The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-11 00:00:00

711 E ARMY.

The annexed General Order has been promul-
gated :
" The Queen having been graciously pleased to
command that a medal, similar to that granted by
her Majesty in 1842, ;hall he conferred upon all
the officers and soldiers of her Majesty's Army and
Indian Forces employed in the operations in China
which resulted in the capture of the city of Pekin ;
and that clasps, inscribed ' Canton, 1857,' Taku
Forts, 1860,' and 'Pekin, 1860,' be granted to such
of her Majesty's Forces as may have been engaged
in those services ;
" And, further, that an additional clasp, inscribed
' China, 1842,' shall be granted to such of her Ma-
jesty's Forces as may have received the medal
granted in commemoration of the former opera-
tions, and who have also been engaged in the war
recently terminated;
" His Royal Highness the General Commanding-
in-Chief desires that this mark of her Majesty's
gracious approbation of the services of that por-
tion of her Forces employed under Major-Gen. Sir
C. T. Van Straubenzee, k.C.8., and Lieut:-Gen.
Sir James Hope Grant, G.C.8., in 1857 and 1860
respectively, shall be published in the General
Orders of the Army.
" The general officer commanding the Forces in
China has been instructed to furnish nominal lists
of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men
entitled to receive the honourable distinction which
it is her Majesty's gracious intention to bestow
upon them,"
The following General Order has been issued in
reference to examinations of officers of the Royal
Engineers for the Staff College :
" Horse Guards, March 4.
" His Royal Highness the General Commanding-
in-Chief, with the concurrence of the Secretary of
State for War, has decided, in consequence of the
high standard of the examination which an officer
of Royal Engineers is required to pass before ob-
taining his commission, that in future officers of
that corps shall not be called upon to pass through
the Staff College in order to qualify themselves for
employment on the Staff of the Army."
The following circular memoranda, signed by Sir
J. Y. Scarlett, Adjut.-General, addressed to the
army at home and abroad, were on Saturday an-
nounced at head-quarters of the Royal Artillery at
`Woolwich, for promulgation ;
"Horse Guards, Feb. 25.
" Instances having occurred in which Regimental
Boards of Survey have subjected rifles supposed to
be defective in accuracy of shooting to tests not
only injurious to the arms, but also not calculated
to elicit the truth as to their capabilities, and there
being no fixed rules for general guidance on this
subject, his Royal Highness the General Command-
ing-in-Chief, with the concurrence of the Secre-
tary of State for War, is pleased to desire, that
whenever it may be found necessary that rifles
should be examined by Regimental Boards with a
view to test their accuracy of fire, the following
course should invariably observed :
" 1. The arms must be previously examined and
cleaned in the armourer's shop by the armourer
sergeant. 2. One of the best and steadiest shots in
the battalion should be selected to fire all the arms
under examination. 3. The charges of powder
should be carefully weighed, and the ammunition
properly examined. 4. No fixed rest is to be used,
as they cannot be depended on ; but any other de-
scription
of rest may be used in firing from the
shoulder. 5. The diagram of the shooting should
contain not less than 10 shots for each range, not
including the two or three trial shots necessary to
ascertain the force and deviation of the wind, &c.
6. The mean deviation should be taken from the
point of mean impact, without reference to the
centre aimed at. His Royal Highness takes this
opportunity of desiring that the practice of using
what in some regiments is called a nosing stick, or
any brickdust or gritty substance, for cleaning the
interior of the barrel, is on no account to be per-
mitted, as the lands thereby become worn, and the
shooting of the rifle is affected."
"Horse Guards, Feb. 28.
" It being desirable that the claims to Staff em-
ployment of officers who have passed the final exa-
mination at the Staff College, and have fulfilled the
requirements of the regulations dated January 23,
1860, shall not be lost sight of, the General Com-
manding-in-Chief directs the attention of general
and other officers commanding at the different mili-
tary stations at home and abroad to General Orders

