The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-21 00:00:00

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE---This Day.

LONDON, Jan. 21.—Wind this day at noon—West ;
strong breeze, and fine weather. It blew a gale during
the night.
COWES, Jan. 20.—Wind N.W., strong gale.—Arrived--
Antelope, from Rio Janeiro.
PLYMOUTH, Jan. 20.—Wind N.W., squally.—Arrived
—Her Majesty's ship London, from Gibraltar.

(BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Wednesday Morning.

No arrivals.

DELL, Wednesday Morning.

. _
No arrivals.
Sailed—Yorkshire, for London, in tow of two tugs ; the
rest of the homeward bound getting under way.

NEW DECORATION.—" A cross of a new Order,"
says the Presse, "may be seen in the Galerie Montpensier
of the Palais Royal. It is that of Radama 11., King of
Madagascar. He has just given an order in Paris for
12,000 f. worth of this cross, which has seven points, is sur-
mounted by a royal crown, end suspended by a red ribbon
with transversal stripes of a darker shade."
THE FRENCH CORPORAL —A corporal in the
French service is not a kind of by brii soldier. He is
not a private, neither is he considered a non-commissioned
officer. He messes and lodges with the privates—gets the
same rations, the same quality of cloth for his clothing,
is obliged to live on terms of intimacy with them, play
with them, and yet must command and punish when neces-
sary. Forced to live thus with these men, it requires tact
for a corporal to remain friendly with bis comrades, and at I
the same time to retain his authority. It would be utterly
impossible for him to do so were it not for the law of the
French military service, which renders a superior liable to
punishment if he neglect to punish a man who has miscon-
ducted himself. Officers have long ago recognised the rank
of corporal as the most difficult to fill in the military
hierarchy. They have all admitted that the corporals are
the catspaws of regiments. It might be imagined that un-
der such circumstances the corporal is a miserable man. On
the contrary, he is the jolliest soldier in the regiment. In
the first stages of his responsibility he may get a little de-
spairing at seeing that, do what he will, he cannot please ;
but it soon wears off. He soon learns why he is always
punished, and soon gets to know that he is a kind of vent-
peg for any officer or superior's anger. Hence, when a
" blown-up" officer turns round and confines his corporal
four days to barracks, the corporal will frequently give him
a wink, and the officer will answer with a laugh. Officers
having recognised the difficulties of a corporal's position,
make allowances for his frequent punishments. Often his
score will be rubbed out. Officers show, also, great indul-
gence in other ways to these poor "soul) is miseres;"
besides which, they, in a certain measure, fear them.
A captain haying a bad set of corporals will continually
be reprimanded for untidy men. Another captain, more
conciliatory, will have tidy men, and always receive compli-
ments. The corporal can incite the men of his squad to
work, and by his energy, teal, and example, can make them
rapid in all their duties. The corporal's opinion on any
subject is accepted by all the men under his immediate con-
trol; he makes black popular to-day, and oondemns it irre-
trievably to-morrow, He it is who makes an officer popu-
lar or unpopular, confers nicknames, and is generally at the
bottom of all fun. When I had ben rigged out with a
fatigue-dress, Corporal de Bonfils told me that I looked like
a pantin, a puppet ; that I was as still as the Colonne S en-
dome ; in fact, that I was a regular " godam,' oh yes 1" and
offered to wager that he would cut round our room and
touch the 40 men there before I could touch a dozen. This
he proceeded to do in a most extraordinary manner ; he
spun round the room like a peg-top, and first with one hand
and then the other, and with each foot alternately, slapped
and kicked every man, standing at the foot of his bed on
purpose; then turned a somersault, and finished off with a
few of the most admired steps of the cancan, and a gro-
tesque imitation of the Colonel in a rage,—Dickens's "Ml
thC Year Round."