The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-12 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

Under the new arrangements for the reorganisa-
tion of the Royal Artillery, the particulars of
which were promulgated on Saturday, the head-
quarters of the 9th Brigade, of which Lieutenant-
General A. C. Mercer is the commandant, will in
future be stationed at Dover, in lien of the 2d
Brigade, under the command of Lieutenant-General
}t. Jones. The 9th is a field Artillery Brigade, and
numbers eight batteries, which are distributed
throughout the kingdom at Athlone, Leith, Shorn-
cliffe, and Newbridge. hi accordance with the
new arrangements it is intended to establish a field
battery„ at Canterbury and another at Chatham.
.r.he suitableness of the latter station for the evolu-
tions ns,of field battery exercise is undoubted, and it
long been a matter of surprise that the ad-
vantages possessed by Chatham over almost any
other town f
or an artillery station should
have been overlooked. The numerous ad-
vantages which haya, resulted to the loyal
Artillery sine the Doce --
of CamfbridF. became its
Colonel-in-Chief are on the eve v important addition by the d i vriesci eo
nvomf gt
another
tr
very
depot
brigade into three distinct soh_brigades, each to be
a lieutenant-eoloncl,
under the separate command of
with the exception of ;the sub-brigade stationed at
Woolwich, which will continue as at present under
The sub-
the command of Col. G. L K. Kennedy,
brigades will be station ,A at Woolwich, sheerness
, Sheer
and Warley, the latter station "Yll3B been, given

over for the Royal Artillery from the former East
India Company. As soon as the proposed arrange-
ments have been carried into effect, the immense
mass of correspondence relating to the Royal Artil-
lery will be diverted into three channels. The
strength of the depot brigade may be estimated from
the statement that it at present consists of 16 bat-
teries, distributed as follows :—Nos. 1,2, 3, and 4
at Sheerness ; Nos. 5 to 14 at Woolwich ; No. 11 at
Aldershott ; and Nos. 15 and 16 at Warley. Under
the new arrangements the batteries will be equally
subdivided into brigades, the strength of each
being governed by the requirements of the station
and the exigencies of the service. In accordance
with the above arrangements Great Yarmouth,
which until recently has always been a station for
Royal Artillery, will, in all probability, be no
longer garrisoned by that branch of the service, the
batteries of Artillery having been removed from
that town to Warley, in anticipation of immediate
effect being given to the order.
Three batteries of Royal Artillery have been or-
dered from India to Canada. The force will proceed
overland upwards of 1,000 miles. 200 horses for the
Royal Artillery are on passage for Canada.

Lieut. Michael Portelli, Royal Malta Fencible
Artillery, some time under orders for Woolwich, as
announced in The Sun, took up quarters at the garri-
son on Saturday, for the purpose of entering into a
course of exercise with the Armstrong gun, and pas-
sing through the various grades of laboratory instruc-
tion, preparatory to his appointment as captain-
instructor of the regiment at Malta. Lieut. Portelli
is accompanied by three sergeants, specially selected
for their military capacity, to perfect themselves in
the art of gunnery, and after going through six
months' drill and instruction at Woolwich they will
proceed to Shoeburyness.
A General Order has been issued by the Adju-
tant-General Sir James Yorke Scarlett, dated the
sth inst., which directs that the following regi-
ments—viz., 101st Regiment Bengal Fusileers,
102 d Regiment Madras Fusileers, and 103 d Regi-
ment Bombay Fusileers—are to have the honour of
bearing the designation " Roy al,"
The Adjutant-General has, by a circular memo-
randum addressed to officers commanding cavalry,
ordered that the shabraque in future is only to be
worn while the troops are under review, or in com-
plete order for route marching.
The subjoined circular memorandum, addressed
to the army at home and abroad, was promulgated
on Saturday last :

" Horse Guards, S.W., Aug. 6.
" The Queen has been pleased to approve that the
purchase of the officers' commissions in the corps of
the Yeomen of the Guard should cease at the earliest
possible moment, and to order that the future
vacancies in the corps should be filled up by officers
of the army of long and good service, to be selected
from a list kept at the Horse Guards by the General
Commanding-in-Chief, the recommendation being
made to her Majesty in each case, as now, by the
captain of the corps.
" Any of the officers who acquired their commis-
sions by purchase, and are desirous of retiring from
the corps, upon communicating with the captain,
will receive from the Secretary of State for War
an amount in compensation thereof, and a successor
will be appointed to the vacancy, who, however, it
must be clearly understood, will not be allowed to
sell his commission.

" The Lieutenants in future to be appointed must
have been a Colonel or Lieut.-Colonel in the Army,
or Royal Marines, or in the India Army.
" The Ensign and the Clerk of the Check, a Lieu-
tenant-Colonel or Major in the Army, or Royal
Marines, or in the Indian Army. The Exons, Cap-
tains in the Army, or Royal Marine's, or Indian
army, according to the present regulations of the
corps.

