The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-04 00:00:00

A notification has been received at Chatham gar-
riion from the Horse Guards that the following
campaigns will form the subject of examination in
military history and geography at the examination
for admission to the Staff College, to be held in
July, 1868 :-1. Campaign of 1813 in Germany,
with the battle of Dresden, in detail. 2. Campaign
of 1814 in Champagne, with the operations against
Blucher, 7th to 15th February, in detail. Candi-
dates will be expected to have an accnrate know-
ledge of the geography of the seat of war in both
campaigns, with reference more especially to mili-
tary operations, and to make a rough skAeh of any
portion of it that may be required.
Assiz,t. Commissary-General J. 11. Sale has been
appointed to the head of the Commissariat Depart-
tnetit at Chatham, and yester lay joined at that
gArri,on, relieving Assist. Cominisary-General A.
%V. Downes., who is about to proceed with the
Ahrsitiian Expedition.
lirevet-Maj,,r J. Thompson, 50th Qneen's Own
Regiment, with a detachment of 100 non-commis-
sioned officers and men, have proceeded from Cha-
tham to Milton barracks, for the purpose of under-
going a course of instruction in the use of the Snider
breech-loading rifle, relieving a similar detachment
of the Ist battalion of the Bth Regiment, under the
command of Capt. W. J. Watson, the• officers and
men of whicli have completed their course of rifle
instruction and re-joined at the garrison. _

Nos. 11 and 12 troops of the Military Train, at
Aldershott, are held in readiness to move from the
camp at an early date. The former will proceed to
Ireland, and the latter to Shorncliffe. They will be
replaced at Aldershott by Nos. 5 and 21 troops, from
Woolwich.

The detachment of the B troop of the Royal
Rigineer Train, at present stationed at Shorncliffe,
will return to Aldershott on the arrival of No. 12
troop of the Military vain.
The following changes have just occurred in the
AldershQtt division :—Major-Gen. Hodge, C. 8., has
assumed the command from the Ist inst., during
the absence on leave of Lieut.-Gen. the Hon. Sir
James Yorke Scarlett, K.C.B. ; Col. Wyatt, C. 8.,
65th Regiment, has taken over the command of the
21 Infantry Brigade from the 2d inst. Assist. Com-
missary-General Irvine is temporarily detached from
the Alderzhott division on special service in Spain.
Deputy-Assist. Commissary-General Cattell, having
been placed under orders for the West Coast of
Africa, is struck off the strength of the division from
the Ist inst. Lieut. Douglas, 15th fluzsars, has
been granted leave of absence from the 31st of
August to the 30th of September, 1867, pending his
retirement from the service.

Attention is called in " divisional orders," at
Aldershott, in the instruction for volley and tile
firing, as laid down at pages 171-2 of " Field Exer-
cise." It is recommended that, whenever practicable,
volley firing shall be performed by both ranks kneel-
ing, and file firing by the front rank kneeling.

Since the augmentation of pay to the army the
number of men who have weekly been sworn before
the magistrates for renewed service has been very
considerable. It is understood that the extra pay
will be given to all men who have taken their dis-
charge since the Ist of April, and that all men will
receive an additional penny from the date of their
re-engagement. The whole camp now wears a con-
tented air, no doubt one effect of the increased pay.
The next boon to the soldier has not yet been sug-
gested, but at Aldershott it might be made to con-
sist in the exemption of old well-drilled soldiers from
field evolutions, except on special occasions.
The duties of the Board of Admiralty being
nearly completed, several of the members have left
Devonport. Yesterday morning the First Lord,
Mr. Corry, M.P., and the First Sea Lora, Sir A.
Milne, K.C.8., left their yacht, the Enchantress,
shortly after 10 o'clock, and witnessed some gun-
nery practice on board the Cambri lge, Capt. the
Hon. F. A. C. Foley. From the gunnery ship they
went to the Armstrong gun drill ship Foudroyant,
to the iron turret ship Prince Albert, 4, and the
training ship Impregnable, 78, Capt. F. S. 'From-
lett, where they were occupied some time inspe-'_A
ing the condition anal progress of the boy it is
understood that Mr. Corry an 1 Adaii:al
.liilue will
leave Plymouth to day in the 111:,-notaur for Bantry
Bay, and that their lordsl:Aips will be accompanied
by the Etiehantrev''
,'the Achilles, Bellerophon, Lord
Clyde, and Picas.
The hYdliaulic gun vessel Waterwitch, Com-
mandery,. Sharpe, made another trial yesterday
over
tt
measured miles in Stokes Bay, near Ports-

