9. When now-a-days an Englishman lands in the United States, or in any British Colony, he hears men speaking his own tongue. The people of other nations rarely enjoy this privilege. The German emigrant, for example, seldom desires to settle in a German Colony. He usually makes his new home in the United States or in some British Colony, and there he finds himself in the midst of an English-speaking people, and forced to learn their language in order to get on. An Englishman it is said, is always ready to grumble, but no nation has less cause than our own to be discontented with its lot.
10. Lastly, printing had a great effect in giving a lift to men of the humbler classes. Thousands of people who never before had a chance of learning were now able to buy and read books, and gain valuable knowledge. Of course, in our own day, books are so cheap, and free libraries so common, that all who have the will can read and learn. But even in Tudor times—in the century that followed the introduction of printing into England—the wider spread of knowledge, due to the new invention, made people more equal than before, and gave a clever boy in humble life a better chance of turning his talents to good account, both for himself and his fatherland.
1. Gunpowder had been invented long before printing, but it was much longer in making its influence felt. Cannon had been used as early as the battle of Crecy, 1346, but they were of little use, being rudely constructed of wood, hooped with iron, and almost as dangerous to the gunners who fired them as to the enemy they were intended to kill. In time, however much better cannon were turned out, and before the end of the War of the Roses great guns were used with much success both on board ship and in the siege of castles and walled-towns.
2. Hand-guns came into use somewhat later than cannon, but in the times of the Tudors they gradually superseded the bow and arrow. Henry VIII. was much opposed to the change, for the English archer excelled all others in his art. Excellence is never a mere accident. It was due, in this case, to a long and careful training begun in boyhood and enforced by law. Fathers and masters of apprentices were obliged to teach the lads under their care the use of the bow, to provide them with weapons suited to their strength, and to compel them to practise at stated times. Our forefathers have set us an excellent example. If Old England is to ward off all danger from her shores, and to hold her proud place among the nations, she must see that her lads are in like manner provided with rifles suited to their strength, and encouraged to practise regularly at the target. Lads' Brigades and Cadet Corps must become the order of the day.
3. The use of gunpowder made sweeping changes in the art of warfare, just as smokeless powder and quick-firing rifles and guns are doing to-day. Both the archer and the mailed knight disappeared. The old castles became quite useless as fortresses, and the barons in consequence lost much of their old power. In the reign of Henry VII. we find them, for the first time, quite unable to stand up against the king, who took care to keep in his own possession the only great guns in the kingdom, much in the same way as in India, at the present day, we are careful to keep the artillery wholly in the hands of British soldiers.
4. Gunpowder is a great leveller. It puts the weak and strong, the short and tall more nearly on a level. It is the men, small or large, who can shoot straight that are likely to win the battle. As soon as fire-arms displaced the bow and arrow, success in battle no longer turned mainly upon the valour of the gentlemen in armour, but upon the right handling and steady discipline of the rank and file. A volley of shots from a line of common soldiers could scatter death and disorder among the ranks of the bravest knights in armour. The gentlemen-at-arms soon found that their armour was only an encumbrance, and that its proper place was on the walls of their grand old halls, or, for people to look at, in some public gallery, like that in the Tower of London. The sword and the lance still hold their ground, but there are many signs that the rifle will soon supplant them in actual warfare.
5. In the last chapter we have spoken of the beneficial effects of the invention of printing. Can we speak in the same way of gunpowder? It may seem strange to talk about gunpowder as if anything good could result from its use, but it would be a mistake to think that the work it has done in the world has been wholly bad, for there are times when force is the only argument that can convince, when force is the only way of putting down evil. In reality it has played a large part in the making of our empire, and, therefore, in establishing the reign of justice and order.
6. It was by means of fire-arms that our forefathers were able to gain a secure footing in the countries of uncivilized races, to make new homes among them, and to establish law and order in their midst. It was by the superior weapons of the white man—a superiority due mainly to the use of gunpowder—that he was able to prevail over the Red Indians of America, the Negroes and Kaffirs of Africa, and the Cannibals of New Zealand. To the simple savage there is something magical in the effect of fire-arms. He sees a distant object struck down, and perhaps killed, but his eye cannot follow the flight of the bullet that has dealt the blow. He sees the flash, he trembles at the thunder, and in a moment the messenger of death unseen has sped.
7. Of course the natives in time learn that there is no magic in all this, but a knowledge of the reality brings them no comfort. They are obliged to admit that their own weapons, such as rude spears or feeble bows and arrows, are no match for the arms of thunder and lightning in the hands of the white man. And so they sullenly submit to their fate, and leave the white strangers to settle in their country.