[III. ARTILLERY AND ENGINEER SCHOOL AT TURIN.]
The Artillery and Engineer School (Scuola Complementaria,) which is established in a large building in one of the suburbs of Turin, is a School of Application, intended to complete the special education of the Young Officers of the Artillery and Engineers, which the Cadets of those Corps have previously entered upon during their four last years in the Accademia Militare. Its course of studies occupies nominally two years, but really only eighteen months, after which the final examinations begin, and the pupils receive leave of absence. The Students do not live in barracks here, but the Inspector of the School seemed to think it desirable that they should do so. The exercises of the day commence, at eight o’clock every morning, with an hour’s riding. A lecture then follows, which lasts for an hour and a half, from nine till half-past ten. The rest of the morning is left free till twelve o’clock, when the pupils return to the school till three, and where they study together in large classes in the same room; they have afterwards some military exercises till five, and are then free for the evening.
The number of pupils at the school is twenty; from ten to fifteen for the Artillery, the rest for the Engineers. The subjects of study will show what difference exists in the studies of the two Corps, and we were told that very little preference was shown in the choice of the Students for one over the other. The Engineers do not appear to be at all employed in civil works; indeed, the Government does not allow them to be so, as there are sufficient fortifications in the kingdom of Sardinia to afford them constant employment. The pay of the two Corps is equal, and is very little above that of the Infantry, and the same as that of the Cavalry. The Artillery and Engineers (the Armi dotti) appear to be decidedly the favorite and aristocratic corps of the Sardinian army. They rarely enter the Staff Corps, and the reason assigned for this is their unwillingness to quit their own arm of the service. The position of the pupils on entering the Corps is fixed by the Final Examination alone, and is not influenced by marks previously given for industry and application during the course, as is the case in some of the French and German schools—at the Polytechnic, for instance, and at Znaim. The only value of a high position in the Final Examination is that it gives seniority in the Corps.
The direction of the school is intrusted to a Field Officer of Artillery, assisted by two Captains, one from the Artillery, and the other from the Engineers. His authority extends to instruction and discipline.
The scientific instruction is given by professors (effective and supplementary) and by Officers belonging to the various Artillery divisions and establishments, who, together, constitute a Council of Instruction, of which the Director is President.
The examinations to which the Officer Students are subjected are held by a Commission, nominated by the Secretary of War.
Regulations respecting the Professors, &c.
The Professors and Instructors are personally responsible for the teaching of the subjects contained in the programmes and regulation for the discipline of the students in School, for the daily drawing up of the notes and execution of the drawings, and for the constant presence of the students during the time of the instructions and lectures.
The Military Professors and Instructors will maintain constantly among the students the spirit of subordination and military discipline in all its force.