The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-02 00:00:00

United Service Magazine.

The first article in this number is upon "Our
Colonial Empire." The writer takes a very Pl 4
and comprehensive view of the subject, and exposes
the shortsightedness of those penny-wise economists
who, for the sake of a paltry saving, would ruin
the empire. The notice of " Professional Papers of
the Corps of Royal Engineers" is continued froth
last month, and contains copious extracts of irate"
rest. Amongst these we may mention those taken
from a paper on the application, of iron to defensive
works, by Captain Inglis, R.E., in which the vari'
ous experiments which have from time to time beeu
made, both by the corps of Royal Engineers and
others, to ascertain the relative merits of different
constructions and thickness of iron for resisting
shot, are considered. Lieutenant Miller, R.E., on
"Iron Plate Carps,,, and other engineers' papers,
are noticed. These papers contain much useful
information on subjects which, the reviewer trail
observes, must be considered of vital importance
to every officer who aims at distinction in his
profession, or who even wishes to hold his place
in the society of well-educated military men'
But he goes on to say :
The generals commanding-in-chief have, successively
manifested their determination to advance the system of
military education throughout all ranks of the army; of"
litary examinations have become the order of the day, but
what avails this manifestation of the feelings of the coma"
mandors-in-chief, and we may add also the voice of the
country, if officers, as soon as they join their corps, obsti-
nately refuse to continue the studies of their youth, and
perversely neglect to peruse works either of science or ge"
neral information, employing their leisure hours in skim'
ming nothing but the lightest literature, and trashy perio-
dical publications. Futile would it prove, were we to at-
tempt to induce a large number of officers to possess thee)"
selves of " The Professional Papers ;" but, at all events,
those officers who have passed through the Staff College►
and consequently look forward to obtaining appointments
on the staff, ought ceetainly to add to their libraries these
interesting and appropriate volumes of scientific informal'
tion ; and there can be no doubt that every garrison and
regimental library should invariably possess the whole 01
the par ere published by the corps of Royal Engineers.

Under the title of " The Pillars of Hercules," We
have the history of Gibraltar and Ceuta, but there
is little to be said of the latter compared with tha
of the former. These two natural fortresses stand
on either side of the entrance to the Medi-
terranean, and were held in ancient time°
by the Phoenicians and Carthagenians,
at that time ruled the ocean, and were, in fact, the
only navigators and traders in existence. In course
of time Gibraltar, which is simply the Arabic (JOY
ral-tar) for new castle, together with its vis-cevis
Ceuta, fell into the hands of the Moors, and We°
only taken by the Spaniards in A.D. 140
Ceuta came into their possession in A.D. 1580, whoa
Portugal was annexed, the Portuguese having
taken it from the Moors in 1415, and it has sliver;
retained its ancient name. Gibraltar was taken
from the Spaniards by the English in 1704 by Sir
George Brooks, and has ever since remained in their.
hands, notwithstanding the determined and repeated
attempts made by the Spaniards to retake it, so that
at the present time Spain is in the anomalous pose"
tion of holding a strong fortress on the Africa°
coast, while a foreign nation holds an equally' if
not stronger one on her own territory. The de:
scription of the town and its inhabitants, and cati;
ous matters relating to the station, are given; and
the writer observes that if the Governmentwwold
only lay out the money they expend in the purchase
of water in sinking wells, water in plenty could bf,
obtained. he ancient system of patronage and
peculation which was carried on to such an extent
not very long ago is exposed, as regards Gibraltar'
A paper on the " Combined Action of Horse Artil-
lery and Cavalry" goes to show that these two arta°
of the service can act together with great advantage'
and the two generals who seemed most to appreciate
and make use of this combination were Frederick the
Great and the first Napoleon, who, the writer regrets'
have left but few memoranda on the subject. 113:
first part of "A Trip to Vancouver's Island an
British Columbia" gives promise that its continua:
tion will prove interesting. Under the head 0'
" Poland," the prospects of the revolution are con-
sidered. The writer, while sympathising with the
Poles, fears that the end is inevitable, and that
courage and resolution cannot avail against the
large armies that the Czar can bring into the fie'
against them. The Russian army, "all told," On;
sists of upwards of 800,000 men, but these are e;
course distributed throughout a vast extent e;
country. Still a large and well-appointed forf
could always be kept in the field, which, unlebs tot
remonstrances of the Western Powers avail, muse
in the end crush this last attempt to throw off Or
Russian yoke. The author of an article on
Military Organisation" contends that a local feelingi
should always exist between regiments and eV° lc
districts, to the end that a county militia may teeti
upon some regiment as its own ; and he cites as
instance that, in the year 1758, the Black Watch;
a regiment raised in the Highlands, which was at
tached toLordAmherst's army inAmerica, and tor01!d
part of the British force under General Abercronibleris
in the attack of the strong fort of Teconderoga)
in possession of the French. The place was vier
ously defended, and after several regiments had bee„
,1"'
successively repulsed, the Black Watch was ordered
forward, and for six hours did those brave teen
persevere in the desperate endeavour to enter
ha
fort, and only withdrew after the order to retire ?ob°
been three times reiterated, leaving, out of 1,000
men, 316 killed and 326 wounded. When the v"it0
of this terrible calamity reached the Highlands,
produced considerable excitement, but the feeiing a
manifested was not so much grief as revenge, au°
in the course of six weeks afterwards 1,00
at ,
volunteers came fc rward, principally relatives °lt
bie
those who had fallen, and so many enlisted th
beca:ne necessary to form a second battalion eft od
regiment, which then assumed the title of the 1:
Royal Regiment. " Kinglake's Invasion of tllO
Crimea" is reviewed, and we have also a paper oo
" Some of the Artilleries of Europe."

