The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-25 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

Orders were yesterday issued from the Horse
Guards to the officers commanding the cavalry and
infantry depot battalions at Maidstone, Canterbury,
Chatham, Colchester, Winchester, Weimer, Fer-
moy, Buttevant, Cork, Stirling, and Aberdeen,
directing the following reinforcements from the In-
dian depots under their command to hold them-
selves in readiness to embark for Bengal, Madras,
and Bombay, for the purpose of reinforcing the
British regiments serving in those presidencies—
viz., 62 men of the Ist (the King's) Dragoon
Guards ; 65 men of the 2d (the Queen's) Dragoon
Guards; 13 men of the 3d (Prince of Wales's) Dra-
goon Guards; 95 men of the 6th Dragoon Guards
(Carabineers) ; 49 men of the 7th (Princess Royal's)
Dragoon Guards ; 91 men of the 7th Hussars ; 19
men of the Bth Hussars ; 64 men of the 12th Lan-
cers ; 70 men of the 17th Lancers; 6 men of the Ist
battalion Ist Royals; 281 men of the Ist battalion
4th (King's Own) ; 89 men of the Ist battalion sth
Fusileers ; 248 men of the Ist battalion 6th Regi-
ment; 71 men of the Ist battalion 20th Regiment ;
153 men of the 28th Regiment ; 120 men of the 31st
Regiment ; 7 men of the 34th Regiment; 78 men of
the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment; 200 men of the
37th Regiment ; 123 of the 42d Royal Highlanders;
77 men of the 43d Light Infantry ; 7 men of the
44th Regiment ; 182 men of the 46th Regiment ;
169 men of the 48th Regiment; 4 men of the 51st
King's Own Light Infantry ; 67 men of the 56th
Regment ; 91 men of the 57th Regiment; 251 men
of the 2d battalion of the 60th Rifles ; 217 men of
the 67th Regiment ; 1 man of the 68th Light In-
fantry; 78 men of the 69th Regiment; 28 men of
the 70th Regiment ; 82 men of the 71st Highland
Light Infantry ; 114 men of the 73d Regiment ; 424
men of the 77th Regiment ; 103 men of the 79th
Highlanders ; 99 men of the 80th Regiment ; 2 men
of the 81st Regiment ; 6 men of the 83d Regiment ;
46 men of the 88th Connaught Rangers ; 1 man of
the 89th Regiment; 173 men of the 90th Light
Infantry ; 88 men of the 91st Regiment ; 6 men of
the 94th Regiment ; 11 men of the 95th Regiment;
2 men of the 97th Regiment; 71 men of the 98th
Regiment; 89 men of the 99th Regiment; 278
men of the Royal Artillery ; and 15 men of the
Royal Engineers,
The troops in Portsmouth garrison, including the
mounted Artillery, will be put through the ma-
noeuvres of a field-day on Southsea Commonly
Major-General Sir J. Scarlett, K.C.8., at 3 p.m.
to-day. Blank cartridges will be served out to the
troops for the occasion.
Major-General Sir J. Yorke. Scarlett, K.C.8.,
Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth, and command-
ing the South-Western district, issued invitations
to a grand ball at the King's Assembly-rooms,
Southsea, on Tuesday evening. Upwards of 500
persons were present, comprising the majority of
the military and naval officers, with the elite of
the town and its neighbourhood.
On Tuesday last the 10th Regiment, the 36th,
Royal Marines, and Warwick Artillery Militia,
were paraded on the Hoe, Plymouth, by Major-
Gen. Eden, Commander of the Forces in the West,
who presented Private William Blowes with £5;
John Fitzharris, £4 ; William Davis, £5 ; Michael ,
Haward, £5 ; and Philip Moriarty, £5, for long
and creditable services in the 10th Regiment.
Mr. Lindsay, for three years Deputy-Assistant-
Commissary-General at the Colchester Camp, has
left for another appointment on the coast of Africa.
Mr. Lindsay has been succeeded at Colchester by
Mr. Napier.
The Queen's Own, or Royal Regiment of Staf-
fordshire Yeomanry, will assemble for eight days'
training on Saturday, the 17th of September. The
men are under orders to muster at Liehfield.

