The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-07 00:00:00

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THB NAVY.

The f' 31lowing letter, dated Valetta, Dec. 31, is
from a Malta correspondent :
" H er Majesty's gunboat Assurance came in yes-
terd'ay from Corfu. By her I have received the
following in a letter from that island :
" Corfu, Dec. 27.
" The Orion sailed into harbour this morning
Trom Malta, and will probably be the cause of thee
Caesar proceeding to Naples ; the commander of this
vessel has been invalided. The Mars and the London
are still absent from this place; the former is at
Zante, and the latter at Cephalonia, and probably
will remain there some time. There have been two
deaths in the fleet within the last few days, but on
the whole the health of both the troops and navy is
very good indeed. On Christmas-day the ships in
port—namely, the Marlborough, the Neptune, the
Cesar, and the James Watt—were decorated with
flags, evergreens, &e., and presented a very gay
spectacle ; and as for good cheer, the sailors had it
in abundance.' "
A court-martial assembled on Saturday morning
on board her Majesty's ship Victory, at Portsmouth,
to try Augustus Bell, one of the carpenter's crew on
board her Majesty's ship Castor, training-ship for
the naval reserve at North Shields, on the following
charges—viz., first, for having, between the 7th of
October and 14th of December, 1860, feloniously
taken sundry sheets of copper, the property of her
Majesty ; secondly, for neglect of duty when placed
in charge of the carpenter's store-room of that ship,
whereby the copper was lost and stolen. The court
consisted of Rear-Admiral J. E. Erskine, President,
and the captains of vessels in commission at the
port, with Mr. W. J. Hellyer as Deputy-Judge
Advocate. After hearing the evidence, the Court
decided that the first charge was not proved; and
with regard to the second charge, that there was
no proof that the copper was lost or stolen during
the time the prisoner had charge of the store-roam;
and the Court therefore adjudged him to be
acquitted.
The Immortalite, 51, screw frigate, Capt. George
Hancock, steamed out of Portsmouth harbour on
Saturday and anchored with the fleet at Spithead,
exchanging the usual honorary salutes with the Vic-
tory, flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Vice•
Admiral H. W. Bruce.
The Desperate, 7, screw, Commander J. F. Ross,
joined the ships at Spithead on Saturday morning
from Portland.
The leave of absence of the crew of the steamship
Donegal, 101, Capt. Henry Broadhead, at Ply-
mouth, will expire on the 13th inst.
The screw steamship Hero, 90, at Plymouth, is
not to be supplied with wire rigging, but only stays
and bobstays of wire ; her rigging is rattled down.
The artizans of Keyham Steamyard are over-
hauling the valves of the screw steam frigate
Phoebe, which will probably be coppered to her
deep water line. •
Naval officers and seamen belonging to the ships
of war at Plymouth are daily instructed in the use
of the Armstrong gun, on board the Foudroyant,
which has four of those pieces mounted. The in-
structors are supplied by the gunnery ship Cam-
bridge, 42, Capt. Arthur Jerningham, in Hamoaze.
Excavations are being made at the Mount Wale
Redoubts, Devonport, for constructing the founda-
tions for platforms for heavy pivot guns, three of
which are to be mounted, one at each angle.
The screw steamship Howe, 121, at Plymouth, is
receiving a coating of paint, stone colour, like that
used for ships laid up in ordinary, by which it ap-
pears that there is no intention on the part of the
Lords of the Admiralty to put her into commission
immediately.
The screw steam sloop Flying Fish, 6, Comman-
der Hope, in Plymouth Sound, has taken on board
her powder.
In consequence of the whole of the docks at Cha-
tham being at:present occupied and none likely to
be vacant for some time to come, Admiralty orders
were received at the dockyard yesterday, directing
the screw frigate Undaunted, 51 guns, which was
launched on the Ist inst., to be navigated round to
the Thames, and placed in the Victoria dock, where
she will be at once fitted with her engines and
machinery by Messrs. Ravenhill and Co.
Mr. Frederick Cleave, C. 8., paymaster, R.N.,
late secretary to Rear-Admiral Charles Talbot, in
command at Queenstown, is appointed Steward of
Greenwich Hospital, in the room of Mr. John
Elliott, R.N.
The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :—Commander B. G. W.
Nicolas to the Trident, commissioned ; Lieut. Henry
Waller to the St. Jean d'Acre ; Lieut. R. Forrest
to the Arrogant, additional for disposal; William
Buchan, chief engineer, to the Fisgard, for service
in the Warrior; John Oliver, chief engineer, to the
Indus, for service in the Orlando; Wm. M. Biden,
chief engineer, to the Fisgard, for service in the
Undaunted; Conrad L. W. Lagrange, assist.-clerh,
to the Cumberland ; Charles Langley, assist..clerk,
to the Hogue ; and Edward L. Bisson, assist.-clerk,
to the Majestic.

