The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDN ESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 4, 1860.

211 E NAVY.

The Castor; 36, one of the three vessels selected
by the Admiralty from the fleet lying in ordinary
at Chatham, to be used as training ships for the
Naval' Coast Volunteers, has been brought up to
Chatham Dockyard from the ordinary, to be fitted
and brought forward for the service for which she
is intended. She will be supplied with only her
maindeck guns, as the whole of her armament will
not be required. It is intended for the Castor to
be stationed in the Thames, and as soon as she has
been completed the Trincomalee, 34, and the Bril-
liant, 20, will be towed from Gillingham Reach to
Chatham Dockyard to be made ready and supplied
with heavy guns, both these vessels being ordered
to be fitted for the same service.
The Charybdis, 21, screw corvette, being fitted at
Chatham for the first division of the steam reserve,
has taken on board her armament, and is now ship-
ping her shot, shell, and other stores required for
that service.
' The screw frigate Galatea, 26, in dock at Chat•
ham, being fitted for the steam reserve, has a large
number of artificers employed on her, and although
she has only been docked but a short time, great
progress is making in completing her for that ser-
vice.

The annual competitive examination for appren-
tices in Chatham Dockyard has jest been com-
pleted, when the number of condidates who pre-
sented themselves for entry was 40, the selection
being made by the Admiralty.
The Basilisk, 6, paddle, Commander George, A.
Phayre, arrived at Spithead yesterday morning
from Jamaica, from which port she sailed on the
26th of November. All her news has been antici-
pated by the arrival of the last mail steamer. She
brings home 12 seamen volunteers from merchant
vessels on the station. Capt. Phayre reports having
experienced terrific weather offthe Western Islands.
The Icarus, 11, screw, arrived at Spithead yester-
day from the eastward, and exchanged the custo-
mary salutes with the Victory, bearing the flag of
Admiral Bowles, C.B.
The Immortalite, 51, screw, yesterday commenced
taking in her boilers under the steam crane in the
steam basin at Portsmouth. The four boilers weigh
107 tons.
The Rhadamanthus, Master-Com. Pullen, arrived
at Portsmouth yesterday with machinery, &c.
A letter written from H.M.S. Lynx, dated at
Zamibou, Oct. 23, says :---" On our arrival here we
found a war going on between the Sultan and his
brother, the latter having possession of the town.
The Assaye steam-frigate, lying here, landed 100
men, and we landed 50, with a gun and rockets,
under Lieut. Barclay, the whole forming a field de-
tachment. The rebels were driven out o the town,
and the Sultan's brother taken prisoner. He has
been conveyed in the Assaye to Muscat."
A court-martial assembled yesterday morning on
board H.M.S. Victory, in Portsmouth harbour, for
the trial of Lieut. T. W. Simeon, of H.M.S. Perse-
verance, on the following charge :—" For that he,
the said Lieut. T. W. Simeon, a lieutenant in full
pay on board her Majesty's ship Perseverance, did,
on or about the 2d November, 1859, on board the
said ship, act in a manner unbecoming an officer and
a gentleman, in falsely stating to Mr. W. T. Wilson,
surgeon of the. said ship, that a claim which Mr.
Watkins, landlord of the Commercial Hotel, Port-
sea, then had upon the said Lieut. Simeon, was a
claim upon him by a creditor in London, from
whom he had not expected so sudden a call, as the
debt was of recent date, which statement he at the
time knew was false, but upon the faith of which
statement the said W. T. Wilson consented to
become responsible on behalf of the said Lieute-
nant Simeon in respect or account of such claim."
The Court was composed of Captain George T.
Gordon (second in command of her Majesty's ships
and vessels at Portsmouth), President ; capts. R.
Harris, A. Farquhar, R. S. Hewlett, C. 8., C. F.
Hillyar, and C. J. E wart ; with Mr. W. F. Hellyar,
Deputy-Judge-Advocate. Mr. Hoskins, solicitor,
of Gosport, acted as the prisoner's " friend." The
Court, having heard the evidence for the prosecu-
tion and defence, found the charge against the
prisoner Not Proved.
The Admiralty have ordered a trial of Coston's
night signals on board the• Channel Fleet, and Ad-
miral Sir Charles Fremantle has appointed a board
composed of the following officers to report on it:
—Capt. H. Caldwell, her Majesty's ship Mersey ;
Capt. J, N. Strange, her Majesty's ship Mars; and
Capt. H. J. Lacon, her Majesty's ship Royal Albert.
These signals have already had a preliminary trial
at Woolwich before Commodore Drummond, and
ware favourably reported on. They have for some
time been in use on board the United States' squad-
ron, by order of the United States' Navy Depart-
ment. The signals consist of a firework, or com-
bination of two or three coloured lights (white, red,
or green), contained in a small case. They are held
horizontally at arms' length, on a stick or handle,
and when lighted burn with great brilliancy and
distinctness, the change of colour being instantaneous
The smaller sized signals may be distinguished at
from four to six miles, and the larger size from six
to ten miles' distance.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty : Capt. G. E. Patey to the
Cumberland, vice Capt. Halsted,: whose period of
service has expired ; Capt. H. D. Rogers to the
Centurion, vice Capt. Patey ; Lieut. Frederick W.
Wilson to the Mersey ; Lieut. William B. A. F.
Paterson and Lieut. John J. Gregory to the
Alacrity; Lieut. William Jardine, Lieut. T. W.
Chapman, and Lieut. I. S. Trotter to the Nile;
Chas. J. Po]kinghorne master to the Nile ; James
Rusden master to the Mersey ; Thos. Pounds master
to the Alacrity; Algernon Yockley and John Osland,
assist. clerks, to the Marlborough; Angerstein A.
Lyne, assist. clerk, to the Centurion ; G. Robinson,
assistant clerk to the Fismard ; IV. A. Stevens, as-
sistant clerk, to the Wellesley ; Arthur S. Ramsey,
assistant clerk, to the Hawke; George E. Marcon,
Edward Robinson, Richard Harris, and Henry
George Stembridge, assistant clerks, to the Chesa-
peake.

