The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-06 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 6, 1855.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The Orion, 91 guns, new screw steam-ship, was on
Saturday towed down to Sheerness, from Folly Point,
and berthed at Blackstokes, for taking in ammunition,
shell, &c., and for the adjustment of her compasses.
This fine ship is nearly complete in her crew.
The Cressy, 80 guns, screw steam-ship, Captain R.
L. Warren, is being prepared for immediate service.
The Russell, 60 guns, screw steam-ship, Captain J.
Scott, of 16th of November, 1852, is getting roasted
under the wasting shears, and active preparations are
going on at Sheerness to complete her.
The Blenheim, 61, screw, Captain (Nemesis) Hall, is
receiving her new boilers.
The Amphion, 34 guns, screw steam-frigate, Captain
Astley C. Key, was taken into Ne. 2, dry dock, Sheer-
ness, on Saturday.
The Cuckoo, 3 guns, paddle-wheel steam-vessel, Lieu-
tenant Commander A, G. E. Murray, is undergoing ex-
tensive repairs in the discharging basin at Sheerness.

very active, and have succeeded in secnring &large num-
ber of young men. At Merthyr 17 were enlisted in one
day, and at the other hill localities colliers and miners
bare been enrolled. In Newport there are no fewer
than six recruiting parties for Artillery, Marines, and
the line, the 46th being among the latter. In Gloces-
ter and adjacent localities the recruiting has been suc-
cessful ; in that city a large number of recruits have
been attested for the line and the militia.

MILITA.Ry. •
The 13th, 54th, 66th, aml 92d Regiments, now in
Gibraltar, aro ordered to the Crimea. They will be re-
placed by militia regiments.'

Captain Travers, s company, sth battalion, and Captain
Hawkins s company, 7th battallion, Royal Artillery,
have received orders to hold themselves in readiness to
embark for the Crimea for siege gun service.
Nearly all the troops in Athlone have been despatched
to the seat of war. Two companies of the 90th Regi-
ment left on Friday to join head-quarters at Mullingar,
previous to marching to Cork for embarkation. Of the
let Royals a draught consisting of 290 rank and file left
by mid-day train for Cork for embarkation.
A draught of the 13th Regiment, numbering 250,
with eight officers, arrived in Cork on Thursday, and
proceeded to Queenstown on Friday, whence they em-
barked on board her Majesty's steamer Cmsar for the
Crimea. A draught of the 92d _Highlanders accompa-
nies the 13th.

Major Pratt, 41st Regiment, expects to arrive in
Cork with a draught of his regiment, for embarkation to
the Crimea, in the Himalaya.
It was Sir Neil Douglas who, when in command of
the 79th Highlanders, instituted a regimental order of
merit, which was attended with the happiest results.
There were two branches of the order, distinguished by
silver and bronze medals, the recommendations to
which were made by committees of nerjeants and pri•
vates, who scrutinized the claims of all n,qpirants to the
distinction. These medals might be forfeited for any
military often.. -such as insuboaiittalion. xlrunkynneaa.,
or neglect of duty ; but the man who had earned them
by good conduct took pains to preserve them. Men
who had been considered as incorrigible were reclaimed,
and became some of the best behaved soldiers in the
regiment.
An " order of merit," or good conduct medal, was also
worn by the 424 Highlanders when that renowned corps
was commanded by the late gallant Sir Robert Henry
Dick.

Owing to the pressing exigencies of the public service,
all the staff of the Quartermaster-General's-office in
Dublin were fully employed the whole of Sunday last.

THE MILITIA.

In consequence of the absence of Lieutenant-Colonel
the Earl of Uxbridge on Parliamentary duties, the com-
mand of the Second (King's Own) Staffordshire Light
Infantry Regiment has, during the past week, devolved
upon Major Dyott.
Assistant-Surgeon Henry Thomas Lomax has been
appointed to be Surgeon, vice Harland, resigned. In
the Ist Regiment of King's Own Staffordshire Militia,
Ensign Dudley Edward Laurin has received the appoint-
ment of Lieutenant, vice Pye, appointed to an ensign-
ship in the line. In the King's Own Rifle Regiment of
Staffordshire Militia, Henry St. George Priaulx, late of
the 4th Light Dragoons has been appointed to be Cap-
tain, vice Frith, resigned ; Lieutenant John Broughton
to be Captain, vice Lane, appointed to the Coldstream
Guards ; William Lee (Greeley, to be Lieutenant, vice
Knight, resigned ; Second Lieutenant Francis Vere
Wright to be Lieutenant, vice Broughton, promoted ;
James Garrard King to be Ensign.
The total number of militia regiments now embodied
for permanent duty is 64.
During the past week the reserve corps of the Ist So-
merset Regiment of Militia assembled in the barracks at
Taunton for inspection, previous to their being sent to
Plymouth to fill up the vacancies in the garrison there,
caused by others of the regiment having volunteered
into the line. The following appointments have been
made in this regiment :—Ensign W. G. V. Villiers to
be Lieutenant, vice Langdon, resigned ; Herbert Parker
Owens to be Ensign, vice Villiers, promoted.
The Aberdeenshire Militia has received nearly half
the required number of volunteers, but the regular ser-
vice continues to be far more attractive to the young men
of the north. At Aberdeen, during the last three
months, 300 recruits have been received into the 79th,
and only 280 into the Militia. A draught of 80 men
from the 79th has gone to head-quarters in the Crimea.
The recruits are strong, healthy lads, And are soon
drilled for active service. In Caithness the required
number is nearlylmade up ; but in Satherland and Skye
few volunteers have come forward.

