Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Politics, Human Development, Race, Morality

    Opens by questioning whether William G Armstrong's 'last new cannon' will prove a 'peculiar boon' to the 'Doves of Peace', and proceeds to explain how his cannon can 'knock a hole slap' through the sides of any 'mail-clad man-of war'. Jove's thunderbolts pale into insignificance when compared with Armstrong's six-hundred pound shot. Ponders who should be entrusted with such a weapon, pointing to those who would 'never tempt to strike a needless blow', and whether the gun could 'impose' conditions on mankind such as the end of the 'Grand Customs of Dahomey' (slavery), the rights of negroes, and the emancipations of the Poles (from Russian rule). Concludes by insisting that the Armstrong gun will protect English 'hearths and homes' and rejoices in the weapon.