The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-07 00:00:00

ATAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The Retribution, 28, paddle-wheel steam-frigate,
ing the flag of Rear-Admiral of the Blue Robert Lam-
bert Baynes, with his entire squadron, left the Nore
yesterday, at 6.30 a.m., for the Baltic, the gun-boats and
mortar vessels preceding the squadron the day previous
as reported. Lieutenant Charles E. Sidebottom, second
of the Retribution, and Mr. Peter Kerr M‘Bride second
class assistant engineer of the Hastings, being left be-
hind, will take passage out in the transport Jupiter, to
join their ships.
The Rosamond, 6, paddle-wheel steam sloop, Comman-
der S. S. L. Crofton, left Sheerness yesterday at 7 45
a.m., on particular service.
The Black Eagle paddle-wheel steam-yacht, Master-
Commander John E. Petley, arrived at Sheerness yester-
day at 11 45 a.m., from Woolwich. with Rear-Admiral
the Hon. M. F. F. Berkeley, M.P., &c., who imme-
diately landed at the Admiral's Stairs, and was received
by the Hon. W. Gordon, Vice-Admiral of the Blue and
Commander-in-chief at the Nore.
The screw steam-ship Tumbes, 4, Commander De la
Haza, belonging to the Peruvian Government, arrived
from London on Tuesday at Plymouth, preparatory to
sailing for Callao, via Teneriffe and Rio Janeiro. She is
fitted with a pair of 50-horse oscillating engines and
multiplying gear, by Messrs. James Watt and Co., who
also fitted the frigate Apurimac, 50, and her tender, the
sloop Loa, which left Plymouth on the 21st of May for
the same destination. The engines of the three ships are
worked by Englishmen, and the stokers are chiefly Eng-
lish. It is probable that the steamers will be employed
in the protection of the guano islands.
The boilers of the Conqueror, 100, and Sanspareil, 71,
have been placed on board those ships at Keyham, Ply-
mouth ; and the hired transport Shooting Star, No. 48,
has been placed alongside the jetty at the Devonport
dockyard, to be fitted for the conveyance of troops to
the Mediterranean.
Yesterday the presentation of new colours to the 51st
(or King's Own Light Infantry) Regiment, now under
orders for the Crimea, took place in the Regent-road
Barracks, at Manchester. There was a large number of
snectators—Lieut.-General Sir Harry G. W. Smith,
Bart., G.C.B. (in command of the northern and midland
district), General Sir Thomas Wilshire, K.C.8., the
Colonel-in-Chief of the 51st Regiment ; Col. Taylor,
Capt. Holdicb, and Col. Scott (officers of the staff of the
northern division), and Col. Errington, the Colonel in
command of the 51st, were among those present. The
prayers of consecration having been read by the Rev.
Mr. Nicholson (chaplain to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ire.,
land), the new colours were received from Lady Willshire
by Lieut. Read and Ensign Burnaby. In presenting
the colours, Lady Willshire said :
" Officers and soldiers of the 51st King's Own Light
Infantry, as the wife of an old soldier, I feel proud of
and grateful for the distinction you have this day
conferred upon me by requesting that I should pre-
sent these new colours to this gallant regiment, of
which my husband has the honour to be the colonel.
May these bright banners, like those venerable ensigns
they are destined to replace, ever be found foremost in
the path which leads the British soldier on to glory and
to victory ; and, in addition to the many records of
your triumphs and successes which those ensigns dis-
play, may you before long, if called to join those of
your comrades now fighting in the Crimea, there be
enabled to reap fresh laurels in addition to those which
the Slit so gloriously acquired at Minden, at many
battles in theTeninsula, on the Pyrenees, and at Water-
loo I Gentlemen, I present to you these colours ; may
God's blessing go with them and protect them ! And
rest assured that, wherever they are carried, your
colonel's and my prayers and best wishes will ever
attend you. 51st Light Infantry."
On behalf of the regiment, Colonel Errington thanked
Lady Willshire for the honour she had conferred upon
them ; and the soldiers were then briefly addressed by Sir
T. Willshire, who expressed his gratification at making
acquaintance with them on this occasion, and his confi-
dence that they would sustain hereafter the present
well-earned reputation of the regiment. The regiment
is at present about 1,300 strong, including recruits,
and is expected to embark at Liverpool for Malta and
the Crimea about the 20th inst. It bears upon its co-
lours the names of "Minden, Corunna, Salamanca,
Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Peninsula, Water-
loo, and Pegu." The regiment has only been 9 months
in this country, after 17 years' foreign service, in Van
Diemen's Land, India, and Burmah ; and on Monday
the officers and men received from Sir Harry Smith the
medals to which they were entitled, commemorative of
the Burmese campaign. It is believed that 500 men of
the regiment will remain to form the dopot in England,
while 8 companies of 100 men each wilt proceed to the
seat of war. General Sir Thos. Willshire, the colonel-
in-chief, has seen 60 years' service, having been engaged
in the West Indies in the last century, in the Peninsula,
in the Walcheren expedition, and afterwards in India,
where he captured the fortress of Khelat in 1839 ; and
in the Kafir war in 1849.
An officer and 50 men of the draught of the 72d, under
orders for the Crimea, marched from Kilkenny on Wed-
nesday for Cork, whence they are to saiL The remainder
of the draught expect to proceed by Dublin, leaving
Kilkenny about the 17th inst.
The Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, with the sanction of
the First Lord of the Admiralty, has been pleased to
appoint Commander Charles Vesey, of the Royal Navy,
to be one of his extra aides-de-camp.

