Our French competitors have paid much more attention to the artistic decoration of their guns than to their usefulness; and the universal result of this sort of proceeding, ever since the invention of gunnery, has been a total neglect of their power of extreme projection. The metal, like other portions of their work is, in all cases, manipulated with a view to beauty only; as the fact of their veneering, or plating, their barrels proves. If at all masters of the science, they must be aware that this weakens the shooting of the barrels, and is an injurious practice. But the greater fact remains, that they continue to fix all their barrels together, by brasing them with brass from end to end, as they do in Belgium; thus lessening the strength of the barrels in point of safety, and nearly destroying any smart shooting power they might have possessed. The French appear to me to have only reached that stage of progress which we attained forty years ago, when every intelligent mechanic was seeking after that “useless thing,” even when attained, “a perfect safety gun;” which, from its complex character, might have been designated “the dangerous gun;” indeed, experience taught (though not without great cost) that few would use it when attained, and the consequence was that it fell into disuse. Our Continental neighbours, however, are mining it with great energy. A little more of our experience, and they, also, will see the folly of the attempt. All the facts go clearly to establish the truth of the assertion, that for all useful purposes they are half a century behind us in the essential part of gun manufacturing. The anxiety shown by all leading Continental sportsmen to obtain a first-class English gun, and more especially of laminated steel, is very strong evidence in support of this assertion. All the guns I exhibited in Paris in 1855 were eagerly bought up at high figures; and I have since executed many orders for France, Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, and Russia, as well as for other northern states. The display of artistically constructed guns by the French makers in their Great Exposition of 1855, was very great, and by certain classes of sportsmen would be considered superb. My notes, made at the time of inspection, will show better than a description can do, in what state of transition their manufacture is, and how they vacillate between their old and our present style:-- Parisian gunmakers presented 36; Rheims, 1; St. Etienne, 14. Leopold Bernard, barrel-maker.--Very good work; barrels made of two spirals, inner and outer, with the twist running the reverse way; fine figure; mixture of steel and iron. Monsieur Gauvain.--Very good sound work; all highly artistic; the cock formed so as to resemble a tree with a snake coiled round it, the head of the snake striking on the nipple. Several other guns of the latest English patterns. Monsieur Beringer.--Guns ornamented arabesque; a medium show of work; principally breech-loaders.