The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-07 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The Council of Military Education, under the
presidency of Major-General Cameron, will com-
mence the examination of candidates for direct
commissions to-day at Burlington•house. The exa-
mination will take place daily during the week,
except Thursday next.
The sick and wounded troops who arrived at
Gravesend on Thursday, from Calcutta, in the troop-
ship Cannon, have been medically inspected at Fort
Pitt Hospital, Chatham, by, Surgeon-Major Pren-
dergast, M.D., and the medical staff at that esta-
blishment. The invalid troops, to the number of
117 men of all ranks, embarked at Calcutta on the
6th of October, under the command of Captain F.
V. Straubenzee,l3th Light Infantry, and comprised
non-commissioned officers and men of the 2d (the
Queen's) Dragoon Guards, 6th, 10th, and 13th
(Light Infantry), 19th, 20th, 29th, 34th, 17th 54th,
60th (Royal Rifles), 77th, 84th, and 97th (Earl of
Ulster's) Regiments, together with invalids sent
home from the battalions of Royal Artillery, and
the Military Train. Seven deaths occurred during
the voyage. A number of troops invalided home
were wounded at Lucknow and Delhi, and on being
inspected on their arrival at Fort Pitt it was found
necessary for 37 men to be admitted into hospital,
and the remainder were sent under the command of
Captain S. Pope, to St. Mary's invalid depot, to
await a medical inspection by a Chelsea board.
Arrangements have been entered into at Wool-
wich, with the sanction of General Williams, Com-
mandant of the garrison, for a continuation of lec-
tures, to be delivered in the Royal Artillery Regi-
mental Schoolroom, on subjects tending to develope
a most useful branch of study in the subordinate
ranks of the Artillery soldier. In addition to the
lectures already given on the art of gunnery and
coast defences, &c., by Col. Wilford, Governor of
the Royal Military Academy, and Col. Wilmot,
Superintendent of the Gun Factories in Wo,lwich
Arsenal, a course of lectures on other important
subjects has been commenced by officers of the
chemical department of the Royal Laboratory. The
first of the series was given last week by Mr. Dent,
" On the principles of Chemistry," and was ex-
tremely well attended. The second is announced to
take place on Wednesday, the 9th, by Mr. E. 0.
Browne, of the Chemical Department, " On the Phi-
losophy of the Methods employed for communica-
ting Motion to Projectiles. On the 16th, Mr. J.
Spiller, also of the Chemical Department, will give
a lecture " On the Chemistry of Gunpowder ;" and
on the 23d inst., Mr. A. Reynolds, of the same de-
partment, will lecture " On Combustion, and the
Structure of Flame." The desire manifested by
the corps of Artillery generally to improve their
moral and social condition is announced to be ex-
ceedingly satisfactory, in testimony of which, ac-
cording to the weekly return rendered by Mr.
Wharry,R.A.,superintendent of the barrack schools
at Woolwich, it appears that the aggregate number
of non-commissioned officers, gunners, recruits, and
soldiers' children receiving education amounts to
considerably over 1,000 daily.
The announcement made some few months back
of a design for a monumental memorial to be erected
at Woolwich by fUe Royal Artillery, to the memory
of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men
of the corps who fell in the Crimea during the late
war, was somewhat premature in so far as the choice
of the design having been fixed and the name of
the artist entrusted to carry it out: At a meeting of
the subscribers held at Woolwich on the 11th ult7the
design submitted by Mr. J. Bell (who has also the
execution of the Guards' memorial) was approved,
and accordingly the work has been committed to
the hands of that eminent sculptor. It is expected
that the memorial will be finished, and in its pro-
nosed position—viz., in front of the Royal Artillery
barracks, before the end of the year.