The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-06 00:00:00

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The following reinforcements, selected from the
lst,l2d, and 3d battalions at Chatham garrison are
ordered to embark at Gravesend this day on board
the East India Company's steamer Benares, for
Xurrachee, for the purpose of augmenting the corps
serving in India, viz. :-51 men of the 7th Royal
Fusiliers, 21 men of the 27th Fr►niskillens, 51 non-
commissioned officers and men of the 52d Light
Infantry, Ensign Arthur E. Flood and 18 men of
the 61st Regiment, 14 men of the 70th Regiment,
Capt. W. Egerton Todd and 19 men of the 81st
Regiment, and Ensign Caulfield French with 30
men of all ranks of the 94th Regiment.
In • consequence of several cases of small-
pox having- broken out among the troops
belonging to the 23c1 Royal Welsh Fusi-
liers, who embarked on b6ard the ‘Abeona at
Gravesend for Calcutta, all the men of that corps
• have bees disembarkSd and returned to the depot
. at Chatham, where they will be stationed until the
. disease has disappeared.
General Sir Ralph Darling, G.C.H., Colonel of
the 69th Regiment, died on Friday at his residence
at Brighton, at the advanced age of 83 years. He
entered the army in May, 1793, as ensign in the
45th Foot, with which regiment he served in the
West Indies until the peace of Amiens. Soon afte r
his arrival there the slaves in the island of Granada,
assisted by the French from Guadeloupe, revolted
and murdered the Governor and many of the prin-
cipal inhabitants, when he was called upon with his
regiment to quell the insurrection. In 1797 he
volunteered in the expedition against Trinidad, and
was present at the destruction of the Spanish ships
of war, and was at the surrender of thatisland, and
, in June, 1799, proceeded with the expedition
against the Dutch settlement of Surinam, and was
employed in the arrangements for the capitulation
and present at the surrender of that colony. In
April, 1801, he accompanied the expedition against
the Danish and Swedish islands of St. Croix, St.
Thomas, St. Martin, and St. Bartholomew, and
was present at their reduction. The deceased was
placed on the Staff in 1806, but in Sept., 1808, his
regiment (the 51st) being ordered on active service
in Spain, he resigned his Staff employment as As-
sistant-Adjutant-General, and took the command
as Lieutenant-Colonel of that regiment, and joined
the army in the Peninsula under General Sir John
Moore. He was under that distinguished General
at the advance and retreat, the action at Lugo, and
the battle of Corunna, after which be returned
with his regiment to England. In the following
year, July 1809, he was appointed Deputy-Assist-
ant-Adjutant-General to the force rent to the
Scheldt under the Earl of Chatham, and was pre-
sent at the siege and surrender of Flushing. On
his return he resumed his Staff duties at the Horse
Guards, which he fulfilled up to 1818, when he was
appointed to ocmmand the troops at the Mauritius,
a command he held for five years, anti for 18 months
of which he administered the civil government of
that colony. In 1825 the gallant deceased was ap-
pointed Governor-in Chief of New South Wales and
Van Diemen's Land, and for six years commanded
the troops in those dependencies of the British'
Crown. In 1835 he was nominated a Knight Grand
Crows of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order.
The gallant General in September, 1857, had the
colonelcy of the 41st (the Welch) Regiment of Foot

conferred onhim, which he retained until February,
• 1848, when he was removed to that of the 69th (the
South Lincolnshire) Regiment, which becomes at
the disposial of the Commander-in-Chief. Sir Ralph
had received the gold medal for his services at Co-
runna. His commissions bore date as follows :
Ensign, May 15, 1793: Lieutenant, Sept 2, 1795;
Captain, Sept. 6, 1796 ; Major, Feb. 2, 1800;
Lieut.-Colonel, July 17, 1801; Colonel, July 25,
1810 ; Major-General, June 4, 1813 ; Lieut.-Ge-
neral, May 27, 1825 ; and General, Nov. 23, 1841..
We unfortunately mentioned the services of the
wrong officer yesterday in reporting the retirement'
of Major 'Travers, the barrackmaster for 45 years of
Portsmouth garrison ; but as there have been 37
" fighting Travers" in the services, several of whom
are living, theerror is excusable. The gallant oft -
cer whose services we mentioned yesterday is the
barrackmaster of Parkhurst, Isle of Wight. Major
Travers, of Portsmouth, served the campaign of
1799, iu Holland, as a Lieutenant, and was severely
wounded in the body in the action near the Helder
on the 27th of August. He was present when the
enemy under Marshal Brune were defeated in their
attack on the British lines on the 10th of Sept. ;
be was also present at the battle of the 19th of
Sept., and that of the 2d of Oct. at Berghen (and
wounded), together with the actions cf the 6th and
10th of Oct. The Major is in the receipt of a mili-
tary pension in conseqtence of the severe nature of
his wounds. On his retirement Major-General the
Hon. Sir J. Yorke Scarlett, K.C. 8., Lieutenant-
Governor of Portsmouth, issued a district order,
expressing his sense of the uniform propriety with
which Major Travers had discharged his duties, and
the great benefit which had accrued to the service
from the unremitting attention which had marked

