At Namur, the heights are occupied by strong redoubts within the range of each other's fire.

Fort Christoval occupies the summit of a rocky height at 500 yards distance from the fortress of Badajoz, from which it is separated by the river Guadiana, (it is an irregular square fort, see Jones's Sieges, plate 1, vol i.) This fort offered a good and successful resistance when defended by the French against the Allied army under the Duke of Wellington: First, from the 8th to the 12th of May 1811, when the besieging army marched out to meet Marshal Soult, who approached with the intention of relieving Badajoz, and which brought on the sanguinary battle of Albuera on the 16th of May; secondly, on the return of the army to resume the siege of Badajoz on the 29th of May, when twenty-three pieces of artillery were placed in battery against Fort Christoval (its figure occupying only a square of 300 feet): it was partially breached and unsuccessfully assaulted on the night of the 6th of June. On the 9th of June, the Allies were again foiled in a gallant attempt to storm the breach; and on the following morning the siege was raised.

Here we see the importance of a well-situated detached work, difficult of access; for Christoval is constructed on such rocky ground as to afford little or no earth to cover the besiegers; its good defence greatly hampered the means of attack on the main-works of Badajoz.

The detached lunette of Picurina at Badajoz (see vol. i. plate 4, Jones's Sieges,) offered a good resistance by the same garrison in 1812, in the successful attack by the Duke of Wellington's army. The attack commenced on the 17th of March, and the Picurina was gallantly carried on the night of the 25th March. Picurina is a work shaped like a bastion, having two faces of 200 feet each, and two flanks of 70 feet each; also a covered-way and glacis, and closed at the gorge by a slight earthen breast-work well palisaded: it occupies a height about 400 yards from the main-work, from which it was then separated by a temporary inundation of the stream Rivillas.

It is of importance to dispute with an enemy every post capable of defence without the place; and even strong buildings often afford the means of doing so for instance, the French garrison that defended St. Sebastian in 1813, occupied the convent of St. Bartolomeo at about 700 or 800 yards in advance of the works of the town, and on the isthmus, which they strengthened by a small redoubt: when besieged by the Allies under the Duke of Wellington, a period of six valuable days was occupied in reducing it, causing an expenditure of 2505 18-pound round shot, 19 18-pound grape, 331 8-inch shells, and 143 6-inch spherical shells.

Remarks. It appears from the foregoing properties of retrenched camps and detached works, that an inferior army on the defensive can seldom fail to find a formidable position on which to defend a town or place of consequence: no doubt a fortified place will afford better supappears that port to such a position than an open town; but still it much be done by a zealous and intelligent co-operation of the civil and military authorities of a nation when united against an aggressor. So far has this opinion been carried, that it has been asserted that it is quite needless to expend such immense sums of money on the construction of the regular works we have described as constituting the

may

defences of a fortress; and that it will suffice to throw up strong forts around a place, (as shown in Fig. 72,) and connect them by lines of field-works in the day of need. Like most novelties, this has been pushed too far. To defend extensive positions covering large towns, great bodies of disposable troops and a national interest in the war, are requisite: and when such a position is forced at any one point, what impediment is there to the destruction, pillage, and ruin of the town it was intended to cover? History attests the value of good fortresses, which have been, in many cases, the salvation of a state.

In our insulated position, as a great maritime nation, it may be remarked, that our great dock-yards and arsenals being our most valuable depôts and positions, this mode of keeping an enemy at a distance from them is of vital importance. The range of shells thrown from mortars averages from one thousand yards to upwards of two miles. An enemy, therefore, who can establish a number of mortars within that distance of a dock-yard or arsenal, would very soon totally destroy it, without any other proceeding. Hence the absolute necessity of constructing strong posts within range of each other around depôts of a nature so easily destroyed; a system of defence that we see has been partially followed at our first great naval depôt and dock-yard.

THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.

LETTER OF KING CHARLES OF SPAIN TO QUEEN ANNE.

MR. EDITOR, I herewith send you the following interesting letter I have lately found, which was written by Charles King of Spain to Anne Queen of England, respecting the gallant behaviour of the 35th regiment of foot, and the death of its Colonel, Earl Donegal, in 1706. It appears that the 35th was raised at Belfast, in Ireland, in the year 1701, at the sole expense of the then Earl of Donegal; and made a present of to King William, (their facings are orange,) who appointed him Colonel of it, and sent the regiment out to Spain, to defend the rights of the House of Austria, and the Earl, with twelve of his grenadiers, was the first who set foot on shore. His Lordship was made Major-General of the Spanish forces in the year 1704. The regiment was for many years called the Belfast Regiment, and the ground in Belfast where they were first drawn up, is to this day called the Parade.

27th June 1831.

(Cory.)

B.

