The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-28 00:00:00

NAVAL AND 3IILITARY INTELLIGENCE

The General-Commanding-in-Chief will hold a
levee at one o'clock on Wednesday next.
Yesterday 1G non-commissioned officers ly:long-
ino• to the East India Company's Engineers, who
have completed a course of instruction in sapping
and mining and other engineering operations at
the head-quarters of the Royal Engineers, Bromp
ton-bstracks, left Chatham, and proceeded to the
E ,st India Company's depot at Warley, having
received orders to embark for service in India.
The Lords of the Admiralty have directed a 91-
gun line of-battle screw steamer, to be called the
Bulwark, to be laid down on No. 2 slip at Chat-
ham-dockyard. Owing to the large dimensions of
the propos:d steamer, the slip on which she is to
be built will bo kngthcni dat out 'c).O feet. The first
slip on which the Orpheus, 22, screw corvette, has
been laid down, is ordered to be lengthened in-
ward 25 feet.

The Monarch, 84, Capt. Patty, sailed yesterday
afternoon from Spithead for Sh-Trne,s to ly3 paid off.
The Imperieuie, 51, screw frig tte, will be un-
docked this day at Portsmouth and ptic.-q1 in the
steam basri to be completed for commission.
The Dauntless, 33, screw frigate, an,l the Fal-
con, 17, sloop, will go into do .k this dly at Poris-
Itmuth for refit.

The Ithadamanthus, steam stlreship, 111a-t2r-
Commander Sturde', left Pin tstri•Af h on Wednes-
day ev:niog for Plymouth with machinery and
boiler 3 for the Orlando, 51-gun frigate.
The Lightning, 3, paddle, airvecl. at Devoupnit
on Wednesday 'morning from l'inbroke,
the caulkers who ha,lben lent folio that yaad for
duty then.. She sailed again in the afternoon for
Pembroke.
The Sprightly, tender, Master Commander Geo.
Allen, is repairing defects in the steam bisin at
Portsmouth, where she is likely to be detained for
the next fortnight to make her 13)i!ers efficient.

The Royal yacht, in No. 8 dock, at Portsmouth,
is under canvas weather hou•ings to be decorated
and embellished for her Majesty's service during
the season.

The large screw steam frigate Alevey, 40, at
ChAtiam, has the whole straugth of the caulkers
emiloye‘.l oa h'r, in order .o !lave co:npleted
fer hunching with all de-patch.
From the circumstances of the long lapse of
time and the spoliation by v:sitors since the funeral
car of the Emperor Napaton was placed in t oe Royal
Reposi,ory at Woolwich, coupled with the fact of
there being no records nor sketch specifying the
precise st .te in which the relic was received after
the funeral in St. Helena, some difficulty has been
experienced in aseertainieg the peculiar species of
drapery and other ornaments with which the car
was decorated at the time, the whole of which are
now wanting. In the course of research for infor-
mation on the subjec, a pens.oner of the 66th Re-
giment, then under the command of Col. Nichol-
son, stationed as guard over the dethroned monarch,
has been discovered living in the Lady Grey-yard,
at Bexley-heath. This gallant veteran bears on his
person sundry scars, the result of many a hard-
fought battle in the Peninsula and at Waterloo,
and is now earning a precarious livelihood by sell-
ing watercresses &c., in Woolwich. His name is
Jas. Cooper, and although 83 years of age, he tra-
vels about 14 or 15 miles per day to procure and
dispose of his wares, and takes his stand at the gates
of the Arsenal at 7 o'clock in the morning, amid
the ordinary host of costermongers and others who
throng that vicinity. At the reduction of the army
he was allowed to retire on a pension of 9d. per
day. In addition to his services in the ranks he
acted as under coachman to Sir 11. Lowe, in which
capacity he attended the funeral ; and on being
questioned yesterday by Col. Tulloch, under whose
superintendence the car is about to be removed for
presentation to the people of France, he was en-
abled to state from recollection the details re-
quired.

- Capt. Lascelles' company of the 7th Battalion
Royal Artillery, Woolwich, yesterday went through
a first and second course of mortar practice, with
varied resuls, some of the shells, more especially
the 8 and 10 inch, falling from 30 to 60 yards dis-
tant from the target, while others struck within the
boundary, marked by a numbtr of small bannerols,
surrounding the foot of the flagstaff. These varia-
tions with a fixed elevation of the mortars were rea-
sonably accounted for by the effect which the moist
state of the weather had upon the power of the dis-
charge, and also the peculiar manner of laying the
charge of powder in the chamber of the piece.
A detachment of the Foot Artillery were yester-
day morning tAI off at an early hour, and were
marched down to Woolwic't-marsh for a continua-
tion of experimental firing at the targe's represent-
ing a column of so!diers. The brigade of Royal
Horse Artillery and the field-batteries went through
a field day's exercise of attack and defence of posi-
tion.

