The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-29 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVIENING, AUGUST 29, 1854.

THE WAR.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.
The orders for fitting the Caledonia, 120, as a prison ship
have been countermanded.
The Boscavvon, 72, Captain Glanville, sailed from Ply-
mouth Sound on Sunday morning for the West Indies.
The crew of the Illustrious, exercising ship, to Ports-
mouth for the newly-raised men, Captain R. Harris, were
paid wages yesterday.

The troops for Bombay were transhipped on Saturday
from the receiving hulk Endymion to the transport Lord
Auckland, Captain Skinley, preparatory to the recom-
mencement of her voyage.

Salamander, 6, paddle, Commander Priest, has taken in
her powder and shell. We understand she receives wages
to-day at Portsmouth, and will hold herself in instant
readiness for departure with despatches.
The Malacca screw-steam Corvette.—lnformation has
been received at Sheerness (which may be depended upon)
that the derangement in her machinery which took place
between hero and Portsmouth is purely of a mechanical
nature, which has already been made good, and a new
casting of the portion of the defective part has alre .dy
been replaced. In every other respect the engines and
machinery were in every Way satisfactory. We are de-
sired to make this rumour known to prevent other repre-
sentations from there being credited by parties watching
the result of marine engines fitted as non-condensing en-
gines--the 3lalacca's engines having given the highest
satisfaction to all engineering officers on trial.

Luanda for ammunition from her 'Majesty's ships may be
carefully prepared so as to meet the various requirements
of the army percussion arms now in use on board her
Majesty's ships.

Rifled muskets pattern of 1851, the barrel 3 feet 3 inches
in length, 702 bore, 23 charge of gunpowder, with a conical
projectile weighing 680 grains.
Rifled muskets pattern, 1842 (for marines), 3 feet 3
inches length of barrel, 758 bore, 3 charge of powder, with
a conical projectile weighing 680 grains.
Rifled muskets for sea service, 2 feet 6 inches length of
barrel, 758 bore. 3 charge of powder, with a conical pro-
jectile weighing 850 grains.
Smooth bore pattern, 1842 (for marines), 3 feet 3 inches
length of barrel, 753 bore, 43 charge, and a spherical
projectile weighing 490 grains.
Smooth bore for sea service, 2 feet 6 inches length of
barrel, 753 bore, 43 charge, with a spherical projectile,
weighing 490 grains.
The following are the proper denominatiohs of ball
cartridge for each description of musket.
Ball cartridges for rifled muskets, pattern 1851.
Ball cartridges for rifled muskets, pattern 1842 (for
Marines.)

And also for rifled sea service muskets, pattern 1842.
Ball cartridges, for smooth bore percussion muskets (for
Marines), pattern 1842.

Ball cartridges, for smooth bore percussion, sea service
muskets, pattern 1842.

By command of their Lordships.
To all commanders-in-chief, captains, commanders, and
commanding officers of her Majesty's ships and vessels.

ROYAL ALTILLERY.
Twelve horses left Woolwich on Friday last by the
North Kent Railway, in charge of a shoeing smith, for
Capt. R. F. Mountain's field battery at Brompton Bar-
racks, Chatham. The battery is now completed to 86
horses, and has been supplied with a new equipment of
saddlery and harness, all of leather, of the new pattern.
Captain Mountain and the officers of the battery are inde-
fatigable in their exertions to perfect this battery, as it
is:an important experiment to make a company, coniposed
it may be said en .irely'of recruits, thoroughly
acquainted
with their drill, and, subsequently, field battery duties,
away from head-quarters, where they labour under great
disadvantages compared with those who learn their field
battery duties at Woolwich.