"It is further her Majesty's pleasure that no
officer should be appointed to the corps above the
age of 50.
.... . _

-"
Whenever an officer becomes, in the opinion of
the Captain, permanently incapacitated to perform
the duties of the appointment, he will be required
to resign it, or half his salary will be paid to a sub-
stitute, selected as already described, and who will
succeed to the next vacancy in the corps.
" This order is not to be retrospective, or to apply
to those officers of the army now in the corps who
have been appointed on the recommendation of the
General Commanding-in-Chief. It is to be clearly
understood that officers who may be appointed for
the future, under the above regulations, will be, as
heretofore, entirely under the command of the Cap-
tain of the corps.
" Any officer who may possess the above qualifi-
cations, and is desirous of becoming a candidate for
the corps, should address his application to the Mai.
tarp Secretary, Horse Guards, for the purpose of
being laid before his Royal Highness the General
Commanding-in-Chief, with a view to such officers,
if duly qualified, being recommended, through the
Captain of the corps, to her Majesty for appoint-
ment.

JAMES YORKE SCARLETT, Adjt.-Gen,"

THE VOL UNTEERS.

The prizes for No. 7 Company of the London
Scottish Rifle Volunteers, given by the Captain,
the Marquis of Abercorn, were shot for at the Corps
Butts on Wimbledon-common, on Saturday, with
the following result :-Ist prize, an officer's belt
pistol, won by Private Thomas Sproat, with 22
points. 2d prize, a highlysfinished Enfield rifle,
with silver plate for inscription (from the London
Armoury Company's Factory), won by Lieutenant
Thomas Scott, with 21 points ; 3d prize, a plain
Enfield rifle with silver plate as above, won by Ser-
geant Cormack with 21 points. The losers then
competed, at 200 and 400 yards (five shots at each),
for three prizes given by the winners of the Mar-
quis of Abercorn's prizes, and these were won as
follows :—The first by Private Cree with 11 points,
the second by Major Mew with 10 points, and a
tie; the third by Sergeant Pringle with 10 points.
Then followed the most interesting part of the pro•
ceeding—viz., a contest by the 10 best shots of the
company for the champion's badge, being a minia-
ture solid silver rifle, designed and presented to the
company by Lieutenant Scott. This highly-prized
memorial was contested for at 200, 300, 500, and
600 yards, three shots at each range, with the fol-
lowing result—viz., Mr. Cormack, 14 points; Lieu-
tenant Scott, 14 points; Mr. Cree, 12 points; Mr.
Sproat, 11 points; and the others under. Then
commenced the shooting• off the tie between Mr.
Cormack and Lieutenant Scott, as a finale to the
meeting, viz., 11 shots each at 600 yardi range,
including three shots for the prize, making 22 in
succession without a miss. At the termination
of the 21st shot Mr. Cormack declared that he
would not load again, as it was then near eight
o'clock, and he could not see the foresight, and
Lieutenant Scott then went in with a promise
to make
centre, and thus terminate the contest,
o and,ln havingtaken a careful aim, he fired, and the
shot was signalled a centre. The double sifting
which the competitors got by first shooting for
prizes, threethfboarage,
appearslosers 't
to
u s prizes,an
athnrdeethperinnfcoirp
principal
lechampion's
excellent device, and as certain as actuaries' long
averages to bring out the best shot, in proof of
which we may state that, out of 40 shots at five
different ranges, Lieut. Scott never missed a shot
except at the first range.
The 'Montrose Rifle gathering, which is now fairly
established at " the Wimbledon of Scotland," was
held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last
week on the Links of Montrose, and passed off with
the utmost success. Numerous competitors had
entered the lists from all parts of Scotland, as also
several from the London Scottish corps. " Scot-
land's Cup," value £5O, open to all Scotland, Volun-
teers or non-volunteers, was of course the blue
riband of the meeting, and drew together in com-
petition all the crack shots in the country, the
number of entries being no fewer than 110.
The chief scorers in the contest were—

Yds. Yds. Yds. Total
700 800 1)00 puts.
Mr. Edward Ross, Cambridge tiniver-

sity • . 8 7 6 21
Mr. A. Smith, Edinburgh Merchants
Volunteer Company.. .. 3• 8 7 18
Major Moir, Stirling .. 4 7 4 15
I',lr. Cunningham, Renfrcw Volunteers 4 4 7 15
Mr. Colledge, 3 5 7 15

Mr. Ross (the ex-Champion of England) thus,
with a score which it was stated by Earl Dalhousie,
in presenting the prize, has never been excelled in
a public competition, carried off the cup, a very
beautiful piece of workmanship. Mr•. Smith,
Edinburgh, gained the second prize, a first•class
Henry rifle, value 121. In shooting off the ties
Major Moir eclipsed both his opponents, and came
in for the third prize, a handsome claret jug. The
.next prizo i 4 importance was The Stroongere'

•.--_