The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-24 00:00:00

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

Yesterday upwards of 200 recruits arrived at
Chatham from the recruiting districts of London,
Bristol, and Liverpool, for the purpose of joining
the various East India depots at that garrison. The
number of recruits and volunteers joining at
Chatham now averages nearly 500 per week.
The reinforcements for the 18th Royal Irish, 51st
Light Infantry, 83d, and 86th Regiments, to the
number of 150 men of all ranks, left Chatham yes-
terday morning for Southampton, to embark on
board the Peninsular and Oriental Company's
steamer Sultan for Alexandria, from which port
they will proceed by the overland route to Sutra-
chee. The number of troops at Chatham still under
orders to proceed to India exceeds 1,500 men of
all ranks.
The Commander-in-Chief has ordered a reorga-
nization of the depots, comprising the three batta-
lions of infantry at Chatham, which are now com-
posed as follows--Ist Battalion, under the com-
mand of Col. EL Jervis, 7th Royal Fusileers, 24th,
27th Enniskillens, 32d, 35th, and 53d Regiments ;
2d Battalion, under the command of Col. R. N.
Phillips, 10th, 20th, 23d Royal Welsh Fusileers,
29th, 52d Light Infantry, and 61st Regiments ;
3d Battalion, commanded by Lieut.-Col. C. E.
Fairtlough, Bth, 70th, 75th, 81st, 84th, and 94th
Regiments. The following alterations have been
mode in the staff appointments of the battalions--
Capt. R. H. Travers, 24th, to be Instructor of
Musketry to the Ist battalion ; Capt. J. M. Lyle,
29th, to the 2cl battalion ; and Brevet-Major W.
Radcliff, 84th, to the 3d battalion—each being
assisted by a subaltern officer.
The whole of the officers and troops belonging to
the 3d battalion at Chatham were yesterday assem-
bled on their parade ground for the purpose of
witnessing the ceremony of degrading a uen-com-
missioneiry,fficer, in obedience to the sentence of a
district court martial. The offence with which the
prisoner—Lance-Sergeant Reed, of the Bth
(King's) Regiment--was found guilty, was
that of being drunk and guilty of conduct unbe-
coming a non-commissioned officer while on duty in
the barracks, for which serious breach of military
discipline he was adjudged to be reduced to the
rank and pay of a private soldier. The sentence of
the Court having been read by the Adjutant the
prisoner was marched to the front of the battalion,
where he was publicly degraded and his stripes cut
off his arm. The accused has been a great number
of years in the service, and has hitherto borne a
good character, having two good conduct badges.
He served some time with his corps in India.
The Racoon, 21, screw corvette, Capt. Paynter,
arrived at Spithead on Monday night from the Nore,
to await further orders.
The Lord Raglan convict ship has embarked her
allotment from Portsmouth, and sailed for Western
Australia, calling at Portland and Plymouth.
The Marlborough, 131, screw three decker,
Capsacn the Right Hon. Lord F. H. Kerr, is being
rapidly fitted out at Portsmouth for the Mediter-
ranean flag, and men come forward for her briskly.
Vice-Admiral Fanshawo has not yet hoisted his
flag to succeed Lord Lyons.
The steam fleet in reserve at Portsmouth is being
got ready for equipment at the shortest notice. The
ships composing it, especially the line-of-battle
ships, are being tried almost daily, and the staff of
the steam reserve are indefatigably employed in
getting the ships' machinery into reliable working
order. The Duke of Wellington, Ccesar, Victor
Emmanuel, and Algiers are the most forward, and
aro expected to be the next large ships commis-
sioned.. The gunboats at Hasler are also under
course of overhaul.

A letter from a private of the 94tb, received at
Plymouth, states that the regiment left the Sound
on the 18th of Nov., and arrived at Madras on the
26th of Dec. They lauded at Alexandria at five
o'clock on the evening of the 2d of Dec., and pro-
ceeded by train to Cairo, where they breakfasted
on the banks of the Nile at one o'clock on the morn-
fling of the 3d, and at 10 the same day dined in the
desert. They went in vans to Suez and waited four
days for the mail. From Suez for 20 days the men
were exposed on the weather-deck to the wind and
rain ; the sea was however calm es a river.
The writer says that all was peaceful at Madras ;
the Sepoys are sorry they ever turned out;
and many are dying of hunger and want, This 94th
were daily expecting the route to Rangoon.
His Netherlands Majesty's paddlewheel steam-
vessel Ardjoeno, 8, Captain J. A. Van Hasselt,
four days from Helvoet, for Batavia, put into Ply-
mouth Sound on Monday, for fueL

BILL FOR THE BETTER GOYEBNAIENT

OF INDIA.

Whereas by an Act of the Session holden in the
16th and 17th yearsof her Majesty, chapter 95, "to
provide for the government of India," the territo-
ries in the possession and under the government of
the East India Company were continued under such
government, in trust for her Majesty, until Parlia-
ment should otherwise provide, subject to the pro-
visions of that act and of other acts of Parliament,
and the property and rights in the said act referred
to are held by tie said company in trust for the
crown for the purposes of the said government, and
whereas it is expedient that the said territories
should be governed by and in the name of her Ma-
jesty : be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most
excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and con-
sent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Com-
mons, in thispresent Parliament assembled, and by
the authority of the same, as follows : that is to say,
TRANSFER OF THE GOTERNMENT OF INDIA TO HER