The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1878-12-12

There is nothing in the history of the
Chinese, nor in their Dictionary Of Arts
and Sciences" that bears any allusion to
their knowledge Of cannon before the IN
vasion of Gengis-Khan in 1919. when mem
ton is made of ho-pas, or FIRE tubes, the
present name of cannon, which are said to
kill men, and to set FIRE to infammable
substance; they are said, too, to have been
used 10y the Tartars, not by the Chinese
and very probably were nothing more
than the enormous rocket known In India
at the perod Of the Mohammedan inva-
SION
The Moors, or Arabs. in Spain, appear
to have used gun-powder and cannon In
the beginning of the fourteenth century;
an isolated case is mentioned even Of an
earlier date. In the Cronica de Espana,
by Abu-Abdalla, it is said. that "El Rey
de Granada, Abu-W aid. Ilevo consigo al
sltio de Baza una gruessa ma4uina, que,
cargada con mixtos de azufre, y dandole
fuego, despedia con estuenda globus con-
ira ell Alcazar de aquella Ciudad." And
in 1881, when the King of Granada LAID
siege to AlIcant, he battered its walls with
iron bullets discharged By fre from ma
chimes. This novel mode Of war fare, adds
the annalist, inspired great terror.
II is stated in the ''Cronica de Don
| Alonzo 81 Onceno" that when Alonzo Nj,
King of Castle. besieged Algesiras In
1928, the Moorish garrison in defending
the place, ''lanzaban muchos truenos con-
ira Ia hueste en- que lanzaban pellas de
6erro muy grandes." That the truenos
| literally ''thuuders. were a species Of
cannon, and fired with powder, Is cleaI
from other passages in the same chronicle,
And Mariana mentions the circumstance
of the inhabitants defending themselves
by ''tiros con polvora que lanzaban
piedras," and adds that this was the FIRST
instance he had found Of any mention Of
the use of such arms. The celebrated bat
tie of Crecy was fought by Edward Ill. in
| 1916; and Hume. on the authority of Vii
lani, says the English had cannon, but
not the French. The assertion is unsup-
ported by Froissart. who was a con
temporary, and almost an eye-wit
ness; he makes no mention
of cannon, although he describes the battle
| yery infinitely. Thomas of Walsingham
who wrote more than three centuries before
| Hume, and who not only gives a detailed
account Of the battle, but even specifics b.
name the arms and weapons used by thu
| English, makes no mention OF cannon
which he certainly would have done hat
they been used.
| The oldest piece of cannon in existenct
is preserved in the Castle of st. Julio d;
Cara, ten miles from Lisbon; it is invent,
feet seven inches in length. and discharges
a ball of one hundred pound weight. i
has neither dolphins, rings nor button; Ii
of a strange metal, and has an Hindostai
inscription, which says it was east In tn
year 400.
Cannon were originally made of iroI
bars soldered together and bound rount
with strong iron hoops. Some Of these
relics Of the clumsiness of our ancestor,
may still be seen. One is in the tower o
London, two at Woolwich. and one in tn,
royal arsenal at Lisbon. They were some
times also made with leather and plate
of iron and copper.
Queen Elizabeth's pocket pistol is vel
known. At Bots le-Duc, in France, Their
is cannon called the Devil; there is al
from Edinburg castle. called Mons Meg
an ei .hty FOUNDER in the arsenal at Berlin
called the Thunderer; two curious sixty
| pOuHutTs III tiie distIidi 1T Dfciucn Cdilct
the Messengers of Bad News; and, lastly
4 seventy-pounder in the castle Of st An
gelo. at Rome. made of the nails whicl
covered the old Pantheon, with this in
scription: 'Exclavis trabalibus, POrticu
Agrippa.
There was at Tong castle, in Shropshire
forty-pouuder called Clear the way o
the Lord" which was used at the demo
lition OF Cheney Longueyille castle. il
that county, by Oliver Cromwell. Tn
Protector gave Scripture phrases as name
to most of the cannon made during tn
period of the commonwealth, impression
of which they generally BORE