The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-09 00:00:00

SOLDIERS GOING ON A JOURNEY.

A correspondent sends to us a description of a scene
at Euston Station, the metropolitan terminus of the
London and North - Western Railway, which he
says should make every lover of his country " blush
from head to foot." A detachment of soldiers
who had served in India, and were on their way to
their headquarters in Manchester, were brought into the
station to be forwarded by that train ; but the process
of getting them safely seated and sent off was almost
more than a match for the patience and energy of the
officers in command. Nearly every second man was
under the influence of drink ; and as every soldier
in such a predicament was sunk in the sot, the
exhibition was painful in the extreme. Caps were mis.
s'ng, coats were torn, and every sign of military smartness
and discipline was ' conspicuous by its absence.' Some of
the more boisterously inclined, when locked in the
carriages, climbed out at the windows ; one man had to be
bound hand and foot and thrust under a seat, and another
man attempted suicide while in the train. Yet (our
correspondent continues) these men bad spent years in
India; many had undergone great hardships and
perils ; and all were on their way to get
more money, which would be wasted in similar
excesses. " Surely," exclaims our informant, " these
gallant but weak-minded fellows could have been kept,
during their transit through London, from thus degrading
themselves and the service they represent ; and surely the
new Secretary of War has a splendid field of reform open
to him in devising, if he can, some plan by which the
British soldier c be protected against his most seductive
but bitterest enemy—intoxicating drink."

The Tipperary magistrates are holding private in-
vestigations respecting Mr. Baker's murder. A farmer
named Keatinge has been arrested.
At the Northallerton Sessions the girl Scales, who
poisoned the family with whom she lived as servant, at
Pickering, was put upon her trial. She is only 13 yoars of
age, and it v.-as evident—though the fact may afford little
satisfaction to the sufferers—that she mixed the poison with
the sugar rot with a felen'ons intent, but merely to punish
two members of the family who had annoyed her. This was
the view the jury took of the case, and she was therefore
merely sentenced to one day's imprisonment, and then to be
ent home to her mother.

Mr. Birley is at present the " minority" member
for Manchester. Mr. Ernest Jones was the candidate in the
Liberal interests defeated. Mr. Birley's elect:on is z,upposed
to be void, inasmuch as lie belongs to a firm which is execut•
ing Government contracts. Mr. Milner Gibson is proposed
ls the Liberal candidate in case Mr. Birley goes to the wall.
Int Mr. Jones thinks ho has a prior claim. From some
nvouncements made in the local papers yesterday, it ap-
::rs that they are going to have a ballot before the eloctior
• cc who is best liked amongst the Liberals of the con•

Nem, —

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HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Jan. 8.
The Queen, accompanied by Prince Leopold and
Princess Beatrice, and attended by Lady Churchill,
drove out yesterday afternoon.
Her Majesty walked and drove in the grounds
this morning, accompanied by Princess Beatrice.
The Earl and Countess of Clarendon arrived at
Osborne yesterday, and had the honour of dining
with the Queen and the Royal Family.
The Archbishop of Canterbury 'and Mrs. Tait,
the Right Hon. henry Bruce, and the Dean of
Westminster, left Osborne yesterday.