The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-29 00:00:00

The Dill, e of CA mbriJge having founded a musical
school at Knelter-hall for the instruction of boys.
Wonging to the army in musical education, ttie
commanding officers at Chatham garrison have re-
c?ived directions to select a certain number of boys
who have a knowledge of music from their respec-
tive corps, in order to their being trained for band-
masters in the army.
The authorities at the War Department have
sanctioned the is3uo of 6d. per diem by the reliev-
ing officers of parishes to all those - soldier's wives,
infrried with leave, who have been left behind on
the occasion of their husbands embarking with their
regiment 4 for special service in China.

The Winchester, 50, Capt. T. Wilson (1854), late
the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir M. Seymour,
K.C.8., on the China station, is ordered to Chat •
ham to strip and pay off. The Winchester is relieved
by the Calcutta, 84, Capt. W. K. Hall, C.B.
A new steam screw-corvette, of 22 guns and of
1,470 tons burden, to be called the Orr'hus, is
ordered to he laid down at Chatham Dockyard, on
the slip from which the Racoon, 22, was recently
laurich‘d. She wilt be constructed from the designs
of Sir Baldwin Walker, K.C.B.
A large 91-gun screw-steamer, to be called the
..ktlss, with eng nes of 1,000 hcrse•power, is also to
be laid down at Chltbam, with another vessel of
equaly-l-trge dimensimis and tonnage.
The Royal Sovereign, 131, was taken into the
~t yarn basin yezterday at Portsmouth to reedy°
her steam machinery.
The Assistanci iron steam troop-ship, Com-
mander Heath, went out of harbourat Portsmouth

ye3ter3ay, to pr: )ye her engines, &c., prior to being
reported ready for the reception of troops for China.
The Amphitrite sailing-corvette, 25, Captain
Tatham, fitted out for the Coast Guard sorvioe, is
re idv for the adjustment of her compasses in Ports-
mouth harbour.

The Pith Royal Fusileers, from Aldershot~, ar-
rived in Pottsmonth garrison yesterday, and have
taken up quarters in Colewort and Cambridge Bar-
lacks, and at Gosport.
The frcightship Margaret Elizabeth, laden with
war store 3 for China,
,is shipping ammunition off
WnolwiCh Arsenal ; and the Eglintoun, having
embarked a number of 24-pounder howitzers and
pivot guns, with a quantity of 'reserve s'ores, has
saile I for Greenbithe, whence she is to take her de-
parture for Hong Kong.
The 2d Battalion Royal Military Train, under

the commlni of Major tobertion,- embarked yeA-
terday on boird the freightsbip Blenvie Castle,
from Woolwich pier, and sailed at 4 p.m. for Hong
Kong. The battalion consisted of Major Robertson,
Capt. Clirke, Capt. Inglefield, Lieut. Blake, En-
sip Bodkin, Adjutant Thompson, Paymaster
James, Surgeon M'Arthur, one quartermaster, and
262 non-commissioned officers and men.

The gunboat Leven was again brought up to
Woolwich yesterday for repairs from Greenbithe,
whi►her she had proceedel asecond time to b 3 ad-
justPd for China. It was found necessary to have
her after sternpost strengthened. She is ordered
to sail again to-day.
The gunboat Slaney was also ordered back to
Woolwich from Greenhithe yesterday, in order to
enlarge her hammock nettings.
Her Majesty's screw steam storeship Hesper,
freighted with stores for China, was removed from
Woolwich basin yesterday, and is ordered to sail
to-day for Greenhithe.
Mr. Cornelius T. A. Noddall, Master, was yes
terday appointed to the Agamemnon ; and• Lieut.
J. Dayman was also appointed Lieutenant in com-
mand of the Cyclops, both ships being commissioned
for special service of laying down the Transatlantic
*able.

The following appointments were made at the
Admiralty
Captain—J. B. Wainwright to the Leopard.
Lieutenant—J. Dayman to command the Cyclops,
mmissioned for special service of laying down the
,ransatlantic cable.

Master in Command—Cornelius T. Noddall to the
Agamemnon.

Surgeon—W. R. Dalton to the Princess Charlotte.
Assistant Surgeons—John Caldwell and C. A. Lees
:acting) to the Princess Charlotte.

NAVAL OBITUARY.

