The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-27 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Select Ordnance Committee, recently appointed by
the Admiralty and the War Department to inspect and
report upon the improved systems of day and night tele-
graphing in military and naval operations, combined or in-
dependently of each other, have returned to town from the
Isle of Wight. Tbey have completed their labours, with
the exception of the official presentation of their report. The
committee arrived at Portsmouth on Tuesday last from
London, and, embarking on board her Majesty's paddle
steamer Pigmy, Master Commander Vine, left the same
afternoon for Ventnor, Isle of Wight, where they landed,
accompanied by Capt. Bolton and Commander Colomb.
They proceeded thence to the signal station on St. Cathe-
rine's Down, near Blackgang Chine. It was to be made
the head-quarters of the committee during their stay in the
island, and become also the signalling head-quarters during
the intended exposition of the results of Capt. Bolton's and
Commander Colomb's labours for the information of the
committee. The signal station on St. Catherine's Down was
under the command of Capt. Bolton, and was furnished
with the Holmes magneto-electric light and Captain Bub,
ton's field lime light, as supplied to the telegraphic corps
of the Royal Engineers for night signalling, and a Vene-
tian blind shutter apparatus and a set of naval code flags
for day signalling. Two men of the Royal Engineer
telegraphic corps formed Captain Bolton's staff. Ashy
Do an, 71 miles inland from St. Catherine's Down, was
another appointed station on the island, and one of the field
lime lights for night signalling, wiih a double collapsing
cone for day signalling, was stationed there in charge of
two men of the Boyal Engineers. At the semaphore
tower in Portsmouth dockyard, 141 miles from St. Cathe-
rine's Down, was placed a non-commissioned officer of the
Royal Engineers with two signalmen, in charge of a
field limelight for night signalling. Her Majesty's steamer
Pigmy was in charge of Commander Colomb, in posi-
tions out seaward as required, and was fitted with one
of the magneto-electric lights (of the same description and
power as the one on St. Catherine's Down), a field lime light
and a flashing apparatus for night signalling ; a double col-
lapsing cone and a steam jet for day signalling. In Tire Sun
of August 23 we gave a general description of the magneto
electric and lime lights, and the means of day signalling by
the cone, shutters, and steam jet. It is therefore only ne-
cessary on this occasion to draw attention to the fact that
Capt. Bolton and Commander Colomb's system of signal-
ling may be said to be based on the " Morse" systems of
telegraphy, the long and short dashes in the printing of the
"Morse" message being efficiently and simply represented
in the Colomb-Bolton system
,blryetnheetilaenngshthutotefrst,iomreaniny
exhibited by day, or by the length of
other
rh
dark the double
object collapsing leaxphsg on
time in which the magneto-electric and field limo lights on
shore, or the plain flushed lamp at sea, are exhibited by
night. Colours are totally discarded in these signals, for the
reason that a plain white light by night will transmit its
message to a much greater distance than any coloured light
possibly can do, at the same time that the apparatus is
simplified by the use of one kind of light only to a minimum
point; and a dark, opaque, such as the collapsing cone or
shutter apparatus, are preferable, for the same reasons, to
coloured flags by day. The steam jet signals remain to be
noticed. The efficiency of this mode of communication from
a vessel atsea to a headland on the coast was discovered in
a curious manner. One day during the recent experiments
which have been carried out between Captain Bolton, on St.
Catherine's Down, and Commander Colomb, on board the
Pigmy out at sea, communication from the Pigmy became
very difficult owing to the distance from the land and the
peculiar state of the atmosphere. The hull of the Pigmy
could just be discovered at sea from the Down; but it was
quite impossible to distinguish masts or yards, and there-
fore equally impossible to read any signal by the cone.
While she was being watched as she lay thus by Captain
Bolton and his party on the Down, three or four white
dashes (thrown off steam) of different lengths, stood out
most prominently over the steamer's hull, against the dark
horizon in the background. These white dashes, or escaped
lengths of stea.D, furnished the hint for the steamjet signal,
A. steam vessel lying so far off from the land that, l.ko the
Pigmy, her ordinary mode of day signalling would be use-

