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negotiations in relation to them were suspended. It was then that, under date of October 14th, Mr. Seward issued a circular to the Governors of all the States, stating that the disloyal citizens were making every effort to involve the country in a foreign war, and that every precaution was necessary to guard against it, and appealing to the individual States to perfect their defences with their own resources, the expenses to be a subject of future consideration with the Federal Government. This was speedily followed by an occurrence which renewed in the most earnest and threatening manner the correspondence with foreign governments.

The appointment of Messrs. Mason and Slidell by the Confederate States as ambassadors, the first to England, and the second to France, had been a source of some anxiety to the Federal Government. It was rumored that they had sailed in the ship Nashville, which ran the blockade from Charleston October 11th, and vessels were sent in pursuit. It seems, however, that the rumor was a feint, since the commissioners, with their families, embarked on board the Theodora, which left Charleston at nearly the same time as the Nashville, bound for Cardenas, it being their intention to take the British mail steamer from Havana. Accordingly, on the morning of the 7th of November, they went on board the steamer Trent, which runs between Vera Cruz and St. Thomas vid Havana. On the morning of the 8th, when the Trent was in the old Bahama Channel, the United States steamer San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, approached, and when within a furlong's length, fired a shot across her bow, at the same time hoisting the American flag. The Trent continued her route, when the San Jacinto, with her men at quarters and guns run out, fired a shell, which, bursting within one hundred yards of the Trent, brought her to. Captain Wilkes, on his own responsibility, then sent a boat on board with two officers and twenty armed men, and demanded the surrender of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, with Messrs. Eustis and McFarland, their secretaries. Captain Moir, of the Trent, and the navy agent, Commander Williams, R. N., protested against the capture. The commissioners claimed the protection of the British flag, but the officer of the San Jacinto said they were the men he sought, and he would take them at all hazards. Commander Williams denounced the proceeding as an act of "wanton piracy." Three other boats then came up from the San Jacinto, with thirty marines and sixty sailors, who leaped on deck, sword in hand. The commissioners were then taken into the boats with as much show of force as was necessary, their families being left on board, and the Trent proceeded on her way. When the commissioners were on board the San Jacinto they drew up a protest against the proceedings of Captain Wilkes. The San Jacinto arrived at Boston a few days afterwards with the prisoners, who were transferred to Fort Warren. The public mind was greatly excited by the event. Congress voted thanks to Captain Wilkes, the Secretary of the Navy indorsed the proceeding, with the qualification that Captain Wilkes had not gone far enough, but should have captured the Trent, and a banquet was given to him in Boston. The capture caused the most earnest discussion in the United States,

and a number of the leading authorities, Theophilus Parsons, professor of law in Harvard University, Edward Everett, and many others, volunteered opinions publicly upon the right of the United States to make the capture, urging, however, that the Trent should have been brought into port in order that the case might be adjudicated by the proper authorities. In England the news was received with the most intense excitement. Immediate preparations for war were undertaken on a large scale, and a demand for the release of the prisoners was made through the British minister, Lord Lyons. The event caused as much excitement in Europe as in England, and the French minister, M. Thouvenel, immediately addressed a letter to this Government, in which he strongly advised the prompt restoration of the men to British protection, and added :

"If to our deep regret the cabinet at Washington approve the conduct of the commander of the San Jacinto, there would be a forgetfulness, extremely annoying, of principles upon which we have always found the United States in agreement with us."

On the presentation by Lord Lyons of the British demand to the Government at Washington, it was assented to, for the reason, as stated in a communication from Mr. Seward, that Captain Wilkes's proceedings were irregular, in not capturing the vessel and bringing her into port for adjudication; and instructions were sent to Boston to deliver the prisoners to the representatives of the British Government. They were consequently sent on board an English steamer lying off Cape Cod, and in her conveyed to St. Thomas, whence they went to England, by the mail steamer, and arrived at Southampton January 30th. Thus passed away a danger, which at one time threatened the most serious consequences, and the effect of which had been heightened in England by the circular of Mr. Seward, before mentioned, addressed to the Governors of all the States, urging the importance of perfecting the defences of the States, in view of the possibility of a foreign war. This result of the affair produced the greatest disappointment in the Southern States, since it had been supposed that war would inevitably grow out of the capture between the United States and Great Britain; the more so, that Congress, and one member of the cabinet, in his official report, had fully indorsed the capture. When, therefore, the men were promptly surrendered, and the chance of war ceased, great despondency overtook the Confederates, which was increased by the fact that this occurred at a time when the victorious armies of the North were in motion to drive them out of the Border States.