The fteghtship Apollo, from Birbadoes has dis-
charged her cargo of powder and war Mores at Wool-
wich, and is about to reship for Ne wfoundland.
Mr. Large, late Junior Assistant Master Ship-
wright at Woolwich, baying been promoted as As
sistaut-Surveyor of tiro Navy, is temporarily suc-
ceeded by Mr. S urdee, tha next senior officer of
the yard, to do duty until the appointment is p.,,r-
-maneutly filled by order of the Beard of Admiralty.
PORTSMOUTH.—TiIe troops of the garrisJnJto-
gether with the marines from G:sport, and the
field battLry from Hilsea' wee bri!.;aded on Sou h-
sea-col-ninon yrsteroay after..oon by Gent-ral Sir
James Yolk() &Atka, It is intended, weather
permit thin., that there shall be a field day every
Thursday during the summer months. The troops
are arrayed in battle order and fire blank car•
tridges.

PEMBROKE ROYAL DOCKYARD. —Cap`ain Ram-
say, soperint-ndent of this establishment, returned
to ("try on Sa•urday from an offic'al visit to the
Admiralty. T his .irsenal, in cnntnon with all the
others, is in a state of the grea'est activity, the
workmen being employed on the job and task sys-
tem to hasten the e )mpletion of certain v,siels.
Toe Oclancl,,, one of them, wit]. be launched on the
12th of next month, and or the purp,-,!e of
and navigativg her to Plymoullt the Light7iing,
steam-tender, went to that port on the 25th to
br.ng round a company of seamen and riggers.

IRMY COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONP.

A copy of correspondence between the Very Rev.
Canon Moseley and the Council of Military Educa-
tion as to the mode cf conducting these examina-
tions was yesterday published by special cuter of
the House of Commons. The result of the
examination fur admission into the Royal Military
Academy at Wo ,1 wich, held in Pieced dly on the 16th
Jan. last, is prefixed to this correspondence, and it
thence appears that 30 candidates were successful.
The highest on the list, Mr. W. Emerson Peck,
was educate) at King's College (London) Sehoel; he
obtained 5,468 marks, and it is curious to note that
the lowest on the list, a Mr. H. G. Palmer, was also
ducated at this school, and yet only obtained
2,985 marks; the age of both gentlemen being
identical. The University of Dublin, as usual,
-ranks high, and the second candida`e on the list,
Mr. C. Ardah, was one cf her alumni. Tho Leeds
Grammer School, as usual, ranks low on the list, and
the Queen's College at Cork is lowest but two.
Nine of the 30 successful candidates—as if to
rove that a collegiate or purely scholastic education
is by no means a necessary qualification—were
privately educated, and one of these (Mr. A. C.
Wallinger, aged 19) stands as high as seventh on
the list. The av rage number of marks won by
each candidate was 3,660 against 3,724 and 3,344
at the last two examinations. The gg,regate num-
ber of candidates who applied to be examined at ,
five examinations, of which this was the last, was
537, of whom 493 presented themselves at the ap-
pointed time, and, omitting those who were re-
jected by the raedic.il board and those whe broke
down at the "qualifying examination" in French
(always a great stumbling-block), there remained
463 who competed for commissions in the Artillery,
or for admission into the Royal Military Academy.
Of these 190 succeeded in gt tting appointments.
Canon Moseley reports that the offering of a wide
range of subjects to the choice of the candidates
(necessary at the first examination) was found at
subsequent examinations to have encouraged a
slovenly diffuseness or desultory style of reading,
which was manifested by a fatal tendency, on the
part of inferior candidates, to gather up mere
crumbs of knowledge in many thing., without
seeking for depth and reality in any, in the hope
that a paucity of m isks, in very many subjects,
would wake up a respectable sutn total. The
number of subjects has since been restric'ecl wish
gool:leffect ; a notable advance in mathematical
studies is reported, for while at the first examina-
tion only 20 per cent, of the candidates afforded
"'den" of a mere "moderate"' degree of mathe-
matical knowledge at the fifth and last the num-
berSO
rose to per cent. Mr. Moseley adverts to ,
the remaikable testimony in favour of open com-
petition for public
of the
aPPo'ntnaents afforded by the
career in the academy youthsthe
heselected at the
examination*, especially
w 6
o get i competitiveu
are compared with those
of Military Edina):
cadets
"nomination." The Council
Von, in a memorandum on C
Moseley's re-
marks,3 a regret that he
expresses has so far mis-
apprehended the object of a former memorandum
as to devote himself almost exclusively to a defence
of the principle of competitive examination rather
than to an inquiry into the possibility of amending
the system now adopted, a serious defect in which
the Council have pointed out. This and other de-
fects relate rather to questions of detail, and may
therefore be pawed over ill glello.