102 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
“ During the time the f Galatea , was in commission, target practice was 
carried on satisfactorily with the Armstrong guns, and at Cape tlaytien, 
where they were first tried in earnest, they answered extremely well. 
“ The forts being some little distance inland, and the range varying from 
2000 to 2500 yards, they made very accurate practice, and proved themselves 
to be very superior guns. On this occasion about eighty rounds were fired 
from each pivot 7-in. breech-loading gun, and twenty rounds from each of 
the two broadside 7-in. breech-loading guns. 
“The guns kept cool the whole time, and not the slightest accident 
occurred. 
“ The same vent-piece was used at each gun the whole day. 
“ The fuzes did not answer so well, the E fuze not bursting the shell 
beyond 1900 yards and very often acting prematurely, so that in the latter 
case, did the ship wish to land men under cover of shell firing, the formid¬ 
able Armstrong shell could not be used; and in the former case, pillar fuzes 
had to be used and acted well at long ranges, though many of these also 
burst the shells prematurely. 
“The 20-pr. is too large for a field gun. It is too heavy and too violent 
in recoil for boat service, and the ammunition is too complicatedd 
“The 12-pr. answers extremely well as a field gun/”* 
Erom the foregoing testimony, which is no one-sided selection, it will be 
admitted, that although the Armstrong guns did not play their part so 
perfectly well in the heat of action as at their quiet rehearsals at Shoebury- 
iiess, their performance on the whole was excellent and fully justified their 
adoption by the government. 
Rome was not built in a day, nor was it to be expected that any system 
Of rifled artillery could, like the mythic Minerva, be brought complete and 
perfect into existence by one blow of a blacksmith's hammer. 
The foreign nations most advanced in the arts of war, have not succeeded 
better than ourselves. 
“Every power in Europe which took an initiative in adopting rifled field 
artillery, has had to purchase its experience in a similar manner. 
“ The present Erench gun is not the ghn of the Italian campaign, and 
tiieir changes of ammunition have been very numerous. 
“ The Austrians adopted the system La Hitte in 1859, changed it fbr 
Lenk's system in 1860, and changed again in 1862. The Prussians adopted 
Wahrendorfs system in 1860, and changed it for Wesener's in 1863, and 
have since adopted Kramer's. 
French and Prussian guns on active service. 
In fact the Erench guns used at Solferino and Magenta, though far superior 
to smooth-bore guns, were far from perfect, according to our present ideas 
of rifled guns. 
In the Spanish expedition to Tetuan, (Eeb. 1860), there were seventy 
Erench rifled field guns, and Capt. A. W. Duncan, R.A., who was an eye- 
* O.S. Committee Extracts^ Vol. IV. p. 230. 
f Ibid. p. 205i 
