The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-18 00:00:00

The Staff College•

....
The followiug general order has been promulgal

for general information :
" Horse Guards, Dec. 31, 1866.
" The following regulations regarding the examination
of officers who may be candidates for admission to the
Staff College in February, 1868, are published for general
information. There will be vacancies for 15 officers, two of
whom may belong to the Royal Artillery, provided they
are among tho 15 highest on the list. His Royal High-
ness the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief having,
with the concurrence of the Secretary of State for War
decided that, in future, a previous service of not less than
five years, exclusive of leave of absence,* shall be required
to render an officer eligible to be examined for admission
to the Staff College, the attention of officers commanding
at home and abroad is called to the decision, which was
embodied in the revised edition of the Staff College Regu-
lations, dated May 1, 1866. The certificates, 2,3, 4, speci-
fied in the Staff College Regulations, should, if possible,
accompany the officer's application ; but if the) are not
received at the Horse Guards by the 31st of July, with
a isatisfactory explanation of the delay, the officer's
examination will not be reported on by the Council of
Military Education. Officers serving iu the United
Kingdom who are desirous of entering the Staff Col-
lege will be examined in London on the 22d of July next
1 and the following days. Commanding officers of Royal
Artillery, and of all regiments and depots of cavalry,
r , guards, and lino, on the home station will forward to the
, 1 Adjutant-General, through the usual channel, for the con-

sideration of the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, the
applications of such officers as wish to compete for admis-
sion, together with the necessary certificates. Applications
th.ti 1110 101,11 J UUC, alter wnicu
date the officers approved by his Itoyal Highness will be
instructed to place themselves in communication with the
Council of Military Education, with a view to their receiving
the rules for the examination. Candidates wishing to be ex-
amined at foreign stations must send in their applications, so
that they may be received at the Horse Guards on or be-

fore the Ist of May. The examination papers will only be
sent out for those officers whose applicationsslall have been
thus received. The examination will commerce on the 22d
of July, or as soon after that date as the examination papers
shall be received from the Council of Military Education ;
but no examination will be allowed to commence after the
15th of August. A board of officers will be appointed at
the most convenient station of the district ty the general
officer in command, and will consist of three officers, one
of whom to be, when practicable, a Staff officer, having
the rank of field-officer, and the other two, if possible, not
under the rank of captain. Ono of those officers will belong
to one of the scientific corps, where any such officer can be
obtained. The questions are to be answerodin the presence
of the board. The board will give to each candidate a num-
ber, which he will affix to each of his examination papers,
instead of his name. Ile will retain the same number
throughout the examination. The board sill givqeuteosteanchs
on
candidateeach
subject
bjc paperet aof f:tthhee t printedm e examinationspei
fi edftr
io
t
the examina-
tion in that subject. The candidates rill write their
answers to the questions in the presenn of the board,
and their papers, together with the 'minted examina-
tion questions, will be collected at the hotr appointed, and
made up into a packet, which will be seated before being
taken from the examination room. The board will imme-
diately on the conclusion of the examinttion forward the
papers cf the candidates to the general offcer commanding,
anyforward the names
time
for transmission to the Council of Mikiliti:yinEtdhuecaetxiaomn,inaca--
ac-
companied by a certificate that the candilates obtained no
assistanceototn h.examination,a Te
e icandidates,
oamatersdb oweo°ki
ell a
a separateostPr °teedl ipnog with thdr index numbers
i nif
the same
f envelop c, for transmission
to the Council of Military Education. The following will
be the order of the examinations :
tt First Day—Military Drawing, three hours; Hindus-
tani, three hours.
"Second Day—Fortifications, three hours each examina-
tion.
" Third Day —Ma thematice, arithmetic (obligatory),
three hours ; algebra (obligatory), three hours.
" Fourth Day—Mathematics, Euclid (obligatory), three
hours ; (voluntary) first paper, three hours.
"Fifth Day—Mathematics (voluntary), second paper,
three hours ; military history and geography, first paper,
three hours.
" Sixth Day—Military history and geography, second
and third papers, three hours each examination.
" Seventh Day— French and chemistry, three hours each
examination.
" Eighth Day—German and geology; three hours each
examination.
" Tins examination in military history and geography
will comprise, as stated in General Order, dated Horse
Guards, Sept. 12, 1866, the following portions of military
history and geography,
viz. :-1. Campaign of 1812 in
Russia, with a detailed account of the passage of the Bare-
sine. 2. Campaign of 1813 in the,Peninsula, with the battle
of Vittoria in detail. N.B.—Candidates will be expected
have an accurate knowledge of the
geography of the sea,
of war in both campaigns,
with reference more especially
to military operations; and to make a rough sketch of any
portion of it that may be required, or of either of the battle-
fields named. There will be, in all cases, an interval of not
less than one hour between the two periods of examination
on each day. The papers will be collected at the ap-
pointed hours by a rnembor of the Board. Any candidate,
however, who may have finished his examination paper on
any subject before the hour named may deliver it into the
hands of a member of the Board. Candidates will bring
their writing and drawing materials, instruments, ecc., and
also the tables of logarithms they are in the habit of using.
No other books or notes of any description will be allowed
to be used. It is scarcely necessary to observe that no com-
munication whatever will be allowed between the candidates
at the examination. Officers commanding regiments abroad
are at once to transmit to the general officer in command,
in sufficient time to allow of its reaching the Horse
Guards on or before May 1, a return of the officers desi-
rous of competing, together with a medical certificate of
good health and fitness for tho active duties of the Staff.
Such officers will then bo ordered to join at headquarters
for examination, or at any other places which may be
selected for the convenience of those at the more distant
stations. General officers commanding at foreign stations
will place no restrictions upon officers competing further
than the exigencies of the service may absolutely require.
It will be understood that the rule by which only one
officer can be spared from a battalion at a time for the pur-
pose of studying at the Staff College does not apply to can-
didates from battalions which have officers now at the
College, but whose course of study will terminate in De-
cember next.
" General officers commanding at foroigh stations will

"* This is not to apply to th,J ush3l leave of Absence
annually granted to officers."