The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-17 00:00:00

PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.

The order for the embarkation of the Guards on Sa-
turday has been countermanded, and it is not expected
that they will set out till Wednesday next. To what
cause the delay is due we have not been able to ascer-
tain, but the steamers selected for the transport service
are stated to be in perfect readiness. The 2d batch of
troops forming the division will start from the ports of
Liverpool and Plymouth or Portsmouth somewhere be-
tween the 24th and 28th. It will consist of the 28th,
the 93d, and the 2d battalion of Rifles. On their
way to Malta, some of the transports will call at
Gibraltar, and take on board the 44th Regiment,
which has been ordered to form part of the expedi-
tion. Colonel Victor, it is said, will command the
body of Sappers and Miners to be sent out, consist-
_ ing of Captain Gibbs and Captain Hassard's companies,
and being about 200 strong. It is intended to increase
the corps of Engineers by 500 men. The artillery force,
comprising five field batteries and a troop of horse artil-
lery, will be under the command of Colonel Cator. It
'is again confidently reported that six regiments of
cavalry have received orders to hold themselves in readi-
ness for foreign service, but we believe that thus far
nothing has been definitively settled with reference to
that branch of the service. At Chatham there exists a
"provisional battalion," made up from recruiting depots
of the regiments in India, each depot varying in num-
ber from 20 to 80 men. This heterogeneous body has
supplied a large proportion of the volunteers required to,
make up the effective strength of the different corps
ordered to the Mediterranean. in some instances the
entire depot, with the exception of the. staff-sergeant,
offered themselves for service. '

Yesterday the Duke of Cambridge formally received
his appointment as second in command in the expedition
to Turkey, the chief command having been confided to
Lord
.Raglan.
The force will consist of two divisions, and each divi-
sion of two brigades, The divisions are to be com-
manded by Major-Gen, the Duke of Cambridge, and
Lieut.-Gen. Sir George Brown. The two brigades of
the Duke's division are to beithe brigade of Guards, under
Colonel Bentinck, and a brigade of regiments of the line,
under Colonel Sir Colin Campbell.
The commanding officers of the two brigades of Gene-
ral Brown's division are nn fixed on, but it is likely they
will be Colonel Airey, the military secretary ; and Colo-
nel Eyre of the 73rd.
The military secretary to Lord Raglan is to be Colonel
Steele ; and the Deputy-Adjutant-General, Colonel
Gordon.

Sir Colin Campbell is one of the most brilliant soldiers
in the army, and was the right hand of Sir Charles
Napier, in India. It used to be said of him in the army,
"that everybody slept well when Colin Campbell was
commanding the outposts." Ile quarrelled with Lord
Dalhousie, and he, as well as Sir Charles Napier, re-
signed their commands, rather than carry out the ex-
treme measures resolved on by the Council against the
Afredees and other mountain tribes, near Peshawur,—
such as burning their villages, destwying their crops,
&c., and so making them irreconcileable enemies of the
British Government.

The sailing of the Royal mail steamer Orinoco, taken
up for the conveyance of troops to Malta, which was
fixed for Saturday, has been postponed, on Government
order, to Wednesday•.next. The Admiralty have also
applied to the company to allow that vessel, from her
admirable construction as a troopship, to convey the
44th Regiment from Gibraltar to the same destination,
after performing the first voyage. The directors of the
Royal Mail Steam Company expect to be able to place
other steamers of as large a class as the Orinoco at the
disposal of the Government very shortly. It appears
also that the Government have engaged the large paddle-
ship Tonning, belonging to the North of Europe Steam
Company, and which was constructed expressly for cat-
tle, to convey horses to the Mediterranean at a fixed
rate per month.

MOVEMENTS OF THE GUARDS IN LONDON.
The officers of the Grenadier Guards, quartered at
St. George's Barracks, aid under orders to prepare for
embarkation for the Mediterranean, were engaged dur-
ing the whole of yesterday and the previous day in
making up the required number (850) from that regi-
ment. The third battalion has been made very efficient,
the men having been picked from the second battalion
to render the former a powerful body of men. This
having been completed, the men were (to use the mili-
tary term) " sized," and placed in their respective com-
panies. The total number of troops (Foot Guards) taken
from the household brigade, will be 2,550, of which there
will be two battalions of the Grenadiers, the Scots Fusi-
liers, and the Coldstreams (the latter, it will be remem-
bered, have already left the metropolis), each battalion
consisting of 350, making 700 from each regiment, the
additional 150 being composed of officers, drummers
and fifers, servants, &c.