issued periodically from this department,
publish-
ing the names of officers who have passed success-
fully through the College ; and his Royal High-
ness desires that on the recurrence of a vacancy on
the Staff in any command where there may be
serving an officer who has qualified himself at the
Staff College (or at the late senior department of
the Royal Military College), and whose rank may
render him eligible for the vacant appointment,
such officer should, as a general rule, be recom-
mended to till the same in preference to one who
has not undergone that ordeal."
" Horse Guards, March 2.
"His Royal Highness the General Commanding-
in-Chief hereby notifies that the Secretary of State
fur War has consented to the admission into mill-

tart' hospitals of pensioners employed as clerks in
the district military offices, whenever hospital
accommodation can be made available for them
without prejudice to the service, and in cases where
the senior medical officer at the station or district
may deem it necessary. They will, however, be
placed under the usual hospital stoppages during
the periods of their being under treatment in
hospital."

Orders were on Saturday received by Col. H. D.
Harness, C. 8., director of the Royal Engineer
establishment at Chatham, directing the following
alterations to be made in the disposition of the com-
panies of Royal Engineers :—The 15th Company,
under the command of Capt. J. P. Maguey, with
Lieut. J. J. Robertson, to proceed from Chatham
to the Curragh Camp, there to relieve the 31st
Company, which will return to headquarters, to
be held in readiness to embark for the Mediter-
ranean. The 4th Company, under the command
of Capt. H. W. H. D. Dumaresq, to proceed. from
Chatham to Dover, there to relieve the 30th Com-
pany, which will rejoin headquarters, and be
held in readiness to embark for the Mediter-
ranean. The second Company, under the com-
mand of Lieut. A. R. Macdonnell, to proceed from
headquarters to Aldershott Cael, to relieve the
18th (Captain G. Loiiigley's) Company, ordered
rto Portsmouth to relieve the 36th (Capt. E. IV:
Hewett's) Company, which returns to Chatham to
form one of the depot companies at Brompton. The
3 .th and 31st companies, that proceed to the Medi-
terranean, will relieve the lst and 9th companies,
which return to headquarters, Chatham.

No. 3 field-battery, Bth brigade, Royal Artillery,
equipped with Armstrong guns, &c., left Hilsea on
Thursday morning, on the march to Bristol, on the
way to Ballin Collig,,lreland. The following officers
accompanied the battery :—Major Hawkins, Capt.
Percival, Lieuts. Drysdale and Stratton, Assistant-
Surg. Hogg, M.D. The dismounted party, under
the command of Lieut. D. Murray, will proceed by
rail on Tuesday.
The present strength of the force stationed in the
camp at Colehester is 64 officers and 2,196 rank and
file. There are also 230 women and 273 children
in the camp. Lieut. Dew, of the 88th, has been
appointed musketry instructor, in the room of En-
sign Dwyer, resigned.

Capt. Ford, of the Ist Royals, has been posted to
the Ist battalion of that regiment, and is under
orders to join the service companies of his regiment
in India.,, .
IciajOr. the- Hon: Wm. Charles 1C elverton, R.A ,
-had an inteiVieiy ,with Col. C. BingiuMa, .Deputy-
A.djutant-General of the Royal Artillery, on Satnr-
day, a the. Horse. Guards. .
Loath:Miens were-on Saturday issued at Wool-,

with for the departure of Lieut.-Col. N. 0. S. Tur-
ner's No. 10 battery, 4th Brigade, Royal Artillery,
under orders to proceed to Hilsea ; the dismounted
portion to leave Woolwich by rail on the 13th inst.,
and the mounted portion to march thence this day.
According to present regulations, announced on
Saturday at Woolwich, the headquarters of Nos. 7
and 8 batteries, 3d brigade, Garrison Artillery, will
not leave Plymouth until further orders. In conse-
quence of the Himalaya being disabled for the ser-
vice, the Megmra will carry out the removal of the
Ist brigade from Woolwich to Gibraltar, as origi-
nally arranged.

