The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-11 00:00:00

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On Thursday afternoon the whole of the lst divi.
siou, Depot Brigade, Royal Artillery, cornmalided
by Lieut.-Col. R. Talbot, was assembled on the
parade ground of th.o her,d-quarters at Sheerness, to
witness the distribution of medals for long service
and good conduct tl several members of the bri-
gade. The troops formed three sides of A hollow
square, when they were addressed in a few appro-
priate words by Col. W. R. Nedham, commanding' ,
the garrison at Sl!erne3s, who afterwards handed
the medals to tl.e foriunate rec:inient•i—Serg. Rolle,
1 ombardier }lull, o
lull, and Gunners Wm. Stphells
1.3
r.rnes Graham, who have each served for a period
of 21 years.

PRICE....„ ...4d.
STAMPED

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

Her Majesty's screw steam corvette Scylla, 21
guns, 400 horse-power, was commissioned for ser-
vice on the East India and China stations, on Wed-
nesday last, at Sheerness, the pennant being hoisted
by Master John Jones, for Cspt. S. G. Cresswell.
The vessel's fitments are being completed with the
greatest rapidity, and she will be ready for sea in a
few days.

The foriowing detachments of the &pot Royal
Artillery yesterday left head quuters, Woo4iell, for
Gravesend, and embarked on board the troopship
Canning, for Madras : Macin tire, Capt.
Purvis, Capt. Laurie, .Lieuts. M4carthy, Gambier,
Cambris, Haynes, .Tohnson, Roberts, Kuot, Deeds,
and Lavie, Capt. Jackson, three officers' wives, 149
men, 15 women, and 16 children.

The Gibraltar, 81, screw ship, 3,721 tons, and
800-horse power, fitting for sea at Devonport, is to
have a complement of 860 officers and men, and
will be commanded by Capt. James Charles Pre-
vost. The Gibraltar was launched at Devonport on
the 16th of August, 1860, and is now for the first
time being put into commission, and it is reported
her first station is to be the Mediterranean. Capt.
Prevost entered the Navy in 1829, and, previous to
his promotion to commander, which took place on
the 22d of October, 1844, he served in the Mediter-
ranean, at Lisbon, on the North America and West
India Station, and at Portsmouth. He was com-
mander of the Vernon, 50, on the South American
station and in the East Indies ; of the Portland, 50,
flagship in the Pacific, from August, 1850, to the
spring of 1854; and commanded the Satellite, 21,
on the last mentioned station from September, 1856,
until the spring of 1861.

Improvements in Modena Schooling.

Not only are the books now used in teaching the
rudiments of Creek and Latin vastly improved, but,
the methe of using them indicates on the part of
the teacher a much higher style of scholarship, and
190. s on the part of the pupils to a more intelligent
appreciation of what they learn. Although we are
surprised to find some clinging with amiable
tenacity to the old " Eton Latin Grammar,"--which
we had fancied the labours of Kennedy, Donaldson;
and others had long ,euperseded,—*f efiratilate,
~these on heir adoption of. 9 an easy and pleaeant,

The massive screw , shaft for the,_ jc2:4,frkate
lAClfilleS was landed-yesterday at the Peintre-whait
Chatham Dockyard from one of t'ne transports
which had conveyed it round from the. establish-
ment of Messrs. John Penn and Son, Greenwich,
who are making the -1,250-horse power engines
for the 'Achilles. The screw shaft is one of the
finest specimens of brass castings ever produced in
this country, and it is finished and polished in the
most perfect manner. Its gross weight is 3 tons,
Bcwt., 2qrs., 31b., and its diameter clear, 2ft. 2in.
The mechanics are now boring the passage in which
the shafting will be inserted. This operation, which
has been some days in progress, will be completed
during the present week.

