The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-16 00:00:00

ROYAL PRESENT TO THE INVALIDS.

CHATHAM, MARCH 15.—The commandant, Colonel
Eden, of the garrison, at Chatham, received by yester-
day's train a large box, containing upwards of 150
volumes of books, which was forwarded to him by desire
of her most gracious Majesty. Enclosed was a letter
written by Colonel Phipps, expressing her Majesty's wish,
and observing, that the Queen, on her recent visit
to Chatham, was so perfectly satisfied with the inter-
nal arrangements of the hospitals, and was so truly
gratified with the demeanour of the invalids, and who
appeared so happy under all their afflictions, that the
enclosed present of books was for the poor soldiers in
hospital at the supplementary building, Brompton Bar-
racks. The whole of the books are beautifully bound,
and are of the most interesting kind. The Queen has
also sent some drawing paper, pencils, india rubber,
and other articles used for drawing, for the sole use of
Private William Cunningham, 7th Fusiliers, an inmate
of the hospital, and who is slightly wounded in the foot
and leg, and who at the time of her Majesty's visit to
the wards was amusing himself sketching, which at-
tracted her Majesty's attention. He then produced
souse of his sketches, which he had made in the Cri-
mea, and the Queen was so pleased with them that she
requested the commandant to apply fur them for
her. This was done, and the sketches were forwarded
for her Majesty's acceptance, and the present thus
sent down was an acknowledgment of the Royal favour.
This noble and kind act of her Majesty is duly appre-
ciated by these poor fellows, and any inconvenience or
discomfort which they have experienced at the seat of
war in the East has been amply repaid by their Sove-
reign, whose friendly and generous warmth of feeling to-
wards them will never be forgotten by those now suffer-
ing in health and with loss of limbs.

The commandant has given directions for the whole of
the books to have the name of the Queen and the nature
of the gift written in them.

THE SARDINIAN ARMY.

The following are the rules of promotion in the Sar-
dinian army --
"No one can be promoted to any rank who cannot
prove himself qualified to fill the post, except for extra-
ordinary actions of merit, or from the impossibility to
provide otherwise in presence of the enemy.
"All privates must serve one year before they oan be
made corporals ; corporals two years before they are
made `under officers' (a rank equal to quartermaster
serjeants and quartermaster corporals).
"No one can-be appointed sub-lieutenant who has not
completed his 18th year, who has not served two years
as under officer, in a corps of the army, or passed through
the military college.
"Then sub-lieutenants must serve one year, lieutenants
two years (and pass an examination after a year of study
at the College of Ivrea), captains four years, majors
three years, and lieutenant-colonels two years, before
obtaining promotion to the rank above, except in time
of war, when the periods required are reduced one-half.
"In each corps in the service one-third of the sub-
lieutenantcies are given to under officers (subject to an
examiration), and two-thirds to cadets from the mili-
tary college, but a tenth of the whole is reserved for
special cases of merit in sub-officers or corporals who are
not obliged to pass examinations.
"The army is recruited by men drawn for the military
levy, or those who enrol themselves voluntarily. Ail
citiz-ms are subject to the law for the levy, but persons
who have been condemned to forced labour or to im-
prisonment from certain crimes are excluded from the
military service, and cannot on any plea be admitted
into the army.
" In ordinary times men are called upon to serve when
in their 21st year, but in case of emergency they ma 3
be called upon sooner. The term of service in peace is
reckoned at five years under arms, and seven on leave.'