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1THE GUN CLUB During the War of the Rebellion, a new and influential club was established in the city of Baltimore in the
2State of Maryland. It is well known with what energy the taste for military matters became developed among that nation
3of ship-owners, shopkeepers, and mechanics. Simple tradesmen jumped their counters to become extemporized captains,
4colonels, and generals, without having ever passed the School of Instruction at West Point; nevertheless; they quickly
5rivaled their compeers of the old continent, and, like them, carried off victories by dint of lavish expenditure in
6ammunition, money, and men. But the point in which the Americans singularly distanced the Europeans was in the science
7of gunnery. Not, indeed, that their weapons retained a higher degree of perfection than theirs, but that they exhibited
8unheard-of dimensions, and consequently attained hitherto unheard-of ranges. In point of grazing, plunging, oblique, or
9enfilading, or point-blank firing, the English, French, and Prussians have nothing to learn; but their cannon,
10howitzers, and mortars are mere pocket-pistols compared with the formidable engines of the American artillery. This fact
11need surprise no one. The Yankees, the first mechanicians in the world, are engineers--just as the Italians are
12musicians and the Germans metaphysicians--by right of birth. Nothing is more natural, therefore, than to perceive them
13applying their audacious ingenuity to the science of gunnery. Witness the marvels of Parrott, Dahlgren, and Rodman. The
14Armstrong, Palliser, and Beaulieu guns were compelled to bow before their transatlantic rivals. Now when an American has
15an idea, he directly seeks a second American to share it. If there be three, they elect a president and two secretaries.
16Given four, they name a keeper of records, and the office is ready for work; five, they convene a general meeting, and
17the club is fully constituted. So things were managed in Baltimore. The inventor of a new cannon associated himself with
18the caster and the borer. Thus was formed the nucleus of the "Gun Club." In a single month after its formation it
19numbered 1,833 effective members and 30,565 corresponding members. One condition was imposed as a sine quâ non upon
20every candidate for admission into the association, and that was the condition of having designed, or (more or less)
21perfected a cannon; or, in default of a cannon, at least a firearm of some description. It may, however, be mentioned
22that mere inventors of revolvers, fire-shooting carbines, and similar small arms, met with little consideration.
23Artillerists always commanded the chief place of favor. The estimation in which these gentlemen were held, according to
24one of the most scientific exponents of the Gun Club, was "proportional to the masses of their guns, and in the direct
25ratio of the square of the distances attained by their projectiles." The Gun Club once founded, it is easy to conceive
26the result of the inventive genius of the Americans. Their military weapons attained colossal proportions, and their
27projectiles, exceeding the prescribed limits, unfortunately occasionally cut in two some unoffending pedestrians. These
28inventions, in fact, left far in the rear the timid instruments of European artillery. It is but fair to add that these
29Yankees, brave as they have ever proved themselves to be, did not confine themselves to theories and formulae, but that
30they paid heavily, in propriâ personâ, for their inventions. Among them were to be counted officers of all ranks, from
31lieutenants to generals; military men of every age, from those who were just making their début in the profession of
32arms up to those who had grown old in the gun-carriage. Many had found their rest on the field of battle whose names
33figured in the "Book of Honor" of the Gun Club; and of those who made good their return the greater proportion bore the
34marks of their indisputable valor. Crutches, wooden legs, artificial arms, steel hooks, caoutchouc jaws, silver
35craniums, platinum noses, were all to be found in the collection; and it was calculated by the great statistician
36Pitcairn that throughout the Gun Club there was not quite one arm between four persons and two legs between six.