method for the perfect acquisition of that gram-
mar." Until quite lately, the only idea of teaching
Latin consisted in making the boy learn by rote
unintelligible rules, written in the very language he
was studying to acquire, in the fond hope that some
time or other he would be able to understand and
apply them. It is encouraging nowadays to find
masters using the grammar as a book of reference:
before it is committed to the memory as a system of
rules, explaining beforehand the form, usera, or
construction on which the rule is founded.,, and in
various ways leading their pupils to regard the
grammar as made for the acquisition elf the lan-
guage, and not the language for the. 'acquisition of
the grammar. To be able to repeat the rule was
the first and great commandment with the school..
master of the last generation.; to understand the
principle and quote an illustration of it is the wise
fi
demand made by our present teachers on their,
youthful scholars. It were needless to enlarge on
the benefits, direct and indirect, resulting from the
single change.
Another improvement, hardly less valuable, seems
to us to lie in the greater attention paid to philology
in its various branches as an aid in teaching. How
many boys, for example, thirty years ago, under-
stood the meaning of a " case ?" On the other
hand, what a light must be thrown now on the
chaos of genitives and datives, when most pupils
are shown by their teachers at the beginning that
these case-endings only serve the purpose of the
prepositions which are placed before English words
—that the "i " and "0" in " domini," " domino,"
simply express the "of " and " to" of their own
tongue, and when tha knowledge of even the rudi-
ments of French and German will be made to illus-
trate by contrast the point in question ! The same
holds in a still greater degree with etymology.
Nothing is calculated to enlist a young pupil's at-
tention, improve his memory, and make him see the
use of what he is learning so much as the percepe
tion of the likeness between his own speech and
what he hears called " the dead languages." It is
not that this was omitted by former schoolmasters,
but their attempts were, to say the least, infelici-
tous—even if their false etymology 'llls not con-
tributed in some degree to discredit the true. Hap-
pily, we shall not hear again Cico --•" I breathe,"
derived from the first and last letter of the alpha-
bet, as the first and last thing done in life; or r, otg ,
traced to the reptile " Oar" to Eve. Every
new dictionary and lexicon adds something valua-
ble to this branch of study, and the increased ac-
quaintance with the modern languages makes its
introduction still more welcome to the learners. Let
an intelligent boy once have the likeness, not be-
tween single words merely, but (say, for instance)
between the French and Latin conjugations pointed
out to him, and a curiosity and mode of inquiry will
have been awakened in him, which will go on rais-
ing for itself and solving after a fashion similar pro-
blems in each day's lesson.
A third point on which we cannot but think we
have advanced is the diminished stress laid on mak-
ing Latin verses. We are perfectly aware of all
that can be urged in their favour, as teaching the
delicacies of the language, cultivating general taste,
supplying a correct pronunciation, and so forth ; but
while we should be the last to undervalue these re-
sults when gained by the few, we cannot forget tlee
time wasted, the honest labour sacrificed, the more
valuable subjects neglected, byhe many who gain any of the said results at all. t
Of all the unsr
I-lever
evoury
sacrifices presented at the shrine of Parnassus we can
conceive none equal to the "nonsense verse' ritten by boys at their first school. Yet till quite
rewcently
Latin versification formed a necessary and impor-
tant part in the classical training of private as
well as public schools ; and there was no greater
epoch in a boy's life than when he first succeeded
in making Bland's horse " wander in wide fields,"
according to the correct measure of a Latin
hexameter. We have a hearty satisfaction in the
thought that it is no longer deemed necessary for a.
boy to have made some ten thousand Lau a verses
(more than are contained in the " jEneja ") ) before
he is nineteen years old ; that except for boys who
are likely to distinguish themselves at the Univer-
sity, the system is now rarely retained ; and that
the time once expended in h.anting out epithets in
the '°Gradus," is free to 'oe used more wisely on.
subjects not less beneficiej to the mind, and infinitely
more valuable for life.
And here, perhaps, lies the crowning improve-
ment of all. While the classics are taught more
intelligently, other subjects are made of scarcely
less importance. Arithmetic, mathematics, history,
and perhaps the rudiments of natural science, are
now put on nearly an equal footing with the study
of Virgil and Homer, aesar and Xenophon. It
can no more be said of the young Englishman or
his preceptor, that his great object is " not to
reason, to imagine, or to invent, but to conj g
u ate),
decline, and derive." Many are beginning to
believe, with De. Donaldson, that the study
of Latin and Greek should not even be entered
upon till the tenth or eleventh year of
age, and that the previous years of boys
are better spent in acquiring the geography
and history of their own country, and storing their
memory with passages from their vernacular litera-
ture. However this may be, it is certain that in all
the better private schools a wiser adjustment be-
tween the classical and non-classical part of instruc-
tion is now made with due reference to what may
be known or conjectured respecting the pupil!t
work and prospects in life. The boy who is to enter
business at fifteen or the army at sixteen, has, not
only not to swallow the same dose of Greek pare-
digms and Latin exercisee as his companion
destined for the University, but he is also who is
turnished
with the instruction that will best ftt- 'him for his
calling. Such subjects as matherrAqics and modern
languages are not regarded in t:ne light of "extras,"
to be left to chance teachersl but are being more and
ilarrre incorporated with the regular schoolwork,
taught with the same precision and treated with the
same importance Iv., the rest. There is yet, no doubt,
much to be done; but with improved books, better-
qualified teachers, and juster notions of educatio
with the variou.e examinations challenging emula-
tion, testing acquirements, exposing the incapable
schoolmasters, and recommending the successful--
we may fairly hope to see a still greater improve-
ment in the method and results of our privet'
school teaching than any we have hitherto attained,..
—.London Re cietc.

