The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-05-26

Nowhere else In EUROPE mad any
Fower dreamed OF employing such |
force for the management of big guns
alone. Since the gunners of the Janis
sary force were transferred en- masae
to the Sultan's new army, it is fact,
however curious, that the Turkish
artillery of the present day is the old
es. military body in the world. We
may wonder how many of it's officers
are conscious of the distinction.
Enormous cannon are mentioned at
the siege of ConstGntinople. Having
been wise enough to see from tho be-
ginning what a great part artillery
must play in warfare, and having
formed body of men to cultivate that
branch, the Sultans shortly perceived
that the bigger they could make their
pieces the more effective they would
be. The result startled Europe at the
siege of Rhodes, not because it was a
novelty then, but because the story of
that gallant defence sent thrill
| through Christendom. While the
Kings of France and England were
| priding themselves on popguns, 80 to
speak, they heard that tho Turks h.!
sixteen great "bombards, each twen-
ty.two feet long. of which the least
"ossted stones, every stone Of iv.
| spannGs compass nboute," as it is put
by John Kay, Poet Laureate to our
Edward w. 1t must be observed.
however, that the Topjis were not
equal to the construction of these
great engines Their merit lay in the
conception and in the readiness to em-
ploy foreigners. furthermore were
there called counyn.y men in makynge
of instruments of warre, that is to say,
bombardes, gownes, culverynes, SER
pentines, and such other" They
GeRasss sas Ssszsfsa EsSetans j ~
tians, whether with designs of treach-
cry seems doubtful; anyhow, he was
I'd mpned to deth" after while
whatever that process may have been
exactly.
The siege of Rhodes is one Of the
most glorious struggles on record, but
we are concerned only with the great
guns. They did all that could be ex-
| pccted of them. So terrific was the,
roar of the bombardment that the in
habitants of town called Reede heard
| it, rs we are assured, hundred miles
to the eastward; and the concussion
was such that "grete pyles and postes
strong and mighty that were stykked
in the gronde behynde atte tayle of
the afoTesayde CRETE bombardes, gave
such q CRETE and mighty shakying that
the houses of Rhodes otherwhyles
fhaked III such a wyse lykc iff hyt
had1e ben al yearthquake. AS for
the effect, it was just such rs we read
- l - l. sS..
The fortifcations crashed down, whole
streets fell, and the inhabitants had to
live in their cellars.
Another novelty was the use of
bombs. They do not seem to have
been fired from the cannon. The
"engine" which discharged them was
"sling." But we are told that it
threw barrels full of great stones into
mir, which fell upon the houses, wreck
ing them entirely with great "mur-
dor' among those within. 1t is not
easy to sec why barrels fnll of stones
were employed instead of solid rocks,
Unless they exploded. The use of bombs
also reappears two hundred years al
terwards, when Louis XVI. wished to
punish the Algerian Corsairs. His
fleet could do little; he was not pre-
pared to land troops. In this perplex-
ity young man called Petit Renaud,
hitherto a peaceful sailor, suggested
the use of mortars to Colbert. Had
that great man been a soldier, doubt
less he would have paid no attention.
Being also civilian, however, he gave
Petit Renaud an audience, and
erasped the merit of his scheme. In
due time Algiers was laid in ashes.
The most extraordinary great gums
on record, as we may boldly assert,
are those described by Brydone, whose
travels in Sicily and Malta won renown
well deserved towards the end of the
last century. Many facts and stories
he recounts that seem strangely old.
world to us, though the date is little
more than hundred years ago. SO
Grandly did the French Revolution
transform Europe. Malta was full of
wonders more or less droll while the
Knights held it. But nothing
equalled the gun stones, perhaps--it
may be as well to say that our author.
1ty is unimpeachable. Everybody
knows that the Notifications were cut
of the solid rock, but Brydone was
right in saying that "kind of ord
nance" used to defend them was "un-
nown to all the world besides" As
We understand his description, the
knights left great block of stone
where they followed out On embra-
fure in the cliff, which afterwards
they shaped and bored in the form of
a. gigantic mortar. These engines
contained n whole barrel of eunpow-