CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT ARMS.
From the earliest ages of the world, the jealousies and bickerings of mankind have been fruitful causes of war. Sometimes, perhaps, justified by political reasons; at others, it may be, arising solely from a desire, on the part of ambitious chiefs, to extend their territories by multiplying their conquests; while, in too many cases, the struggle for religious ascendancy has led to the most sanguinary and cruel battles.
War has been considered as a science from the most remote ages, and the ingenuity of the talented has successively been taxed to render it as perfect as possible. It is true--
“Man’s earliest arms were fingers, teeth, and nails, And stones and fragments from the branching woods;”
but these soon gave place to others, more calculated to decide unequal, and often protracted, conflicts.
Arms, in a general sense, include all kinds of weapons, both offensive and defensive; and amongst the earliest may be classed the bow and arrow, as it gave facilities to man to capture the wild animals for food, probably before their use was required for the purposes of war. The bow and the sling were the first means invented, and next only to the human arm for projecting bodies with an offensive aim: the great principle which, to the present day, reigns unrivalled, developing the ruling passion of man to injure, while remaining himself in comparative safety,--“self-preservation” being “the first law of nature.”
To the bow and sling were soon added spears, swords, axes, and javelins, all of which appear to have been used by the Jews. David destroyed Goliath with a stone from the brook. The invention of the sling is attributed, by ancient writers, to the Phœnicians, or the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands. The great fame that these islanders obtained arose from their assiduity in its use; their children were not allowed to eat until they struck their food from the top of a pole with a stone from a sling. From the accounts left us (probably fabulous), it appears that the immense force with which a stone could be projected, can only be exceeded by modern gunnery. Even at that early age, leaden balls were in use as projectiles; though we cannot put much faith in Seneca’s account of the velocity being so great as frequently to melt the lead. The use of the sling continued over a long period of time, even as late as the Huguenot war in 1572.
The bow is of equal, if not greater, antiquity. The first account we find of it is in Genesis, 21st chapter and 20th verse, where the Lawgiver, speaking of Ishmael, says, “And God was with the lad, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.” The arms of the ancient Greeks and Persians were such as we have described, with the addition of chariots armed with scythes, in which the chiefs sometimes fought; though their main dependence was upon their heavy-armed infantry. Elephants were afterwards used as adjuncts in their military operations, but their use does not appear to have been very great or very permanent.
The Romans were armed much in the same manner as the Greeks, with a slight difference in the form of their weapons; and the arms of the early Saxons were similar; those of the Normans were only altered in their construction, except that to them appears to be awarded the invention of the _cross-bow_, an instrument which afterwards became of great repute in England and elsewhere. It has also been asserted, that the Normans were the first to introduce a species of field artillery, from which stones and darts were thrown, and arrows, headed with combustible matter, for firing towns and shipping.
The artillery-proper of the ancients, as the engines for projecting masses of stone and such like materials may be termed, reached to wonderful perfection; and the velocity with which missiles of every description could be thrown from them, attest the skill and ingenuity exercised in their construction: indeed it is quite evident they are only excelled by the _more portable_, and simply constructed, artillery of our own day.
The great artillerist of the Sicilians, Archimedes, seems to have made some of the most powerful engines; but he, considering any attention to mechanics as beneath the philosopher, has not left us an account of any one of them.
It is said of the cross-bow that a _quarrel_ could be projected from them 200 yards, so that we may imagine the force with which one of these lumps of iron would strike even the strongest armour,--as the velocity, to range that distance, would not be far short of 900 or 1,000 feet per second; nearly equal to the effect of a ball from one of our old imperfectly constructed muskets.
We are told incredible stories of the abilities of some of our bygone archers. Should it be true, as stated, that an arrow could be shot nearly 700 yards, we can easily conceive the immense velocity with which it must have left the bow; this range being quite equal, if not superior, to that of the late unimproved rifles. Though we must bear in mind, that the peculiar shape of the arrow fits it to cut the atmosphere with less resistance then the half sphere of a bullet; and hence one reason of its obtaining an extensive range. There is a story told of the famous Robin Hood, and Little John, “who could shoot an arrow a measured mile.” We suppose the mile was the reverse of an Irish one, or they had the advantage of a precious stiff gale of wind. Historians sometimes “draw the long-bow” as well as archers. Many statements have descended to us of the power of the battering rams of old; but we have a much more ready method of blowing open gates by a single bag of gunpowder; and a 68 lb. shot has all the force that could be given even to that famous ram of Vespasian, “the length whereof was only fifty cubits, which came not up to the size of many of the Grecian rams, had a head as thick as ten men, and twenty-five horns, each of which was as thick as one man, and placed a cubit distance from the rest; the weight, as was customary, rested on the hinder part, and was no less than 1,500 talents; when it was removed, without being taken to pieces, 150 yoke of oxen, or 300 pairs of horses and mules, laboured in drawing it, and 1,500 men employed their utmost strength in forcing it against the walls.”