The steam dredging machine has been employed
at the entrance to Chatham harbour, near Folly
Point, for several weeks past in removing a spit of
sand and in deepening the river at the spot selected
for mooring the large iron frigate Achilles, 6,079
tons, when she has been floated out of the dock,
where she is rapidly approaching completion. Under
the direction of Commander Pope, Queen's harbour-
master at Chatham, suitable moorings are being laid
down at the harbour's mouth, as she could not be
moored alongside the dockyard without taking the
ground at low tides. _ _

Two dockyard transports are now employed in
removing the collection of stores from the naval
establishment at Deal to Chatham, prior to the Deal
dockyard being abolished, and its site disposed of
by the Government. The quantity of stores already
landed is very large, but a considerable proportion
is altogether useless for naval purposes: In accord-
ance with instructions from the Admiralty, Mr.
Hutchens, one of the assistant master-shipwrights
at Chatham, proceeded yesterday to Deal to make a
survey of the remaining stores, in order that the
delay and expense of removing materiel ultimately
proving valueless may be avoided. The stores con-
nected with the victualling department will not be
landed at Chatham, but are to be forwarded direct
to Deptford.
The Pioneer, 6, screw despatch vessel, Comman-
der F. C. Robinson (acting), arrived at Spithead
yesterday morning, from the Australian station,
after a long passage, having sailed from England
from Sydney, on the 12th of April last. The
Pioneer arrived at St. Vincents, Cape de Verde, on
the Bth OTAUgust, and sailed from there again on
the 11th, bringing with her a mail from her Ma-
jesty's steamer Himalaya, which was coaling there
in prosecution of her voyage outward from England.
She called at Madeira on the 27th day of August,
and ascertained that the Virago, 6, paddle sloop,
sailed thence on the previous day for Halifax, Nova
Scotia. Fine weather was experienced by the
Pioneer on her passage home until making the
Channel, where she fell in with strong S.W. winds.
Mr. Phillips, late paymaster of her Majesty's ship
Eclipse, a few naval invalids, and two naval invalids
from the Tien-tsin, Commander Nicolas, received on
board at the Cape of Good Hope, came to England
in the Pioneer as passengers. The Pioneer was
commissioned at Portsmouth in May, 1859, by Com-
mander May, and proceeded to China. While on
that station Commander May received this promo-
tion to post rank, and was succeeded by Comman-
der O'Reilly, who remained in the ship until after
her arrival on the Australian station, to which she
had been detached from the China squadron.
Having lost his life by an accident while on horse-
back ashore at Brisbane, Commander O'Reilly was
succeeded by first Lieut. Robinson, who brought
the vessel home to England. The acting rank of
this officer will doubtless be confirmed by the
Admiralty on paying the ship out of commission.
The following appointments were made on Wed-
nesday at the Admiralty :—Capt. S. G. Cresswell
to the Scylla ; Lieut. J. A. F. Luttrell, Lieut.
Duncan Stewart, Lieut. 0. G. Hunt, and Lieut. J.
E. Pringle, to the Scylla ; Albert Warren, assis-
tant paymaster to the Blenheim ; and R. J. Willis,
assistant clerk, to the Duke of Wellington.