The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-07 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The coloneley of the 78th Highland Regiment of
Foot has become vacant by the demise of Lieu-
tenant-General Sir William Chalmers, C.B. and
K.C.H., who died on Saturday last at his seat near
Dundee. The deceased General was the eldest son
of the late Mr. William Chalmers, of Glenericht,
Perthshire, and was born in 1787. Soon after
completing his 16th year he entered the army. He
served in Sicily in 1806 and 1807, and the follow-
ing year accompanied his regiment to Portugal, and
served during the campaigns of 1808 in that coun-
try and in Spain. He was in the expedition to
Walchern, including the bomhardment of Flushing.
In 1810 he proceeded to Cadiz, and took part in all
the succeeding campaigns in the Peninsula, includ-
ing the battle of Barossa, attack of the enemy on
the heights near Moresco, affair at Senhora de la
Pena, battle of Salamanca, action of San Munos,
battle of Vittoria, attack at Maya, battles of the
Pyrenees on the 30th and 31st of July, repulse of
the enemy in his attack of the heights of St. An-
tonio on the 31st of August, attack of the enemy's
forts near Sarre oa the 9th of October, 1813 ; battle
of Nivelle, besides many other minor affairs and
skirmishes on the advance to Madrid and capture
of Retiro. He was present in almost all the sieges
and was engaged during the retreat from Burgos
in the affairs of Oimos, Monasterio, bridge of Valla-
dolid, and the passage of the Huebra. He was
employed on the staff in the above campaigns in
the Peninsula, and was severely wounded in the
assault of the entrenchments at Sarre, and during
his services in Portugal and Spain he had six
horses killed or wounded under him in action.
During the four years he was engaged in active
service, from the sth of March, 1811, to the 18th
of June, 1815, he was present in seventeen engage-
ments, six of them general actions, exclusive of
sieges, &c. The gallant deceased also served in the
campaign of 1814 in the Netherlands, and was pre-
sent at Waterloo. At that battle he commanded a
wing of the 52d Regiment, of which he was - Major,
and had three horses shot under him. He was at the
capture of Paris, and did not return from France until
1817. In 1837 he was nominated a Knight Com-
mander of the Royal Hanoverian Order of Knight-
hood; was in 1838 made a Companion of the Order
of the Bath, and was, by letters patent, made a
Knight Bachelor in 1847. The deceased veteran
had received the silver war medal and eight clasps
for Barossa, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajez, Salamanca,
Vittoria, Pyrenees, St. Sebastian, and Nivelle.
His commissions bore date as follows :—Ensign,
the 9th of July, 1803 ; Lieut., the 25th of October,
1803 ; Capt., the 27th of August, 1807 ; Major, the
26th of August, 1813 ; Lieut.-Col., the 18th of June,
1815 ; Col., the 10th of January, 1837 ; Major-
General, the 9th of November, 1846 ; and Lieut.-
Gen., the 20th of June, 1854. He was appointed
Colonel of the 78th Regiment the 30th of Septem-
ber, 1853.

The Foyle and Iberia steamers arrived at Ports-
mouth yesterday morning from Dublin with the
55th Regiment on board, which disembarked at the
north corner of the dockyard and left for Alder-
shott Camp at 4.40 p.m.

The annual field-day and inspection of the Chat-
ham (Ist) division of Royal Marine Light Infan-
try, was held yesterday by Major-General S. R.
Wesley, Deputy Adjt.-Gen. The battalion, in
consequence of the success which has recently at-
tended the efforts of the various recruiting parties,
is now very strong, the number of men present
yesterday being only a few short of 1,100, exclu-
sive of several hundred men absent either in hospi-
tal, doing duty afloat, or on the recruiting service.
The division was formed at 10 a.m. in the barrack
square, awaiting the arrival of 'Major-Gen. Wesley,
who was received by Col. E. Rea, commandant,
Col. G. E. Hunt, second commandant, and the staff
at head-quarters. The days proceedings commenced
by General Wesley making an individual inspec-
tion of each company, after which the men's kits
were inspected, and found to be in very excellent
order and condition. Owing to the limited space
in the barrack square, the battalion was unable
to execute any extended movements, conse-
quently General Wesley merely gave the usual
invitation to those who had complaints to make
to step forward, when, there being no
response, the officers and men were dis-
missed until the afternoon. General Wesley then
made a tour of the barracks, inspecting the barrack-

rooms, school-rooms, non-commissioned officers'

mess-rooms, library, and the other offices, with the
appearance of which he expressed himself well satis-
fied. At 1 o'clock a portion of the Marines were
selected for inspection at working the great guns,
the whole battalion being regularly instructed
at gun drill in order to be able to work the great
guns on board a vessel of war when serving afloat.
The men having been marched to the ship gun bat-
tery, which is fitted up to resemble exactly the
broadside of a line-of-battle ship, and fitted with
the largest guns, General Wesley spent some time
in this portion of the inspection, the Marines being
exercised by Capt. C. B. Parke. The ease and
ra-
pidity with which the guns were worked and served
were particularly worthy of commendation, and,
after about two hours at the battery, the men were
dismissed and marched back to their quarters, and
General Wesley proceeded to Chatham lines, where