The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-11-09
GUNS OF THE OLDEN TINE,

| 1t is curious that the dates of the two
great discoveries of modern times-print-
ing and gunpowder-should be both in
volved in uncertainty, as we'll as the names
of their respective discoverers. To Bar
tholdus Schwartz is popularity ascribed the
discovery of gunpowder i'll the year 1920,
though Roger Bacon, in his "Magnum
Opus, in 1870 mentions it's ingredient,
and how it might be used for propelling
proiectiles, while he acquired his informa-
ton from manuscript of Marcus Griecus,
the date of which is unknown, being some
what vaguely ascribed to some time be-
tween the ninth and twelfth centuries. In
deed, gunpowder is supposed to have been
known at very much earlier date, some
writer's even stating that it was in use
among the Eastern nations as far back as
355 years before Christ. Some authors,
again, would connect gunpowder with
Greek fire, which has been known in the
East from time immemorial, and which is
said to have been introduced into Europe
in 673, at the siege of Constantinople and
that it was not till the mixture of its in
gradients was better known, that it was
used for propelling preiectiles When it
was first used in Europe, for that purpose,
is likewise uncertain. To the Moors, in
Spain, is generally ascribed the introduce
ton of artillery into Europe. According
tn h,,f 1o,,
of Saragossa, in 111s-full $50 years before
Roger Bacon's reputed discovery. In 1906
1905, Gibraltar was lost to the Moors
through the artillery Of the besiegers
and when Alphonzo ri. of CASTLE, 1343,
besieged the town of Algesiras, the Moor
ish garrison threw "thunderbolts " among
their enemies from long mortars or troughs
of iron. Jean VILLAIN states that the Eng
lish had guns at the battle of Crecy in
1916, but this is not confirmed by Frois-
sart or other historians of the battle;
while John Barbour, Archdeacon of 'Aber-
deem, in his account of Edward III. first
expedition against the Scots, in 1897,
mentions that with the royal army were
"crakys Of war;" which are supposed to
have been cannon. However doubtful may
be the date of their first Introduction into
Europe, it is certain that they had not
come generally into use as instruments of
warfare till tbs latter part of the fourteenth
century, which may account for the state
ment of some authors, that guns were first
used by the Venetians against the Genoese,
in 1873.
AS may be supposed, they were at first
bombards, from the word bom5us, indica-
tive of the noise made in their discharge.
They were made either of hammered iron,
or iron bars soldered and welded together,
times of iron and copper plates, with lead
run between them, and covered with wood
or hides. They were wider at the mouth
than at the chamber, and were mostly of
ponderous size and of very great length
Froissart gives an account of great gun
used by Philip van Artaveld, at the siege
of Oudenarde. in 1882: "They had also,
the more to alarm the garrison, fired
bombarde of a very great size. which was
fifty feet in length. and shot stones of an
immense weight When they fired off this
bombarde, it might be heard five leagues
off in the daytime, and ten at night "a
statement which is, of course, open to
doubt in slightly skeptical minds.
The balls were of stone, and, as Frois-
sart says, were often of Immense weight"
Those fired by the famous brass cannon of
Mahomet H., used at the siege of Constan-
tinople, in 1852, weighed about six hundred |
pounds. Though the walls of town or
fortress were then not built to resist artil-
lery, yet the effects of these great masses
hurled against them were not so great as
might be supposed. The unwieldy size of
the guns made them difficult to work, and |
their weight rendered them almost immov-
able. From these circumstances some
great bombards acquired the name of |
" beurgeoise," from their constant resi- |
dence in one place. Even when the diff |
cuties of transport had been overcome, the
damage done by one discharge was easily |
repaired before another had time to enlarge |
the breach. The bombards used by the |
Venetians at the siege of Chiozza, in 1880, |
were fired once in twenty hours. They |
were loaded under cover of the night, to |
be ready to discharge in the daytime
Mahomet's cannon, above mentioned, |
though nearly a century afterwards, was
fired but seven time. a day, and for its
transport required Carriage of thirty
wagons, linked together, and drawn by
sixty oxen, with two hundred men on each
side, to support it and assist its progress;
while it took two months to convey it one
hundred and fifty miles.
1t may thus be easily understood that a
siege was not so formidable an affair as it
afterwards became. 1t was not till the
latter part of the fifteenth century that the
old bombards were replaced by brass guns
of somewhat lighter description, and the.
stone changed for metal balls. The French
and Germans-the former especially-ex-
celled in their ordnance, both in its con-
struction and improvement and in the
working of the pieces. To Charles VIII.
of France, belongs the credit of the first
system of artillery. On his ex-
petition to Naples, in 1894, he had train
of ordnace consisting Of bronze cannon, of
about eight feet long, and many smaller
pieces. They were drawn by horses. and
from their lightness were easily transported
from place to place.
Bombs came from Germany, but at what
date is uncertain. According to one au-
or-Valturinus-they were invented
about 1888; while Strada says that they
were first used in 1888, at the siege of YAK
terdonc, in Guelders, and were invented
by an inhabitant Of Venlo, maker of fire
works. When the first trial of them was
made at Eenlo, shell burst through
house, and SO effectually set it on fire that
the conhagration was not extinguished
until flor txrn +b;rflv Of tbo fo1,, b,J bo,r |