II. AT no other time has there been so much want of unanimity among the Great Powers of Europe on the subject of Ordnance. There are to be found at the present moment cannon of a dozen different descriptions in the gun parks of European nations, differing from each other not only in respect to their construction, but in the metal of which they are made. So far as small arms are concerned, we know there is but one opinion; some nations prefer one breech-loader to another, but all agree in the employment of breech-loaders. In the case of cannon, however, it is different. Germany relies upon breech-loading ordnance, while Great Britain has forsaken the system and gone back to muzzle-loaders; Austria makes her guns of bronze, Germany of steel, Russia favours steel and brass, America cast iron, while England has cannon of steel encompassed with iron, and France weapons of iron girt with steel.