The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-29 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

Colonel Charles Bingham, the Deputy-Adjutant
of the Royal Artillery, has issued the subjoined
general regimental order, dated the 25th inst.:—
" The Secretaries of State for India and for the
War Department having, with the concurrence of
his Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-
Chief, approved, the officers of her Majesty's Indian
army hereinafter named being attached to the
Royal Artillery for duty, his Royal Highness takes
this opportunity of directing the attention of the
officers of the Royal Artillery to the close connec-
tion which will henceforth exist between them-
selves and their brethren of her Majesty's Indian
Artillery.
"His Royal Highness is well assured that the
officers now ordered to Woolwich will be received
with that hearty welcome and feeling of comrade-
ship which happily prevails in the British army,
and which, in this instance will be strengthened
by a large and generous esprit corps.
enc
" In the intimate union now
expe-
rience and professional knowledge
will be mutually
acquired and imparted, and
anticipates with confidence for the Royal Highness
theconsolidated
regiments of Artillery, a distinction as great and
glorious as that which they have already separately
acquired.
" Names of the Officers—Lieut.-Col. j. H.
Smyth, Bengal; Brevet Lieut.-Col. H. Le G. Bruce,
Bengal ; Brevet Major A. Light, Bengal ; Capt. C.
IL Hutchinson, Madras ; Capt. C. J. Barton, Bom-
bay ; Second Capt. N. G. Campbell, Madras ; Se-
cond Capt. C. P. Roberts, Bombay ; Second Capt.
A. Blunt, Bombay; Second Capt. F. Lloyd, Bom-
bay; Lieutenant C. H. Barnes, Bengal; Lieu-
tenant J. Alexander, Bengal; Lieut. D. T.
M•Gregor, Madras; Lieut. It. A. Stevenson, Bom-
bay ; Lieut. T. Ritchie, Bombay ; Lieut. T. P.
Berthon, Bombay ; Lieut. 11. Mauro, Bengal ;
Lieut. C. R. Buckle, Madras; and Lieut. C.
Hunter, Bengal."

The annexed general order Las been addressed to
General 'officers commanding -troops and officers
commanding Royal Artillery
" Horse Guards, S.W., Jan. 24.
" His Royal Highness the General Command-
ing•in-Chief having decided that the subaltern offi-
cers of the Royal Artillery shall pass an examina-
tion before being promoted to the rank of Captain,
the samois notified for general-information.
" The examination of the Lieutenants of the
Royal Artillery will be similar to that required of
offieers of the Line, as laid down in the Queen's
Regulations, paragraphs 72, 73, and 74, with the
exception of the requirements of paragraph 10,
page 73. - -A general knowledge of the evolutions
of cavalry and military will suffice.
" In addition to the foregoing, Lieutenants of the
Royal Artillery will be examined as to their ac-
quaintance with the more special duties of their

profession, and the accompanying list of subjects is
promulgated as a guide to the nature of the exami-
nation.
" Every officer, on becoming the 30th on the list
of Lieutenants, must be prepared to und, rgo

required examination.
" An officer, however, who wishes to be examined
at an earlier period may, after four y rs' service,

•
apply for such examination.
" Instructions will from time to time be issued
from this department to the general or other officer
commanding districts or stations to assemble a
board, to consist of three officers, viz., a field officer
(of the Royal Artillery, if possible), an officer of the
Staff, and a captain of Royal Artillery, or an officer
of that corps who may have already passed the
examination. (Either the gunnery instructor or the
firemaster should, when practicable, be selected for

this duty.)
"If it be impossible to obtain a staff officer, a
captain of the line should be substituted ; if a se-
cond officer of artillery cannot be had, an officer of

Royal Engineers should be substituted ; but it must
be understood that either the president or one mem-
ber of the board must be selected from the Royal
Artillery.
" That portion of the examination which can be
best replied to in writing will be conducted by
means of questions prepared by the Deputy-Adju-
tant-General of Artillery at the Horse Guards, and
which will be forwarded to the general or other
officer commanding.
" The viva voce and practical examination will
be conducted by the Board of Officers, who will
satisfy themselves that the officer under examina-
tion not only possesses the requisite knowledge
himself, but that he is able to impart that know-
ledge in a clear and satisfactory manner to the non=
commissioned officers and men under his command.

" The Board will then---forward (through the
General officer) their own report, together with
the written answers. The President of the Board
will certify them to have been the bona fide per-
formances of the candidates, and without assistance.
The written papers will then be examined by the
Deputy Adjutant-General of Artillery at the Horse
Guards, and the result, together with the opinion
of the Board, reported to his Royal Highness the
General Commanding-in-Chief.
" Synopsis of Examination. 1. Field gun drill.
2. Exercise of heavy guns on ground and travers-
ing platforms. 3. Mortar drill. 4. Rocket drill.
5. Armstrong gun drill. 6. Practice with hot shot
and molten iron shells. 7. Gun and transporting
carriage drill.
.8. General duties of the men, and