With these remarks we shall proceed to introduce the invention of Gunnery.
Barbour, in his life of Bruce, informs us that guns were first employed by the English at the battle of Werewater, which was fought in 1327, about forty years after the death of Friar Bacon; and there is no doubt that four guns were used at the battle of Cressy, fought in 1346, when they were supposed to have been quite unknown to the French, and tended to obtain for British arms the victory. Froissart gives an excellent representation of a cannon and cannoneers, in 1390, a cut of which we give in the following page.
The use of guns in warfare is, therefore, comparatively of modern date, and the early specimens which are still extant, of which we have drawings and descriptions, must have been of very little service compared with those of the present day. The English musqueteer was formerly a most encumbered soldier. “He had, besides the unwieldy weapon itself, his coarse powder for loading in a flask, his fine powder for priming in a touch-box, his bullets in a leathern bag, with strings to draw to get at them, whilst in his hand were his musket-rest and his burning match; and when he had discharged his piece, he had to draw his sword in order to defend himself. Hence it became a question, and was so for a long time, whether the bow did not deserve a preference over the musket.”[1]
[1] Grose’s “Military Antiquities.”
The mention of the _long-bow_ is frequent in English history, and its use contributed, in no mean degree, to many important victories. Perhaps it might be that our forefathers were more skilful in the use of their weapons than their adversaries.
In our wars in France, in the reign of Edward III., thousands suffered by the English archery; and the brilliant success which attended them was, at that time, attributed to their “superior skill, combined with the valour of the Black Prince.” So highly was this practice esteemed, that many statutes were enacted in successive reigns to encourage or enforce it.
Archery furnished matter for oratorical display, both in the senate and the pulpit; the palace and the cottage alike bore testimony to the great importance which was attached to the art; and it was at once the study and pastime of the whole nation. Thus, long after the introduction of fire-arms, the long-bow was held in great esteem; and it is no wonder that this favourite instrument should have been reluctantly relinquished, after obtaining such universal popularity, and becoming so intimately connected with many national and important events. It is now superseded by the gun, a more potent and destructive engine. The bow, so much valued, has vanished from our ranks by slow gradations, to make way for the musket; and the quivers of cloth-yard shafts have been supplanted by bristling bayonets. These things are now practically unknown as military weapons, though they contended for superiority with fire-arms during two centuries.
At this period, and for a long time previously, more attention was paid to the fabrication of defensive armour, than to the invention of weapons of an offensive character; hence the perfection that was attained in the manufacture of mail, of every variety, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The splendid manner in which some of the chivalrous knights of that age chose to have their armour constructed and ornamented sometimes proved fatal to themselves. Froissart relates that Raymond, nephew to Pope Clement, was taken prisoner, and put to death by his captors, in order that they might become possessed of his magnificent armour. Those gorgeous and costly fabrications were likewise doomed to give place to the advancing knowledge and skill of succeeding generations; being now only known as matters of history, and regarded as valuable curiosities. So late, however, as the latter part of the sixteenth century, armour formed part of the military equipment; and the French cavalry, called _carabins_, are described as having the cuirass sloped off the right shoulder, that they might the more readily couch their cheeks to take aim, while their bridle arms were protected by an elbow gauntlet.
The invention of portable fire-arms is awarded to the Italians by Sir Samuel Meyrick, and, in a memoir in the Archæologia of the Society of Antiquarians, he has named the year 1430 as the precise period of their introduction.
We have already stated that cannon, or heavy ordnance, was in use in the English army in 1327, more than a century before that time. It is not improbable, however, that the Italians were the originators of small fire-arms, for they had for many years been celebrated as skilful in the art of making armour--Milanese armour being considered the most valuable, and it is natural that their attention should be directed to the construction of offensive weapons of a different description.
The invention of the portable fire-arm, in its primitive state, was one of extreme simplicity; the gun consisting merely of a tube fixed to a straight stock of wood, about three feet in length, furnished with trunnions, cascable, and touch-hole: the latter was, in the first instance, at the top, like a large cannon, but was afterwards altered to the side where a small pan was placed to hold the priming, and lessen the liability of its being blown away by the wind. This contrivance was the first step to the gun-lock.
Before the adoption of the match-lock by the English, cannon, as I have before shown, had been in use, though they were of a clumsy description.
