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MINUTES OF PKOCEEDINGS OF 
<< In this solitary instance* the effects of the mitrailleurs were con¬ 
fessedly superior to any which could have been inflicted by common 
shell” 
To go through all the evidence taken by Colonel Wray’s Committee 
of 1870-1 of officers who actually saw mitrailleurs used in the field 
would encroach too much on our space. It is thus summed up by 
Colonel Fletcher (one of the Committee) 
1. The French officers, and those who witnessed the campaign 
from the French side, were generally in favour of the employment of 
mitrailleurs in the field. 
2. The Prussian staff disapproved of their introduction into the 
service, f 
3. English officers who were present with the German army, with 
one exception, considered that for certain purposes they might prove 
useful adjuncts to field artillery. 
Colonel Wray’s Committee carried on exhaustive trials between 
the 9-pr. R.M.L. gun, firing shrapnel, a small (0'45-in. bore) Gatling 
gun, and six Guardsmen, armed with the Martini-Henry. In a series of 
eleven trials, where the firing took place at ranges from 300 to 
1200 yds., and under various conditions as to time and distance, the 
Gatling made 2699 hits, the 9-pr. gun 1620, and the Martini-Henry 
718. J {Vide Appendix for tables of practice). 
This, of course, merely proved that under certain circumstances the 
fire of a mitrailleur would be very deadly beyond the range of case 
shot; but it must also be borne in mind that with known short ranges 
this fire is certain, while shell fire is always more or less uncertain. 
With these facts and this evidence before them, the Committee, in 
their final report, laid down distinctly “ that, the mitrailleurs should be 
treated purely as defensive weapons, and that they should in general be 
entrenched, and kept as far as possible masked from artillery fire; that 
the so-called small Gatling of 0'45-in. calibre—of which the destructive 
effect against troops in the open, at ranges up to 1400 yds., is estimated 
as being nearly three times that of the 9-pr. field gun—should be 
lightened, so as to be easily drawn, with its carriage and ammunition, 
by two horses, and on an emergency by one.” Also “that the field 
artillery should not be reduced by a single man or horse for the sake of 
substituting mitrailleurs.” 
To assist in defending such positions as villages, field entrenchments, 
&c., the Committee considered that the small Gatling would be found 
invaluable. 
In these opinions we find by their report that the Swedo-1STorwegian 
Commission agree. They say :—“ The Committee believe that this arm 
is chiefly of a defensive nature, which nevertheless does not diminish its 
* This officer was on the German side of the theatre of operations. 
f We must remember that the Prussians had no opportunity for testing their merits for de¬ 
fensive purposes, wherein their value seems principally to lie, 
X This was on level and fairly hard ground, 
