Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1879-02-27
, NFOved Ffrearnns

The impro Vements in firearms from,
the time of the. z first invention-abont
1850 to 1925, or n ~ years slnce-were
very uninportant. The cannon fired
at Cressy, the canon Tought by Cortez
to this country, the great guns of Con-
stantinople, the beautiful brass pieces
we captured from the pirates of Bar
barry, the field aHd siege ariillery,of the
first Nspoleon's wars and the csrrona-
des and thirty-six Founders of the naval
fights of the first quarter of the present
century, differed little from each other
in kind or in degree. The old musket
that was fired from q rest did, indeed,
give place to the "Queen's arm" and
to Brown Bess," till restored to US in
the mitrailleuse. But what were the
old fiint-lock muskets with which
Waterloo, Austerlitz, Trenton and
Brandywine were fought compared to
the needle-gun of SadOwa, the ehasse-
pot OF Montana, the Enf1eld rifle. the
Snyder, or even the Minnie of the
American war? Subsequent to 1926 is
the use OF the percussion cap and the
introduction OF the revolver. Naval
architecture also has been wholly re-
volutiOnized. Nelson and PEBBLE, COL
liuRwOOd and Decatur would indeed be
metaphOrically sat sea" in the enor-
nous irOn-clads In which ali nations in
tend to put their trust in the event of
suother struggle for maritime power.
Thus far, however, these colossal ships
have been experiments in naval archi-
ecture, and our Navy Department has
very prudently allowed other nations
to go to the expense ofthe experiment.
Up to the present time it cannot be
considered final or satisfactory, The
ships built have in many instances
proved their own destruction. The
rK9nig Wilhelm foundered at sea, the
Re GalantuOmO in action, the Captain
and the Vanguard went down with
their crews on board of them. The
Thunderer, with one of her big guns,
kills and wounds more of her own men
than a sharp action would disable; and
as the plates and ribs of iron snd steel
used in the construction of these ships
grow heavier, so science advances in
the discovery OF new powers of destruc-
ton In projectiles, tOrpedOes and the
range OF rlhed cannon Who can guess
what the result will be when two of
these leviathans meet each other in &C.
tion :? For, as it now appears, two of
them can hardly sail along the English
Channel in friendly company without
running risk of collision because one
or other will not obey her helm. If a
double charge rammed down a mon
ster gun in target practice works such
destruction. what may not happen if
the same thing occurs In the hurry and
excitement of battle? The fate of two
great nations may yet hang on such a
charge. In old times there was scope
in every naval fight for individual
bravery. Each ship sailed proudly
into action, singing out her antagonist
ranged boldly alongside of her, and few
knew how the day Jared with others
till the fight was won. Now-a-days
whichever can first disable q monster
ship and win briefsuperiority will be
able to do what he will with the crowd
OF lighter vessels. 1t will be the old
story OF the knight upon his horse, in
heavy armOr, who, falling upon men,
alarms In cap and doublet, by mere
weight and invulnerability, carried all
before him. The capabilities of the
torpedo as an instrument of offensive
warfare are being developed in a way
that threatens to make these huge float
ing forts easily destructibIe, and it is
thought by many experts that another
revolution in naval warfare is impend-
ing. Let US hope that as it has taken
US only fiftylyears to invent wars ad-
ditlOnal horrors, we may be already
almost at the furthermOst point of de-
struction which human ingenuity will
be permitted to attain.-Balt. Amel'u.