The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-01 00:00:00

TER ARMY.

The colonelcy of the 14th Light Dragoons has
become vacant by the death of General the Hon.
Sir Henry Murray, K.C.8., which gallant officer
died on Sunday last at his residence at Wimbledon.
He was one of the few surviving Waterloo officers,
and had been sixty years in the army, his commis-
sion as Cornet dating as far back as May, 1800. In
1806-7 the gallant deceased served in Naples, Sicily,
and Calabria, and in March, in the last-mentioned
year, he accompanied the expedition to Egypt, as
aide-de-camp, and was present at the attack on
Alexandria, siege and storming of Rosetta, and on
every other occasion where our troops were en-
gaged. He was also in the Walcheren expedition
in 1809, and was at the siege and surrender of
Flushing. In January, 1813, he went, as Lieute-
nant-Colonel, with his regiment, the 18th Hussars,
to the Peninsula, and was present at the crossing
of the Eslar, and commanded the regiment in sup-
port of the 10th Hussars at the action of Morales
de Toro. The deceased served in the campaign of
1815 in command of his regiment, which was in the
Gth Brigade of Cavalry, under the command of
Major-General Sir Henry Vivian. He commanded
the rear regiment of the column in the retreat the
day after the battle of Quatre Bras, and at Water-
oo took part in the brilliant charge of his brigade
at the conclusion of the action. For his services at
Waterloo he was made a Companion of the Order
of the Bath, and on the 18th of May last was made
a Knight Commander of that most honourable
order of knighthood. On the 18th of March, 1853,
he was appointed Colonel of the 14th (the King's)
Regiment of Light Dragoons.
Yesterday morning a full parade of the whole
of the officers and men of the Chatham Division
of Royal Marine Light Infantry took place on
the barrack parade ground, on the occasion of
the promulgation of the finding and sentences
passed by the general courts-martial which
recently assembled at the 11val Marine Bar-
racks, under under the presidency of Colonel T. C.
Ainore, for the trial of two men of incorrigible
character, named Patrick Washington and John
Hogan; for the grossest acts of insubordination.
The charges on which the prisoner Washington was
tried were for having struck Sergeant Julius Bur-
ton while in the execution of his duty ; for having
subsequently threatened to " do" for that non-com-
missioned officer, and for having, when taken out
of the cells where he had been confined, hurled a
heavy stone at him ; and when before the comman-
dant, having threatened to murder the sergeant, re-
marking that he " could not sleep nor die happy
until he had taken his life, as it was a pity he
should live any longer." During the time the pri-
soner has been in the corps his conduct has been
exceedingly bad, and altogether he is a man of most
depraved character. The Court found him guilty
of all the charges, and sentenced him to be kept in
penal servitude for life. The prisoner John Hogan
was tried for having attempted to go out of bar-
racks after tattoo without leave ; for refusing to
undress for medical inspection at Melville Hospital;
for behaving in a disrespectful manner to the field
officer in not taking off his cap; and for having,
when taken before Col. Rea, the Commandant,
threatened to run his bayonet through that officer.
The prisoner, who has only been a comparatively
short time in the service, bears a bad character.
The Court found him guilty, and sentenced him to
be kept in penal servitude for 21 years. After the
sentences had been read both prisoners were handed
over to the custody of a strong escort, and removed
to Miilbank convict establishment.

MONTHLY MILITARY OBITUARY.

General—John Maenzie.

Lieutenant-General—Arthur W. M. Lord Sandy,
Col. 2 Drs.; Sir Geo. Judd Harding, K.C.8., Col.
er,"lra. Royal Engineers ; Thomas James Wemyss,
C 01.17 F.
lilior-Generals—Henry Richard Wright, r f p
Royal Artillery ;• Daniel Bolton, from Royal Engi-
neers; Ga...dfue.y._ ClLarles Mundy, Lieutenant-Go-
vernor of J ersty.
Lieutenant-Colon al—Collingwood Fenwick, 75th
Foot.

Ch Major—Hugh Irs)rgan, r f p Royal Artillery,
eltenham.