FAREWELL BANQUET TO THE OFFICERS OF

THE FOOT GUARDS.

Yesterday, the officers of the 2d Battalion of Cold-
stream Guards and the officers of the let Battalion of
the Scots Fusilier Guards partook of a farewell banquet
together at the London Tavern, previous to their em-
barkation for the seat of war.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, as Colo
nel of the Scots Fusilier Guards, occupied the chair,
supported on the right and left by Lieut.-General Sir
Edward Bowater, K.C.H., and Lieut.-General Sir Wil-
loughby Cotton, G.C.8., K.C.H.
The prinCipal officers present were General Hope,
General Aitchinson, Col. Berkeley Drummond, Col. W.
T. Knollys, Col. A. Colville, Col. Lord Rokeby, Col.
G. M. Eden, Colonel G. Moncrieffe, Colonel Walker,
Colonel J. H. Blair, Colonel Sir G. Walker, Colonel
Tyrrett, Colonel De Bathe, Colonel Onslow, Colonel G.
Dixon, Colonel Phipps, Colonel Scott, Colonel Dal-
rymple, &c.
After the banquet, which was of the most recherche
description, his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge,
in proposing a toast, alluded in cheering, though feeling,
terms to the arduous services which, in all probability,
the regiments were about to commence. The gallant
company separated at an early hour.
We believe his Royal Highness Prince Albert, as
Colonel-in-Chief of the Grenadier Guards, will preside
at a similar banquet to be given to that gallant corps at
the London Tavern this evening.

The Ist battalion of Scots Fusilier Guards, completed
for service to 850 strong, was privately inspected at ten
o'clock yesterday morning by his Royal Highness the
Duke of Cambridge, colonel-in-chief of the regiment, on
the parade ground of the Wellington Barracks. His
Royal Highness was accompanied by General Mildmay
Fane and Colonel the Hon. C. B. Phipps. Colonel Ben-
tinck, Colonel Hall (Ist Life Guards), and Colonel Brown-
low Knox, were among the officers present. The men
were under the command of Lord Rokeby, being the last
occasion upon which his lordship will appear as the
lieut.-colonel of the regiment, the retirement of Colonel
Colville this day, on half-pay, preparatory to his receiving
his brevet rank as general, allowing the command to de-
volve upon the noble lord. After the men had gone
through a variety of evolutions, the Duke of Cambridge
addressed the battalion in square, expressing his high
admiration of the efficiency of their movements. At the
close of the evolutions the battalion marched past, the
fine band of the regiment playing " Highland Laddie.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert will inspect the
brigade composed of the 3d battalion of Grenadier
Guards and of the Ist battalion of Scots Fusilier Guards,
at the Wellington Barracks, on Monday next, at 11 a.m.
The 93d Highlander; which excited universal admi-
ration last summer at Chobham, will sail from Plymouth
on Saturday next for the East. The men of
_this corps
are the finest and largest in the whole army.
The '3d battalion of the Grenadier Guards and the Ist
battalion of the Scots Fusilier Guards will not sail for
a week.

The 4th Regiment, now stationed at Edinburgh, will
proceed by railway to Portsmouth early next week.
The. 28th Regiment have been moved _to- Liverpool,
whence they will embark for Turkey. This was the fine
old corps that received the French cavalry A Quatre
Bras in line, the rear rank facing to the right about.
It has on its colours, Corunna, Albuera, Vittoria, and
Waterloo. No place in the United Kingdom has
equalled Dublin in military ardour,.kand in the supply
of numerous and excellent recruits.

Recruiting parties, says the Liverpool Times, are very
actively parading Manchester, but with moderate suc-
cess. Numerous candidates for military glory have
offered themselves, but the majority have been refused
in consequence of being below the standard height. The
7th Regiment of Fusiliers, stationed at the Regent-road
Barracks, Salford, expect to be sent to the East in the
course of next month.

