The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-09 00:00:00

Naval and Military intelligence.

training should be given, not to every individua.l
intending to enter the service, but only to such
young men as possess a capacity, or feel an inclina-
tion for higher military studies. Such an academy
would very netrly agree with that of the great
French military school of St. Cyr, and would re-
semble, though net so closely, the best of the Aus-
trian establishments for the same purposes. Fre-
quent examinations at this proposed 'academy
would enable the teachers (who would be for the
most part military men) to discover whch of their
pupils were best qualified for the Engineers, which
for the Artillery, which for the Line. The term of
each pupil's sty would not exceed two years ; and -
the mainspring of activity during that period would
be competition for the more coveted of the ser-
vices above mentioned.
Such would be the first step of military educa-
tion, based upon the sound, or at least the manly
teaching of our public schools, but at the same
time tendering to young officets of talent and am-
bition those opportunities of specially studying the
science and business of their intended .career, with
which it is impossible for any profession to dispense.
Now let us proceed a step further, and ask what
is to be the bearing of these special studies on the
future of the student t Of what advantage are they
to be to young men after they have entered the
service Y In other words, how is the young officer
to be made to feel that it is worth his while to pro-
secute his studies, and make himself master of his
profession. Here lies the marrow of the question,
but its difficulty also. In the continental States,
in France, in Austria, or in Sardinia, the answer
would be returned readily enough. In those coun-
tries, as the object is to secure the best talents for
the army, the stimulus to genius and industry is
certainty of reward and assurance of pro-
motion. The ablest young officers compete for ad-.
mission into the Staff school; and once entered
there, they win their places on the staff itself ac-
cording to their deserts and performances. In the
continental systems the principle of competition is
called into action, and it must be brought into play
in England also, if we are to do anything worth
speaking of to encourage merit in the army, or to
make the army what it ought to be. The
Commissioners have ably and boldly met the ques-
tion. They distinctly inform tl.e Secretary of
War, and through him the Parliament and
the country, " that in every country visited by
them the entrance to the Staff school is gained by
competition, and that everywhere the ant ranee into
the Staff is gained by distinction at the school."
The establishment at Sandhurst illustrates by its
most serious defect the point on which the Report
lays so just a stress :
" The chief defect noticed with our own Senior De-
partment at Sandhurst hr.s bees that its course of study
was regarded as no recommendation for promotion. The
contrast presented by all foreign Staff Schools is eel,.
talnly steiking. There are differences, indeed, between
these schools in France and Austria as to the period of
admission aai other points ; but both are alike in this,
that they are so framed as to give every conceivable pre-
mium and encouragement to such militsry acquirements
as the service of the Staff is thought,to require. In both
the officers enter by competition, and after a laborious
course obtain their appointments on the Staff as the re-
ward of their distinctions in the school. It seems need.
less to urge that a college of this kind, opening the door
to advancement, and frequented when the mind is in its
fall vigour, would posses every inducement to call forth
the energies of young officers of talent. But a Senior
Department, offer!og a bare opportunity for military
study, with no ulterior results, stands in a wholly dif-
ferent position."
The question of promotion on the principle of
competition is inseparable from the question of
education. It is part of it and the most vital part
of it. The present system of promotion remaining,
the best possible scheme of military education
would be useless, and the labour of framing it
would b 3 thrown away. There must be both the
opportunities of instruction, and the motives to
profit by them. The motives are to be supplied by
free competition, and free competition only. We
might have arrived at this conclusion by the et
priori road ; but it is no harm to have abstract
reasoning supported by such a body of facts as the
Commissioners have collected, as well as by the
authority of their deliberate opinions and room-
mendations, after the fullest enquiry and largest
survey of the subject. They tell us that competi-
tion must be the soul of any system of military
education deserving of the name. It is idle to talk
of encouraging education, or opening schools, or
affording officers this opportunity, or that oppor-
tunity, of acquiring a knowledge of their profession,
if the opportunities used and the talents exercised
are not to be the certain steps to professional ad-
vancement.
Yet in what',Lord Palmerston said upon this sub
ject in moving the army estimates, there was not
the slightest allusion to the system of military pro-
motion in its indissoluble connection with the ques-
tion of education.
There is another object (said the Premier) which has
attracted the attention of the country, viz., a provision
for the education of the officers of the army. It is quite
obvious that whatever may be the courage of our officers
and the bravery of our men, with that courage and bra-
very there should be mixed a certain amount of science
applicable to war. It is the duty of the country to give
them that species of instruction which will enable them
to accomplish the end they have in view with the least
possible
sacrifice of life. Great improvements have been
made in the regimental school. With regard to the
officers, a council has 2 been appointed, of which the
Commander-in-Chief is the head, consisting of officers of
great distinction, and the Secretary for the War Depart-
merit, the object of that council being to form a system
of education for officers which may be calculated to
secure to the army men of skill in their profession, with
their minds trained and their faculties improved by study
and training. When the commission shall have reported,
the report shall be laid on the table, and I have no doubt
that a system will be established well calculated to effect
the object for which it was appointed.
Let us hope that his lordship sees as clearly as he
ought to see upon what basis alone an effectual
system of education for the army can be established ;
' and that he said nothing of promotion by merit,