" lIONOU_R TILE BRAVE."

(From the Ttmea.)

" Paimam qui nieritit ferat" is a motto which
used to be in high repute among military men, and
may, for aught we kno*, be so still. Nothing can
be more praiseworthy, nothing more natural, than
that the veterans of the British army, who have
earned their country's flag in triumph over many a
well-fought field, should in their old .age receive
honorary—aye, and substantial rewards from the
hands of a grateful nation, Surely there can be no
higher incentive to younger men to follow in their
footsteps than when we see -these noble champions
rewarded according to their deserts. It would in
deed be disheartening if the best soldiers of the
nation were left to pine in their old age, when the
once stalwart arm is weak, and the eye which one's
flashed over a battle-field with.eagle glance is dull
and dim. How miserable a prospect for those
who could not hope to emulate their glory without
the consciousness that a time must come when
they too would be cast aside like an old garment
and forgotten! The country will surely unite
in applauding two appointments which have lately
been made by the military authorities. It is a
matter of notoriety and subject for regret that
there are so few opportunities of rewarding in
their old age those distinguished officers who have
deserved well of their country.. The coloneleies
of regiments are some of the few prizes which
can be distributed among our worthiest veterans.
Great care therefore is taken that they shall never
be bestowed upon un‘orthy regipients. ,We have
to call attention to two recent'-' instances in which '
the privilege of selection and recommendation has
been worthily exercised at the Horse Guards. It
was not long since the Earl of Cardigan, in acknow-
ledgment of his valuable and distinguished services
in the Crimea—more especially on the fatal day of
Balaklava.—was presented with the Colonelcy of
the sth Dragoon Guards. The reward was cumu-
lative, for this illustrious warrior held at the time,
and still holds, the office of Inspector-General of
Cavalry. But what honours could be equal to his
transcendent merits ? His military career has been
distinguished by a happy union of valour and pru-
dence above all praise.
Scarcely had the Cavalry in the British service
been gratified by this appointment when an oppor-
tunity occurred of stimulating the ardour of the In-
fantry. The Colonelcy of the 82d Regiment fell
vacant, and it became a question, where all were so
brave, who was the bravest among so many dis-
tinguished officers,—who had earned the highest
distinction ? The doubt was but momentary. An
instant's reflection sufficed to convince the Horse
Guards that when such a question was raised Gene-
ral Ashburnham's claims set all rivalry at defiance.
Omitting all mention of the previous incidents of
his career, had he not in a recent instance, when
the fate of British India was trembling in the
balance, by that skilful retrograde movement upon
the deck of the homeward-bound steamer struck
terror into the minds of the foe ? Had he not—so
burning was his patriotism, so overpowering his
love of his native land—hurried back to the shores
of England, without regard to those rigid rules of
military service which are only binding on the pen-
dant and the martinet ? Whatever difference of
opinion may have existed at the time as to the pro-
priety of this -step, the authorities at the Horse
Guards have at length proclaimed it as their deli-
berate opinion that General Ashburnham is the
officer whom, above all others, the British nation
sthheouglidvedresl iogfhtth teo honour. s
etow oo ur. I is o
appointments
t
cannot a pity
o t
ohnaet
step further than they have done. We now know
that the Earl of Cardigan and General Ashburn-
ham are England's two bravest soldiers, but of the
twin heroes who is the better man ?

