The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-23 00:00:00

THE ARMY AND NAVY.

The United Service Gazette says :—A Greenwich Hospital
pension of £l5O a year has been awarded to Admiral Sir
James Scott, K.C.B. We understand that her Royal
Highness the Duchess of Cambridge and her Royal High-
ness the Princess Mary have signified their intention of
honouring with their presence the annual general meeting
of the Royal Cambridge Asylum at the -Royal Asylum
at the Royal United Service Institution; Whitehall, on
Saturday next. The correspondence relative to
the reduction of the field officers in the Brigade
of Guards, has been printed and laid before
Parliament. Mr. Childers is certainly doing his best
to render the Navy contented. Last year, seven
naval sub-lieutenants, three engineers, and nine assistant
paymasters were promoted. This year gives indications
of a good time coming, for already twelve navigating sub-
lieutenants, fourteen assistant paymasters, one chief
engineer, and ten engineers have been promoted. The
Army and Nary Gazette says there is no. truth
in the report that Lieutenant - Colonel E.
Gordon, Town Major, Dublin, is about to
be appointed to the command at Netley Hospital.—
A captain's commission has been placed at the disposal of
Mr. Childers by the unexpected death of Captain Dacres
Bevan. Brigadier-General Donald Stewart is likely to
have an Indian command. It is not improbable that the
Indian brigade vacant b the death of Colonel W.
Fenwick, C. 8., 10th Regiment, will be offered
to Colonel H. C. Brewster, 76th Regiment. A
vacancy has occurred amongst the aides-de-camp
to the Queen by the death of Colonel E. Tomkinson.
The final decision as to whether it is desirable to retain
the Ist battalion 60th Rifles in Canada, rests with
Major-
General Lindsay and the Canadian Government. Up to
the present time nothing has been heard from that
officer upon the subject. It is understood that th 4
court-martial held in Jamaica on Purveyor Pooleje
cashiering that officer has been confirmed. ,

A telegram from Corunna says that the British
squadron has left in a northerly direction, but it is believed
that it will proceed to Lisbon.

An ingenious American has discovered a nevripe
to which old paper may be applied—namely, to the con-
struction of coffins. The paper is reduced to a pulp, rolled
out to the requisite thickness, saturated with oil, baked,
japanned, and polished. It thus becomes hard, and capable
of resisting all ordinary destructive agencies, and is thought
to be imperishable. Another American has made a dis-
covery which promises to be of more important—namely,
that pulp for paper may be prepared from wood. Trees,
after being denuded of their bark, are cut up into blocks
an inch long and broad, and half an inch thick. They are
then steamed and crushed into pulp, care being taken
that they shall be so arranged that the fibre may be pre-
served.—Once a Week.

A VALUABLE DISCOVERY.—A remarkable manu-
script has been found in the Imperial Library of Paris,
bearing date May 13, 1665, the authenticity of which is
vouched for, and which seems to establish a bitter repug-
nance on the part of Louis XIV. to the dogma of Papal
Infallibility. The document describes an interview
between the grand Monarch and the Pope's Nuncio, in'
the course of which his Majesty raised his arm, clenched
his fist, and threatened still more cogent argumerits ,• the
provobation laving been an explicit, claim put forth by
the Nundo to infallibility, and superiority over temporal
Sovereigns in behalf `Orhis master, The pride and per-
sonal desires of Kings, from Henry VIII. down, did
. .
more than the enlightenment of their peopie,,to sap
those lofty . pretensions, which even now shew:. sucti,
wonderful signs of vitality.—New York Times.
DISAPPOINTED PHILOSOPHERS. Mr. Carlyle,
like Joeeph Mazzini, has resolved in the end of his days
that it is a hard thing to make the world any better than
it was when he knew it first, and that it is likely to go on
in something of the old style for some come to come. His
grand scheme of colonisation is only a theory as yet, the
British Government preferring to go on with its parlia-
mentary palaver to the Day of Judgment." But Carlyle
differs from Mazzini in one respect—he gives up any
further speculation, and will worry himself no more about
such a crazy world; while Mazzini, though with dimin-
ished hopes, works on as before over his weary correspon-
dence, and refuses to give up the ship. He will die, like
Macbeth, " with harness on his back." Both know, what
all old men must, that the world can get forward some-
how without them or their ideas ; though, no doubt, each
in his manner has done or said some notable things in the
way of helping it along.—New York Times.
AN AMERICAN JOKE.—The New York papers
publish the following despatches :—" Indianopolis, May
4.—Yesterday evening the following note was dropped
from a balloon, high in the air, moving in a south-east
Apriladirl
about
owe uc
att
si
2o
08nn,
fastened ,
efnoeraanr
dM
Newoatn-o
Yorkht paa el,
flipe rp
pound
, cmßeuelntaodcw k f:
_f wt ohsro doaa
ddiCl
veoaedmunr
sndret yf. r
oiw
ir,
Limonnna
fdt
ahs: i soaStatewaweighing.s
rnotin tboy,
ge
a sudden movement of' the balloon
as near as Incould determine, in
tthhreoswoUi out.theni I
par of suppose,
Michigan. Not knowing how to
manage the ship, it has been tossed to and fro in all direc-
tions since he fell out. I am alone, and- earthly power
cannot save me. I drop these lines, hoping some human
will find them and communicate to my family tidings of
my fate. To Heaven I commit my soul. Please send this
note to Ralph Lawrence, Upper Canada. Signed,
BERTHA LAWRENCE. Toronto, Ontario, May s.—No
balloon started from here on the 28th of April for New
York or anywhere else."