The Needle Gun. 5 
superiority of the invention over others which had been laid 
before him, declared it seemed to him hable to the objection of 
being too delicate for field use, and abrupty sounded the little 
gong which stands upon his bureau, and slightly rising when the 
usher entered at the summons, dismissed the visitor to admit 
other importunates. It was then that, with the undaunted perse- 
verance of inventors in general, he betook himself, armed with 
his needle-gun, to Holland, whose Sovereign had always mani- 
fested great interest in the advancement of gunnery, and who 
had first become the purchaser of a steel caulker to repair instan- 
taneously the damage caused by the enemy’s shot in ships’ sides, 
which, being the invention of a poor carpenter’s journeyman, had 
nevertheless found its way into the Royal presence, and been 
accepted without the smallest attempt at bargaining. But, when 
arrived at the Hague, he found that his resources had dwindled 
away to such an extent that he was compelled to delay his pre- 
sentation to the King for want of proper costume to appear in. 
Meanwhile, he became accidentally acquainted with one of the 
gentlemen attached to the Prussian Legation at the Hague, and 
to whom he recounted his bitter grievances. This time he was 
listened to with interest. The brother in-law of his new friend 
held some appointment at the Court of Berlin. War and revolu- 
tion were already floating through the air. He saw at once all 
the advantage which might accrue from being the first to present 
a new and valuable instrument of destruction to Bismarck, so 
determined to destroy, and he lost no time in repairing with the 
Englishman to Berlin. Here the way was open—the hour had 
_ come, the needle-gun was tried, examined, and accepted in the 
‘shortest possible space of time, the inventor handsomely rewarded, 
and encouraged to establish himself in Prussia. We have seen 
the result in this terrible encounter with the Austrians. The odds 
in favour of the needle-gun are easy enough to calculate. The: 
Prussians can fire three rounds a minute ; if four minutes’ march 
be the usual time allotted for a bayonet charge, the Austrian foot 
soldier must have stood four-and-twenty shots before he could 
have a chance of meeting the enemy hand to hand ; and, should 
he give way to take his full spring forward, he must of necessity 
have been struck down. With such certainty of destruction as 
that provided by the needle-gun, all question of right and justice 
becomes unnecessary.” 
Having spoken of its awkwardness, and to some extent, 
considered the objections that have been urged against it, 
we have much pleasure in appending in its favour the 
opinion of Mr. Ernest Seyd, who thus writes :— 
“A great misunderstanding appears to exist in reference 
to the Prussian needle-gun, arising no doubt from the fact 
that specimens of the real gun are scarce in this country. 