The Donegal Regiment has been enrolled, and the re-
cruits
are paraded twice a-day. Some of the ogficers
have arrived. It will be a very nice regiment—mostly
ail young men. Major Clements has arrived, and taken
the command of the regiment until his brother officer,
the Earl of Mountcharlos, colonel of the regiment, joins.
On Saturday Major the lion. Standish Vereker, com-
mandant, received the Royal vaarraat-4,0 embody the
City of Limerick Militia Artillery.
About 350 young m.n have been already enrolled in
the Galway Militia, and the numbers are daily increasing..

studying—and how far the discipline to which I have
been subjected is likely to make me a proper and useful
servant among yourselves. (Applause.) I wish to say,
further, that I return to this country with a stronger
conviction tban.l had, even before I.left, on one or two
points. In the first place, I have a stronger faith in the
good sense and in the powers of self-government of my
fellow-countrymen. (Rear, and applause.) And, gen-
tlemen, I have not been a dilettanti on this subject ; I
have put the thing to the test. Then I have also a
stronger conviction, if possible, even than I had before,
of the superiority for all practical purposes of our own
institutions over those of any other country. lam
not talking of European countries merely—l sup-
pose wo are all at ono on that point, for any con-
troversy that could be 'raised on that subject would be
one wholly out of date—but I have had opportunities
greater, perhaps, than any man ever before enjoyed,
of contrasting the working of our institutions with
those of our great neighbour in America, the United
States. I have had this very remarkable oppor-
tunity that, on the soil of the continent alongside of the
United States, with a sacial condition to deal with quite
as democratic as the social condition of the United
States, I have been working the English system against
the system of the United States ; and I do say that, in
many respects, we have the advantage over them,
though, at the same time, I do wish to pay all respect to
the United States. I have received very great kindness
in that country ; and I must say I think the constitution
of the United States is a very marvellous work of wis-
dom, concerning the circumstances under which it was
formed. In the first place, I think that our monarchial
system gives us very great advantage, that the head of
the State represents the unity of the nation—represents
those great and paramount interests which unite us, and
which in that respect are distinguished from those
which divide us. In all free countries those interests
and considerations that divide us naturally obtain a very
important place. Earnest men form themselves into
parties, with the object of promoting their own particu-
lar_viewts of what they consider for tke public interest,
and ambitions men fornr themeeituts-isuo pattioa for tike
sake of promoting personal objects ; and our great ad-
vantage
over the United States in this respect is this,
that whereas, in the republican system, the head of the
State is necessarily the type and embodiment of party
interests, the head of the State, under our system is, the
embodiment of the national and general interest. (Loud
cheers.) And I can tell you the practical way in which
that advantage tells. There is only one way in a re-
public in which you can get absolute unity of sentiment,
and that is by effecting hostility against a foreign coun-
try. A successful general unites the suffrages of the i
whole of the patriotic people ; but it is impossible, n that
free country, that a party man, in questions of domestic
Bpooltic
therey, sh oiusldanuontihteertoagdeythaeortatghee
wsueff
praogsessesosf tohyeerp
which is of a different character, and which will, ethopem, le
per-
haps, come home to the sympathy of people representing
all manner of opinions in this room—as I hope all
manner of opinions are represented here. (Applause.)
The truth is that we, the popular will, tell on the execu-
tive government much more immediately and directly
under our system than the popular voice does in the
United States. You could not have a more curious
exemplification of the difference between these sys-
tems than you have at this moment. We have been
drinking the Ministry to-night—we know net who they
are ; but a short time ago we had a government in this
country which up to a recent period had received cer-
tainly a large share of Parliamentary support, and which
used to command the confidence of Parliament. Ido
not say whether it ought to have lost the confidence of
Parliament or not ; I am not entering into that ques-
tion ; bat we find that when a motion was brought for-
ward by which the confidence of the Parliament in the
Government was tested, and when that motion was car-
ried against them, that Government retired, and the
Government of tke country will now be committed into
other hands. But what would have been the state of
matters in America ? Why, there never was a president
who was elected with a greater appearance of popular
support than the present President of the United States,
and I venture to say that there never was an adminis-
tration which seemed to be more utterly discredited
among all parties than the present administration in the
United States ; but you will observe that under the
American system they are saddled with that gentleman
for four years, and I defy them to get rid of him, or his
Ministers, if he chooses to keep them. Now, we have
in this country that privilege which in social life is only
supposed to be enjoyed by the ladies—and lam not
quite sure that that privilege is not restricted to the
ladies of Aberdeen—(a laugh)—we have the privilege of
changing our minds, .vhereas under the American system
they are not able to do so except once in four years.
(Applause.) The noble lord then concluded by propos-
ing the Provost and Magistrates of Dunfermline, and
prosperity to the trade of the town.