The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-16 00:00:00

THE ARMJ.

The following general order, dated Horse Guards,
Sept. 25, issued by command of the Duke of Cam-
bridge, has been received at Chatham garrison :

"His Royal Highness the General Commanding. in-Chief
having had before him the annual report of the instruction
carried on at the School of Musketry at Hythe, and of the
progress of musketry instruction throughout the army dur-
ing the year 1860-61, desires that officers commanding
divisions and districts will call the attention of officers com-
manding regiments in their respective commands to the fol-
lowing points, viz.:—
" 1. It appears to his Royal Highness that commanding
officers are not so careful as they ought to be in the selection
of men for training, and that in many instances sergeants
and privates have been sent to Hytho three times over. The
consequence is that the energies of the Staff of the establish-
anent are wasted, and the object of the school as a normal
training institution defeated.
" Too many officers trained for the appointment of in..
structors are ensigns, who, although they are qualified for
the position, fail to discharge the duties thereof satisfac-
torily from want of a knowledge of the service and weight

as regards years and rank.
"To insuro the schools of musketry being in future used
with the greatest advantage to the service, officers of tho
superior ranks will, whenever it may be practicable, be al-
lowed to go to those establishments, ani all adjutants and
sergeant-majors of regiments and depot battalions should
be regularly trained there, either before or after appoint-
ment ; and all sergeants, corporals, and privates sent for in-
struction should be specially selected for their conduct, in-
telligence, and educational acquirements, in order that they
may be of use on their return to their respective corps.
"2. Nothwithstanding the previous injunctions on the
subject, the number of non•exercised men in many regi-
ments continues very large, proving that every opportu-
nity is not embraced to bring all the men under instruction.
It only takes 12 days fur a soldier to execute his annual
course of rifle training, hence no excuse can be made as re-
gards time.

"3. The practice still prevails of medical officers exempt-
ing men from rifle training who, in other respects, appear
to be doing duty in the ranks. This proceeding is prejudi-
cial to discipline, and is one which, if not stopped, will open
the door to great abuses.
"4. The inferior shooting of many regiments points to

the want of greater care in the execution of the preliminary
drills, and of the more frequent exercise of the men in the
position' and ' aiming drills ;' also to the necessity of
greater attention being paid to the further instruction of
third •class shots during the winter months, which alone will
insure a higher position in the letter of merit.
"5. Particular attention should always be paid to the dif-
ferent firings at battalion, brigade, and divisional field days,
as if executed in a hurried and careless manner the good
derived from a steady course of rifle training is in a great
measure counteracted.

"By order of his Royal llighness the General Command•
iug-in-Chief.
" JAMES YORKE SCARLET; Adjutant-General."

In consequence of the numerous discharges a
men of the Royal Engineers which have taken
place for some time past at Chatham, chiefly on ac-
count of their unfitness for further service, that
branch of the service is so considerably reduced
that the corps is at present about 500 men be-
low its proper strength. Recruiting for the Royal
Engineers is accordingly proceeding as briskly as
circumstances will permit, but still the greatest
difficulty is experienced in obtaining well•qualified
mechanics, artificers, draughtsmen, surveyors, &c.,
of which class the corps is exclusively composed.
By the sanction of the Duke of Cambridge volun-
teering for the regiments of the Line for the Royal
Engineers has accordingly been opened, and num-
bers of young men, some of whom are first-rate me-
chanics, have volunteered for the Engineers, where
the pay and emoluments are considerably higher
than in other corps. Notwithstanding, however,
the numbers of volunteers who have arrived at
head-quarters, Chatham, several hundred men are
still required to raise the companies of Engineers to
their full strength, and the somewhat unusual
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Engineers, Chatham, is close upon 100. the whole
of whom receive the sum of one guinea on joining
at Biompton-barracks. The volunteers as they
arrive are attached to the 36th company.
The attention of general and other commanding
officers of the Royal Artillery has been called by
his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge to the
following important directions respecting the modo
of carrying on gun practice. From the reports re-
ceived at the Horse Guards it appears that a very
large proportion of common shells, fired seaward, fail
to burst, and this is on nearly every occasion ac-
counted for the fire in the fuse being extinguished
by concussion, ricochet, or immersion. To prevent
the recurrence of these continued failures, it is di-
rected that in future, when shells are being fired at
a floating or other target at sea, the fuses be bored so
as to cause them to burst the shell ten yards short
of the target, but in all such cases the instructor