Inv
•')uth—this time by Admiralty directions—at a
.e trim of 2ft. by the stern. The ship's draught of
water was agreeably to these orders made to register
9ft. Din. forward, and 11ft. Din. aft, the mean im-
mersion of the ship being, therefore, not ir. excess
of that of her last trial, but rather one inch Lsa,
there being a less quanta), of co on bo trd by 15

tons than on the former trial. Commander Wells,
her Majesty's s4ipAsia,represented the commanding
officer of the steam reserve in charge ; Mr. Steil, the
Admiralty Inspector of Machinery Afloat, with Mr.
11 ernes, Assistant-Constructor of the Navy, were
present from the Admiralty ; Chief Inspectors of
Machinery Afloat John Ward, of the Portsmouth
steam factory department, and George Murdock, of
the steam reserves, attended to conduct and report
officially upon the result of the trial. Assist.-Master
S. W. Brain represented the shipwright department.
The only really important circumstances attending
the day's trials were the run of the ship over the
measured rnile with full-boiler power, as fixing the
mean rate of speed obtained. In all, 'or almost all,
trials of ships for speed over the measured mile
there is certainly a want of precise instruction as to
the time of tide at which a vessel must enter upon
her six, runs over the course. To say that if a vessel
is run three courses with the tile and three runs
against the tide must necessarily give a ship her
true rate of speed is giving expression to a most
absurd fallacy, if the state as well as the direction
of the title is not taken into proper consideration.
This latter course was precisely the one followed
yesterday in the trial of the Waterwitch,.and, most
unfortunately, it told seriously against the power,
whatever the extent of that may be, of the hydraulic
principle. Thus, it was high water at the buoys of
the measured mile in Stokes Bay not very long
before the ship was entered upon her runs, so that
.at 1 p.m., when she was on her first run from east
to \snit, she carried with her the first drain of the
ebb, the wind
.also being in the same direction as
the tile. At 230 p.m., when the ship had finished
her six runs for full speed, the tide was in its
.full
strength, running still westwarLL and would con-
tinue so for nearly two hours longer. The effect
of this. arrangement was that on each return run
from the westward theWaterwiLch had an enormous
disproportion of tide resistance, and the result of
such mal-arrangement is simply that she made a
much less rate of speed than she has made on any
previous trial. her magnificent engines worked, as
usual, with chronometer line regularity, smootlmess,
. and power, and her trim at the water-line was be-
lieved by those most qualified to judge to be that
most suitable for the ship'srapid progression through
the water. Under these circumstances there can be
but one explanation of her apparent deficiency in
speed, which is that the vessel was entered upon her
runs over the ineasuNd mile at too early a state of
The figures obtitined from
full-boiler power run Nveni

(ho vse,t-L.,:itig tick.

Time occupied in each run—No. 1, 6 in;n. 16 sec. ;
-NO. 2,.7wia. 30sec.; No. 3,6 min. Gacc. ; No 1, 7uain.
s'.?sec. ; *No. smin. bl,3ec. ; No: 6, thnin. 255ec.3.
speed of ship is each run-9-574, 8.000, 9.835,
7-660, 10-.10, 7.218. Moan !Vol of' ship, 8 879
knots. llivolations of hydr,tulic wheel, each run
—10.69, 41 20, 40.05, 40.59, 41.35, <ll.ll. Mean
steam pressure, 26.51 b. ; mean vacuum, 25.5 inches.
The wind W.t3 ffo:n S.E. at an average force of 3,
and therefore in exact direction with the title run-
ning westward over the course. Four runs at half-
boiler power over the mile gave the ship a mean
steed of 6 326 knots. On her last trial she obtained
a mean speed of 6-010 knots. The fact of the loss
of speed ou the full power runs and the gain on the
half-power runs would appear to confirm the truth
ofi our remarks on the necessity of starting a vessel
hero runs over a tidal course of water at a proper,
and eet iinproper, state of the tith. The loss of
sp4e'd by the on the full-power runs has already