The year 1862 thus set in most auspiciously for the Federal arms and prospects.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Age of Invention.-Change in Arms.-Springfield Rifle.-Enfield Rifle.-Repeating Arms.-The Rodman Gun.-Columbiads.--Parrott Gun.-Dahlgrens.-Table of Guns in Service.-Projectiles.-Batteries.

In this age of invention the science of arms has made great progress. In fact, the most remarkable inventions have been made since the pro

longed wars of Europe in the early part of the century, and the short Italian campaign of France in 1859 served to illustrate how great a power the engines of destruction can exert. The improvement has been alike in small arms and in ordnance. In small arms the rifle has almost entirely superseded the old smooth-bore musket. This arm was one of the first forms of manufacture for fire-arms in the sixteenth century; but the musket was preferred, on account of its more speedy loading. The great skill of the American colonists in the use of the rifle during the Revolution brought the weapon again into notice, and when the percussion-cap was added, it gained much in public favor. Recently it has become so much improved, as to supplant not only the old musket, but to affect artillery also, thus changing the tactics of the battle-field. Since the " Wars of the Roses" in England, nine-tenths of all the battles in the world have been decided by artillery and musketry, without crossing a bayonet or drawing a sword. The cavalry, as an arm, has gradually lost ground, except in a defeat, when it can follow up a flying enemy. It never could break an infantry square even when the latter was armed only with pikes, and recent events have shown it cannot reach infantry in line. Artillery, however, played a more important part, until the great improvements in rifles and rifle practice made it easy to silence guns by picking off the gunners. In the text-book of the St. Cyr military school it is directed, that the fire of artillery should cease when the enemy is distant twelve hundred yards. At Waterloo, the opposing armies were nearly that distance apart, and, as a consequence, were out of reach of all but solid shot from field-guns as they were then served. The improved small arms are now effective at a mile, and troops can shoot each other at two thousand yards. From this it is manifest that the small arms which could kill gunners out of reach of cannon-shot had acquired the superiority, until guns were, in their turn, so improved as to restore their importance.

The improvements in rifles are mostly in the ball, which is of conical shape, hollow at the base, and intended to expand so as to fill the grooves of the piece as it passes out. The Minié rifle, the invention of Colonel Minie, of the French army, was made on this principle, and it is said that it can be made effective at a mile distance. The arm mostly used by the United States infantry is the Springfield rifle. This piece is forty inches long in the barrel. The bore is 0.58 inch in diameter, and the ball is a conical cylinder, hollow at the base, and weighs five hundred grains. The service charge of powder is sixty grains. The barrel has three grooves, which make one half, turn in the whole length. These guns, including bayonet, ramrod, &c., are composed of eighty-four pieces, of which twenty-six are of steel, and two of wood. All are made by machinery, each piece separately, and all so exactly alike that they may be used indiscriminately; a number of injured guns may be taken apart, and a perfect rifle constructed from them. The immense advantage of uniformity is thus attained. This mode of manipulation is purely American, and similar machines were made in New England, and sent to England for the manufacture of the weapon, which is there called the Enfield rifle, because made at the

Government armory at Enfield. The cost of the Springfield rifle is thirteen dollars and fifty cents for each gun, and fourteen dollars and ninety-three cents complete with the appendages. A great number of inventions of breech-loading and other weapons have been patented, but the American War Department has finally fixed upon the muzzleloading piece with percussion lock.

The inventions of repeating arms have been many, of which Colt's is the most famous. The principle is a revolving breech of six chambers, which are brought, in turn, in a line with the barrel by each successive movement of the lock. Sharpe's rifle is a breech-loading and self-priming piece, invented in 1852. The barrel is made of cast steel bored out. As a carbine it is used in the cavalry arm. These revolving rifles, both Colt's and Sharpe's, of superior construction, have been fitted with telescopic sights adapted for execution at long distances. The carbine is a weapon between the rifle and the pistol in weight and length; it is usually breech-loading, and is sometimes furnished with a bayonet in the form of a sword, which may also be used as a side-arm. There are three of these favorably reported upon by the board of officers-Burnside's, Sharpe's, and Maynard's. The first was invented by General Burnside, and was by him manufactured at one time in Providence. The chamber of this piece opens by turning on a hinge, and the cartridge is introduced in a case of brass, which, on the explosion, packs the joint and prevents the escape of gas. The objection is the difficulty in obtaining the cartridges. Sharpe's carbine is like the rifle. Maynard's has a fixed chamber with the joint closed by a metallic cartridge case. There are a great number of repeating pistols issued to the cavalry and light artillery. When the war took place the scarcity' of arms called into action numbers of private armories. The imported and other breech-loading, self-priming, and other weapons were altered to conform to the Springfield pattern, which are alone furnished to the infantry, with cartridges prepared for service at the armories.

