River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-04-24
The Cannon SIX centuries Ago

There is nothing in the history OF the
Chinese, nor il their Dictionary of Arts
and Sciences that bears any allusion to
their knowledge of cannon, before the
invasion of Gengis Khan in 1919, when
mention is made of ,to-pdS, or iire-tubes,
| the present name of cannon, which are
said to kill men, and to set fire to infllm-
mable substance; they are said, too, to
have been used by the Tartars, not by the
Chinese, and very probably were moth
| ing more than tic enormous rocket
known in India at the period Of the Mo
hammedan invasion.
The Moors, or Arabs, in Spain, appear
to have used gunpowder and cannon IN
the beginning of the fourteenth century
an isolated case is mentioned even at an
earlier date. In the Cronica de Espana,
| by Abu-Abdalla, it is said, that "EI Rey
de Granada, Gou-W Valid, Iievo consign al
sitio de Baza una gruesst maquina, que,
cargada con mtrtOs dc dsufre, D dGRd0le
fucgo, despedta con es.ueadd globes contra
ell Aleazar dc aquella Ciudad." And in
1891, when the King OF Granada laid
siege to Alicant, he battered its walls
with iron bullets discharged By fire from
machines. This novel mode OF warfare,
adds the annalist, inspired great ter
ror.
1t is stated In the "Cronica de Don
Alonzo ell Onceno" that when Alonzo XI.,
King of CASTLE. beseiged Algesiras in
1923 the Moorish garrison in DEFENDING
the place, "lanzaban muchos truenos
contra la hueste en- que lanzaban pellas
de fierro muy grandes." That the
truenos literally "thunders'' were a
species OF cannon. and fred with powder,
is clear from other passages in the same
chronicle. AMI Mariana mentions the
circumstance of the inhabitants defend
ing themselves by "tiros con poivora que
lanzaban piedras,n and adds that this was
the first instance be had found OF any
mention of the use Of such arms. Tee
celebrated battle of Creci was fought By
Edward III. in 1348; and Hume, on The
authority of VILLAIN, says the English bad
cannon, but not the French. The asser-
ton is unsupported by Froissart, who
was contemporary, and almost an eye
witness; he makes no mention OF cannon,
although he describes the battle very
infinitely. Thomas of Walsingham, who
wrote more than three centuries before
Hume, and who not only gives detailed
account of the battle, but even specifies
bv name the arms and weapons used by
the English. makes no mention of cannon,
which he certainly would have done had
they been used.
The oldest piece of cannon in existence
is preserved in the Castle Of St. Juiliao
da Barra, ten miles from Lisbon; 1t is
twenty feet seven inches in length, ard
discharges a ball Of one hundred pound
weight. 1t has neither dolphiDs, rings
nor button; is of a strange metal, and
has an Hindostan inscription, which say s
| il was cast in the year 1400.
Cannon we're originally made of iron
bars soldered together and bound round
With strong iron hoops. Some OF these
relics of the culmsiness of our ancestors
may still be seen. One is in the Tower
of London, two at Woolwich. and one
in the Royal Arsenal Lisbon. They were
sometimes also made with leather and
plates OF iron and copper.
Queen Elizabeth's pocket pi toll is vel
Known. At Bots le-Duc, in France
| therc is cannon called the Devil; there
il an eighty FOUNDER in the Tower
brought from Edinburg Castle, called
Mounts Meg; an eighty FOUNDER in tbs
Arsenal at Berlin called the Thunderer
| two curious sixty Founders in the Arena
at Bremen called the Messengers OF Bac
| News: and, lastly, seventy FOUNDER II
the Castle of ST. Angelo, at Rome, male
of the nails which covered the Ost
Pantheon, with this inscription: sExcla
Il Wis trabalibus, Porticus Agrippa
| There was az Tong Castle, in Shrop
shire. -pounSer called "Clear to-
i yay of the Lord which was used al tn
demolition cf Cheney Longuville Castl
in that coun J By Oliver Cromwell. Tn
Protector gave Scripture phrases q