I 
THE RIFLE OF A PAST HALF CENTURY 
9 
entrusted to their care. Although a rapidity of fire 
if well directed must have a terrible result, there can 
be no question that it engenders a wild excitement, 
and that a vast amount of ammunition is uselessly 
expended, which, if reserved by slower but steady 
shooting, would be far more deadly. 
Although the difficulty is great in preventing 
troops from independent firing when their blood is 
up in the heat of combat, the paramount duty of an 
officer should be to control all wildness, and to insist 
upon volleys in sections of companies by word of 
command, the sights of the rifles being carefully 
adjusted, and a steady aim being taken at the knees 
of the enemy. 
There cannot be a better example than the advice 
upon this subject given by the renowned General 
Wolfe (who was subsequently killed at the siege of 
Quebec) to the 20th Regiment, of which he was 
Colonel, when England was hourly expecting an 
invasion by the French:— . . . “There is no 
necessity for firing very fast; ... a cool well- 
levelled fire with the pieces carefully loaded is 
much more destructive than the quickest fire in 
confusion.”—At Canterbury, 17th December 1755. 
This instruction should be sternly impressed upon 
the minds of all soldiers, as it is the text upon which 
all admonitory addresses should be founded. It 
must not be forgotten that General Wolfe’s advice 
was given to men armed with the old muzzle-loading 
Brown Bess (musket), which at that time was 
provided with a lock of flint and steel. Notwith- 
