The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-15 00:00:00

NAVY ESTIMATES FOR 1855-56.

The Navy Estimates for the ensuing year, 1855-56,
have been laid before the House of Commons. The grand
total amount of the sum required to be voted for the ser-
vice of the year is 10,716,338/., being a net increase of
290,029/. on the estimates for the financial year 1854-55.
The following are the items of the estimate, viz. :-
2,885,5671. for the wages of seamen and marines,
1,374,0311. for victuals for the same, 140,4691. for the
Admiralty-office, 50,0001. for the Royal Naval Coast
Volunteers, 51,6761. for the scientific branch, 142,5711.
for her Majesty's establishments at home, 26,9091. for
her Majesty's establishments abroad, 1,102,2201. for
wages of artificers employed at home, 57,5001. for wages
of artificers employed abroad, 2,928,3041. for naval stores,
&c., for the building and repair of ships, 567,5881. for
new works, improvements, and repairs in the yards,
62,100/. for medicines and medical stores, and 73,086/.
for miscellaneous services. These are the items of the
effective service. The non-effective service includes-
-635,4971. for half-pay, &c., to officers of the Navy and
Royal Marines, 469,222/. for military pensions and al-
lowances, and 149,558/. for civil pensions and allow-
aloes. There is an increase on every item of the effec-
tive service, except on the scientific branch, the largest
being on wages and victuals for seamen, wages to artifi-
cers, and naval stores. The item of 51,6761. for the
scientific branch is thus divided—viz., 4,176/. for the
Royal Observatory, 2,289/. for the observatory at the
Cape of Good H0pe,'3,420/. for the "Nautical Almanac,"
1,000/. for chronometers, 8571. for [the compass depart-
ment, 2,0001. for rewards and experiments, 100/. for li-
and 3,121/. for the establishment at the
braries and museums, 34,7131. for the hydrographical
department,
Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, for scientific educa-
tion.

The French Police Department has been directed to
draw up a report, as complete as possible, on the Carlist
refugees residing in Paris, giving particulars as to their
occupations, their mode of obtaining a livelihood, &c.
It has again been suggested to the Government that the
Spanish authorities on the frontier are not entirely free
from apprehension so long as'General Elio is suffered to
reside in France, and that his expulsion from the terri-
tory of the empire is very desirable.
A prospectus has been in circulation for Some days
for a pleasure trip to Sebastopol at the commencement
of the spring season. The travellers are to start from
Paris and 'proceed to Marseilles, thence to Constanti-
, noule, next to the Crimea, afterwards to Egypt, and
home by Algeria. The vessel fixed on for the
tour to the East is the Isabella steam pleasure yacht,
under the neutral colours of Tuscany. The charge fur
eachSpers on is to be 12,000 f. The trip is to last three
months, and only ten passengers are to be taken.
General Niel, whose arrival at the camp of Sebastopol
on the 27th has been already announced, has written to
the Emperor Napoleon an account of his inspection of
the Ems, ant of the state of the army. These letters,
which are of a private character, but will, no doubt, be
followed by an official report, state that the situation, on
the whole, was good ; the state of the works favourable ;
the French army as well as could be expected under the
circumstances ; and—but we fear this is rather the po-
liteness of the Frenchman—the
English arury not quite
so badly off as he had expected from previous accounts.

(Front the Lancet of February .10.)
We offered in the Lancet of the 3d inst. a deseription
of the military hospital of the French, and now proceed
to say a few words about their ambulances.
The word ambulance, or field or flying hospital, is very
familiar to most of our readers ; but many are, perhaps,
not aware of the actual manner in which these hospitals
are organised and conducted. A few details may pro-
bably be welcome.
The principle upon which the whole arrangement rests
is, that the medical officer—viz., the scientific mail,
should not be harassed with anxiety about stores and
packages, and that these matters should rest entirely
with responsible agents, whose duty it is to attend to bis
directions, within the limits of the regulations. Hence'
we have the following. practical divisions :
The medical officer at the bed-side is invested with the
whole control and management of his patient. The phar-
macien, upon the surgeon's prescriptions, prepares the
medicines ; the clerk sees to the procuring and proper use
of the required articles of furniture, and the carrying
out of the diet-cards filled up by the medical officer ; the
ward-attendant t llieS tl;eimtnedtate charge of the wounded

man ; th© sisters of charity and chaTilains aid in the

work of benevolence art I:induess ; the assistant-com-
missariat officer, who receivos orders from his superior,
watches over the management of the whole ; and the
regular w °thing of all these secures a perfect unity of
action.