Captains—John Canavan' 18th Foot ; William
F. Lindsay, Carnegie, It
P pupalim Regiment,
Artillery ; Peter
0,9 t h
Robert Foot;
Powell, h. p 2d Wes t India
R,eg
Lientenants—('he rles Thomas Cte
John Bruen Itutledtge, 34th Foot; 0
James Alfred Colebrooke, 83d Foot; William
Davis,
1 2d
Bth
*West India Regim ant ; Thomas Dillon, r f
Veteran Battalion; John Newton, h p 15th Dra-
goons ; John O'Re;lly, h p 11th Foot ; Daniel
Gruober, li p 39th I kot; William Howard Gilman,

h p Royal Artillery Driver; Charles Lennox Dick-
son, Unattached ; Otto Schaumann, h p 6th Line
Battalion King's German Legion.
Cornet—Joseph Sefton, 12th Dragoons.
Ensign—Frank F. Perceval, Military Train.
Paymaster—A. M'Donald, 6th Foot.
Deputy-Assistant Commissary-General--JohnGeorge Eyl, h p.
Surgeon—Edward Booth, 73d Foot.
Assistant-Surgeons—Harry Reid, M.D., 75th
Foot ; J. Gorman, Staff.
Veterinary Surgeon—Joseph Ball, Roya 1 Ar-
tillery.

HOW WE DRESS OUR TROOPS IN TILE

TROPICS.

A writer in a contemporary says :—Govern meat
has done wonders of late years in imprceving the
condition of our army ; it possesses no truer friends
than the Duke of Cambridge and Mr. Sidney Her-
bert. Model kitchens and bakeries, ventilated
rooms, first-class schoolmasters, libraries, games,
out-door and is-door, all testify to the fact ; and
when our soldiers fail to reap the advantage of all
these reforms (as is too often the' case in far off
stations) the blame rests with supine commanding
officers and indolent engineers. But the dress of
our soldiers in tropical climates cries aloud for
reform. Regiments are sent to Ceylon or Mauritius
for 10 years, or West India for tt tree or four, and
there, under a burning sun, maybe seen the British
soldier marching up and down on. sentry, or lying
exhausted in his guard room, dressed in the thick
red broadcloth tunic lined with serge, the hard
leather stock, that intolerable shako, precisely the
same as at Aldershott on a cold winter day. If, cool
reader, you seek a new sensation, or wish to realise
the fact, heat up your own room to 85 deg., put on
Private Smith's regimentals, belts, and shako,
wear them for 24 hours, and see how you feel after
it. Bear in mind that such may be Private
Smith's fate every third or fourth day for 10 years,
or till, worn out in health, he dies, or is invalided
home. It is hardly credible, with such a large por-
tion of our troops constantly suffering from, and
enduring patiently, all the necessary discomforts
and evils of tropical climates, that to those should
' be wantonly added a dress well adapted perhaps to
our northern region, but a cruelty and torture
when worn within 10 or 15 degrees of the Line. Is
discomfort in dress necessary to discipline ? Com-
mon sense laughs at it, humanity cries out against
it ; but if the voice of common sense and humanity
are to be silenced by " regulation," perhaps that of
" eoonomy" may be listened to. Ask any medical
officer of experience if the exhaustion produced by
constant sweating in heavy, close fitting garments
does not debilitate the system, render it more liable
to disease and less able to fight against it when
contracted : is it wise, then, in a mercantile sense
to stew our soldiers and then send them home as
invalids ? Will any one favour me with the argu-
ments for the present system ? I know of but one,
and that is its beautiful simplicity—like the salt
pork and biscuit in the Crimea—so many thousand
men, so many thousand red-coats, shakos, &c., and
the work is done ; a change would necessitate half-
worn clothing stored, perhaps damaged and re-
issued—" No end of trouble and confusion," as the
alarmed clothing clerk would exclaim; but is his
small voice to be heard before that of our suffering
soldier ?
I have avoided including India in my list of
tropical stations, as I hear of great reforms in re-
gard to dress carried out by Lord Clyde, " carkee"
recognised, and shakos all swept into the sea with
one stroke of his pen. But, if abolished in India,
why, pray, retained in the West Indies and
elsewhere ?
Having now stated what our dress in the tropics
is, I would ask leave to say what in my opinion it
ought to be; for the present tunic, trousers, stock,
and greatcoat I would substitute a blouse of a
light, but strong material, two pairs of trousers
of the same stuff, a black necktie, aril a loose over-
coat to be worn with or without the blouse. The
cut should be loose and liberal, the colour of dark
shade. The whole appearance that of a local and
temporary arrangement, rendered necessary by the
climate, rather than a picturesque or martial and
imposing uniform. The material selected is all-
important ; it must wash well, be strong and dur-
able, not liable, like flannel, to be cut by belts ;
cool and light, but with enough wool to prevent a
check to perspiration by a sudden fall of 10 degrees
in the thermometer; such stuff, in short, as an ex•
perienced traveller would choose when about to
start on a summer pedestrian tour in the south of
Europe.