Year: 1859

The French Pamphlet ON Italy tells us that
King Victor Emmanuel, at the battle of No.
vara. received sixteen bullets in his coat.
But though the battle of Novara is q verv
recent event. the science of proiectiles has
been revolutionized since it was fought-and
a sixteenth part of s1ch risk would now,
probably, produce a more fatal result. 1t
seems hard to say how armies are in future
to be maneuvered. AS guns are now manu-
factured aud handled, they must literally
sweep the field of e"erything living. With
such rifles and cannon as we now use, the
Great Napoleon could have been picked off
the observatory at Waterloo or the tobacco
mill at Leipsic, as surely as Nelson was shot
down on the quarter deck of the Victory.
There is a famous painting of Louis XIV.
standing on the bank of the Rhine, with the
marshal of the day imploring his Majesty to
remove his sacred person from a scene of such
danger, and even threatening to terminate
the battle by retreat unless his prayer is
attended to. There is no longer ROOM how
ever. for any such affecting scenes To enter
the field at all, is to stand at the cannon's
mouth, and none will go there except at the
stern command Of war.


These considerations ought to have some
weight with the Imperial and Royal person
ages whose military ardor is thought to count
for something at this moment in the tremen-
dous balance of war and peace. The Empe-
ror of Austria and the King of Sardinia are
both something more than holiday soldiers,
and the inclination of the Emperor Of the
French to studies of war is well known.


But the life of n Sovereign concerns more
than himself Kings cannot afford at the
present day to be killed off like Charles XII,
nj Ciohard Ccaur da H,uavar
they may be, or however disposed to the
science of arms, they can be but amateurs in
the field of battle, and for such indulgence
there is no longer any fair scope. On lives
like theirs may hang not only dynasties, but
constitutions too.


An inquiry will naturally suggest itself,
at these reflections, as to the probable end Of
such marvellous progress in the terrible arts
Of destruction. If war is to become year by
year more dreadful more deadly and more
expensive. what will be the practical effect
upon society We trust it may be this-that
it will be less readily undertaken. When
war is almost certain ruin to both sides, both
sides, we may hope, will pause before they ac-
cept such an issue. The Enfield rifle, as we
have seen both in the Crimea and in India,
can change the very face of a battle but the
Enfield rifle is a mere pop-gun compared with
the elaborate weapons which are now intro
duced to the world.


In the American frigatea single gun work.
ed by half dozen seamen. will throw to a
distance of two or three miles. a shot equal
in weight to an entire broadside of such can
non as were used by Duncan and Jarvis
Armstrong; guns are expected to carry near
ly twice that distance, and rifles have been
produced which will send bullets through a
target at thousand yards with a rapidity
of success like that of hail st mes on sky
light. How any ship or battalion is to stand
against such projectiles, it is puzzl to con
ceive. But if war can be thus made to ex-
tinguish war, it will be a true blessing
though realized by strange process.-LOn-
don Times