Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1908-05-21
A MONSTER WEAPON.
Simpson Gun the Most Terrible War
Engine.


London, May 10. The British pub
lie is much wrought over the question
as to whether the new Simpson electri-
cal gun-the cannon which it is promis
ed will shoot projectile from London
to Paris is to remain the secret of the
British War Office, or whether all mill
tant nations are to have use of the rev.
olutionary invention. Mr.. Simpson, the
inventor, has had nothing to say, but
Colonel Maude, of the Royal Artillery,
the original and still the chief champion
of the Simpson gun, has intimated that
for the present, at least, the secret will
remain with the British government
If the gun will do all that is claimed
for it-and experts who at first scoffed
are now more than half convinced it will
the possibilities of its exclusive owner
ship are so vast as to stagger the imag-
ination. Four of these guns, provided
other nations had not and could not get
them, would make Great Britain abso-
lutte master of the world. Two Of them
mounted on elevated ground, one in the
south. the other in the north of Great
Britain, would be sufficient to repel an
invasion for which the world had united.
The others aboard ship, one for the At
lantic and one for the Pacific, would
make the most powerful navies ahoat
useless heaps of junk.
Aided by modern range-fnders, one
of these guns would put an entire fleet
out of commission before the enemy
ever got within striking distance. The
Spanish armada never would have sail
ed for British waters had England been
the sole possessor of single fighting
craft of the Dreadnought type. Sim
ilarly, O fleet of Dreadnoughts would
have no more show in front of battery
of Simpsons guns than the Spanish
ships of 1888 would have against modern
ironclads.
Should Great Britain alone possess
the secret of this gun, no nation nor
group of nations could make war upon
her. The worlds peace would be es-
tablished then and there, for it is not
conceivable that Great Britain would
play the role of ruthless conqueror. II
is also claimed for the invention that
even were all nations free to use it, wal
would be made so terrible as to be i'm
possible. The history Of warfare, how
ever, does not bear out this sapposition.
The Simpsons gun, terrible as are its
possibilities, is scarcely a greater ad-
vance over the guns Of theDreadenought
or a modern coast-defence piece thar
are the Dreadenought' guns and armol
over the wooden hulls and brass cannon
with which Philip of Spain sent the
incompetent Duke and Median Sidonit
to battle against Drake and Howard
The mind cannot grasp the possibili
ty of battle with 150 Dreadnoughts OF
each side, but it is open to question
even whether an engagement betweei
modern battleships would be any NOR
deadly than was that fight in the Eng
lish channel more than 800 years ago
The bleak coasts of Scotland and Ire
land, by which route Sidonia tried to es
cape, were strewn with the wrecks o.
his ships, and so many Of the bodies o
his sailors washed ashore that they be
came a menace to the health of the in
habitants. The battle OF the Sea of ia
pan, the greatest of modern naval en-
gagements had no such story to tell
All, this, however, is academic, TIL
vital point is that England today ha
a gun which, according to the most re
liable reports, is far in advance of tn
armament of any other nation. Tn
British public wants to know whethe
England is going to keep the gun Q
whether her rivals in the race of nation
are TO share it. 1t is safe to assum
that the same question is being aske
in every principal capital of the worlC
Washington not excepted