"Madam, my Sister,-It is always with the utmost satisfaction that I do justice to those worthy persons who signalized themselves by their conduct and valour in your Majesty's service and mine. My Lord Donegal was remarkably so when alive, and his brave regiment the 35th of foot, and more particularly at the last siege of my city of Barcelona, both in his quickness in succouring it from Gerona, and the long valiant defence he and his brave regiment made in Fort Montjuic, where he lost his life in the assault; and it is in a great measure to his memory and gallant regiment, that I am indebted for the preservation of that capital, and it may be for all the possessions I now hold in Spain.

"I shall injure your Majesty's usual generosity, by offering to recommend to your favour the family of so worthy a gentleman, and also the officers of his brave regiment; for I know your Majesty's inclination to it; I will only add, I will place all the marks of favour and acknowledgment which your Majesty will please to bestow on the family and the regiment to my own account, as well as the remaining obligation.

"I am, with sincere gratitude and love,
"Your Brother,
"CHARLES."

RIFLE CARTRIDGES,

WITH OBSERVATIONS ON RIFLE PRACTICE.

BY COLONEL MACERONE.

I PRESUME it will not be denied that the efficacy of light infantry, in skirmishing, mainly depends on the effect of each individual shot.

It has been sufficiently demonstrated, that a smooth barrel, such as the common musket, will not propel a bullet with any degree of accuracy even the short distance of fifty or sixty yards. Hence in most European armies, the light troops or skirmishers have been armed with rifles, which giving to the bullet a rapid rotation on the axis of its flight, its unequal friction in the barrel, and the unequal resistance of the air to its unavoidably imperfect spherosity, are continuously rectified during the whole course of its flight.

The only objection to the use of the rifle, as hitherto managed, and which has been held sufficient to exclude its use from the French armies during the whole of the late war, is the inconvenience and loss of time experienced in loading it the powder and ball having to be introduced separately, and it being indispensable, that the latter should be enveloped in a piece of greased tissue, to facilitate its descent into the barrel with sufficient constriction to force its substance into the spiral grooves from which it receives its rotation. After various experiments, I have found that with the cartridge I am about to describe, a rifle may be loaded with, at least, the same precision and efficacy as by the present inconvenient practice, but, at the same time, with very nearly the ease and rapidity of a common musket.

I also exhibit a method by which common carbine or musket cartridges, (provided they are of the proper caliber,) may be expeditiously converted into rifle cartridges.

Fig. 1. Represents the common paper case, made on a mandrin, which has its end well hollowed out. Upon the paper being rolled, turned down and touched with glue, the concavity is perfected by pressure upon a bullet. Fig. 2. Is a bit of cotton tissue, of a thickness analogous to the more or less precise agreement of the calibers of the bullet and the barrel. It is a

Mandrin is the French name of the stick upon which cartridges are made.

square of two diameters of the bullet, and can be expeditiously made in great numbers, by tearing the calico into strips of the requisite breadth; when a dozen strips placed one upon the other, may be cut simultaneously into squares with a chisel.

Fig. 3. The bullet enveloped in the square of calico; secured at the corners by a couple of stitches, or a touch of glue.

Fig. 4. The concave end of the paper case being touched with glue, the enveloped bullet is placed upon it. I find that it is better to glue the cotton on to the paper-case previously to stitching in the bullet.

Fig. 5. The above being dry, and the powder introduced, I would recommend the folding up represented at A, instead of the ligature at present used; for even without a touch of glue at the edge B, this fold forms a very secure closing, and is easier than the ligature to tear off with the teeth, by a gentle turn of the hand, without any jerk or loss of powder.

The rifle cartridge, to be completed, passes to another hand, who with a brush, or in any other convenient way, gives to the cotton cover of the bullet the necessary greasing.

It is superfluous to point out, that the resistance of the air to the open ears formed by the folds of the cotton, detaches it from the bullet, on the instant of its expulsion from the barrel.

Fig. 6. Represents an ordinary carbine ball cartridge, converted into a rifle one, by a bit of calico being slightly pasted or glued around the bullet end, and afterwards greased as above. Care must be taken not to apply so much glue, or paste, as will cause it to penetrate through to the exterior surface of the calico, which is to receive the greasing. The latter method is only recommended as a “makeshift," being.very inferior to the other above described, the stiffness of the subjacent paper, preventing the bullet from entering the grooves of the barrel without an inconvenient application of force. This defect may, however, be partly obviated by tearing off the paper from around the bullet, with the exception of only one circumference, previously to applying the calico.