STATE OF THE ARMY BEFORE
SEBASTOPOL.

The committee reassembled yesterday in room No.
17, "to consider resolutions," and, in consequence, the
public were not admitted. All the members were pre-
sent, and the sitting lasted from 12 till 4 o'clock. We
understand that draught reports were submitted for
consideration by Mr. Roebuck, Mr. Drummond, Sir
John Pakington, and Lord Seymour. Upon discussion,
that presented by Lor.l Seymour appoared most in har-
mony with the views of the majority, and the others
in consequence were laid aside. The committee have
not come to any final decision when they adjourned
over till Friday, but it is expected that Lord Seymour's
report, after it has undergone some further modifica-
tions, will be agreed to.

CIiTSTAL PALACE.—SHILLING DAY, WEDNESDAY.-
AdmissiaD on payment, 7,254 ; ditto, by season tickets,
617. Total visitors, 7,941.
MURDER BY A SOLDIER OF THE' SLIGO RlFLES.—Satur-
day considerable excitement prevAiled in Sligo in conse-
quence of the discovery that a private of the Sligo Rifles,
named William Ferns, had inflicte.l frightful injuries on
the head and person of an unfortun ate girl named Anne
Commons, which resulted in her death iu the County In-
firmary on the following Tuesday. The murder was com-
mitted between the hours of two or three o'clock in the
afternoon, in a plantation on a. spot of rising ground
which overlooks.the road at Ballytirnau, near this town.
An inquest was held before A. Barrows, Es q., cforoound ne a
and W. R. Moroney, Esq., R.M., ,when the jury
verdict amounting to wilful murder against Ferns, who
has been committed for trial at the assizes. It appears
than the deceased and the prisoner, who is a native of
Ballyinote, in this county, were walking in the planta-
tion, and a quarrel having taken place between them,
the prisoner attacked the wretched girl in a savage
net, and and inflicted frightful wounds upon her face and
head +Frith large stones, which wore afterwards found on
the spot by the police, covered with blood. The ap-
pearance of the deceased, when brought to the infirmary,
was shocking in tle extreme. She was then in a dying
state, perfectly unconscious, and never rallied. Ferns
was, we learn, formerly an inmate of the Ballinasloe
Lunatic Asylum, and it is. stated that insanity will form
the ground of his defence at the assizes. It will be seen
by his statement before the m ngistrates that he has him-
self already taken this line ao,c defence. The prisoner
made a statement to the followi.v effect :—"I was irri-
tated because she took a stone is her band, with which
she struck me on the finger, and a Person being out of
their mind when they are irritated, 0„•ey are worse than
at other times. I was two years out of my mind in
Sligo Gaol and Ballinasloe, I had po Atone at the time
the witness said I had,"

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