The ambulances, temporary hospital, and convales-
cent dep3ts, are intended, during a campaign, fur the
reception of the wounded or sick soldier. If the seat of
war is too distant from the frontier of France, where
hospitals are organised for the reception of the sick or
convalescent, an eligible locality is chosen for the erec-
tion of a temporary hospital : hence the great central
nosocomial establishment of Constantinople. Now,
these various modes of relief for the soldier—viz., the
ambulance, the temporary hospital, the convalescent de•
I pot, and the permanent hospital, have each a peculiar

organisation.
The ambulance is the moveable hospital which

follow the army in all its movements. They are ambu-
lances for infantry, and others for cavalry—all connec-
ted with the different divisions. At head-quarters there
is, besides, a reserve of surgeons and two ambulances of
infantry and one of cavalry, always ready to go forward
at a moment's notice. It was important, in order to in-
sure lightness and rapid movements from one place to
another, to arrange the packages so that they might not
prove cumbrous under any circumstances. Everything
must, therefore, be reduced to the least volume, and all
the requisites for dressing wounds are disposed in pan-
niers, the weight of which is so calcUlated as to suit the
strength of a pack-horse, in case the usual waggon breaks
down, or cannot be got through a difficult country.
Only five carriage boxes are allowed for the reception
of the following articles : amputation and trephining
cases, tents, litters, splints, solidified broth, brandy,
linen and lint, medicines, &c. These five boxes or cases
constitute an infantry ambulance, and provide 8,900
dressings. Three cases, with 4,900 dressings, form a
cavalry ambulance. These ambulances are subdivided
into active and reserve sections. The reserve section,
which comprises two cases for the infantry, and 3,500
dressings ; and one case, with 1,500 dressings for the
cavalry, remains generally.with the wagons attached to
the corps, and is kept ready to supply the active sec-
tion with any article which may be wanted, The latter
is-again subdivided in ambulance depot, altd flying am-
bulance.

The depot ambulance settles down at a con-venient dis-
tance from the battle-field, and the attendr'nts imme-
diately take down the cases from the waggons, prepare
the linen, lint, dressings, &c. They light a .fire, and
immediately make, with their solidified broth, a good
saucepanful of soup. This is called the " precoaition
soup," and thus they have at once what we shoui'd call
beef-tea for the wounded. Everything being thus pre-
pared, a red flag is unfurled, to apprise the vroulided
men where they can get relief. The flying ambuis nce
goes, in the meanwhile, to the immediate rear, wits urn
the enemy's range, to attend to the men who reeei ye
dangerous wounds. At the same time, clerks, under tl• 0
command of commissariat officers, proceed along flu,
lines, and cause the wounded to be taken up by the itt.
tendants and the drivers. This latter arrangement .3
especially intended to prevent the soldiers from yieldin6v,
to compassion, and succouring their fallen comrades, no
man being allowed to leave the ranks, however desiroue
of aiding the wounded.
The ambulances just described are called the Euro-
pean ambulances, but there is another kind, called Afri-
can ambulances, which latter have been instituted to serve
in countries devoid of roads and destitute of accommo-
dation. An ambulance of this kind, calculated fora corps
of 10,000 men, contains 6,500 dressings, and requires 364
pack mules. Twenty-four of these carry iron litters, on
which soldiers who have had a limb amputated, may be
placed, and 250 carry little arm-chairs made of iron and
leather, which may be unfolded, slung, and fastened tothe
pack-saddle, and will take a patient on each side of the
mule. The rest of the mules carry the casks of diet drinks,
the stretchers, the blankets, the leather covers for the
sick, the tents, the surgical boxes, the cases containing
the drugs, &c. Sixteen medical officers, 7 clerks, and
104 attendants on the sick or wounded attached to this
ambulance, which is mainly intended by its fleetness for
vanguard service, and for picking up the wounded on the
field of battle. Both the European and African ambu-
lances are being used in the Crimea with the best effects.
One hundred light carts have lately been sent to the
seat of war by order of the Minister. Three wounded men
can be accommodated on the front seat ; there is a case
behind, pr,JATIy secured, which is so made as to contain
two stretchers ; and boxes, surrounded by wire-work,
are intended for the guns and sacs of the soldiers. These
carts, though light, are very strong, and may, if neces-
sary, ho drawn by one horse only.
Such are the characters of the ambulances, the pecu-
liarity of which is, to move rapidly from place to place,
and to be ready for all the emergencies of war. Thus, be-
fore Sebastopol, the ambulance placed in the trenches re-
cu. rs the wounded immediately they are struck, and these
are sent, after the first dressings are applied, to the am-
bulances placed behind the lines; Hitherto all the sick
wounded were attended to in the latter ambulance
until they could be removed to Constantinople ; but
General Canrobert has just established a tem-
porary hospital on the beach of the bay of ICamiesch,
which hospital accommodates 500 patients. This is a
great boon for the sick, a great proportion of whom will
be saved the tediun and perilous passage to Constan-
tinople in this incl. ant season. Although this hospital
is only temporary, is established according to the re-
gulations of the perm' pent institutions of the same kind.
Hence the medical starfor the 500 patients is composed
.as follows :—Two ci wedical officers, three principal
ones, and twelve assistants ; one chief pharmacien and
two principal ones. sue food is the same as in the hos-
pitals at home, but the men are not given hospital shirts,
trousers, or great coats. The bed furniture is not so
complete as in the permanent hospitals, but each man
has a palliasse and a blanket ; and, for every twentieth
man, there is one mattress, three sheets, caps for the
fever patients, various vessels, &c. The whole of the
articles for such a temporary hospital weighs 30,0001b5.,
and requires 55 cubic yards of stowage ; the pharma-
ceutical portion weighs 3,600 lbs., and requires 9 cubic
yards' stowage.
A convalescent depot has also been established, where

