The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-03 00:00:00

No. I.

" Ramsgate, fiept. 18.

" My Lord Duke,—The death of a near r elatiou has
brought me this day from my regiment to Ramsgate,
and on my way down your Grace's letter, a ildressed to
the Mayor of Windsor, published in the Mo.••ning Chro-
nicle of this day, came accidentally under lily notice ;
and as it has been made public by your Grace's consent,
I have the honour to request that you will; favour me
with certain information on points therein rillferred to.
`• Your Grace has contributted a certain slim for Mr.
Perry's use, because you consider he has been made a
victim of an unjust cabal on the part of brother
officers, to gain favour with the commandimg officer of
the regiment. On this observation I have nI) remark to
make at present.
" After stating that you know nothing more of the
evidence than was published in the mon !ling papers,
which you have carefully perused, your Grace makes,
among others, the following observation If, there-
fore, youths in the lower ranks of regiments are allowed
to practise every sort of riot, drunkenness, and de-
• banchery, and no notice taken of it by their .vomn.ander,
are they to be made the victims and he to IN I let off scot
free, when by his own culpable negligence lie has been
the sole cause of it, for such is this case Frith Colonel
Garrett V

" I was myself debarred from gaining any information
on Mr. Perry's second trial except throul h the news-
papers, by being an evidence, and theref :ire excluded
from the court. I, therefore, request to be informed
whether the observation refers to two youths, viz.,
Mr. Greer and Mr. Perry only. There is n..ot a tittle of
evidence as to drunkenness and debauci3 ery except
against these two. If it is intended to amply to others
than them, 1 request your grace will fa Tour me by
pointing out that portion of the evidence tl tiat bears on
others than Mr. Greer and Mr. Perry on t hese points,
or what evidence your grace has found that. justifies the
unwarrantable observation made in the shape of a
question, viz., ' Is it the opinion of any ►rian, civil or
military, that such an officer should continue in com-
mand of a regiment which he has publicly disgraced V
I write in haste to save the post, and n ;quest your
Grace will favour me with an answer addressed to
Windsor.

" I have, &c.,
"R. GA.RRETT, Colonel 46th Regiment.
"His Grace the Duke of Cleveland, K.G..."

No. 2.

" RabyCastle, Sept. 20.

" Sir,—The reception of your letter this morning
somewhat surprised me, written, no doubt, hastily, and
in a moment of irritation, which a little oi of reflection
will make you sorry for having done. You seem either
not to know, or to have forgotten, that ev iTy English-
man is at liberty to form his opinion, to make
that opinion known, upon the conduct of any public
man whatever in his publio capacity. If, there-
fore; I express my opinion as to 3 .our unfit-
ness to be a commanding officer, you have no right to
ask me to detail to you upon paper uiy reasons for
coming to that conclusion, were I merely a e ivilian, but
still less have you a right to make such a T., squest in a
military point of view from your superior oil 'leer, which
you are aware that I am. I therefore must; decline an-
swering your question further than to say, the evidence,
taken as a whole, upon the late court-martial at Windsor,
justifies my opinion that the interior discipline of the
46th Regiment, as regards young officers, 11,a,s hen for
some years in a most disgraceful state. This s too
notorious, from what has transpired, to be denies ; but
you seem to assert that such a circumstance t'ocs not
arise from any negligence on the part of a coma ,anding
officer. That may be your opinion, but you h ;we no
right to question me for holding a contrary one ; and
that icy opinion is shared by the public at large, `think
ii sufficiently manifested by the numerous subscriL ews to
the fund raising for the relief of Mr. Perry, anuoin, ting,
I think, to upwards of 7001., and all in very small ssub-
scriptions, with the exception of one from one c tiler
nobleman and that of my own. .
"I am, &c.,
" CLEVELAND, Major-General.
"Colonel Garrett, commanding 46th Regiment."