less, can, by throwing of jets of steam, print ff her mes
sage in long and short dashes against the darker background
over the horizm as certainly and as legibly as the electric
instrument on shore prints off its dots and dashes on its
paper riband or tape. On Wednesday morning, the day
succeeding the arrival of the committee at St. Catherine's,
thsy were employed in discussing
the reports handed in by
Captain Bolton and Connahrider Colomb, with which they
expressed the greatest satief lotion. On the afternoon of the
arras day her Majesty's ship Pigtn3' proceeded to sea, and
when four miles off St. Catherine's commenced steaming
out slowly from off the laud and signalling to the committee
on St. Catherine's down with ordinary naval flags. At 61
miles distance the fl igs failed altogether, being then at too
great a distance to be distinguishable from the Down, and
signalling was then commenced with the flashing system,
the shutter apparatus, the double collapsing cone, and Amin
jets. It was kept up for some time at an average distance
of seven miles, and always at a greater speed than that
gained by naval flags at one-third the distance. On Wed-
nesday evening night signalling was commenced between
the down and the Pigmy, 12 miles at sea, with the lime
light, and was continued at a great speed up to the 14
miles' distance, when the magneto-electric light was
brought into play, and continued the signalling up to 17
miles, Messages were also forwarded direct to Portsmouth
dockyard, and answers received in return, and also to the
station on Ash-down
; but the most interesting portion of
the signalling was between the bold headland of St.
Catherine's and the Pigmy, out in the Channel. On
Thursday the committee were employed in carrying
out experiments in field signals with Captains Bolton and
at will, by day and b night, betty t
Colom'a's apparatus, and rap
y id communication was kept up
two miles distant from each other. This concluded the ex-
periments, and the committee expressed their warm approval
with all that had been submitted to them for examination.
wo moving partie
It is undirstood that immediate measures will now be taken,
on the recommendation of the committee, to introduce per-
manently the combined Colomb-Bolton system into the
army and navy as the signal code for both services
future operations by land or by sea, whether
conjunction with each other.
singly i
en r alln
i
In the article on Naval and Military Telegraphy which
appeared in The Sun of Aug. 23 it was stated that " the
lime light is now supplied to every ship in the Channel fleet
for night signalling." It should have read, " the lime
light flashing apparatus is now supplied to every ship, ' Bc,c.
The light now used on board the Channel fleet is a plain
white light, shown at intervals in long or short flashes, to
represent the numerals in the naval signal book, by the
flashing apparatus invented by Commander Colomb.
The WJlverine, 21, screw corvette, Capt. A, F. -,-,
ix,. de
Horsey, having completed her repairs, went out of Ports-
mouth harbour yesterday and anchored at Spithead, where
she'awaits her sailing orders.
The Himalaya troopship, Capt, E. Lacey, has completed
coaling. To-morrow she will embark tho 6th Regiment and
proceed to Plymouth, returning with the 31st Regiment for
Aldershott.
The
e sailingship Clarendon, Captain Barclay, yesterday
hauled alongside the Woolwich pier and shipped shot, shell,
and other stores for St Helena.
The War Department cutter Alma, Capt. Spriddell, yes-
terday arrived at Woolwich from Carrickfergus and Dublin,
C. 8., Aide-de
conveying a complete battery of Armstrong 9 pounder guns,
belonging to a battery of Royal Artillery embarked for
India.
ointed Commandant to her Ma-
jesty, and newly-0P? of the Royal
Maxine Division o .
f Light Infantry at Woolwich, assumed
Col, W. J. Hopkins,
the duties of his post yesterday morning,
and afterwards
proceeded to the Admiralty. The inauguration, it is stated,
will be celebrated in a few days by a banquet to be given
by the officers of the division in their mess quarters, at
which Gen. Warde, C. 13., commanding the garrison, and
the whole of the t
°Mews will be invited.
The following appoinments and promotions were made
yesterday at the Admiralty :—Lieut. A. T. J. Bullock, to
the Euryalus—ll. R. J. Pearoh, master additional, to the
Pembroke. for the Coastguard—Sub-Lieut. D. C, Stuart,
b the Princess Royal—A. M. S. Gnome, midshipman, to
the Black Prince—John Hancock (a) and William Crow,
promoted to be engineers, and William C. Graham, pro-
moted to tho Ist class assist—ongineer.

