The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-14 00:00:00

"
Kingdom without first having receivbal4l.?&_lll
special permission, according to the -regulatn-(sh ,tiltat •
head. 5. Officers employed on the recruits ft service, S
or upon the Staff of the army, are not to be included in the
number hereby fixed for the constant duty of the regiment
or depot, O. The applications for leave for regimental pay-
masters and medical officers are to continue to be irc the
mode prescribed in the regulations and orders for the army.
7. In cases of short leave, ot absence being requested by
adjutants, ridingmasters, quartermasters, or veterinary nr-
geons of regiments, it will be necessary that a special report
be made as to the mode in which their duties are to be per-
formed during their absence, and that the commanding-
officer is• Satisfied, 8: The proportion of non-commissioned
officers, trumpeters, drummers, and private men, to whom
furloughs may be granted, is not to exceed 20 per battery
of horse and field artillery, or 10 per troop battery of garri-
son artillery or company. - Commanding officers of regi-
ments returning froni Inditt•tnttyttsereise a liberal discretion
in granting furloughs to .soldiers who come home with
their corpsl: • When Corps are not stationed in garrisons or
military districts, the officers coMmanding are at liberty to,
use their discretion in granting the indulgence of leave of
absence, under the foregoing restrictions, to the officers
and soblie.rs under their command, reporting the same to
the Aijutart-General. His Royal Highness expects that
the general and other oftleor, who are empowered to grant
leave of o)sence under the provisions of this order, will
strictly confine
that grant to, the proportion of officers
h
"By command of hiS Royal Highness the
erein specified.
General Commanding-in-Chief,
"JAMES YORKE SCARLETT, Adjt.-General."

General Sir Jas. Yorke Scarlett, the Adjt.-Gen.,
has issued a circular memorandum, addressed to the
army at home and abroad, conveying his Royal
Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief's de-
sire that commanding officers will transmit to the
Horse Guards, with as little delay as passible, de-
scriptive returns of the regimental sergeant-majors
throughout the service, showing the period duriing
which each has held his present appointment.
Major-Gen. Bloomfield, Inspector-General of the
Royal Artillery, attended by Major Teesdale, C. 8.,
V.C., aide-de-camp, paid au official visit of inspec-
tion on Saturday at Aldershot. The General first
inopootal the VlEnd G tiatieries of the Royal Horse
Artillery, commanded by Major Newton and Major
Hay. The two batteries of Field Artillery, com-
manded by Col. Barry and Col. Turner, were next
inspected, after which the Major-General came for-
ward, and expressed to the officers his entire satis-
faction at the efficiency and soldierlike bearing of
the troops.

In consequence of the great increase of duty and
responsibility involved on the direction of the
Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, by the
amalgamation of the colleges, the Government has
consented to an augmentation of salary of the
Lieut.-Governor Commandant, Maj.-Gen.. San dham,
to £l,OOO per annum, instead of, as heretofore, £5OO.

The commuted allowances, equivalent to about £3OO,

including the exemption from payment of the
local rates and taxes, formerly granted, will, how-

: -
ever, under the new regulations be discontinued.
___. _

The increased emolument will consequently not
exceed £2OO or £250 per annum. An increase of

salary to Col. Yorke, Second Commandant and In-
spector of Studies, is likewise under consideration.

The Gymnasium and School of Arts, and the racket
court attached, in the rear of the Academy, are now

completed. The former is built in the crucifor m

style, with a lofty glass dome over the centre, and
galleries for spectators, and for elegance and genera/
advantages it is considered equal to any establish-
ment of the kind in Europe.

THE LATE TRIALS AT SHOEBURYNESS.

Mr. Whitworth, in a letter to a contemporary,
says :

In your notices of the late trials of my guns and
shells against the iron targets at Shoebaryness you
have come to the conclusion that more trials are

wanted at longer ranges. In that I cordially agree,
and shall be happy for my guns to be tried in every
way that guns ought to be tested—that is, under
conditions as trying as those which occur in actual
service. I would ask, however, as I think I am
entitled to do, that the trials be so conducted as not

to be any longer a charge on my private resources,
and in point of time and place not to compel me to
make unnecessary sacrifices. I consider further that
they ought not to be placed under the control of a
committee constituted like the one which in 1858

promised to visit my works and see what was being
done there, but without performing that promise—
and without permitting me to be present at their
trials of my gun, when I should have shown what

it could do, and without even giving me any infor-
mation as to the results obtained in my absence—
came to a decision against it—a circumstance which
came to my knowledge accidentally some time after.
It should be borne in mind that in artillery prac-
tice, as in other subjects, experience enables con-
clusions to be drawn which go beyond the point
where actual results are left.

My own experiments with penetration shell were
chiefly made with a 1-pounder gun (bore 1.3 in.),
weighing 1 cwt. Its results were fully borne out by
those of a 6-pounder (bore 2.3 in.), and a 12-
pounder (bore 3 in.), and, though I had never tried
the 70-pounder (51 in. bore), and the 120-pounder
(7 in. bore) with shell before I went to Shoebury-
ness, the results of the smaller guns enabled me to
state beforehand with confidence what the guns and
shells would do.

They did what I expected, and showed they had
power to spare.

Having felt my way thus far, I feel justified in
saying that both the 5-j. inch bore and seven inch
bore guns will penetrate stronger defences at greater
ranges than were tried at Sheeburyness.

It should also be remembered that my 51-inch
gun, which fired its shell effectively at 200 yards, is
in weight about a ton less than what was stated in
your article to be the maximum suitable for ships'
guns. By adding to its weight it is clear that a
more powerful gun than the 61-inch can be made
still within that prescribed maximum ; the Shoe-
buryness trials prove that the thickest iron-plated
ships would be shelled with such a gun at fighting
ranges-
my larger gun has a bore precisely that of the
110-pounder rifled gun (7 inches), which, with the
68-pounder smooth bore, was so often tried against
the Warrior and other targets. It is true that it is,
and I think ought to be, heavier than the 110-
pounder; heavier guns are being asked for for cupola
ships, and es pivot guns they may be used with
great advantage. It should, perhaps, be explained
that my 7-inch gun was made at Woolwich, in con-
sequence of arrangements decided upon after Lord
Palmerston and Sir Cornewall Lewis had witnessed
trials of my 70-pounder at Shoeburyness about 12
months ago. Not having the means of construct-
ing so large a gun at Manchester, I requested to be
allowed to have it made at Woolwich. This was
done, under the efficient superintendence of Mr.
Anderson, according to drawings supplied by my-
self. The gun differs in construction from the rifle
guns of the service ; its metal is differently dis-
tributed, its form is different, and it has a fixed
breech, being a muzzle-loader.
Had the then existing means permitted it, I
should have preferred making the gun throughout
of homogeneous iron (as my 70-pounders are now
able to be made) which with an equal weight of
metal would afford very much greater strength.
As, however, the service guns at Woolwich are
made on the coiled system, I employed hoops of
welded coiled iron, like those I used for my first
gun in 1855, and have used for the outer hoop of
my large guns ever since.

It is a common error to suppose that the "coiled
system" was first employed in the construction of
the service rifled guns, whereas the fact is that
many years before those guns were made the
method of building up guns with coiled hoops,
welded together by end pressure, was well known
in this country. Without wishing for a moment to
detract from the merit of those who have practi-
cally carried out the system, I claim to be entitled
none the less to use an old method known Jong ago,