PLAN OF A NEW CORPS. S09 



provided he can draw good and true sight, 

 (they mean, by this expression, when they 

 can distinctly see the object aimed at in a 

 direct hne with the two sights on the rifle,) 

 can hit the head of a man at 200 yards. I 



canvas six feet high by fifteen feet hug; and tliis will 

 prove that a ball may be thrown, at that distance, into 

 a column oF troops, on their line of march. It is not 

 the make, construction, or workmanship of the rifie- 

 guns of the 9-5th regiment which I condemn ; it is the 

 want of weight in the barrel, and the size of the ball, 

 being too large in proportion to the weight of the bar- 

 rel, I materially object to. I trust I have given ample 

 reason to convince ever}^ experienced rifleman that my 

 observations are founded, not on theory, but absolute 

 practice ; for what is the use of a rifle which will not 

 do execution to a certainty^on a body of men marching 

 in column at a very great distance ? 



I once saw about twenty country-men (not more) on 

 one side of a small river, unfordable, so pelt a regi- 

 ment with their rifles, that it was forced to break out 

 of its line of march on a road, and march on its left at 

 a much greater distance from the river. 



Speaking of my rifle-gun, I do not presume to say 

 that there is any thing wonderful and very superior in 

 its construction, for I assure the reader that there are 

 several gunmakers in London, who can make one full 

 as executive as mine, provided they will only make the 

 barrel as heavu and the h^^} of the same sii:e. 