The New monthly Magazine.
The believers in the natural nobility and hernil
of human nature must be somewhat shaken ill theft
creed when they peruse the opening paper of l"'i
magazine. The records of " Seven generations °0
Executioners," open such a grim and ghastly 14„0
of torture and cruelty that those who raise
standard of human excellence in opposition to 011;
gious principle must needs shrink abashed fora °ill
spectacle. The family which could boast of se /ell
generations of executioners was the family of Sa,°,°,
of Paris. "It was a Sanson who broke the Sac le,
brated bandit Cartouche on the wheel, 1'13,,
tore the regicide Damicns into four quarters
it was a Sanson who beheaded an amiable and ill°
nocent monarch, and a beautiful and intellecluici
queen." The terrible and degrading office was head
in anything but honour in the family, and great erg
the satisfaction felt when a family of daughlere,
broke the spell, and removed the fatal
The painful but powerfully written story of '`
1:fi;
Shadow of Ashlydyat" is continued. It ezennilit—ho
forcibly how the punishment of evil fulls allnii#l-,0
innocent, and how deeply and keenly the gui'L,;,oo
adreefamicade to u
ations sotffetio
i;
efir the crimes,aitilless of fie
banker,
George
dolphin, fall with crushing weight on his morel3eio,
sitive wife and brother, white wide spread 11%1
desolates the quiet country town. Sir Nati3:bnbi6
discourses on the career and character of the 'tie Jo
Sie , whose famous pamphlet si Quest ce tbe
Tiers Etat ?" startled Paris in the early days e^go,
eventful 1789. " Lady Morgan's Gossiping Tier,
moire" afford the subject of an entertaining P rt(4
io;
and a lady of a very opposite character—W;
of Sweden—is also briefly discoursed of. The tale
of Granyille de Vigne, which is too much el

i account of
will not fas-
rs. " Victor
LI, while cell'
nd tendency
tice to big
m " Italian
he time and
An account
interesting
early half
ticism of the
some versa
dicrity.

upon "Our
a very PA
and exposes
e economists
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al Papers of
tinued frail
lets of lute-
those taken
to defensive
eh the vari-
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gineers and
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er, R.E., on
ers' Papers,
nuch useful
viewer trull
importance
etion in his
Id his place
Litary men'

successively,
he system of
he army ; not"
the day, but
of the cow
a voice of the
r corps, obsti-
ir youth, fat
science or ge"

ours in skim.-
trashy perio-
'ere we to at-

possess thew
at all events,
Staff College►
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