37Nevertheless, these valiant artillerists took no particular account of these little facts, and felt justly proud when
38the despatches of a battle returned the number of victims at ten-fold the quantity of projectiles expended. One day,
39however--sad and melancholy day!--peace was signed between the survivors of the war; the thunder of the guns gradually
40ceased, the mortars were silent, the howitzers were muzzled for an indefinite period, the cannon, with muzzles
41depressed, were returned into the arsenal, the shot were repiled, all bloody reminiscences were effaced; the
42cotton-plants grew luxuriantly in the well-manured fields, all mourning garments were laid aside, together with grief;
43and the Gun Club was relegated to profound inactivity. Some few of the more advanced and inveterate theorists set
44themselves again to work upon calculations regarding the laws of projectiles. They reverted invariably to gigantic
45shells and howitzers of unparalleled caliber. Still in default of practical experience what was the value of mere
46theories? Consequently, the clubrooms became deserted, the servants dozed in the antechambers, the newspapers grew
47mouldy on the tables, sounds of snoring came from dark corners, and the members of the Gun Club, erstwhile so noisy in
48their seances, were reduced to silence by this disastrous peace and gave themselves up wholly to dreams of a Platonic
49kind of artillery. "This is horrible!" said Tom Hunter one evening, while rapidly carbonizing his wooden legs in the
50fireplace of the smoking-room; "nothing to do! nothing to look forward to! what a loathsome existence! When again shall
51the guns arouse us in the morning with their delightful reports?" "Those days are gone by," said jolly Bilsby, trying to
52extend his missing arms. "It was delightful once upon a time! One invented a gun, and hardly was it cast, when one
53hastened to try it in the face of the enemy! Then one returned to camp with a word of encouragement from Sherman or a
54friendly shake of the hand from McClellan. But now the generals are gone back to their counters; and in place of
55projectiles, they despatch bales of cotton. By Jove, the future of gunnery in America is lost!" "Ay! and no war in
56prospect!" continued the famous James T. Maston, scratching with his steel hook his gutta-percha cranium. "Not a cloud
57on the horizon! and that too at such a critical period in the progress of the science of artillery! Yes, gentlemen! I
58who address you have myself this very morning perfected a model (plan, section, elevation, etc.) of a mortar destined to
59change all the conditions of warfare!" "No! is it possible?" replied Tom Hunter, his thoughts reverting involuntarily to
60a former invention of the Hon. J. T. Maston, by which, at its first trial, he had succeeded in killing three hundred and
61thirty-seven people. "Fact!" replied he. "Still, what is the use of so many studies worked out, so many difficulties
62vanquished? It's mere waste of time! The New World seems to have made up its mind to live in peace; and our bellicose
63Tribune predicts some approaching catastrophes arising out of this scandalous increase of population." "Nevertheless,"
64replied Colonel Blomsberry, "they are always struggling in Europe to maintain the principle of nationalities." "Well?"
65"Well, there might be some field for enterprise down there; and if they would accept our services--" "What are you
66dreaming of?" screamed Bilsby; "work at gunnery for the benefit of foreigners?" "That would be better than doing nothing
67here," returned the colonel. "Quite so," said J. T. Matson; "but still we need not dream of that expedient." "And why
68not?" demanded the colonel. "Because their ideas of progress in the Old World are contrary to our American habits of
69thought. Those fellows believe that one can't become a general without having served first as an ensign; which is as
70much as to say that one can't point a gun without having first cast it oneself!" "Ridiculous!" replied Tom Hunter,
71whittling with his bowie-knife the arms of his easy chair; "but if that be the case there, all that is left for us is to
72plant tobacco and distill whale-oil." "What!" roared J. T. Maston, "shall we not employ these remaining years of our
73life in perfecting firearms? Shall there never be a fresh opportunity of trying the ranges of projectiles? Shall the air
74never again be lighted with the glare of our guns? No international difficulty ever arise to enable us to declare war
75against some transatlantic power? Shall not the French sink one of our steamers, or the English, in defiance of the
76rights of nations, hang a few of our countrymen?" "No such luck," replied Colonel Blomsberry; "nothing of the kind is
77likely to happen; and even if it did, we should not profit by it. American susceptibility is fast declining, and we are
78all going to the dogs."
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