his career.
The D battery of the Royal Artillery, which has
been for some time stationed in Leeds, left that
town yesterday morning for Woolwich.
Major Newton's G troop of Royal Horse Artillery
yesterday morning assembled on parade at Wool-
wich in heavy marching order, and underwent a
final inspection by Gen. Williams, preparatory to
departure for Dublin. Immediately after inspec-
tion the troop commenced their first day's march
for Highgate, under orders to reach Liverpool on
the 21st. They were escorted to the precincts of
the garrison by the General and staff, and were
preceded by the mounted band belonging to the
corps. The following officers acccuppanied the
troop, Major H. H. Newton, in command ; Second
Captains Wilkinson and Sandilands, and Lieu_
tenats Brown and Sandharn. The Gl troop bas
been in existence little more than three months
having been organised and_ established in December
last. Generale Williams' likewise attended the
" guard mounting" parade, and afterwards in-
spected the brigade of Horse Artillery on Woolwich
common.
The troopship Golconda arrived at Woolwich
yesterday morning for the embarkation of troops
and ammunition for the East; The freight Ship
Birch Grove commenced shipping war stores yester-
day from Woolwich for Hongkong.
His Excerency Count de Platen, Swedish Minister
to the Court of St. James, visited Portsmouth yes-
terday to inspect the dockyard, &c. ; having been
himself in the navy his Excellency takes much in-
terest in such establishments. Admiral Sir Geo.
Bern Co Ur, the Commander-in-Chief, entertained
the Count and his suite at the Admiralty-house.
Her Majesty's ship Blenheim, 60, Captain Fran-
& Scott, C. 8., was taken out of the basin at Ports-
mouth yesterday, and will now receive her crew
from their hulk. She will proceed to her station
(embraced in the cruising ground from the Isle of
Wight to Salcombe) shortly after.
The Renown, 91, Captain Forbes, the Diadem,
31, Captain Moorsom, C. 8., the Curacoa, 31,
Captain Mason, and the Racoon, 21, Captain
Paynter, at• present at Spithead, are expected to
pat to sea in a few days, and another or two are re-
ported to join them, for a cruise to test their respec-
tive merits as far as Lisbon, where they will ren-
ezvous in time to honour the marriage of the King
Portugal with a salute, &c.
An Admiralty order has been received at Chat-
ham dockyard - by Capta'n G. Goldsmith, C. 8.,
directing that the pay of the seamen riggers em-
ployed at that establishment be increased to 1/. per
week.

Henry W. Molesworth has been appointed assis-
tant paymaster to the Eurvalus ; John A. P.
Williams, clerk, to the Urgent; and Cuthbert B.
Hodbam, clerk, to the Exmouth.

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TBE WANE OP ELOQUENCE.