STEAM DESPATCH GUN-BOATS FOR THE
BALTIC.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,- lam content to accept the conditions you lay down regarding the essentials of gun-boats •--" The vei-
sels in question should be of very little draught, very
great speed, and so armed that the guns they can carry
should be eflective at a range long enough to keep the
craft herself harmless."
In regard to the first two conditions the question is
already solved, as you have stated, the Prussian gun-boats
drawing six feet less water than the English, and having
two knots more speed.
On the remaining point you appear to ask for further
information. You say, " Our boats must be constantly
up with the fleet, and enabled to keep the sea in all
weathers. Could the Prussian boats do this ?" My an-
swer shall be explicit. I saw the Nix and Salamander
taken out into the Channel in a heavy sea, under tho in-
spection of a naval commission appointed to decide this
very point, as it was ono of the conditions of the accept.
ance or rejection of the ships ; and the four 68-pounders
(not two merely, as our vessels carry) were worked with
perfect success. Since that time the vessels have been
three years in commission in the Baltic and in the North
Sea, in all weathers, without manifesting any defect what-
ever. In seaworthiness, therefore, as well as in speed,
these vessels would be more than able to keep their place
in the fleet.

On the subject of armament also you ask• for further
information, which I give the more willingly that there
seems to be misunderstanding on that point. The Prussian
vessels are about the same size or tonnage as the English ; .
nevertheless the Prussian vessels are so formed as to have
room and means of working four guns of such size as those
of which the English only carry two. This arrangement
is peculiar to the Prussian boats, and cannot be adopted in
our own. The next peculiarity is this,—The two long guns
carried amidships in the Arrow cannot be fired in a line
with the keel ; they can only be fired broadside, and
trained forward to an angle not exceeding 56 deg. on either
side of the keel ; so that there are 34 deg. on each side on
which there can be no fire. Suppose, therefore, these gun-
boats to be chasing ; the vessels must deviate 34 deg. from
their course in order to fires gun ; or they must yaw round
64 deg. to fire alternate guns on either side. On the other
hand the Prussian boats can lay their course and fire two
guns simultaneously and without interruption in a line
parallel to their keel, and even convergent, on the ship
chased ; and are equally able, at the same time, to keep
up a fire aft on a vessel in chase. Their full speed and
their full armament can therefore bo simultaneously am-
ployed, which in the Arrow is impossible.
The Arrow has no remedy for this state of things so long
as she keeps her guns amidships. It was with the guns so
placed, firing out of the broadside ports, that the experi-
ments were made the other day. It would be possible in
the Arrow to remove the guns into the bow, but, looking
at the size and construction of the vessel and of the guns,
I am sure that in a heavy sea that would be an experiment
neither convenient nor void of danger.
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
London, August 26.
AN EYE-WITNESS.

THE CASE OF LIEUT. PERM:

It was to have been wished that Lieutenant Perry's
case had received a final adjudication ere, this. Whatever
grounds for hesitation may have existed in the minds of
the members of the military tribunal, bound down as they
may have thought themselves to be by the arbitrary rules
of such a Court, surely the General Commanding-in-Chief
cannot share their uncertainties. It is just possible to
conceive that soma members of the Court, more true to
the traditions of military life than to the inspirations of
common sense, or the requirements of even-handed justice,
may have accepted the dictates of the official prosecutor as
the rule of their decision. We regret that even a doubt as
to what the conduct of an assembly of English gentlemen
may have been under circumstances such as these should
have been allowed to creep in; but, if we do injustice to
any of them, they have only to thank the procrastination
of the Horse Guards for the misconstruction. We are
now well advanced into the second month since proceed-
ings were first taken against this young gentleman—and
for what a cause ! Lord Hardinge must be well aware that
he is called upon to take a decision from a review of all
the circumstances connected with the case from first to
last, and that he must consider not only what is due to an
individual, but to the character of the British army. It
is in his power to wash away the stain which has been
thrown upon the quality of a British officer by the con-
duct of the officers of the 46th Regiment, or he may,
upon the other hand, consign the tipper ranks of the land
service to permanent contempt. Unless the Commander-
in-Chief shall take such measures as to him, in the ex-
ercise of his discretion, may seem the most effective for
marking his signal displeasure against those who have so
foully abused their trust, we have no hesitation in saying
that the lofty pretension to treat the style of an English
officer and an English gentleman as synonymous is for
ever at an end. To the merit of brute courage persons
holding the Queen's commissions in,tylle land service may no
doubt lay claim ; but they are not therefore men of honour
or honesty,. humanity or integrity. They will discover
that the public opinion of this country is not to be tiifled
with, and by that opinion they will find themselves branded
as a set of riotous and vulgar bullies, affected with the
taints of vice in its lowest and most degrading forms. As
gladiators they may serve our turn in the field, and receivewhichiCh it behoves the
simply of the case
ofyoung repayment in the shape of pay, medals, or what not ; but
from the society of gentlemen and of all women who regard
the dignity and purity of their sex they will be banished at
once
arethe
not
remedyspeakingV
General Commanding-in-Chief to apply in this particular in-
stance, nor even of the condition of the 46th Regiment only,
and forr erry, ever.
and W
ofe
disgusting as that has been, but of the taint which has
spread itself widely throughout the English army. Cer-
tain persons were
acquainted with the real state of affairs,
but the public were not aware that an English barrack
was nightly made a scene of bullying, and riot, and
drunkenness, and profligacy. The public knew not that
not only in the 46th Regiment, but in many other regi-
ments, any youth who, like young Perry, would not,
or
could not, swim down the dirty stream with his fellows,
became marked for expulsion from his regiment. We do
not say that in any other regiment in the service such tes-
timony would have been given as that which the officers
of the 46th have lately offered to the Court-martial —we
hope things aro not so bad as that,—but from all we hear
there has been found in too many instances an equal
amount of vice within the barrack walls.

It seems almost an insult to the understanding of any
reasonable being to waste any further argument upon
young Perry's case. Even the first Court martial by which
be was tried could not but allow that his conduct, so far
as it fell under their cognizance, was perfectly correct ;
and then Lord Hardinge—he must pardon us for saying
it—with singular indiscretion, permitted that Lieu-
tenant Perry should be sot up a second time as a
mark for the vulgar vengeance of his baffled assailants.
Could anybody read the minutes of that first trial, and
entertain a moment's doubt as to the feeling under which
his brother officers acted throughout the whole pro-
ceeding towards Lieutenant Perry ? They were all in a
league against him, from his commanding officer down-
wards, and yet, because in the course of his defence—for
practically it amounted to that—he uttered a few words of
well-merited accusation against that commanding officer,
he was put upon his trial again. The form, too, of the
trial was such that his unmanly assailants were only
required to " forget," and they could in a slipshod way
arrive at negative proof at least. As to the value of this
assumed forgetfulness, we would only ask any one who
may think it worth his while to run over the evidence to
oontrisl tllkiurprising instances of recollection on all
points which could tell to young Perry's disadvantage with
the never-failing " Xon sni ricordo" when their answers
might have tended to establish his case. The issues in them-
selves were perfectly preposterous. Had Col. Garrett been
brought before a Court-martial to answer for his general
conduct since he had been in command of the regiment,
and had the inquiry been conducted without continuous
outrage to all the forms of justice, there might have been
reason in such a course. The mere scene that occurred in
Greer's room, and the general combination of the regiment
against young Perry which marked the sympathy with
which such scenes were regarded, constituting in itself a
case of grave suspicion against the officer who was respon-
sible for the condition of the regiment. In place of this it
was found more convenient to try the subaltern a second
time for asserting that Garrett had called him a "fool"
upon a single occasion ; that ho had handed the Colonel
a letter for the General of the District ; and that a cer-
tain Captain Nicholas was a " bully"—this series of as-
servations being made in the course of a judicial pro-
ceeding. Did we not recollect similar instances of op-
pression and iniquity in the course of our earlier
judicial annals, we should speak of the proceedings as
simply childish and ridiculous; but no proceedings can
be ridiel'ilous which involve the character and position of
an rigt.ish gentleman. Then came the trial, with all its
preposterous circumstances, which we have already so
often described that we aro fairly sick of the whole sub-
ject. It is, however, most important that the English
public should not " get sick " of the whole subject until
full and ample justice has been done to this young officer
by the sentence of his professional superiors, and that not
so south for his sake as for their own, and for the general
character of the English army. An adverse sentence
would affix an indelible stigma upon the character of
every English officer, from Lord Harding() downwards;
words of censure, qualifying an acquital, would be simply
an invitation to derision. There is but one course
open to the military authorities if they would continue to
enjoy the confidence of the country, and that is to rein-
state this young gentleman in his former position--or,
as
wo should conceive, to sot aside the whole proceedings, on
the ground of their patent and preposterous absurdity.
The general tone and spirit of barrack life is, however, a
point well worthy of the consideration of the General Com-
manding-in-Chief. Is the mess-room of a regiment to be-
considered as a sort of tap-room, and the officers' quarters
a brothel? Is this the kind of life to which English
parents tire required to consign their children when they
enter upon a military career ? Disgraceful and humiliating
as the revelations of these Windsor Courts-martial
have been, and strongly as we have felt upon the
subject, we must at once declare that we do not be-
lieve that all regiments in the Queen's service are as
deeply tainted as the 46th. The commanding officers of
many regiments aro happily men of unstained honour and
blameless life, who are in themselves models which younger
officers would do well to take for imitation. The scandals
Ole

