In 1847 and 1848 Captain Minié makes his first appearance on the boards; and he proposed a hollow iron cup to fill up the cavity in Delvigne’s bullet, and from this circumstance we get the name of Minié rifle. The serious defects in our arms were now, however, becoming so glaring, and the disgrace of getting worsted in skirmishes with contemptible foes in the Cabul and Caffre wars, as well as nearer home in the Mediterranean, raised public indignation against the military arms department; and this indignation reached such a pitch that an immediate change was called for. The so-called invention of Captain Minié offered itself, and was immediately adopted, though the very same thing had previously, on two occasions, been rejected at my hands. Thus the history of the rifle is brought up to the adoption by the Government of my principle, under the name of the Minié rifle; and the validity of the pleas on the part of the several claimants for a share in the invention has been succinctly stated. During the succeeding years I several times made unsuccessful attempts to obtain from the English Government a recognition of my claim to the invention. True it is that insult was not added to injury, for they did not tell me I had no claim as an inventor, but they sheltered themselves under the political plea of “Oh, my dear sir, the injustice did not occur under our Administration, or we should be so happy to remedy it!” Time went on, and war came at length, and brought with it proof that but for my invention we should have been ill prepared. “The queen of weapons saved the fight:” so said the Thunderer. “When war’s wild din was done,” the poor inventor was listened to. The first step taken was through Mr. Scholefield, the member for Birmingham, who moved in the House of Commons for copies of the correspondence between myself and the Board of Ordnance in 1836, and the papers therewith connected. Thus an act of glaring injustice was exposed, and there was evidence of proceedings having been enacted over which I would rather draw a veil. The authorities were no doubt shocked at the injustice which the poor inventor had met with at the hands of the then Board of Ordnance. Thus I obtained the Secret Report, which elevates so high the names of those who could designate a plan as “useless and chimerical,”[13] which was destined eventually to create greater changes in gunnery than it had undergone from its earliest invention. [13] THE SECRET REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE. PRESENT:--Major-General Millar; Colonel Adye, C.B.; Colonel Tyer, C.B.; Colonel Drummond, C.B.; Sir Alex. Dickson, K.C.B.; Major Dundas. “_Woolwich, 29th August, 1836._ “SIR,--