I have made many experiments and thought a good deal, by way of ascertaining the best caliber for answering the particular or general purposes to which the rifle may be applied. We all know that the resistance of the air is the chief obstacle which projected bodies have to encounter; it is so very great, that the range of projected spheres is more regulated by the degree of this resistance than by the velocity they receive from the powder; the increased velocity of the ball being met by a geometrically increased ratio of atmospheric resistance. The larger bullets, therefore, having less surface in proportion to their mass, are proportionately much less resisted; so that the flights of the larger exceed those of the lesser, in more than the proportion of their respective diameters. For instance, a 32lb. shot, whose diameter is about six inches, will, with even a less proportionate charge of powder, and at an equal elevation, range half as far again as a 9lb. whose diameter is four inches. The proportion which the surface of a sphere bears to its mass, increasing in a geometrical ratio to the decrease of its diameter, -the smaller the sphere, the greater is the proportionate resistance it meets with in its flight. At length we find that small particles of the heaviest metals, becoming, as it were, nearly all surface, will actually float in the atmosphere or remain suspended for a considerable time in the lightest fluids. Hence it is, that from the same piece, and with a similar charge of powder, we shall find that the range of an ounce of bird-shot will regularly extend with the increased size of the shot employed, until, in progression, we get to the ounce bullet itself, which fits the piece; and which, by the by, at an elevation, would not be impelled further if projected from a 24 lb.

cannon.

The theory of the air's regular resistance to the onward progress of the bullet, must also be applied to the irregular action of the wind across the line of its flight; which action also increases in the ratio of the decrease of

the weight of the bullet. At the distance of 315 yards, I have found a strong cross wind to cause a rifle bullet of nineteen to the pound, to diverge from three to four feet. On the other hand, I have used a rifle carrying a bullet of eight to the pound, which, with the same wind, did not, at the same distance, diverge more than about one foot. In constructing a butt for rifle practice, regard should therefore be had to the more usual direction of the wind ;* and as far as the locality will allow, the but should be placed so as to have the wind more frequently in the line of the range either way, than across it.

For general, and especially for military purposes, such large rifles as the last mentioned would, coupled with the ammunition, be found too heavy. The rifles commonly used in the United States, carry, I am told, a bullet of thirty-two to the pound. The adoption of so small a caliber, I take to have been occasioned by the use of the rifle being, in that country, originally and generally confined to the interior of thick forests, wherein it seldom happens that an object is to be fired at beyond the distance of one hundred yards; and where, moreover, the wind is much less felt than in the open country.

Under the above circumstances, the half-ounce rifles are quite adequate to their purpose; but, in a more open, and especially in a mountainous country, the caliber of rifles should be considerably larger. In a hilly country, you are often in actual presence of the enemy, and capable of greatly annoying him, at distances at which, on a plain, the view is interrupted and confined by the least considerable of surrounding objects. In a hilly country, occasions are perpetually offering, wherein long rifle ranges would cause considerable mischief to your opponents. Such long ranges can never be obtained, or depended on, with the half-ounce rifles of the Americans and Tyrolese.

If the foregoing observations are founded on facts, it is easy to decide what sort of rifle should be applied to a particular purpose. With respect to general purposes, I am inclined to fix on the caliber of one ounce, or sixteen bullets to the pound. The English Government rifles are of nineteen or twenty to the pound, to which caliber there is little objection; especially as it is the same as that of the cavalry carbines and pistols. However, I could advance several reasons-I do not call them very important ones-for preferring the French regulation, according to which, all the fire-arms of all the different corps, both of cavalry and infantry, are of one and the same caliber, of sixteen bullets to the pound.

With respect to the rifle at least, I would most strenuously recommend the substitution of percussion for flint locks, over which the advantages of the former are as great, as the latter are superior to the huge wheel and pyrites locks of two centuries ago. In comparison to the percussion gun, the very best flint one absolutely hangs fire, and one out of nine is usually a miss-fire. A cap is put on much quicker than a flint-lock is primed; there is no time lost in changing flints, and if Mr. Joyce's percussion powder be used, there is no foulness or corrosion whatever; lastly the rifles at present in use might be converted into copper-caps, at a trifling expense,† and new

* Inmost parts of England, north-east and south-west winds endure for about seven-eighths of the year.

+ I have invented a simple and efficacious method of rendering copper-caps perfectly water-proof. It consists in dipping the open rim, or base of the cap, into tallow and rosin, melted in a plate over a lamp. The melted composition must not be so deep as to spread into the cap up to the percussion powder at its extremity, but only so high as to form a slight lining of the tallow around its inner base. This will suffice to cause the cap to close hermetically over the nipple; so that, provided it be not cracked, and the gun have no lateral vent-hole, (which it ought not to have,) the loaded piece may be put over the lock into a pail of water, without affecting either the cap or the charge. For sporting purposes, it is sufficient to have a few such caps in store for wet weather. For military use, the whole of the caps might be so prepared at the laboratories.