The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-10 00:00:00

DESPATCH FROM GANEICAL SIR W.
CODRINGTON.

(Front a Supplement to the London Gazette of Tuesday.)
WAR-DEPARTMENT, JAN. 9.

Lord Panmure has this day received two despatches,
of which the following are copies, addressed to his lore-
ship by General Sir William CJdrington, K.C.8., and
Lieutenant-General Vivian.

Sebastopol, Dec. 27, 1855.
My Lord,—Your lordship has referred in several des-
patches to drunkenness in this Army. Repors of all
sorts seem to have been circulated, statements read, de•
scriptions made, until it was apparently believed that
this Army was composed of drunkards, and immersed in
riot and vice.

I took the opportunity of expressing myself strongly
to your lordship that this would prove not to be the
truth.

I now state, in confirmation of this opinion, that re-
turns are in my possession from every regiment of all
cases of drunkenness tried by Court-Martial, as well as
those settled at the regimental orderly rooms for three
months.* It was during this time that arrears of field
Allowance, more than 2/. each man, were received as
back pay, besides 10,000 men receiving additional work-
ing pay and yet the result is that, including Artillery,
Sappers and Infantry, the number of crimes of drunken-
ness (and these are many more than the men drunk), is
a little above one man in two days per company, esti-
mated at 100 men.

No doubt there are many facilities in all these open
and crowded camps for drunken men to get in without
being seen. They do so, and escape observation. But
suppose we double or treble the amount of these num-
bers— which are taken from official returns—and I sus-
pect the army will bear a comparison with many towns,
many villages, many populations of Great Britain.'
It is easy to give—it is as easy to read, a minute, a
ludicrous, or even a filthy description of a drunken man,
and it seems seized upon as the type of the whole. The
fathers, and mothers, and wives, and sisters in England
are fully persuaded we do nothing but drink, and the
good character of the army is forgotten in a few sketches
from nature.
. _ _ .

That such need not be the case with those who know
anything about the matter, will, I think, be proved by
the statement now made to your lordship.—l have, &c.,
W. J. CODRINGTON, General Commanding.
The Lord Panmure, &c.

Head-quarters, Kutch, Dec. 21.

My Lord,—l have with much regret to report to you
the death of Capt. It. S. Sherwood, of the cavalry of
this force. _ _

This officer was engaged in a skirmish, that took place
on the 16th inst., between a detachment of enir cavalry
and a party of Russian cavalry ; his gallantry in this
affair was most conspicuous, as is reported to me by the
officer who commanded the detachment. Capt. Sher-
wood was severely wounded, and was carried off by the
Russians; and, as I have since learnt, died on the MI
from his wounds.

I deplore his lose, for he was an intelligent and very
promising ycuug officer.
I have reason to believe that the treatment he re
ceived from the Russians Wad most humane and conti-
derate.—l have, &c.,

R. J. H. VIVIAN,
Lieutensnt-i4sneral, Commanding
Turkish Contingent.
The Right Honcurable the Secretary
of State, War Department.

* For September, October, and November.

A RUN-AWAY STEAM BOAT.

SOUTHAMPTON, WEDNEBDA7,

A very strange circumstance occurred here a few days
since, which might have been attended by consequences
of a disastrous nature, but which proved an incident sa
unparalleled, and a fact so remarkable, as to surpass the
ideas of Brother Jonathan, even when he draws the
" long-bow " to its fullest tension. The steam tug Del-
mont, one of the boats of the Southampton Steam Tow-
ing Company, took in tow the ship Walter Hood, a
passenger vessel, bound to Australia, and after towing
her down to the Channel the sails were set on board the
Walter Hood, and the Belmont proceeded to cast her
off previous to returning to Southampton. In doing
so, by some cause unexplained, the ship ran into the
steam-tug, striking her a violent crash which knocked
over her mast and funnel, and threw her upon her side.
The shock also had the effect of increasing the activity
of the crew, who, one and all, leaped on board the ship,
leaving their boat in charge of a dog and two cats,
which happened to be on hoard the steam-tug at the
time. The steam of the Belmont was up, and, after a
succession of plunges and crashing, she righted herself,
and succeeded in getting clear of the Walter Hood, by
tearing away her bulwarks, and then, to the great dis-
may of her captain and crew, she took a sweep round
in the direction of the land. Her fate now appeared
inevitable, and des' ruction certain ; whilst the appear-
ance of the vessel at this juncture was like that of some
monster of the deep, bruised and torn by a fierce con-
flict, rushing wildly from its antagonist, determined ra-
ther to perish by its own will tha❑ to fall a prey to the
rapacity of its foe. Her mast and funnel lay over her
side—her bulwarks smashed in—the long tiller of her
rudder dashing wildly to and fro, and the fierce barking
of the dog on board rendered the scene at once absurd
and terrific.
But something must be done to save her. The cap-
tain and crew having recovered their composure, ob-
tained a boat and started in pursuit. " Pull away, my
boys, give it her," was the quick command.- "Aye,
aye," was the response, and the tough oars bent to the
stalwart efforts of the oarsmen, and the boat spent on-
ward in the chase. But ere this the course of the steam
tug had altered, and by some cause or other she came
round and made again for the point, from whence she
bad started, having described a complete circle. From
this point else again started in a contrary course, making
direct for the Calshot light-ship. Here the men on the
look-out described her position, and having manned their
own boat, also started in pursuit.
The race now became truly exciting, the course of the
steam tug becoming uncertain, as her helm shifted to
and fro at the sport of the waters of the Channel. By
this time, however, she had run some distance, and at
length her speed gradually diminished, her paddles
stopped, and she ultimately gave in from sheer ex-
haustion. The crew from the Calshot light-ship were.
the first to board her, her own crew coming up about 20
minutes after. She was at length got into working
order and brought safely into dock, where she is now
undergoing repairs.
It appears that the crew were fully justified in leaving
her as they did, the vessel being in imminent peril of
going down.