To the indefatigable exertions of Mr. Dean, we are indebted for the recovery of several brass and iron guns, belonging to the “Mary Rose,”--a vessel of war, wrecked in the reign of Henry VIII. of England, and Francis I. of France, in 1545: “while standing along the coast, during a distant firing from the French fleet, under Admiral Annebout, she was overpowered by the weight of her ordnance, and sunk, together with her commander and crew of 600 men.” One of these iron guns is in an excellent state of preservation, considering it to have been immersed above 300 years. The cut on next page will convey, together with the following description, a faint idea of its unwieldy and inefficient construction. It is composed of a tube of iron, whose joint or overlap is as its length; upon this is a succession of iron hoops, composed of iron three inches square, being in fact immense rings; these appear to have been driven on while red hot, and thus, by their contraction, forming a much stronger gun, when combined with the interior tube, than the generality of accounts given of ancient guns would lead us to expect. It will be perceived, that to describe it as “composed of iron bars hooped together,” is not correct. We may also mention, that if parties describing guns of this primitive manufacture will observe accurately, they will find that this is the general method by which they have been fabricated. They all appear to have been loaded by removing a breech part, or chamber, inserting the charge, replacing the chamber, and securing it by wedging it behind; as will be seen on a close inspection. No means of raising or depressing the muzzle appear available; the barrel or gun being sunk in a large block of timber, and secured there by bolts, as a musket barrel is secured in its stock; while a large piece of iron, or wood, was inserted perpendicularly into the deck to prevent the recoil. The advantage of “chambers” was perfectly understood even at this early period; they were apparently slightly conical, with a spherical bottom. It is no mean evidence of ancient skill, and knowledge of gunnery and mechanics combined, to state, that only a few years ago, a gunmaker of some celebrity, constructed a number of rifles and pistols to load at the breech, on the very same principle adopted in this gun 312 years ago. Strange, evidence from “the vasty deep” to show “there is nothing new under the sun.”
During the sixteenth century, fire-arms of every description then in use underwent a variety of alterations and improvements; each change bringing with it a change of name, which would neither be profitable or interesting to enumerate here; our object being to trace out the advances which have been made in the manufacture of fire-arms since their general adoption as weapons of war, or auxiliaries to the sports of the field.
When first introduced into England, the hand-gun, as it was termed, had already received a slight improvement, in having a covering for the pan which contained the priming, and a sight on the breech, to assist in giving greater certainty to the aim; it remained thus until the trigger of the cross-bow suggested a contrivance to convey, with equal certainty and greater rapidity, the burning match to the pan.
The difficulty of using an instrument thus objectionably constructed, was in some degree obviated by the Germans; who, together with the Italians, were no doubt at this early period the principal manufacturers; they effected this, to a certain degree, by giving the stocks a crooked form, so that the breech could, with more ease, be brought to the level of the eye; this was, however, only an alteration of form, without involving any principle or leading feature of mechanical invention. Succeeding the match-lock, in the progress of improvement, came the “pyrites wheel-lock,” an invention then looked upon as exceedingly curious and ingenious; this also is ascribed to the Italians, and one of the first occasions of its being used, is said to have been when Pope Leo X. and the Emperor Charles V. confederated against France. Whether the Italians are fairly entitled to the merit of this invention is, however, a matter of doubt, as it is well known that wheel-locks were for a long period manufactured in Germany.
The “_snaphaunce_” or fire-lock, is distinctly stated by Grose to be of Dutch origin,--hence the name. It was introduced into England in the reign of Charles II., though its general adoption is stated not to have taken place until the reign of William III., about 1692. Since that period, until the present, their use has been general in all the armies of Europe. How strange it seems that the Chinese and other Asiatics should have only the match-lock to the present day, while there can be no question that they used gunpowder some centuries before its introduction into our portion of the habitable globe!
The Syrians were formerly celebrated for their skill in the working of iron. Damascus gun-barrels were not to be obtained, at certain periods, at a price less than their weight in silver. The elaborate mixtures in their barrels, swords, and other weapons, entitle them justly to the honour of being the best of iron workers, as we shall hereafter have occasion to show; and the splendour displayed in their inlaying attests their taste and ability: but as mechanicians, formers of complex machinery, they never reached mediocrity. Turkey and Greece, as well as other countries which were renowned as having been, in days of yore, nurseries of the arts, but which have, in later times, degenerated into a condition little better than semi-barbarous, were remarkable for the great labour and pains which they bestowed upon the exterior ornaments of their firearms; but they never succeeded in improving the machinery of the lock in the slightest degree.
Although it was not until the latter part of the seventeenth, or the beginning of the eighteenth century, that gun manufactories were established in this kingdom, yet we have attained to a degree of perfection and excellence unequalled by any other nation in the world. Birmingham is the emporium of the world for guns, from the most inferior--the “_park paling_,” so called, of the slave-trade, with which ships might yet be freighted at the cost of eight shillings and sixpence each--up to the elaborately-finished gun of the peer. Most of the alterations which have been made in gun-locks in England, have been with a view to simplify the machinery, and obtain the greatest quickness in firing: much complication has been discarded; a thorough conviction having seated itself in the minds of Englishmen, that to attain perfection, simplicity must be combined.