The improvements in small arms were soon followed by attempts to perfect cannon, which, from being effective a long way beyond musket range, had come to be ineffective at a less distance than a practicable rifle-shot. The military maxim that "he who would live long must enlist in the artillery," found itself reversed, and great efforts were made to restore the efficiency of the guns. The metal used for casting guns of large calibre is cast-iron, but the strength of iron varies greatly. The metal was formerly not so well made as it is at present. The dif ference in tenacity is very great in proportion to the uniformity with which the metal cools, and to effect this object great efforts have been made. The first guns made were of wrought bars cased in hoops of the same metal; one of these burst in 1460, and killed James II., of Scotland. In 1845, Commodore Stockton constructed a similar piece, which exploded, killing Mr. Upshur and Mr. Gilmer, members of the cabinet under Mr. Tyler, and wounding some others. The next step in making guns was to cast them hollow. The great difficulty in this was to cause them to cool uniformly, and it was abandoned in 1729, for the process of casting solid and boring out the piece. This was continued down to a recent date, when Captain T. J. Rodman, of the

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United States Ordnance Corps, conceived the design of cooling the piece cast hollow by the introduction of a current of water flowing through the core, thus securing a uniform texture and maximum strength throughout. In proof of the efficiency of this mode, a pair of 8-inch guns was made in the best manner, one by the old method bored out, which burst at the seventy-third discharge, and the other by the new method, which did not fail with fifteen hundred discharges. A number of experiments were made with similar results. The gun known as the Union or Rodman gun is a 15-inch columbiad, and was cast in the new manner, under the direction of Captain Rodman-hence its name. This gun is at Fortress Monroe. Its length is 190 inches; length of bore, 165 inches; thickness of metal at junction of bore with chamber, 25 inches; thickness at muzzle, 5 inches; diameter of shell, 14.9 inches; weight of shell, 320 pounds; charge, 17 pounds; solid shot weighs 450 pounds.

COLUMBIADS were invented by Colonel Bomford, United States army. Their peculiarity is, that they uniformly decrease in size from the breech of the muzzle, as in the case of the Rodman gun. They are used for throwing solid shot or shells. They were originally chambered, but are now made with a uniform bore, ordinarily of eightinch and ten-inch. Larger guns have been made for trial, one of twelve-inch and one of fifteen-inch. The latter is the Rodman gun. A small difference in the size of the bore of a gun, or, in other words, the diameter of the shot, makes a very great difference in the weight of the shot. The rule is, that the weight increases in proportion to the cube of the diameter. Thus, a shot eight inches in diameter, supposing it to be a perfect sphere, will weigh sixty-nine pounds; a teninch shot will weigh one hundred and thirty-six pounds; a twentyinch shot would weigh ten hundred and ninety pounds. Hence, a little increase in diameter causes an immense difference in the size of the gun.

PARROTT GUN. This is named after its maker, Mr. Parrott, of West Point, who is, however, not the inventor. The piece is cast, and then upon the breech is driven a wrought-iron ring of four-inch thickness. This is put over hot, and shrinks upon the gun. By this device, the gun, which is rifled, will weigh less than a columbiad or Dahlgren of the same calibre, in the proportion of eleven hundred to fifteen hundred pounds. This for a field-piece is of great advantage.

The DAHLGREN GUN was invented by Captain Dahlgren, of the navy. Its peculiarity is, that the thickness of the gun diminishes very rapidly from the breech, by which means a larger calibre weighs much less than by the old plan.

WHITWORTH GUN. A number of batteries of these guns were received from England when the war broke out. They are loaded at the breech, but instead of being rifled the bore is hexagonal, with a twist of one turn to five feet, to give the effect of rifling. They are made of wrought iron melted and cast in moulds. The projectile is hexagonal, made to fit the bore. It is of cast iron, but sometimes of wrought iron. The range of the gun is four thousand yards.

STEEL CANNON were introduced in the United States in 1861. Their

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