MILITARY ORGANIZATION.

(FROM THE TIMES' CORRESPONDENT LATE WITH
TIIE FRENCH ARMY IN ITALY.)
At this moment, when the martial spirit of Eng-
land has been aroused, when every one is thinking
of national defences, increase of the army, organiza•
tion of volunteer corps, and when all those who
have something to say on the ma tter are coming
forward to promote this work, I hope you will like-
wise accept some remarks which I have to offer in
this respect, and which may serve to illustrate this
all-absorbing subject from a different point of view.
I present them not aS a system, but as stray thoughts,
suggested by observations made during the two
great wars of our times—namely, the war in the
East and the late Italian campaign.
We see on these two occasions the four most
powerful nations of Europe, besides two second-rate
Powers, display their military resources in the field
after 40 years of peace. Each of these nations had
had, indeed, one or more smaller wars during that
long period of peace—England in India, France in
Algeria, Russia in the Caucasus, against Turkey,
Persia, and in Hungary ; Austria against Piedmont
and in Hungary; but in each of these cases the
strength between the two combatants was so dis-
proportionate that it does not offer a fair compari-
son as to the real advantages and shortcomings of
their military organization, which could only be
judged of in a trial where the forces were more
equally balanced.
The result of this trial was evinced by the fact
that, before even the Crimean war was over, com-
missioners were sent by England to inquire into
the causes which produced the failure, and the
country itself took up warmly the subject of military
organisation. Immediately after the Eastern war
the Emperor of Russia also appointed a commission
to inquire into the abuses and maladministration
of his army, in consequence of which almost all the
officers in high command were either dismissed, or
at any rate fell into disgrace; and now, a few
months after the short Italian campaign, we see
Austria intent on re-organizing altogether ier army,
even to the uniforms. That is, three out of the four
great Powers found their army not " up to the
mark" the first time it was called upon to show its
efficiency in the field.
The only Power which stood the test on both oc-
casions, and under entirely different circumstances,
was France. Herorganisation proved goodin a long
siege, carried on at 2,000 miles fromher shores, and
it proved itself efficient in a short and brilliant cam-
paign in the open field. These two occasions offered
almost every species of trial to which an army can
be subject—camping out in a severe winter on an
inhospitable shore, subjectto all kinds of privations,
forced marches under an Italian sun, tedious trench
duties and roadmaking, brilliant attacks, and ob-
stinate defences ; and through all these trials the
French army passel successfully enough to insure
ultimate victory.
In the face of such facts, and with such an ex-
ample before us, one of the first things seems to me
to be to inquire to what the superiority of the
French organisation is owing. Indeed, this thought
is so naturally suggested that it must occur to every
one.
Your own .columns in the years 1855-6, afford
sufficient proof that the expediency of such an in-
quiry was understood by the British public, and by
the pressure of this latter it was communicated like-
wise to the military authorities. The press was teem-
ing with correspondence, letters, articles and remarks
on the subject, making comparisons between the
military organisation of France and England, sug-
gesting improvements in the latter on the model of
the former in some points, and showing the impos-
sibility of applying to the British army the French
system in others. It may be supposed that the sub-
ject was likewise taken into consideration by the
War Department, for divers changes since made
show traces of the influences of such a study.
There has been no occasion as yet to show whe-
ther this inquiry has practically produced salutary
remits or not, but I hope to be able to show that it
has not been followed by all the advantages which
might have been expected from it, and that the
great lesson which the inquiry ought to have
taught has been altogether overlooked.
By an effort which England had made her army
at the end of the war was, according to outward
appearances at least, in as fine a condition as any
army ever has been. Sceptics, indeed, suggested
that if it took the field the results would be not
much different from those attained before ; but most
people contented themselves with the idea that it has
always been, and must always be so—that England
must needs sacrifice her first army before she can
create a second efficient one. The spirit of inquiry
was by degrees allayed by this consoling thought,
and the general convict:on produced by it was that
England is England and France is France; each
has her own genius, and must have accordingly her
own organisation—a result, I believe, which might
have been obtained almost without the trouble of
inquiry.
If this result was so small, it is owing, according
to my opinion, to the circumstance that the inquiry
was not undertaken in the spirit in which it ought to
have been pursued ; that it started from a wrong
principle, and lost itself in details. It began where
it ought to have ended—namely, by the question,
" Wbat is there in the French organisation that

