478 
SYNOPTICAL CHARTS. 
muzzle energy of a 6-inch howitzer of the present day. 
This comparison of muzzle-energies, although it shows a great in¬ 
crease of power, is hardly fair on the modern piece, which depends 
less on striking energy than on shell-power. The expression “ batter¬ 
ing-train,” which was a common term in Peninsular times, gave way— 
after Paixhan’s utilization of shell-fire from guns in 1826—to the mod¬ 
ern term “ siege-train.” Even putting this on one side however, the 
increased power of the modern piece in mere battering capacity is 
sufficiently striking. 
The last column shows how the modern piece has “ outrun the 
danger ” by “ fetching afar off ” to a distance of 4,000 yards as com¬ 
pared with an effective range of 400 yards in the time of Henry VIII. 
The data on which these effective breaching ranges were fixed for 
the different periods were perhaps the most difficult to obtain of all 
the data shown upon the chart. 
It was to a great extent a matter of chance if one hit upon any his¬ 
torical fact bearing upon the question* It will be as well therefore to 
cite authorities for the ranges given. 
At the siege of Sebastopol the first parallel, which contained a great 
battery of 24-prs. was opened at a distance of from 1300 to 1400 yards 
from the Redan. There were strong reasons for keeping this parallel 
as far as possible from the Russian works. These reasons arose from 
the contour of the ground over which the attack on the south front of 
Sebastopol had to pass. 
The ground sloped continuously downwards from the English posi¬ 
tion to within a distance of about half a mile from the Russian works; 
the ground then rose to the position on which the Russian earthworks 
were constructed. 
Another strongly marked topographical feature were the three steep¬ 
sided ravines, running roughly north and south which flanked our 
position on the right and left, and cut it in two in the centre. 
The general slope of the ground to the front made it advisable to 
keep the first parallel as far as possible from the enemy’s works, as 
the further to the front the parallel was advanced the more could it 
have been seen into from the Russian position. The existence of the 
ravine on our right flank gave opportunities to the Russians for 
occupying ground on the far side of it, on our extreme right, from 
which position our parallel could have been enfiladed if pushed too far 
forward. Every reason therefore existed for keeping the first parallel 
with its great batteries of 41 and 27 guns respectively in the left and 
right attacks, as far back as possible. The distance actually was from 
1300 to 1400 yards, which fact is the authority on which I rely for the 
statement shown graphically on the chart that 1500 yards was the 
limit of the effective breaching range of 24-pr. smooth-bore guns in 
i 8 55 - 
The Crimean War was the last great war of the smooth-bore period. 
The invention of rifling and improvements in manufacture have since 
that time more than doubled the effective breaching range of siege 
guns, the range shown at the top of the chart being 4000. yards 
Working back from Crimean times to the early part of the century we 
