282 
MINUTES OF PEOCEEDINGS OE 
than to any other single cause, the universal paralysis is to be ascribed. 
.It is, indeed, marvellous that science should ever have 
revived amid the fearful obstacles theologians cast in her way. Together 
with a system of biblical interpretation so stringent, and at the same time so 
capricious, that it infallibly came into collision with every discovery that was 
not in accordance with the unaided judgments of the senses, and therefore 
with the familiar expressions of the Jewish writers, everything was done to 
cultivate a habit of thought the direct opposite of the habits of science. The 
constant exaltation of blind faith, the countless miracles, the childish legends, 
all produced a condition of besotted ignorance, of grovelling and trembling 
credulity, that can scarcely be paralleled except among the most degraded 
barbarians.” 1 The chains of this tyranny were not lightly to be cast off, and 
it was only by the struggles of ages that men at last succeeded in raising the 
prostrate sciences out of the dust. Isolated and widely separated discoveries 
had previously been made, in spite of the Church; but it was not until the 
latter half of the 18th century that the sciences raised their heads erect, 
unshackled by the chains of bigotry and fanaticism. When the reaction did 
come, it came with the rush and roar of the hurricane; and Mr. Buckle con¬ 
siders that in Trance, alone, more new truths concerning the external world 
were discovered during this period than had previously been discovered 
in the whole course of the world's history. 2 
The application of gunpowder to blasting had abridged the labour of the 
miner to a considerable extent; but no great advances in mining were made 
until the application of the steam engine to this art, towards the end of the 
18th century. 3 The steam engine, too, aided by chemistry, which was 
advancing with long and rapid strides, assisted in hurrying on the progress of 
metallurgy; and chemistry and metallurgy rendered most important services 
to the artillery. 
II.—By a capricious turn of fortune's wheel, the ruler of Trance at this 
time was at once a professional artillery officer and the greatest general of his 
age— 4 
“ Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer; ” 5 
and his guns were commanded by the two ablest artillery officers the service 
has ever seen. Nothing but glory could fall to the share of an artillery led 
by Napoleon, Senarmont, and Drouot. They keenly appreciated the great 
mobility of the horse artillery, but they were equally alive to the superior 
efficacy of fire of the field batteries; and by a just tactical combination of 
these two branches of the service, they succeeded in accomplishing feats of 
arms unrivalled in the history of field artillery. 
1 Lecky’s “nationalism, &c»” Yol. I. p. 274. 
2 “Hist, of Civilisation/* Yol. III. p. 240. Leipsig Ed. 
3 Ure’s “Diet, of Arts, &c.” 
4 General Foy speaks with bitter irony of the exclusion of English artillery officers from their 
just share of army commands:—“ On a trop en horreur les avancemens hors de la regie, pour 
permettre qu’un Artilleur, ou un Ingenieur, qui se trouverait trop a l’etroit dans son arme s’elan^&t 
dans le service general de la ligne. Jamais de 1’ecole de Woolwich ne sortira un Bonaparte.”— 
“ Hist, de la Guerre de la Poninsule,” Tom. II. p. 297. 
3 Horace. 