might be conveniently adopted in England?" instead
•f beginning with a study of the history and spirit
of the French military organisation, taking it in
4iti ensemble first before it descended to details.
It pulled to pieces the machinery, and examined
wheel by wheel and spring after spring, while the
success of the machinery lies not in one or another
part, but in the fitness of the whole engine, and
consequently it did not comprehend the true prin-
ciples of it.
With your permission I will endeavour to place
this Lefore your readers.
When the great European war was brought to a
close, in 1815, the victors, great and small, lay down
on their laurels, full of the consciousness of their
superiority, and lulled by the sweet hope of having
attained the greatest amount of perfection in their
military organisation. They had beaten down the
legions of the modern conqueror of Europe, and all
that now remained seemed to be to keep up the
system which had 'done such wonders.
While this was the case of the victors in the rest
of Europe the very reverse of it took place in France,
the vanquished. Her great military organisation
had broken down, and left only the debris of that
powerfitl 'machinery, which made Europe tremble
so often, but which had been nsod up. Even under
ordinary circumstances it would have been diffi-
cult, nay, almost impossible, to come back to the
past ; but there were peculiar political conditions
which not only were in • the way of such a• course,
but which propelled altogether in an opposite direc-
tion. It was not only the imperial legions which
had Leen destroyed Eby the battle of Waterloo, but
the empirelikewise, and the Restoration which suc-
ceeded came back with a feeling of hatred and ven•
geance against anything connected with the empire
and with revolution. So high did this spirit run in
the beginning that, had itbeen possible, these very
names and everything which reminded of them
would have been 'eliminated from France. Like
Sultan Mahmoud, who, after the destruction of the
Janissaries, • had the tombstones abraded which
bore on them the distinctive turban of these de-
tested Pretorians, the powers that ruled then in
France were ready to do anything to efface the 25
years which had preceded.
The result of this disposition was a complete re-
organisation of the French army ; all the Bonapar-
tist elements were carefully eliminated from it, and
every effort made to break the thread of tradition.
It was a hard struggle, but as by degrees the 01E1
dropped off and new men succeeded the purpose
was, in the space of a decennium, effected
Fortunately for the French army, there were
some principles in its organisation dating from
the revolutionary epoch which were so deeply
rooted that the reaction in all its omnipotence,
supported as it was by a foreign occupa-
tion, did not dare to touch them. There were,
besides, many parts in the military organisation
and administration introduced by the genius of
the First Napoleon so adapted to the purpose
and suitable to the ideas of the French people that
they were kept up in principle, modified in details,
and changed merely to be improved. The men
charged with this task were most of them the gene-
rals of the great captain, but who had rallied round
the new dynasty ; they studied now to combine
their own experience in military matters with the
new state of things in which France found herself.
The result of all this was that at the time when
all other nations almost of Europe were only intent
on keeping up her old traditions, France remodelled,
and in many respects improved, the Napoleonic
system, bringing it into harmony with the necessi-
ties of the situation.
The military promenade in Spain in 1823 was not
an occasion to show the efficiency of the new system ;
but those who saw it might have already brought
back the conviction that France had entered a new
road in her military organisation—that while else-
where people dwelt with delight on their old vic-
tories, France was preparing for new ones.
This tendency to progress, this endeavour to
adapt the military institutions to the wants of the
times which manifested itself already, received new
stimulus after 1830, the year of the first occupation
of Algeria. As it would have been wrong to see in
the army of the Restoration the continuation of that
of the Empire, so it would be wrong to see in that
of to-day that of the Restoration. The year 1630
is the starting point of the present French army,
and that since that time there is scarcely one single
thing, either in arms, accoutrements, manoeuvres,
system of promotion, organisation, or administra-
tion of the different branches of the service, which
has not been thoroughly remodelled or altogether
changed. These last 30 years were one continual
study to make the single soldier, as well as the whole
system, efficient. Inventions were made to supply
deficiencies, chance discoveries were applied to use-
ful purposes ; the great advance in mechanics, in-
dustry, and manufacture was put into requisition ;
improvements made by other nations were studied,
adopted, and perfected.
It would be too long to go through this list of
changes one by one ; it will be sufficient to bring
forward some, in order to show the true reason of