t
the
life
eep te
al
threatened
--" Sir,-- It has frequently
AN EXTRAORDINARY BEGGING LETTER.—The
Messoyer the Midi states that Baron de Rothschild
tempting
would engage to show how
the age of 150 years. Thepossesses the most VollllDitlollB collection of begging letters
that any nyAmfineanng theeier ever received. They form a complete
number is ono lat ly addressed to the
ting proposition that for the
bbaargoante,lcieonotfasinoi,nogo3f
the writer
with death if I did not
give a sum of money. You are certainly the first that has
ho could prolong
his
followingd itso theme bt aor obne's re
aver asked me for it in proposing to prolong my life. Your
proposition is, without doubt far better, and more humane.
But my religion teaches mo that we are all under the hand
of God, and I will not do anything to withdraw myself
from His decrees. ISIy refusal, moreover, does nut in any
way attack your discovery, from which you will not fail, I
hope, to profit yourself, Regretting that I cannot accede
I to your proposal, I sincerely congratulate you on the 150
years which you are called on to live in this world.--
Accept, kt c., J, DE ROTHSCHILD,"

ST. PETERSBURG, Sept. 22.
A rescript of the Emperor Alexander to Count
Berg has been published here, together with five
decrees, initieUng extensive educational reforms in
Poland. As briefly stated by telegraph, the decrees
order the establishment of a university in Warsaw,
with a large number of superior, middle-class, and
elementary schools, and a flee school for girls. Polish
is to be the language in which instruction is imparts d
to Poles, while special schools (Russian, German,
See.) will be opened for the other nationalities of the
kingdom. A sixth decree moderates the penalties of
t he criminal code and abolishes corporal pueishment.
The rescript introducing the decrees is as follows :
" Deeming it indispensable for the progress of
the restoration of order in the kingdom of Poland
to continue and develop the organic reforms the
bases of which were laid down by the ukase of the
19th February (March 2), in the firm determina-
tion of maintaining the same, I desire that these
reforms may be carried out with unshaken persevee
ranee, since it is not possible to secure a regular and
enduring development of the country without a
thorough rejuvenation of its social life. With this
object I have devoted especial care to the improve-
ment of the system of public instruction throughout
the kingdom. No branch of Governmental activity
demands in an equal degree such continued exer-
tions as this question of public instruction ; wherein
it is not until a later generation chat the healthy
seed ripens and bears fruit. For this pure
pose I find it necessary to employ the first
days of re-established tranquillity once more in un.
dertaking with renewed attention the task of alter-
ing and amending the system of public instruction,
which has already commenced, but has also been
interrupted by the late disturbances. The general
regulations sanctioned by me on the Bth (20th) May
designate moral and religious instruction as the
basis of all educational establishments. By these
regulations classical instruction is appointed espe-
cially for the high schools, without, however,
abolishing the study of special branches of learning.
Entrance to all the educational establishments is
granted to all classes of society, 'without reference
to their social position or religious creed ; and the
number of the high and middle schools is con-
siderably increased, since to most of them a suffi-
cient means of existence is assured. These bases of

the regulation of 1862 must in future be faithfully
upheld. While I accept them as au unalterable
point of departure, I find it necessary to order the
following in reference to their further extension.
" 1. In view of the new situation in which the
rural population are now placed in an economical
and administrative point of view, it is urgently De.
cessary to disseminate and establish primary instruc,
tion among them. On in this wise will they be
enabled to enjoy all the advantages of the new legis
elation, and at the same time to form a powerful
support for the maintenance of peace and the pre-
servation of social order. Having perceived with
real satisfaction, from the reports sent in to me, that
almost the whole of the population clearly r,:cog-
nises the necessity of instruction, with confidence I
entrust to the latest formed communes the task of

increasing the number of schools and also of
providing them with the requisite means, and those
officials and others who are more particularly con-
nected with the matter I order to devote their hest
energies to its furtherance.
"Owing to their personal co-operation, it is to be hoped
that in a short space of time a sufficient number of schools
will epring up and be formed, and thus efface one of the
most lamentable defects in the former educational rystem of
Poland.