principles involved in mounting and dismounting
ordnance generally, in placing guns on towers, in
embarking and disembarking ordnance, and in
moving ordnance up steep inclines ; also the tackle,
&c., required in the above operations. 9. Different
pieces of ordnance in use throughout the service at
the time of the examination, their weight and cali-
bre, and the special purpose of each description of
ordnance. 10. Ammunition employed with ordnance
generally. 11. Ammunition employed with Arm-
strong guns. 12. General construction of a congreve
rocket and the principle of its motion. 13. Manu-
facture and action of fuzees and tubes: 14. The
advantages of the rifle action, and the principle
upon which it depends. 15. Essential points with
regard to rifling ordnance. 16. General principles of
breaching. 17. Position and employment of artillery
in the field. 18. Considerations which regulate the
rapidity of artillery fire. 19. Principles connected
with the manufacture and construction of artillery
carriages. 20. General knowledge of laboratory
duties. 21. Embarking and disembarking horses,
management of horses on board ships. 22. To be ,
able to define technical artillery terms, &c., in such
a way as to make them understood by the non-com-
missioned officers and men under their command,
such as-1, point blank ;2, point blank range ;3,
depart ; 4, chambers; 5, preponderance ; 6, different
kinds of artillery fire; 7, how elevation gives an
increase of range; B, windage; 9, deviation, &c.
23. Subalterns who have been one year or more in
the Horse Brigade or in a field battery will be re-
quired, in addition to the foregoing subjects, to be
thoroughly acquainted with stable duties and horse
artillery or field battery movements and details ;
all others will be required to have a general know-
ledge of these subjects."
The Ordnance Select Committee at Woolwich,
as well as the Royal Engineer Permanent Com-
mittee at Chatham, having made highly favourable
reports on the excellence of the iron band gabions,
recently invented by Sergeant Major Jones, R.E.,
attached to the staff at Chatham, orders
have been issued for their adoption throughout
the service generally. Several hundreds of
the new gabions have accordingly been
manufactured by the Government contractor
and sent into store at Woolwich, where, by
direction of the Secretary of State for -War, they
were inspected by the inventor. The result of the
1 examination, however, led to the discovery that
the gabions thus made for the Government were
faulty, and in other respects not fit for the service,
in consequence of their not having been made ac-
cording to the original pattern and specifications.
They have acccordingly all been returned to the
contractor, who will be required to furnish a fresh
supply to be placed in store. By direction of
General Sir John Burgoyne, Inspector-General of
Fortifications, the new iron-band gabions have
been included in the printed list of stores to accom-
pany armies in the field. The advantages which
the iron-band gabions possess over those of the old
wicker kind are that they can be constructed in an
exceedingly short time, two men being able to turn
out a gabion complete in five minutes, the old kind
requiring three men three hours to construct one;
they are exceedingly portable, 100 of the iron
gabions requiring less room for stowage than
six of the wicker kind; they are much lighter,
weighing only 291 b. each, whereas the gabions
formerly in use in the service weighed 601 b. each;
they are considerably cheaper; they are incombus-
tible, and far more simple in their construction ;
and they can be readily repaired when damaged.
In addition to these advantages the inventor has
succeeded in making the iron bands of the gabion
serviceable in the construction of flying suspension
bridges for the passage of troops and artillery, and
one of tnese bridges has been erected at Chatham,
where it has been put to a severe test, with the most
satisfactory results.

TEE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT.

VOLUNTEERS AND THEIR RIFLES.

The following circular, addressed to Lords-Lieu-
tenant of Counties, has been issued from the War-

office :

" War-office, Pall-mall, Jan. 7.
" Having had under my consideration the whole
subject of the arming of corps of Rifle Volunteers,
and the measures which appear to be necessary in
order to insure an uniform system, as well in ac-
counting for the arms in possession of Volunteers
as in providing for their due preservation and effi-
ciency, I have the honour to recall to your recol-
lection that, at the period when the greatest num-
ber of corps offered their services, the state of the
stores did not permit the Government to arm the
Volunteers completely.
" At first, therefore, they were required to pro-
vide their own rifles, under prescribed conditions
as to size of bore and nipple ; then a certain num-
ber per cent. of rifles were issued to them by the
Government; and afterwards the arms were sup-
plied for all enrolled members.
" Thus two systems of arming Volunteer corps
showne ame
ht oa t operation, pheerta tui ohnf ,rearinudehrteicyentwt
eindspeseeertiipontisenheaveef
rifles are in use in the same corps, some the pro-
perty of the Government, and some of the Volun-
teers themselves, who have provided them at their
own expense.
" As it is desirable that the supply of rifles should
for the future be made from one source only, and
that those corps which have purchased their own
arms should be relieved as far as possible from the
expenses which they have incurred in this respect,
in ptrhee
property of corps or-
beyond those now thrown upon the more recently
pfoarrmededto'coprpusr,chhearse 3allaii essutyjh Government
a sare
s rifles
individual
similar
pattern
undera t theth
the
price paid for arms of
as ilot ed
object in theto pmargin i
with
and, in Governmentcascs
their own rifles upon these terms, it is to be under-
stood
where contracts,
Volunteers
that Government arms will be issued for their
use in the corps.
~ I have therefore to request that you Will make
known this decision to the various Rifle Volunteer
Corps in the county under your charge, and will
cause a return to be made to me of the number and
description of arms not the property of the „"Go-
verument which are now in use by them.
" The Volunteers will be allowed the continued
use of the arms thus purchased, on the conditions
in force with respect to the arms issued by the Go-
vernment, except in cases where there are two
descriptions of armsin one corps, and where it may
be 'tecessary, for the sake of uniformity, to issue
the Enfield rifle to all the Volunteer's.
" Per the future, however, all 'Rifle Volunteer
Corps wilt be
required to use the arms issued to
them by the
Government, and no new corps willbe

* £3 28, 6a.