the superiority of the French army in its organisa-
tion.

The fatigues, heat, and bivouacs of Algeria soon
convinced the French military authorities of .the
absurdity of encasing the soldier in clothes which
do not allow the free action of every limb, and we
see the result of this conviction in the loose trou-
sers and the comfortable capote of the French sol-
dier; marching in sand or mud for long hours ne-
cessitates light shoes, easily taken off and put on,
and the soldier has them, and light leather gaiters
besides, to protect the ankles, at the same time to
tuck the trousers in. All sensible people have come
to the conviction that cheap things are not the most
economical in the end, and you see the French
soldier's uniform made of a stout but rather elastic
cloth, something like light pilot cloth ; every ar-
ticle of his uniform not only lasts twice the time it
did before, but his health likewise is better. Means

of transport is a great difficulty in all campaigns.
but more especially against Arabs and Kabvles.
Instead, therefore, of starting from the premise that
such and such means of transport were required for
the soldier, the soldier has been taught to carry
everything which he wants. The tente d'abri was
invented to dispense with this encumbrance, and
the soldier accustomed to depend upon himself even
for his food for several days. It required no great
acumen to see thnt a human being stiffened accord-
ing to the practice of the old school would succumb
under the load, and paces were accordingly adapted
to this self-evident truth.
It was found that the tin ordinaire of La Belle
France was injurious in the climate of Algeria, and
that the natives used coffee as a stimulant. It was

tried, and found to answer, not only in Algeria, bu
everywhere else, being the most harmless stimulant
and enabling the soldier to fight a long day at Sol
ferino or stand a wet day of Crimean trenches.
The Arabs were no match for the regular French
soldier, but it was often difficult to reach them.
They made up by quickness what they wanted in
steadiness. Well might the War Ministry shrue,its
shoulders at the poor ignorant beings, but it did
not; on the contrary, it stooped:down to learn from
these poor benighted creatures how to fight in loose
order and make the most of individual strength
and agility, as well as of the obstacles of the
ground. One Captain Minie, invented a new arm,
or, if you like, adapted an old one to the pur-
pose, and the two together have reformed the man-
ner of fighting.
Some of those who had seen this loose warfare in
Africa were put together to devise a new system for
the new arm, and the Chasseurs de Vincennes were
organised. It was found that this new mode of
fighting required not less but rather more qualities
than the old machine system, and that in an army
raised by conscription this could not be applied,
thus the Zouave Volunteers were imagined, and the
Tirailleurs Indigenes.
But if all that large army could not be made into
picked troops, it was not necessary that the great
majority should remain automatons, especially after
the more general introduction of the rifle, and in-
sensibly, without changing the ordonnance of 1831,
all the French army adopted more or less this looser,
or more properly freer, order of fighting and march-
ing of the picked troops. It was a necessity engen-
dered by the arms of precision.
One Lancaster in England succeeded in making
a rifled gun which 'did not prevent the French
army, four years after, having their whole artillery
on the model of a rifled gun, which answered cx-
tremely well.
It would be too long were I to continue to enu-
merate all the changes, but those already adduced
will show the real reasons of the French superiority,
which lies in the application of a very few principles
applicable to all countries.
The first of these is that the military systems of
standing armies, like everything else, have to follow
the spirit of the age, and that the race in this matter
belongs to the swiftest.
That our age, which is so often accused of mate-
rialism and egotism, has given a value to the indi-
vidual, as such, which he never possessed before ;
that consequently it would be folly to keep up the
machine system, which was formerly the pattern of
standing armies.
That in this age of wonderful material develop-