262 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
No one disputed tliis statement, and the conclusion seems to have 
been taken for granted. 
As before mentioned, it is, I think, to be regretted that no one spoke 
on the other side; but however desirable it may be that professional 
questions should be dispassionately discussed,* * * § it would scarcely be 
expedient that members of a responsible Committee should, during the 
labours of that Committee, defend their proceedings in the theatre of 
the Eoyal Artillery Institution. Yet they are, probably, the only people 
who are sufficiently conversant with the facts of the case under discus¬ 
sion to be able to refute an attack, or reply to adverse argument. So 
far from the 3‘3-in. bore being the best, it might easily have been shown 
in a few words that the Committee could not, consistently with their duty, 
have adopted that calibre. 
Let us, however, trace the history of this trial between the 3*6-in. and 
3‘3-in. guns. 
On the 10th September, 1870, the Director of Artillery pointed out 
to the President of the above Committee that it was very desirable that 
no time should be lost in carrying out experiments, and making a 
preliminary report whether the 9-pr. bronze smooth-bore guns would 
convert into serviceable rifled guns, and, if not, whether bronze is well 
adapted for guns of large calibre for field service, f 
On the 14th September, 1870, a design for an 18-pr. wrought-iron 
M.L. gun of ll^cwt. and 3*7-in. bore, was completed in the Royal 
Grun Factories; and on the 16th, the Director of Artillery proposed 
that as the introduction of a muzzle-loading rifled field gun of large 
calibre is a question of so much importance, a gun should be made of 
wrought-iron, to throw a shell of about 18 or 201b., and experiments 
carried on with it in comparison with bronze. { 
On the 20th September, the Director of Artillery asked whether the 
Special Committee had any suggestions or remarks to offer before the 
gun was ordered. § 
On the 21st September, the President stated that the Committee were of 
opinion that it is not desirable to convert existing 9-pr. bronze smooth¬ 
bore guns into rifled guns, and had agreed that the following particu¬ 
lars should be adopted for the two proposed guns. 
Weight, between 11^ and 12J cwt.; calibre, between 3*5 ins. and 
3*7 ins., “ whichever might be found best suited to a shrapnel weighing 
from 16 to 17 lbs., and common shell about 3 calibres.'” || 
In their report, the Committee, after recapitulating the experiments 
and arguments which led to the abandonment of all attempts to utilise 
the existing stock of 9-pr. bronze S.B. guns, remark :— 
“It was resolved, then, to experiment with two guns—one to be con¬ 
structed of wrought-iron with steel tube, of the same general character 
* “ The benefit of such papers was not confined to those who had the advantage of hearing 
them. Their chief value was in disseminating correct information through the service in 
print.”—“Proceedings R.A. Institution,” Vol. VII. p. 292. 
f “Extracts.” 1871. Vol. VIII. pp. 341-2. 
i Ibid. 
§ Ibid. 
|| Ibid* The words within the inverted commas are taken from the original minute. 