Retired Captain James Oliver (1851) died on the
24th inst., at Bath, in the 85th year of his age.
We extract the following account of the services of
this gallant officer from O'Byrne's "Naval Bio-
graphy :"-" This officer entered the navy in 1782,
as second-class. volunteer, on board the Otter sloop,
stationed in the Baltic. From 1783 until 1785, and
from 1788 until 1790, he served at Newfoundland
and Gibraltar, in the Merlin, and Mercury, and on
Bth June, 1797, he was promoted to a lieutenancy
in the Alcmene, 32. Continuing in that ship for a
period of nearly four years, he contributed to the
capture, 26th June, 1799, after a long chase and
Twining fight, of the French privateer Courageux,
of 28 guns and 253 men. He also, 18th July follow.
ing, assisted, in partial command of the Alcmene's
boats, at the capture (though protected by two forts
and a detached gun in Vivero harbour, on the north
coast orSp,tin) of La Felicidad, a ship of about 800
tons, pierced for 22 guns, with a cargo of hemp,
lower masts, and ship timber ; on 3d April, 1805,
being at the time first lieutenant of the Bacchante,
Mr. Oliver assisted at the capture of the Spanish
war-schooner Elizabeth, of 10 guns and 47 men.
Two days afterwards he was sent with two boats,
containing about 35 seamen and marines, to cut out
three notorious French privateers reported to be
in the harbour of Mariel, near the Havannah, the
entrance to which was defended by a round tower
nearly 40 feet high, armed at the top with three
long 24-pounders surrounded with numerous loop-
holes for musketry,. and garrisoned by a Spanish
captain and 30 soldiers. Being discovered during his
approach, Lieut. Oliver, who was in the foremost
boat, immediately landed, and with a degree of
gallantry as irresistible as it was heroic, rushed
through a tremendous fire that badly wounded
one of the only thirteen men with him, to the foot
of the tower, which, without further loss, he scaled
and carried. Having performed this noble exploit,
he left a sergeant of marines and six men as a
guard at the fort, and having been joined by his
other boat, under the orders of Lieutenant John
Campbell, he proceeded in search of the privateers,
but to his mortification found that they had sailed
the day before .on a cruise. Although thus disap-
pointed he contrived nevertheless to obtain posses-
sion of and bring off two schoonersladen with sugar,
notwithstanding they were lying alongside a wharf,
under repeated discharges of musketry from the
troops and militia, whowere pouring down in numbers
from the adjacent country. In spite, however, of
the glowing terms in which his conduct on this oc-
cwion was reported by Captain Dashwood, Lieu-
tenant Oliver was suffered to remain unpromoted
for upwards of eight years. During that period he
was present, in ihe Franchise, at the bombardment
of Copenhagen, in September, 1807, and at the
capture, in December, 1808, of the town of Samaria
St. Domingo, almost the last port of refuge on tip.;
station for the enemy's privateers. In the Decou-
verte he sustained so serious an injury in the left
eye, from arduous and active service, as to be ob-
liged, as above stated, to invalid ; and, in April,
1812, he had the misfortune to lose the Carlotta on
the coast of Sicily, on which occasion, through ex-
ertion and fatigue in saving a quantity of specie,
he again lost the use of his eye. His advancement
to the rank of commander at length took place
Dec. 4, 1813."
Retired Capt. David Edwards died on the 25th
inst., at the house of his sister, 20,' Grove-place,
Brompton, aged 78. He entered the navy July 31,
1795, as a volunteer, on board the San Fiorenzo of
42 guns. While in that ship, besides being much in
attendance on the King off Weymouth, he assisted,
in company with La Nymphe, at the capture of La
Resistance, of 48, and La Constance, of 24 guns,
March 8, 1797 ; passed soon afterwards through
the mutinous fleet at the Nore ; took part in a very
warm conflict of nearly two hours, which termi-
nated in the defeat, by the San Fiorenzo and her
consort, the Amelia, 38, of a French squadron,
consisting of three frigates and a gun vessel,
April 9, 1709-and was present, July 2 follow-
ing, in an attack made by hear-Admiral Charles
M. Pole on a Spanish squadron lying in Aix-roads.
Towards the close of 1801 Mr. Edwards proceeded
to the West Indies as master's mate of the Centaur,
74 ; and on Sept. 5, 1803, was there promoted to
e Ulysses, 44. From Out. 27,
a lieutenancy
in the
1804, to June 24, 1806, be next served in the
Mediterranean with Captain George Digby, on
board the Beagle, 18, and Swiftsure, 74, one of the
prizes t ikon at Trafalgar ; and in July, 1809, he
assumed the command, under Captain Philip
Caterret, of the first division of gun boats em-
ployed on the WalchVren expedition. During the
two last years of the war Mr. Edwards appears to
have been attablred, on the Leith station, to the
Adamant, 60, and Latona, 38. He was advanced
to the command, May 11, 1827, of the Barham,
50, on the Jamaica station, where he removed,
Sept. 12, in the same year, to the Fairy sloop. He
returned to England in 1828, and has since been on
half pay.
Retired Commander S. Burroughs (1855) died
on the 22d just. He entered the navy Jan. 26,
1804, as first-class volunteer, on board the Rat-
tler, 24,' Captain F. Mason, and was for many
months, while stationed off Ostend and Dieppe,
constantly engaged in warm conflicts with the
enemy's flotilla,. In Jan., 1805, he removed, as
midshipman, to the Diadem, 64, Commodore Sir
Home Popham, whom ho ultimately accompa-
nied in the expeditions to the Cape of Good
Hope and Buenos Ayres. He was next, from
I December, 1806, until July, 1808, employed in