The New arm.
The most serious and alarming feature of this war is the want of arms.
There are now twenty thousand men in the
West in camps of instruction waiting for arms, with no prospect of obtaining them-in time to participate in the tremendous conflicts that will settle the fate of the
Southwest.
There are a quarter of a million of men yet to be brought into the field, and it is not in the power of the
Government to either make or procure a supply of firearms from abroad.
It is evident we must resort to some other weapon, and the history of revolutions suggests to us the weapon — the
Pike or
Lance.
The
Greeks won their independence with it on the plains of
Marathon.
It was a most terrible weapon in the hands of the Poles, the Scotch, and the Irish.
The
French have never discontinued its use. It has been remarked that
Americans improve on everything they use. Our own iron-clad ships are a proof of the truth of this remark.
We have been shown an improvement upon the
Lance, which we think is another proof.
The
Graves Lance, named after its inventor,
Dr. J. R. Graves, of
Tennessee, seems to us to be as superior to the ordinary iron-pointed pole called a lance, as the
Virginia is to an ordinary wooden boat.
It is far superior to anything of the kind we have ever seen.
It is not only a terrible, but a terror-inspiring weapon, easily handled, and can be used with a shot-gun or
Colt's rifle.
A regiment armed with it would, indeed, be ‘"terrible as an army with banners."’
Dr. Graves comes to the city to offer to the
President a legion of Western men armed with his pike, and we are confident he will gladly accept of it. Ten thousand men armed with this weapon would redeem
Tennessee.
Let them be tried.