THE TOULON ARSENAL.

(From the Times.)

" Veluti in speculum" was the favourite motto
by which in former days the frequenters of thea-
trical entertainments were taught to improve the
occasion, and learn the duties of their own situa-
tion from the mimic action of the stage. In the
present day the legend might be appropriately pre-
fixed to the correspondence which, from all parts of
the world, finds its ways to publicity in the columns
of this journal. These letters now convey to every
class of the people a far more complete impression
of foreign transactions than " the grand tour" com-
municated to noblemen and gentlemen a century
ago. We have gone from China to Japan, from
America to Australia. One day we are addressed
from Vancouver's Island, another from Hongkong;
one morning we print news from the borders of
Affghanistan, and the next from the city of the
Mormons. Yesterday there was a similar picture,
taken nearer home, but replete with interest, and
perhaps instruction, for us all. It wasa descrip
tion of the famous dockyard of Toulon, with its
wonderful basins, its arsenals of fabulous extent,
its guardships, its galley slaves, and its guns.
We do not refer to the subject with any jealousy
or uneasiness, but purely in the way of ordinary
comment. '1 he opportunity is too good to be
overlooked, and we may find something in the
shape of a moral by gazing impartially into this
mirror of life.
France possesses two natural centres of maritime
energy,—Toulon and Cherbourg; from the one the
Atlantic can be contemplated, from the other the
Mediterranean. It is in this point of view that
Toulon acquires its importance, and those who re-
member the busy Ministry of M. Thiers will not
be surprised to learn that the first development of
this celebrated arsenal took place under his aus-
pices. The French proceeded in their operations so
exactly as we have done that no reflection of objects
could possibly be more perfect. They took one de-
partment of shipbuilding first, and expanded it so
largely as to render all the others insufficient, so
that the new scale had to be applied on every side,
till by and by Toulon could no longer contain itself.
The beginning was made with the smiths' shops,
and four furnaces and 96 forge fires soon promised
power enough for anything. In their growth, how-
ever, they stifled and swallowed up the timber
stores, building slips, and block factory, so that all
these departments had to be carried to a suburb

before they also could find room to grow in their
turn. Presently the suburb itself was found insuffi-
cient, and an entirely new district was then added
to the yards. Here at length there was room for
the graving docks, and no Roman amphitheatre was
ever more grandly modelled than these magnificent
works. In all this we see our own doings over
again, except that we have probably no fabric so
extensive or so beautiful as the great dock of Cas-
tigneau. But the course of proceeding was exactly
the same. Ship .3 were designed to carry far heavier
armaments than in times of old; as a natural con-
sequence they required heavier engines and more
ample dimensions generally ; the new engines re-
quired new forges; the new hulls required new
docks; and the resut was that everything pertain-
ing to naval architecture became twice as vast and

twice as costly as before.
There is another light, however, in which this
picture may be -viewed. French and English are
here in the same trade. We are rival manufac-
turers, and while, therefore, we are naturally anxi-
ous, in the fair way of business, not to be left behind,
we may also glean a lesson possibly in the way of
economy or prudence. Truth to say, if France looks '
at England, and England looks at France, there
appears more to be learnt in the shape of warning
than in that of example. When our correspondent
quits the machinery of the Toulon Dockyards, and
turns to the most recent products of the establish-
ment, he can scarcely find a specimen of which the
success is not at least doubtful. First of allcome the
iron-cased frigates, a pair of which are now rapidly
approaching completion. Nothing can exceed the
apparently impregnable, of these redoubt-
able ships, but when we look at their construction,
and observe the enormous weight of iron all accu-
mulated above the water line, it is impossible to
avoid thinking that their topheaviness must be fatal
to their efficiency. In the case of the floating bat-
teries the result is still less equivocal. These vessels
are so constructed as to combine the smallest risks of
damage with the greatest power of offence. When
one of them has steamed into action she sinks her
funnel and lowers her mast, while her screw lies out
of shot reach, and her gunners are protected by
shields of iron. Even the commanding-officer, who
alone stands on the upper-deck, can place a species
of bulwark between himself and the guns of the
enemy, so that the problem of fighting with im-