TILE ARMI.

The following circular memorandum, addressed
to the cavalry, has been promulgated from the
Horse Guards by the Adjutant-General the Hon.
Sir James Yorke Scarlett, by command :-
1. The General Commanding-in-Chief has observed
from the returns recently forwarded that compara-
tively few cornets on joining have availed them-
selves of the regulation by which they are permitted
to select horses from the regiment.
2. His Royal Highness intended this regulation
to secure to young officers efficient chargers at mc-
derate prices.
3. He can only attribute its failure up to the
present time to the class of horses purchased not
being sufficiently good for officers' chargers, or to
the young officers not having received encourage-
ment to avail themselves of the privilege.
4. With a view to securing• to them the benefit
of the regulation, his Royal Highness directs that
when a cornet joins his regiment the commanding
officer shall in every case order the dealers who
supplies the regiment with troop horses to provide
two in addition as officers' chargers, for which he
will receive £5O each from the paymaster, to be
repaid by the officer when they have been passed
sound by the veterinary surgeon, and approved by
the commanding officer, who will be held as respon-
sible for the proper selection of those horses as he
is for that of the troop horses.
5. These horses are not to be under four years
old or exceed five, and they are to be subjected to
the approval of the Inspecting General of Cavalry,
with other remounts, at the half-yearly inspections.
6. They are to be considered the private property
of the officers, but are not to be sold without the
approval of the commanding officer, and the horse
selected as first charger is not to be used for hunt-
ing or for harness.
7. Should either or both of these horses become
unfit from disease or accident on ditty, they may
be returned to the ranks, and the officer be per-
mitted to select others to replace them from the
next remounts, at troop price.
8. If within two veers either or both shall be
found, from want of action or from vice, unfit for
an officer's charger, they may to returned to the
ranks, and others selected from the remounts to
replace them, with the consent and approval of the
commanding officer.
9. Any other officers, under the rank of field
officer, in want of chargers, will be permitted to
select two from the remount horses, with the ex•
ception of medical officers, veterinary surgeons,
paymasters, and quartermasters, who may select
one each, payinc, the sum of £5O for each horse;
and the rules laid down for officers joining will be
applicable to them also.
10. Officers raised from the ranks will be permit-
ted to select from the ordinary remoints, under the
foregoing rules, at the troop price.
11. If these orders are strictly attended to, and
commanding officers will also take upon themselves
to furnish the parents or guardians with a lint of
articles absolutely necessary for their equipment,
his Royal Highness feels no doubt that the expense
of fitting out a cornet, now so much complained of,
will be reduced to a moderate and reasonable sum.
12. His Royal Highness has convinced himself
by very minute inquiry that the chief expense of
the cavalry (loos not consist in what is necessary for
an officer's eitnipment and sustenance, but in the ex-
pensive habits independent of the profession, in
which a yoi4ng officer is not only not called upon
to indulge, but which are highly injurious to him.
13. All previous orders on this subject are
hereby cancelled.—By command,
TAMES Y. SCARLETT, Adjutant-General.
The Dep.-Adjt.-Gen., Sir A. H. Horsford, has
issued a general order announcing her Majesty's ap

proval of the appointment of Brevet-Major the Hon.
H. F. Fane, of the Royal Engineers, to be ABSlq.-