soldier, are under the same discipline as with their regi-
ments ; but they receive double rations of wine daily,
and are exempt from duty until they have completely
recovered.

The permanent hospitals are, of course, not restricted
as the one just described, hence the hospitals of Con-
stantinople are under the same regulations, and in pos-
session of the same articles, as those of France. Tert
thousand either wounded or sick soldiers receive at this
moment, though 800 leagues from their country, the
same attention as they would have at the Val de Grace
or Gros Caillou in Paris.

THE ACCIDENT TO THE SCRETV STEAM-
SHIP PERSEVERANCE.

WOOLWICH, Feb. 14.—The Perseverance, screw
steam-ship, which capsized in Woolwich dockyard,
still remains in the same position, the attempts
by the Government officers to raise her by chains,
&c., having failed. She lies in the new stone
graving-dock in the eastern part of the yard. In
getting her into the dock, the ship being upwards of 300
feet long, it was necessary to raise her up on extra
blocks, so as to bring her head close up to the edge of
the dock, to admit of the cassoen being fixed at the en.
trance. When the water was let in, and the vessel
turned over, she slipped some 15 or 16 feet from her
original position, so that her stern extended out, as it
were, from the entrance, thus preventing the cassoons
being refixed. It is already known that the ship filled
with the tide. Examination since of her port side,
which lay on the blocks at the bottom of the dock, shows
that she has started one or more of her plates, no doubt
caused by the force with which she turned over on them,
A cofferdam has been built at the entrance to the deck
to prevent the tide Bowing in ; this has enabled work-
men temporarily to repair the started plates on her port-
side ; her hatches, cabins, &c., have been.tightly bat-
tened down with planking, and attempts will be made
at the next spring tides to float her. It is thought that
of
eweig
thhtoaft were, and
remain,ginea,ter tanks, and the 60 tone
ballast
in her, will cause the
ship to lighten without any additional aid, as the whole
of her heavy yards, topmasts, and rigging hitve been re-
moved. There is one great difficulty, however, appa-
rent—the keel now rests on the " altars," or stone steps,
at the west side, descending to the bottom of the dock ;
and it is apprehended that, in floating her, she wilt de,
herself greater injury in her efforts to right herself, by
striking on the "altars," or steps, unless some means
are devised, as she feels her bunyancy, to haul her more
into the body of the dock. We are given to understand
that the Government have now sold the ship far 151.
1.11a.c a
outll ; and
the
less per ton than what they gave for her. They have
twotwo
others,ot e r ships
namedC
buildingss and
herc now. t 4.s
fitting
East India Docks, are of the same deccriptinn. The
Europa, screw-steamer, which toppled over in the East
India fitting-basin a few weeks since, was built on the
same lines as the Perseverance.

Tuoors FOR THE CRIMVA.—At Queenstown, on Wea'
nesday, the hired steam ti.:tnaport Severn einbarke,f la*
following troops t 9 join ~-1-Ite 1. :serve force in tour. Ie .11
organisation at Mttlta :-7 Assign T. A. Cox and .P :. B.
llyndman, 2 sergeants, t ,d 50 rank and file of the
Buffs ; Ensign R. St. John, 2 sergeants, and 50 -ank
and file of the 72d II; Janders. 13 officers, and 176
men of the Royal Artily...4 had previously embarked 011
board this vessel at 'SouthamPt°n• With these tl.'lo
Severn steamed out of Queenstown harbour on tht
aft'anoon of Thursday, the Sth hat., for Malta.