The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-16 00:00:00

TILE ARMY

Orders have been received at Chatham gitirison
for the following troops to be held in readiness to
embark for India for the purpose of reinforciig the
respective regiments now serving in' Bengal, Ma-
dras, and Bombay, viz. men of the 35th
(Royal Sussex) Regt. from the first depot battalion;
12 men of the 29th Regt., from the 2d battalion ;
23 men of the Bth (the King's) Regt., 30 men of the
sth Regt:; 18 men of the 81st Regt., and 20 Caen of
the 94th. Regt., from the 3d battalion. The fellow-
ing officers were under orders to embark for India :
Capt. W. I. Anderson, 32d Lied Infantry ; Lieut:
T. Lloyd, 35th Regt. ' • Lieut. W. C. Driberg,94th ;
Ensign C. B. Crease, Ist batt., Bth ; Ensign A. M.
Handley and Ensign I. F. Fraser, Ist batt., 19th ;
Ensign-T. P. Butler, 24th ; Ensign W. Boycott,
29th ; Ensign G. Finnerby, 75th ; and Engign C.
Rochfort, 81st. In addition to the above troops,
the following reinforcements ars awaiting embarka-
tion for Calcutta :-66 men of the Royal Artillery,
from Woolwich; 65 men of the 7th HuEss and
10 of the 90th Light Infantry, from Canterbury;
20 men of the let batt. 6th Foot, 90 men of the 34th,
30 men of the 37th, 12 men of the 88th, and 14 men
of the 97th, from Colchester.

After only a very short interval another inEtance
of the infliction of corporal punishment on a private
soldier has just taken place at Chatham garrison.
Scarcely
a week elapses but there are several pri-
soners brought to trial by court-martial at Chatham
either for selling their regimental necessaries for a
few pence—deserting and re-enlisting • into other
corps, thereby defrauding Government to. a consi-
derable extent—insubordinate conduct—or com-
mitting acts of robbery by stealing from their com-
rades. Different modes of punishment hive been
adopted to check these offences, but to little or no
purpose, and the courts martial have therefore re-
cently determined on resorting to more severe
punishment. The prisoner who was sentenced to
undergo corporal punishment was a private of the
Ist batt. 23d Royal Welsh Fusiliers, named Jones,
ordinate his crime being that of highly ins
con-
duct in the presence of the whole of the troops as-
sembled on the parade-ground, in resolutely refus-
ing to obey the commands of the adjutant el the
battalion, and also with using language of a highly
mutinous character towards the same officer. For
these offences the court sentenced him to receive 50
lashes and also to be imprisoned for ,a length-
ened period in Fort Clarence. The depot 3 compris-
ing the 2d battalion assembled on their parade-
ground at Chatham barracks at an early hour in the •
morning, when they were marched to the Spur
Battery, where the sentence of the Court was read
in the presence of the entire battalion, after which
the punishment was initiated, during which the
offender displayed a very dogged demeanour. On
being released he was conveyed to the Garrison
Hospital, and will, on leaving that establishment,
be sent to the military prison at Rochester. The
prisoner during the short time he has been in the
service bears the character of being one of the very
worst men in his depot.
Major Melchior, an officer otthe'Preueir-Iniperial
Artillery, who is charged with the delivery of the
121 b. howitzer l'Alliance, and appurtenances, con-
structed on a system invented by the Emperor
Napoleon, to her Majesty the Queen, visited Wool-
wich Arsenal, and conferred with Col. Tulloh,
superintendent of the Royal carriage department,
on the subject of the presentation, which, it is
stated, will take place to-day. Col. Tulloh is ordered
to proceed to Windsor this morning, by direction
of General Peel, to assist in the ceremony.

ADMIRAL SIR M. F. BERKELEY ON
THE NATIONAL DEFENCES.

The anniversary meetings of the three societies
by which the memory of the munificent Edward.
Calston is celebrated were held at Bristol on Sa-
turday evening. The dinner of the Anchor or
Liberal Society was attended by, Lord Ducie,Lord-
Lieutenant of Glocestershire • Admiral Sir M. F.
Berkeley, K.C.8., the late Senior Naval Lord of
the Admiralty ; Col. Berkeley, M.P. ; and the
members for the city, Mr. H. Berkeley and Mr. H.
G. Langton. The toast of " the Arrny and Navy"
having been given, Sir M. F. Berkeley returned
thanks on behalf of the latter service in a lengthened
speech. He commenced by referring to the letters
published by Mr. Kingscote relative to the Deal
boatmen, and stated that Mr. Kingscote had writ-
ten in ignorance of the subject. He asserted
that not a single man had been discharged at
the end of the Russian war but those who had
served their time and desired their discharge ;
and he pointed out that no man was receiving
a pension for ten years' continuous service
because the system of continuous service had only
I been in operation five years. The gallant Admiral
then addressed himself to the observations made by
Lord Hardwicke relative to the condition of the
navy, observations which ho was sure the noble
lord would on reflection repent. Lord Hardwicke,
who was a good sailor, and an ornament to the naval
profession, had said that the British navy was in a
worse condition than it had been in former days,
and that, though this was to be regretted, it arose
not from any neglect on the part of the government,
butin the improvements daily makin., in science and
art. He (the gallant Admiral) would point to Bir-
mingham, Sheffield, and other manufacturing towns,
and ask whether science and art had placed other
countries on a better footing than it kad England ?
(Hear.) He admitted that it was not pleasant to pay
for science and art, but if the country wished to
maintain its maritime supremacy it must build a
new navy if foreign nations did so. Lord Hard-
wicke said that the navy was " absolutely weaker
than that of some great Powers near Us ;" but ho
differed from the noble lord. He held in his hand
the official returns of the British and French navies,
and he could give a positive contradiction to Lord
Hardwicke's statement. He thought it unwise to
publish the figures, but they were at the noble lord's
service. He could prove that Great Britain was
superior to every other country in materiel, ships,
officers, aye, and men.. (Loud cheers.) Lord Hard-
wicke had also said that, notwithstanding the
puffing of the British navy, and -the boast that it
was the finest in the world, yet it had done little or
nothing to bring the Russian war to a conclusion.
Was it nothing to have 18 sail of the line in the
Baltic, to destroy Sweaborg, to capture Kertch, and
to attack the forts of Sebastopol ? He maintained
that historians would have to record that the Russian
war proved more than anything else the great mari-
time power of England. It must be recollected that
foreigners were supplied wi th the greater part of their
means of transport by the mercantile marine of this
country; and when it was known what the crews,
both of men-of-war and merchant ships had done,
it was idle to say that our ships were inefficiently
manned. Lord Hardwicke had declared that the
British fleet " went to sea in such a condition as
to inflict a positive injustice on the brave officers
in command of the ships." He (the gallant Ad-
miral) would read a single letter of many hundreds
he had received ; it was from one of our best offi-
cers, Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, when captain
of the fleet in the Baltic :—" If there are ships the
commanding officers of which have complained of
their crows on their first landing, a modification of
such opinion has taken place ; and, though there
are some ships better circumstanced and more effi-
cient than others, we know no ship that would not
accomplish good service in operation against the
enemy." Let Lord Hardwick° go to Harry Kep-
pel, Hall, Paget, Codrington, and fifty other men ;.
they would tell him the true story. They never
sent him a complaint, but, on the contrary, gave
the highest praise to both officers and men. He
could, however, understand a Cabinet Minister
saying these things, because he wished the country
to grant larger supplies for the maintenance of the
navy. He agreed with the noble earl that the
navy must be increased ; ho was not satisfied that
it was large enough ; but what they had would
defy competition with any other navy.—Manchester
Guardian.