The 15th Regiment, under Col. Cole, arrived at
Aldershot camp yesterday, from Gibraltar, via
Portsmouth. At present they only muster 686
rank and file.
The East India Company's troop-ship Gloriana
arrived at Gravesend on Sunday from Madras,
having on board detachments of troops belonging
to the 43d Light Infantry and 84th Regiment.
The Gloriana sailed from Madras on the 14th Feb.,
with 96 men and women of the 43d and 84th on
board, in charge of Capt. T. E. Holmes, 43d Light
Infantry, and Lieut. T. H. P. liennan, 84th Regi-
ment. Major Selby and Capt. Platt, of the East
India Company's service, came home as passengers.
The vessel touched at the Cape of Good Hope on
the 11th April, and sailed on the 15th, arriving in
the Thames on the 7th June. During the voyage
three deaths occurred on board.
The Bishop of Rochester held a confirmation at
Chatham yesterday, of the troops belonging to that
garrison, and a large number of officers and young
soldiers attended for the purpose.
The Royal Marine battalions, upwards of 900 in
number, were yesterday mustered in the b wrack-
square at head-quarters, Woolwich, by the Com-
mandant, Cpl. Brown, in preparation for the half-
yearly general inspection, to tale place on Wed-
nesday, the 17th init.
Lieut.-Colonel Henry F. Strange, C. 8., in com-
mand of the C troop of Horse Artillery, paraded
on Woolwich-common at 6 a.m. yesterday morn-
ing, going through a number of field manoeuvres
and gun practice, firing blank cartridge. The gen-
tlemen cadets of the Royal Artillery Academy at
Woolvtich went through a lengthened course of
mortar practice yesterday, the shells alighting in
near proximity to the signal-staff erectsi on the
common towards the battery encampment. The
charges used for the occasion were 8 and 10-inch
shells, partially filled with sand (mounted with a
fuse which ignited on explosion), so as to reach the
corresponding weight of au ordinary live shell.
The machinery recently erected in the new bor-
ing mill at Woolwich Arsenal was on Saturday in
process of being tested and worked for the first time
prior to completion, when, under a moderate strain,
the eatire row of shafting intended to set the vari-
ous wheels in motion fell to the ground, forcing
away with a sudden wrench, and twisting the huge
rods of iron and the whole of the brackets from end
to end of the factory, about 200 feet. The damage
is calculated at about 1,0001.
Her Majesty's steam storeship Buffalo arrived at
Woolwich on Sunday from Portsmouth, and has
commenced discharging her cargo of dockyard stores
alongside the wharf.
The Sympathy, from Goole, is discharging 13-
inch -shell at Woolwich Arsenal, being the remnant
of a contract entered into during the Russian war.
The freightship. Medway is ordered down to
Woolwich to embark ammunition for the Bahamas.