THE ADMIRALTY AND THE .HORSE

GUA.RDS.

TO THE EDITOR or THE SUN.

STR,—Although the mismanagement of the Board
of Admiralty needs no additional proofs at this mo-
ment, yet I cannot, under the circumstances of the
case, delay the exposure of a recent transaction on
their part, which I am sure every one will charac-
terise as an act of gross meanness and injustice. In
the spring of last year a sailor named Wm. Sent,
who lost his arm at the attack on the Peiho Forts,
returned to England and joined this corps. Accord-
ing to the invariable custom of both branches of the
service, he received a pension of Is. per diem, which,
however (contrary to the rules of the Horse Guards,
who do not expect a man to recover his arm after
its amputation), was to continue for one year only,
after which time he was to appear before a Board,
and if then he was pronounced more or less able to
assist himself than at present, the pension would
be definitively reduced or increased.

This period arrived on Friday, when, in company
with two other commissioners, Hammond and
Haines, both of whom had lost a limb in China
under similar circumstances, Sent presented him-
self before the authorities, expecting naturally
that his temporary pension of ls. would be
confirmed for life. You may imagine his con-
sternation, as well as that of his comrades,
when they were told that their rate of pension
was to be reduced 25 per cent.—viz., to 9d. per
diem. Thinking their statement must have been
founded in error, I called at Somerset-house this
afternoon, and ascertained its entire correctness. I
can certify that, although the three men in question
are in a better state of health than they were a year
since, it is not from any miraculous restoration of
their lost legs and arms, but it is owing, under
Providence, to their own good conduct and indus-
try. Is it fair, not to say politic, that what has
been hitherto an invariable rule and understanding
in the naval as well as military service should be
broken through without any reason !
I cannot believe, however, that the matter will
be allowed to rest as it is, and I trust that some of
those members of Parliament who are so busy in
urging the claims of naval officers for an extension
of pay, will not hesitate to demand the restitution
of what I maintain is, both by prescriptive right
and usage, the property of these wounded
men ; and, further, that the responsibility of
this shabby transaction shall be affixed to
some individual. The whole system of pensions
for wounds requires some arrangement; that which
exists at the present moment is perfectly unintel-
ligible. There are men in the corps who belonged
to the late East India Company's service receiving
Is. 3d. per diem for the loss of an arm where her
Majesty's troops receive ls. only, and as some of the
former (but none in this corps, as the receipt of
charity from any source is forbidden) are paid 6d.
additional from the Indian Relief Fund, they are
actually receiving more than double the amount
the present authorities of the Admiralty afford her
Majesty's sailors.—l remain, Sir, your obedient
servant, E. W.
Barracks of the Corps of Commissionaires,
March 9.

THE VOLUNTEER MO VEMENT.

THE PROPOSED SHAM FIGHT NEAR
BRIGHTON.

