nshop of M. Pauli at Paris in the
year 1814, he might have seen a gunsmith, twenty-seven years of age,
plying his trade under the patronage of Napoleon the Great. That
gunsmith was Johann Nicholas Von. Dreyse, of Soemmerda, who presently
became an inventor as well as a smith, and in 1824, having returned to
his own country, he took a patent for a new percussion method in
musketry. Three years afterward he invented a needle-gun, retaining
the muzzle-loading method. He continued his experimentation until
1836, when he made and patented the first breech-loading needle-gun
complete. This was done under the patronage of the Prussian
government. It was not until 1841, however, that this arm began to be
supplied for Prussian troops, and it was twenty-five years after that
date before the general adoption of this arm contributed to the rout
of the Austrians at Sadowa.

The Prussians being armed with needle-guns, were enabled to get the
double advantage of rapid firing by loading in a chamber at the
breech of the piece, and the equally great advantage of a long range
and most deadly missile; for in the cartridge of this gun the needle
runs through the charge, firing it first at the front of the chamber,
thus securing the whole force of the explosive, which burns backward
in the enclosed space and expends itself entirely on the projectile.
Those breech-loading pieces which fire the cartridge by percussion
against its back end have the disadvantage of the charge burning
forward, and thus wasting itself partly in the air after the bullet
has left the muzzle. This difficulty, however, has been overcome in
recent gunnery, and the needle-gun such as it was in the hands of King
William's soldiers at Sadowa, must now be regarded as a clumsy and
obsolete weapon.

The battle of Sadowa was to Francis Joseph the handwriting on the
wall; but he made vain exertions to save his tottering fabric. Now it
was that the shadow of a great hand was seen behind the conflict. It
was the hand of Bismarck. His scheme was the unification of Germany.
The NORTH GERMAN UNION was formed on the basis of Protestantism and
the unity of the German race. Already the Empire might be seen in the
distance.

CAPTURE OF MEXICO.

Whatever may be said of the justice of our war with Mexico, no
criticism can be offered as to the brilliancy of the result. The
campaign of General Scott against the ancient capital of the Aztecs,
was almost spectacular; certainly it wa