The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-29 00:00:00

TH-E ARMY.

The annexed circular re,pecting relisrous instruc-
tion in the army scho:ili his been i•suecl frnn the

War-office "
Sir,—The Secretary of State fr.r War having
decided to alter the •erms of art. 38 of the Army
Schoal Regulations of July, 1857, so as to separate
that part which relates to religious instruction from
that part which relates to the general attendance,
and at the same time remove any doubt which may
exist as to the perfect equality and freedom of
members of alt religious denominations in respect-
to tl.e former, I am directed by Major-General Peel
to forward to you the encloged regulation which is
to be substituted for she tic!e in question.
" I am to take this opportunity of adding that
Major-General Pet-1 is of opinion that it will tend
to promote the efficiency of army schoo!s if, in
every regiment and garrison where there is no 1.031
assistant-inspectr, it be made the duty of some
one officer, besides the ( rderly officer—if possible
one who will voluntarily undertake it—to visit
them periodically during the hours of attendance,
and to call the attention of the commanding officer
to all circumstances which he may observe. or
-which rnay be pointed out to him by the schoolmss
ter as susceptible of improvement. If the ruttter
is one which cannot be remedied by the influence
and authority of the commandiNg officer, the
monthly school reports furnish him with the oppor-
tunity of calling the attention of the Secretary of
State toit.—l have, " B. HAWES."

" To be substi•uted for Art. 38.
"1. The schoolmaster will open the school at
nine a.m. with the Lord's Pr.yer, w th or without
the addition of one or more collects from the 130,-,lt
of Common Prayer, or with one of the forms of
prayer which may be expressly auth,rised for thi,

purpose.
"2. He will proceed to given collective Bible
lesson, or to tead and explain a short pa sage of
Holy Scripture taken from the authorised or Do
Sol

Torsion.
" 3. The attendance of adults at this instruction
will be entirely voluntary.
"4. The parents of children who are not of the
Same religious persuasion as the schoolmaster will
be at liberty to send such children to scl 00l at the
hour for commencing general
9.30 a.m., and not a' the hour for opening school ;
so that there may be uo impediment to he advan
tage. of religious instruction beisg extended to such
adults and children as are desirous of receiving it.
"5. The same principle to apply to infant
schoole.
"6. On twodays in each week, of which Saturday
shall not be one, there will be an hour set apart
for specific religious instruction under clerical di-
rection, in which the participatiou of the schse.l-
- 18 to be voluntary. At these hews the offi-
ciating chaplains to the fore s, the Roman Catbol,c
clergy, and the mieisters of any denomina ion
belonging to places of worship to which the troops
are marched on Sunday, will be at liberty to at end,
and to form separate classes of adults or children of
theirown respective persuasions, on a general notice
given previously to the commanding officer, who
will direct in what place they wil assemble their
respective classes.
" No. 7. No secular instruction, whether literary
or industrial, is to be carried en in the same room
during its employment for the purpose of religious
instruction."
Another trial of the 36-inch mortar was made
yesterday morning in Woolwich Marsh. The ex-
periments commenced at 11 o'clock and terminat-d
at 1.30, with a charge of 501 b. of powder, &c.,
which obtained a range, as on former occasions, ot
about 340 yards to each 101 b. ot powder. A minute
examination of the wedgfet, keys, rings, &c. having
been made and pronounced " all right," a second
charge of 601 b. of powder, etc., was introduced
The second round, like the first, was h'ghly success-
ful, the range in this ins ante exc eling 2,000
yards, the shell aliglying la-yond the but., in a
ditch which separates the marsh from the adjoining
property, and creating a tremendous eruption of
water, black earth, &e. According to the prescribed
arrangement of adding 11b. of powder to each suc-
cessive charge, the third round contained 701 b.,
and although the monster gun had stood tht first
two rounds well, an additional regree of cau ion
was observed by every one present to stand clear of
its proximity the instant the match was ignited.
The effect of the third roun I was less successful, as
one of the steel cotters broke asunder, and was ren-
dered useless ; but as the former experiments bad
shown the necessity of being provided against a
similar casualty, the broken key was replaced, with
some slight delay, by a second, wrought
of malleable cast iron, supposed to be
more durable. The mortar was then reloaded
with an 801 b. charge, and fired with apparent
success,_ the shell agren mounting high in the air
and taking a flight over 2,758 yards, considerably
exceeding a mile a half. The elvation of the
mortar was frequently varied, and was ultimately
reduced from 48 deg. 30 min. to 45 deg. At this
stage of the proceedings it was f, and impossible to
carry on the experiments, as one of the main stays
intended to secure the various segments constitut-
ing the barrel of the mortar was bt okai, and one
of the principal melees or cotters, a foot and a half
in length, had escaped. The bugles were then
sounded, and Lieutenant Wilton and the detach-
ment of mounted orderlies and sentries under his
command in charge of the range were c4lerl in and I
matched oil the ground, and a conan.ttee was
formed to consult on the expediency and practice-
bility of a continuation of the trial on same future
occaßlen.
The wives and families belonging to the sth
company, 12th battalion, Royal Artillery, wbo are
now on service in India, havingbeen left in 'Wool-
wich, to the number of between 30 and 40 families,
are suffering great distress in consequence of some
unaccountable irregularity in forwarding the
vouchers necessary for the receipt of the allowances
made by the men in India. Although in regular
receipt of letters informing the poor w men of the
despatch of the monthly sums for their benefit,
they have not been able to receive any since Feb-
ruary last.
In consequence of the lards number of troops
who have recent'y left Cha•listn to embark for
India, the duty at thst garrison has pressed so
severely on those troops belonging to the East
India depots now stationed there that orders have
keen issued for the officers and men of the Itsyal
and East India Company's Engineers to take the
greater part of the guards every Sunday, at d the
whole of the officers and men under rifle instruc-
tion to take the duties every Saturday. By this
arrangement most of the regular duty men at
Chatham will obtain an additional two nights in
bed in each week.
The brigantine Gulner, with 4I militaty ievalids
from Bermula, arrived in Plyni, nth Sound en
Tuesday evening • Three soldiers died on entering
the Channel, when severe weather was experienced.
The Rev. Mr. Anderson has taken up his ap-
pointment as chaplain to the Presby'erian tt oops
at Chatham garrison.