"
This was written in 1748, at which time the rifle was used only by
the hunters of the Alps and the hunters of the American backwoods;
the latter having doubtless derived it from the former through German
immigration. Bull's conservatism, however, was in the way. The lessons
of Fort Duquesne, of Saratoga and of New Orleans were successively
wasted on him. He did arm one regiment, the Ninety-fifth, with this
weapon toward the close of the last century, but for a long time it
stood alone in the royal service. Austria had previously maintained
some corps of Tyrolese Jaegers. The French fought through all the wars
of their Revolution without having recourse to the rifle, save in the
campaign of 1793. It is singular that the keen eye of Napoleon failed
to detect its value, especially when we note the use he made of light
troops. The fate of Nelson justifies the idea that a large body of
good riflemen might have changed the issue of Trafalgar.
Curiously enough, the French, who were the last to realize the merits
of the rifle, were the first to institute those improvements which
caused, within the present generation, its universal substitution
for the musket. The Gallic pioneer was Delvigne, but his first
improvements proved, as Pat might say, no improvement at all. The
inconvenience of slow loading was the most obvious. Delvigne's remedy
was to give the ball increased windage; in other words, to diminish
its diameter comparatively with that of the bore.
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