages we couple increased
speed who shall say that the mitralleuse will not
be a marvellous power in modern warfare? In
forming Judgment on this question very much de-
pends on whether we consider the Montigny OF
ShoeburyHess being capable of slight degree OF
Improvement or of q development which shall
greatly enhance its powers.
For the present its position is defined as being
somewhere between small arms and artillery. But
the mitrallleuse may yet 'move on" and it may
give US a surprise after the manner OF the needle
Sy11n