"2. Hitherto tho education of women has been the sub-
ect of a few isolated measures and imperfect attempts on
the part of the Government, It will, therefore, non. be
necessary to adopt a general system corresponding to the
wants of the different social classes, since the moral and
spiritual education of women is the best guarantee for the
regular culture of future generations. As in ibis as well as
in the other branches of public education I intend to take
energetic, but at the same time judicious and progressiv4
measures, I consider it necessary to commence at once by
the foundation of day-schaols fur young girls in the most
important towns of the kingdom, similar to those hchOols
which alrea•ly exist in lltus3ia and in Warsaw, and which
are found to be so beneficial.
"3. While the public educational establishments, and
more especially the high and middle-class schools, are orga-
nised by the Government, endeavours will particularly be
made to inculcate healthy views among youth, and to de-
velop a love for labour and for wise and solid instruction.
The authorities, without terrnitting themselves or others to
turn the hells of sc'ence into political clubs, must only keep

in view the uuselfiAh service of civilisation. They must
constantly be engaged in improving public instruction in
Poland, and in raisit g the standard of education.

"4. To this end, while offering the means of being in
strutted in the national language to the Polish youth,we
must also recollect that the population of the kingdom
composed of different races and religions. Each of these
must be protected against every attempt at oppression, and
to carry out this it is before all things foundnecessaryto.
schools for each nationality, and besides this to establish
that in the common, and especially in the primary schools,
language
the instruction shall be given in the of the
or
ma-
jority, i.e., either Polish, Russ,Lithuanian, according
to
the locality and nationality of its inhabitants. The mis-
sion of Russia in Poland must be fulfilled by observing
perfect impartiality towards all those elements of which
the population of the country is composed,
" Grounded on these general principles, have this day
signed orders that regulations for the following 'objects be
drawn up. 1. For the primary schools in the kingdom of
Poland, 2. For the female gymnasia and the p'eliiainary
gym
gymnasia in the same kingdom. 3. For the Russian gym-
nasium in Warsaw. 4. For the German school of the Evan-
gelical doctrine in Warsaw. 5. For the organisation of the
school directorate. Thus while I commission you with the
execution of this:ukase, I am certain that by the measures
you will adopt for that purpose, and especially by the choice
of experienced and conscientious men, you will exactly and
completely carry out my views. The people's school I en-
trust to the especial care of the organisation committee of
the kingdom. At the same time I request that so soon as
possible they may lay before me propositions in accordance
with the above rules for the further development and alte-
ration of all the high and middle-class schools throughout
the kingdom. For this purpose I deem it necessary to give
them the following instructions :-1. The elementary agri-
cultural schools shall be reorganised in accordance with my
ukase of the 19th February 1864 (2d March), and also with
that sanctioned by this day. 2. A curriculum of in-
struction shall be introduced at: the primary schools, and
oue or more of those curricula shall be specially for the
Russian or the Lithuanian population ; and farther, the
best means shall be sought out whereby teachers shall be
educated for the higher schools. 3. The special district
shools shall be altered into gymnasia with seven classes ;
the general district schools to become preliminary gym-
nasia, the ono for the study of practical learning, the
other for classical knowledge. 4. The Lyceum at Lublin
is to be converted into a gymnasium, where the course
of study shall be of an essentially classical nature.
This shall also be the case in all Polish gymnasia. 5. A
proposition for the conversion of the high school at War-
saw into a university shall, so soon as be possible, be drawn
up and handed in, wherein the best means of preserving the
rights and privileges belonging to a Russian university shall
be stated, and with due regard to the local demands. G.
Lastly, the definitive establishment of the institute in War-
saw, " Alexander and Marie," for girls, shall at once be
taken in hand, as well as the special schools already exist-
ing, or those in process of formation, such as the agricul-
tural and the forest school, in accordance with instructions
hereafter to be issued.
" I offer, therefore, to all the inhabitants of the kingdom,
without reference to their station, their origin, or their re-
ligion, the means of imparting to the new generation a good
and solid education; and I hope that the fructifying ac-
tivity of study may preserve the Polish youth from at-
tempting those senseless and foolhardy attempts which
have not only caused so much unhappiness, but have also
until now prevented the improvement and advancement of
the whole country."

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