he 46th would never have occurred under their auspices.
Again and again we would impress upon the public mind
that one great principle of life in the army is, that a regi-
ment takes its tone from the commanding officer. Let
Colonel Garrett be judged by this simple and universal
rule. It is not for us to say whether Lord Harding° will
adopt a more quiet or a sterner method of dealing with
this officer and the mess-room of the 46th ; but, at least,
let him put at end at once to the protracted scandal of
the-e courts-martial upon an inoffensive and outraged
young subaltern.—Tintcs.

THE PRICE OF BREAD.—A somewhat novel appeal,
says the Pucks Advertiser, was last week made to the
inhabitants of Stony Stratford, in consequence of the
combination of the bakers to keep up the price of bread.
The crier was sent round the town to call upon the in-
habitants, now that potatoes were so plentiful and cheap,
to abandon, as much as possible, the use of bread, and
thereby force the bakers to reduce the prices, which are
at present ld. and 11d. higher than most towns and
villages around, and the bread, moreover, of very inferior
quality. It was stated by the crier that the inhabi-
tants of Leighton had adopted and carried out a similar
resolution, and that consequently the bakers had had
twelve hundred loaves thrown upon their hands.
EXTENSIVE ROBBERY AT MR. ALBERT SMITH'S.—
Yesterday the police received information of an extensive
robbery committed at the house of Mr. Albert Smith
(the popular author). No. 12, Great Percy-street, Totten-
ham-court-road. The property stolen comprised a quan-
tity of silver plate, including spoons, forks, sugar tongs,
sauce-ladles, milk ewer, teapots, &c.; also a brace of pis-
tols, in a case inlaid with silver, a small clock 3 inches
high, wearing apparel, &c. A reward has been offered
for the apprehension of the thieves.
STUPENDOUS NEW DOCK.—The plans for a new dock,
600 feet in length, in Portsmouth Dockyard, are ordered
to be immediately prepared by the engineer department
of the Admiralty, the board having, at their visit just
terminated at Portsmouth, resolved to construct a dock
of the above dimensions, to communicate from the bar-
hour to the steam-basin dock now in use. From the
position chosen, this addition is only wanted to make
Portsmouth dockyard the most complete in dock
commodatiuu of any of her Majesty's naval establi;hl
I meats, —Hantraire Independent.