The Labor enquirer., 1883-11-17
life as TO annihilate, in short space of
time, theirSwhole army, as their actual

~ srI
time, theirswhole army, as their actual
tactics of regular approaches against diff
ferent parts of the front accomplished
by means of the mattock and mine
could have been frustrated by keeping
within tie defensive lines, obliging the
assailants to waste their ammunition and
their constancy against the fortified po-
sitions of the insurgents. If, with these
precautions, the latter should be beaten,
| it would be only because its means were
entirely unequal to the emergency, or
becausethe chiefs we're witAous irnness.
/ Itis conceded even BY military author-
titles, relying on the sSperifnee of Bde-
nos Ayres, If Rosetta, of Brussels 1880
/ of the earlier insnrrectiohs Of Paris dur
ing the first revolution, and especially Of
Saragosa ,thatsoldiers eannot successfully
contend in The streets akainst an Iarmed
and courageous population, and that the
troops should quit the town Immediately,
and take position outside. Well, this
would give to the defense at once every
physical and moral advantage, as well as
time to improve their positions, after
which it would still remain to the army
toAfght its way back again, and to begin
the same anew.
At saragosa, the real defense of the
town only began. after the French OBJ
tained possession of the rampart IS. Sir
Charles Napier remarks: "The city was
divided by the large streets into num-
Der of small districts, or islands Of houses.
To gain possession of these, the besiegers
were obliged not only to mine, but to
fight for each house, and to cross the
great intersecting streets, it was indis-
pensible to construct travesses above or
galleries below ground, for Spanish bat,
terry raked each street, and every house
was defended by garrison. As long as
the converts and churches remained in
the possession of the Spaniards, the
progress of the French among the islands
of houses was of little advantage to them.
The strong garrisons inthe greater build
ings enabled the defenders not only to
make continual and successful sallies,
ut'to countermine their enemies, whose
superior skill in that kind of warfare was
often frustrated by the numbers and su-
perior energy of the besieged."
But, besides these, there are a great
many advantages connected with the
progress of chemical science, which in
none of the foregoing instances we're
used at all, and which will have de-
Gliding part in all the revolutions here
after. In any coming struggle, the en-
gineers in our ranks will surely avail
themselves of the opportunity which the
large sewer pipes underlying the streets
in nearly all European capitals afford
them, by placing, at certain points, de-
posts of explosive compounds,-as dy-
Mantle, or nytro-glycerinei-t be united,
by means of conducting wires, at cers
tain central point, from which they could,
either simultaneously or separately, be
fired at the necessary moment by which
they would surely annihilate large part
if not the whole, of the invading army.
Should this, for any reason, be not
deemed practicable, an even still more
effective result could be attained By in
Producing into the general system of gas
pipes, at all those points where they lead
over to the territory evacuated, intermit-
ters, thus securing complete separation
of all the pipes at the line of demarcation,
and injecting them into that part of the
system underlying the invaded quarters,
atmospheric air by obvious means, when
that whole part of the city, wherever a
gas-pipe might ramify, would be at the
mercy of subterranean mine more ter
rible than any which ever entered into
the conception of Vauban, more fraught
with evil than even gunpowder, in its
wickedest moods could compass.
Throughout every house supplied with
gas, ramifying under every street, there
would be terrible store of fire-damp,
which could bury, at certain moment,
all the armies of the world under its
ruins Need one demand how could
this have such terrible effect2 Who
ever does not know may consult the
annals of coal mines.
But the agents of destruction within
our reach are not even exhausted with
the above. The enemy could be still
subjected to still more dreadful fate at
the will of the engineer. An invisible
gas, laden with arsenic (arseniuretted
hydrogene), gas concerning which the
annals of chemistry testify, that all who
have breathed even so much as mouth
full of it have died might be pumped
into that part of the tubular system with
even more facility than even fire-damp.
l speak of what may be. 1t is well to
be aware of the existence of means, out
of which come possibilities!
The objection that we could not get,
during the excitement of the struggle,
and in the necessarily restricted time, all
the materials and implements needed to
carry out the above measures, would only
be justified if we would, as has been done
till now, persevere in that faithful course
of letting our adversaries use their whole
time, intellect and resources to prepare
themselves for events, and not follow