448 
ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
however, an even more marked superiority of which the arm is possessed, 
which is to be found in the power it commands of bringing a highly 
concentrated destructive effect to bear on a given point. Of course, 
in one sense it is to its long range that this capability of bringing its 
force to a focus is to be attributed. Especially in these modern days 
when lines of battle are extended, and the increased deadliness of im¬ 
proved weapons keeps opponents, in the earlier stages of the battle at 
any rate, widely separated, guns drawn up along the front of a 
position can often bring their fire to bear on any given point of their 
enemy’s array, without any change of station, and consequent diminution 
of fire on their part. Here, then, we find one evident form of the power 
of concentration referred to springing directly from the range of the 
guns, and increasing, within the limits of human vision, as it is enhanced. 
This, however, is not the special power of concentration which we would 
now draw attention to. Even at short ranges guns have the power of 
delivering a blow in which the force and energy of many shots from 
the other arms are stored up and combined, and even a single piece 
possesses this latter characteristic. The fire which sweeps the front of 
a battery, or of any one of its component parts, is absolutely annihilating, 
and modern science has now rendered it so, even at comparatively long 
ranges. Its scope and force compared to that of musketry may now 
indeed be regarded as is the furious blast of a blow-pipe in relation to 
the flicker of a naked flame. Artillery fire was ever distinguished by 
this characteristic, but in our day it is and will be so even to a greater 
extent than before, because of the improvements, both present and 
prospective, in the shrapnel shell. 
The storm of bullets can now shower down at 8000 yards, as formerly 
it fell at less than 300, and the stored force of the blow can be directed 
and released at the proper moment at such a distance as allows of 
deliberate aim and cool calculation. Formerly, when grape and can- 
nister were the projectiles guns chiefly relied on for their effect, short 
ranges were necessary to enable them to fully develop their destructive 
powers, and at such ranges, as we shall hope to show, the fire of artillery 
produced a peculiarly paralyzing or shattering effect on troops subjected 
to it. The numbing character of its weighty blow has well earned 
for it the title of “the hammer” in the armoury of weapons which the 
commander has at his disposal, and it was by means of it that those who 
have best understood how to adapt means to an end have ever levelled 
a road to victory through the ranks of their foes. Ever since Artillery 
has been understood at all, the history of war teaches us that its value has 
been best appreciated by those to whom the verdict of time has granted 
the highest reputation as leaders of men, and, moreover, we find that 
the general principles of those who have best turned guns to account 
has in all ages been much the same. In other words, when guns have 
been handled fearlessly, and in an united effort their performances have 
been at their best, and this has been the case, as we shall draw attention 
to in a remarkable instance later on, even when fortune rather than 
foresight has placed them in position. 
Bearing these considerations in mind, and remembering, too, that 
the relative destructiveness of artillery fire has increased rather than 
diminished of late, it is more usefully than in the interest of mere anti- 