Many splendid emanations of genius are left to us, consisting of complex mechanism for gunnery. The most perfect we have ever seen, is a pistol made in Spain about the end of the seventeenth century. By moving a lever towards the butt-end, while the muzzle is depressed, the lock is primed, half-cocked, and the hammer shut down; return the lever, the powder is in the breech, and the ball before it. We have seen it fire twenty-six shots without a failure, and with one supply of ammunition. The magazine was in two tubes in the stock. The chance of blowing up was thought remote; but it eventually blew up. In short, it would be strictly advantageous to inventors in gunnery, to be sure that there has been no previous invention combining their principle as well as their arrangements.
The mine of complex inventions was exhausted during the last century; and the greatest benefactor to the science of gunnery will be he, who, blowing away the cobwebs of mystery, renders its principles as clear as the silvered glass. Nothing now remains of the beautiful machinery of the flint lock; the fancy cock and hammers have given place to a “simple” hammer, striking on a copper thimble, covering a steel pivot. What would the old lock-filers say to this, if they could return and see their handiwork consigned to the scrap-box as old iron?
To those curious in the progress of invention as it relates to gunnery, it would be highly interesting to visit the “Musée d’Artillerie” of Paris, and there to study the classified selections in the possession of the French Government. Among other specimens equally interesting, he will find revolving pistols, revolving rifles, and swords and revolving pistols combined in one; and these produced in the early part of the seventeenth century. The revolving pistol did not therefore originate with the present generation; and however universally we may use the “Colt,” “Adams,” or “Tranter,” neither can lay the slightest claim to originality. In that museum will be found four, five, and six charge chambers; and though in all there is certainly an absence of movement in the chamber, produced by the cocking of the lock, yet several present the appearance of having formerly had some mechanical adjunct for revolving the chamber: this, though well adapted to the present percussion system, must certainly have been troublesome to manage in the old flint lock; for when the first barrel was discharged, the priming of the other barrels would be lost during the revolution of the chamber.
A great improvement was, however, soon introduced; a hammer and pan were attached to each division of the chamber, and each being already primed, presented itself in rotation in the face of the flint. The gun or pistol was by these protuberances rendered clumsy and cumbersome, and thus fell, no doubt, into disuse; but every real mechanic must see on investigating the subject, that the principle was as perfect as that which is now in use. Mr. Colt had considerable difficulty in securing a patent for his revolver. The right of patent hinged on this simple question: did he, or did he not, first introduce a crank or lever for revolving the chambers during the cocking of the lock? After an expensive trial it was decided that he _did_ introduce it; though doubts are still entertained whether there is not now extant a pistol having the same crank movement as that found in the “Colt” and other revolvers. At all events the invention of revolving pistols originated with our progenitors, more than 200 years ago, though their re-introduction is unquestionably due to Mr. Colt; and the “old broth warmed up” has no doubt proved more nutritious than the original concoction. In the Paris museum, a number of breech-loading guns are to be seen; I think more than sixty varieties. Many of them are highly ingenious, displaying great mechanical knowledge and working skill, and the whole, kept in splendid order, cannot fail to command attention.
Well had it been if the many hundred inventors in England and elsewhere had studied, and made themselves intimately acquainted with the productions there to be seen in such abundance. Monuments they are of mis-spent skill and labour; samples of the almost hopeless task of fabricating complicated machinery which shall resist the action of explosive gases at high pressure. An experiment extending over two hundred years, but unattended with success, notwithstanding all the skill and ingenuity brought to bear upon it, is, we think, sufficient to prove that breech-loading guns cannot be made sufficiently durable to yield any reasonable return for the extra expense and trouble attending their fabrication. Nevertheless, our “would-be mechanics hope against hope;” and to such we would, in conclusion, tender a word of advice. Before spending your money, make acquaintance (and an intimate one is necessary) with all that has been done before, and if in your own production you find principles which have been untouched by any previous invention, and untainted by any of the previous causes of failure, then patent your invention, and make a fortune--if you can.
Great mechanical skill, and even scientific principles, are to be found in some of the earliest productions after the invention of fire-arms; and thus is established the important fact, that want of experience was the chief drawback under which they laboured: one elaborate machine being unequal to their requirements was succeeded by another; and yet, with all these examples patent to us, we still fruitlessly fall back on exhausted principles.
A more intimate knowledge of what our predecessors have accomplished would be a great boon to our race. Foreign nations, but especially France, have provided for this by their museums; and we want here a museum of progression, an epitome of the mind of the present age, and which, continued to future generations, would leave to no man the fruitless toil of hauling in an endless rope.