Rumours arc afloat that the proposed sham fight
by the volunteer forces of the metropolis is to be
marred by opposition on the part of certain com-
manding officers, and that an antagonistic demon-
stration is to be got up on Easter Monday, in much
closer proximity to the metropolis than Brighton.
The cue in this respect is said to be taken from the
refusal of the authorities of the War Department to
the request of the dockyard battalions to be per-
mitted to participate in the movements to be exe-
cuted upon that occasion.
Lord Ranelagh, it appears, has given mortal
offence in having taken credit to himself for the
general success (the victualling department out of
the question) which attended the sham fight at
Chiselhurst last year ; and it is apprehended that as
he has been the originator of the sham fight which
is proposed to take place at or near Falmer, between
Brighton and Lewes, on the Ist of next month,
should it prove successful, he will have another
laurel added to his military renown, whilst other
metropolitan commanders of metropolitan rifle
corps will be in the position of " second fiddles."
Hence the opposition which is springing up in
various quarters. It is stated that in conse-
quence of influence brought to bear upon Colonel
Hicks, the City of London Rifle Brigade have
deserted the Brighton sham fight standard,
and that the North Middlesex and several
other large metropolitan corps have, through
their commanding officers, been invited also
to abandon that proposal, and join the Queen's
(Westminster), the Civil Service, the London
Scottish, the London Irish, the Inns of Court,
and other regiments, in a brigade and field day on
Easter Monday, or in a demonstration in or near
the metropolis. The great object of Lord Itanclagh
in selecting the vicinity of Brighton for the sham
fight is to show, as far as possible, the facilities
with which 20,000 or 30.000 men could be concen-
trated at any given point upon the coast, and be
got ready for action in case of a sudden descent
upon our shores. There i;;, however, an argument
opposed to the demonstration of the Ist of April
being any test in that respect at all, namely, the
great length of notice which will have been given
for the assembly and conveyance of the various
contingents. It is rightly argued that in order
effectually and properly to test those facilities, and
the powers of concentration which the Volunteer
force may possess for such a purpose, it should be
as a few hours' notice, when the value or inefficiency
of the volunteer organisation would be at once seen
and be duly appreciated. The preceding are some
of the points in dispute, but it is to be hoped that
whatever differences may arise, there will be none
permitted in any way to deteriorate this great na-
tional and patriotic movement.

Amongsf the various arrangements being made
with respect to the proposed sham fight near
Brighton, on Easter Monday, are the following :
On the London and Brighton the charge is not
to exceed ls. 6d. to and from Brighton for pri-
vates, and officers at ss. first class; but in cases
where the ordinary third class fare would not
amount to the sum mentioned for privates the
is. 6d. will not be charged. Trains are to leave
London-bridge and Victoria stations at these
fares on Saturday, the 30th, at half-past five,
p.m., and nine a.m., on Sunday, March 31st. The
South-Eastern Railway Company will provide spe-
cial trains to carry volunteers from Margate, Rams •
gate, Dover, Folkestone, Canterbury, and Ashford ;
from Strood, Chatham, Rochester, Maidstone, and
Tunbridge Wells; from Reading, Guildford, Dork-
ing, and Reigate. Volunteers in uniform with aims
are to be charged less than the ordinary low excur-
sion fares. Commanding officers of corps intend-
ing to take part in the sham fight are to be fur-,
niched with full particulars of the arrangements
for trains on Easter Monday, but they are to be
such that all volunteers will reach London between
eight and eleven p.m. Officers' horses will be sent
by the ordinary trains on Saturday and Sunday, at
return fare. A special train for horses at five
o'clock on Sunday morning. Railway tickets will
in a few days be forwarded to the commanding
officers of the corps to be engaged for distribution
among their men, from whom they will receive pay-
ment. No such tickets to be issued after Saturday,
the 23d inst.
On Saturday afternoon last about 700 officers and
men of the City of London Rifla Brigade, arrived
at Greenwich, on board the steam vessels Widgeon
and Fairy, and marched from the pier through the
park to Blackheath for drill and rifle practice.
Several companies of the Woolwich Arsenal Rifles
were also present.

[ADVEATISEMENT.I—HoIIoway's Pills and Ointment.—
Always Prepared.—No well conducted household should
be without a supply of these excellent medicaments at this
season of the year. No other means for purifying the
solids and fluids composing the human body can be com-
pared, for efficiency or safety, with Holloway's preparations.
They moderate or stimulate, and regulate every fuaction,
and confer on each secretion its natural quality and quan-
tity. The ointment, rubbed over the stomach and liver,
wonderfully assists the pills in promoting digestion and
extracting all available nutriment from the food. Hence
the power these remarkable remedies possess of strengthen-
ing the muscles, consolidating the bones, and invigorating
the nerves. They may safely be employed in every disease
at any stage.