The law, of demand and supply ought to insure
us a never-failing succession of good speakers in
this country. The love of listening to oratory is
deeply implanted in the Englishman. Whenever
an excuse can be found for it, the dinner table is
turned into a tribune for the exchange of compli-
mentary addresses ; debating clubs are the delight
of every class from the undergraduates of Oxford
and Cambridge to the petty tradesman who has just
put up his shutters ; no institution, whether patri
otic' or educational, or agricultural, or charitable,
can be inaugurated without an attempt at a set and
formal speech. Why, then, do not great speakers
abound t Previous education may be wanting, but
in other departments the demand for a faculty, and
the prizes which its exercise insures, make up for
all deficiencies of instruction. Boys are not edu-
cated in civil engineering or the mechanical arts,
and yet men of the highest ability in these pur-
suits appear at the call of' our new civilisation.
Nor is there anything in our education which
should rear judicious and temperate statesmen,
yet it cannot be doubted that men eminently
qualified for the task of government do spring
from English soil, in numbers which any other
country may envy. But, whatever the cause, it
would seem that in the present day at least the
faculty of eloquence is wanting. Never was there
so much and so poor speaking. We do not refer
now to the decay of pulpit 'oratory, though there
assuredly is a vast difference between the sermons
which roused the " hums" of a seventeenth century
audience and the compositions which are nowadays
demurely read to fidgety congregations. It is of
oratory proper, of political eloquence, the object
of which is to persuade men in matters of State go-
vernment, that we would speak, and ask why it is
that with knowledge beyond the reach of any pre-
vious age, with patriotism and purity of motive
which should elevate the style, with genius which
success in other pursuits shows not to have decayed
the country should still produce so few public men
who are gifted with the power of dignified and at-
tractive speaking. The Houses of Lords and Com-
mons are, beyond all doubt, the most educated and
refined assemblies in the world. They contain a
comparatively large number of men who have won
fame by literary or scientific achievements, and who
one would think, would appreciate, and almost
exact, oratorical excellence. And-yet theleaders of
the British .Parliament are in effective oratory,
many of them, below the level of an Old Bailey
barrister or a popular Dissenting minister. Know-
ledge of men and things and books, official experi-
ence, long habits, of rapid thinking and extem-
pore speaking, have not taught them how to
frame a sentence neatly, or to utter it
with grace. The wonder is that , with
such neglect of the proprietors of style they should
be able to command and retain the attention of
their audiences, and we can only account for it by
supposing that the Houses have become accustomed
to the peculiar involutions and repetitions of Par-
liamentary rhetoric, and that each member un-
consciously performs for himself the operation
which the reporter performs for the world in gene-
ral—reduces the contorted and redundant phraseo-
logy of the speaker into clear and straightforward
English.
We would not, indeed, be supposed to imply
that any of the great political chiefs stand actually
in need of the house's indulgence, but still we must
think that even among the highest there is a ten-
dency to certain deficiencies which in men lees able
and full of matter becomes positive poverty of ex-
pression. Take, for instance, our late Premier.
Lord Palmerston is probably the most instructed
and experienced statesman in Europe. He has had
nearly fit) years of official life and of personal inter-
course with the most celebrated personage s. He
has the wisdom of age with the vigour of life's
prime : he has the courage to think and act, and he
possesses the knowledge by which to direct his ac-
tions. And yet, though often effective, sometimes
powerful, Lord Palmerston owes his success more
to his matter and the sprit with which he utters
it than to atiy oratorical skill. He has, pro-
batly, never done himsel justice, or fitly
embodied his thoughts and his impulses
in language. A fluent delivery, an apt
selection of words, and a scientific structure of
sentences, have never been attained by a statesman
who has spent 50 years of his life in addressing au-
diences of every kind. His speeches make an im-
pression on hearers who are accustomed to them ;
but who can doubt that. their power would be
greatly increased by those adventitious aids which
it is the fashion to depreciate f Something similar
may be said of lord John Russell, who, though
more of an orator than Lord Palmerston, falls very
far short of excellence. A cultivated mind, literary
tastes, and a long acquaintance with the most edu-
cated society, have never compensated Lord John
tor the wantof real oratorical attainments. But the
most striking example of Una • defect is in the case
of Sir G. C. Lewis, all who.- e inexhaiAtible learn-
ing, and ability, and applicatiAl are Ofteii neutral-
ised, in the opinion of his hea,rars, by'the tedious-
ness of his delivery. In fact, out of both louses it
would be difficult to select a dozen men who really
do justice to a great subject. Lords Derby, Ellen-
borough, and Lyndhurst, with the Duke of Argyll
and the Bishop of. Oxford, in the one house ; Messrs.
Gladstone, Disraeli Sir J. Graham, Mr. Bright,
Mr. S. Herbert, and Mr. Roebuck, in the othery
are indeed speakers who increase the attraction of
their subject by the manner in which they treat it,
but these are nearly all, and even these somet"m( s
sink to the lower level of style which isprevalent in
our public speaking.
The fact probably is that we have fallen into a
bad style, through too great a contempt for elabo-
ration and artifice. In the last century every ora-
tor attitudinised, just as a Frenchman does at the
present day. Manner was- of more importance
than matter, and a weak and superficial civilisation
was certainly the consequence ; but it had its
merit-. We may tire of the monotonous elevatio-i
of Johnson and Gibbon, yet we may well wonder
how they could write volume after volume of
pointed sentence, while authors of the present
day, if they begin a book with any pretensions to
style, generally subside into slipshod after the first
few Chapters. Burke and Pitt and Fox and Sheri-
dan were brought up in a rigid school of manner-
ism in the study of the " Spectator" and the
"Essay on Man," and they were surrounded by
the atmosphere of the "Rambler" and " Junius."
Doubtless many geniuses were cramped by th&e
circumstances, but those which broke through felt
the benefit of the training. They were taught to
respect art, to speak according to mks, to Le
careful in the tonstruction of their sentences, to
balance their periods, and to profit by the art of
elocution. Now it seems to us that in our horror
of artificiality and our affected love of earnestness
and naturalness we have forgotten that people
must learn to speak as well as to do anything
else. Those pers,ns who must speak in order
to live—such as barristers, lecturers, Dissent-
ing preachers, and the like—have managed
to keep up the practice of at least fluent oratory
but' amateurs, as our politicians chiefly are, seem
to have forgotten the an of addressing an audience.
They even appear to taken pride in their bad speak-
ing, as dist nguishing them from those who have
been forced to cultivate their powers. It is really
piteous to hear or read so many long common-place
effusions, to find men of the greatest powers using
over and over again the same hackneyed expres-
sions, adopting,' in short, the baldest and most
worn-out diction of their predecessors. If the as-
pirants to Parliamentary fame, instead of inter-
preting the applause of agricultural or charitable
dinners into a tribute to their excellence, wouldlabour in their oratorical education as the great
men of the past laboured, we have little doubt that
not only the eloquence of Parliament, but, by the
force of example, the power of the pulpit and the
bar, would receive a healthy renovation.