SOUTHAMPTON, FEB. 16.
The order for the embarkation of troops from this
port for the Mediterranean has been countermanded, a
telegraphic despatch from the Government having been
received to-day to the effect that the steamers Ripon,
Manilla, and Orinoco are not to depart till Wednesday
morning next, the 22d inst., on which day two regi-
ments will be sent down to the docks by railway for
despatch to the East by those vessels.
The great screw steamer Himalaya, which arrived
this afternoon, has been ordered to discharge her
cargo instanter. Captain Engledue, the superinten-
dent of the company, with his usual energy of manage-
ment, had made anticipatory arrangements for coal-
ing the ship, and this operation, commenced at once,
will_ be completed by to-morrow (Friday) !evening, so
that. the Himalaya; will be at once placed.at the dis-
Toga of the Government, and might be despatched to
Constantinople on Wednesday next with 2,000 men, if
medessary. Judging from the result of the first voyage
of the Himalaya (noticed in another portion of our im-
pression), there is little doubt that, with fine weather,
this steamer could carry two regiments to Malta in from
six t 9 seven days, and: to_Constantinople in 10 or 11
-days, or possibly less.
The Lords of the Admiralty have ordered the Austra-
lasian Pacific Mail Company's screw-steamer Emu,
1,660 tons, 350-horse power, to be surveyed and re-
ported upon as to her capacity for carrying troops. It
is most likely she will be chartered at once.
The Peninsular and Oriental o Crapany's
new screw

steamer Manilla (under orders for Government service)
went ont on a trial trip yesterday: This vessel is of
638 tons burden, was built by Mare and Co., of Black-
wall, and has been fitted with engines of 60-horse power
by Messrs. Summers, Day, and Baldock, of Northam-
works, near Southampton. Soine interest was attached
to this trial from the fact that the Manilla is supplied
with a boomerang propeller, and, although there was no
opportunity of comparing its merits with those of the
common screw, yet the result obtained was a most fa-
vourable one. From the fact .of the opening in the
stern of the vessel being much larger than usual, Mr.
Lamb, the engineer of the company, was enabled
to give the boomerang a greater proportionate length
than any propeller of that kind previously tried ;
thus affording it a better chanCe of success. Sir Tho-
mas Mitchell,loudly complained recently of the want of
this development of his principle in the trial .of his screw
in the Fairy. Two runs at the measured mile in Stokes
Bay, produced an average speed of 9.365 knots, equal
to 11i statute miles an hour. The screw has a diameter
of 11 feet, with a pitch of 9 feet 2 inches. The speed
was considered most surprising, considering the exceed-
ingly small power of ,the engines, in s proportion to the
tonnage—say GO to 635 or 1 in., 104. The ,engines
worked remarkably well ; they are 'on the geared trunk
principle—heavy cylinders of 30 inches diameter, and a
27-inch stroke, with Lamb and Summers' patent flue
boilers. With 61 revolutions of the engines the pro-
peller made 113 revolutions, the ship having on board
at the time 112 tons of coals and 200 tons of ballast.

PORTSMOUTH, FEB.

As the week advances we get busier here with the
work of preparations for war. Every • hand is em-
ployed, and every siepartrnefiPapparenfly more vigor-
ously employed than Yesterday contributing its quota of
labour. Colonel Sir-Frederick Smith, commanding the
Royal Engineers in this garrison, has been round in-
specting the iortifications on both shores, to see if any
improvement could be effected in the works before
completion. An extra battalion of Engineers is to be
raised, which will of course increase the number of Sap-
pers and Miners, and add greatly to the operative strength
of the military contingent. This arm of the service is
raising a parapet on the walls of the casemated barrack at
Blockhouse, for, musketry to fire over and through, and
are otherwise making additions and strengthening the
old fort. It was expected and announced that the first
instalment of troops would have embarked at this port
and Southampton on Saturday, but an order has been
received by the Commander-in-Chief of the south-western
district (Major-General Simpson) deferring those embar-
kations (the Guards) until the 22d and 24th respectively.
On the former date two battalions of Guards are ordered
to be embarked at Southampton, and on the latter one
battalion, in her Majesty's ship Simoom, at this port.
The regiments in garrison are picking up recruits very
numerously, and the trains and Coa st-guard vessels are
bringing in loads of volunteers and seamen daily.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.