The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-19 00:00:00

2 HE ARMY.

eesterday Major-Geaeral Peel, the Secretary of State
me War, accompanied by Sir 11. Storks and by
Colonel W. F. Forster, K.H., the Deputy Adjutan.-
General, resumed his inspection of the troops at
Chatham, and the barracke, hospitals, and other military
establishments at that garrison. At 10 o'clock the
whole of -the recruits belonging to the three battalions
of infantry, consisting of the depots of the 7.th Fusiliers, 9th,
10th, 19th, 20th, 231 Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 24th, 29th, 32(1
Light Infantry, 35th, 43d Light Infantry, 52d Light Infan-
try, 53d, Gist, 75 It, 81st, 84th, and 94 h Regiments ,were
drawn up on the parade ground at Chatham-barracks, under
the command cf their respective commanding officers, when
Gen. Peel made a minute inspection of tbe men, passing up
and down the ranks of each depot. The General also visited
the extensive barracks which are occupied by the East India
Company's depots, and inspected the ablution-rooms, bake-
houses, cooking-houses, libraries, schoo'--ooms, &c., and du. -
ing his inspection made frequent inquiries of the troops
whether their kits were good, receiving, without a single
exception, an answer in the affirmative. Gen. I'eel, who
was accompanied by Col. Eyre, the commandant of the gar-
rison, during his tour of inspection, th n visited the mili-
tary hospitals, and afterwards proceeded to Fort Pitt, where
lie was received by Dr. J. R. Taylor, C.B. the principal
medical officer, who, with the medical staff at' the hospital,
conducted him outer that extensive establishment, where lie
remained some time. On quitting Fort Pitt Gen. Peel pro-
ceeded to the military prison at Fort Clarence, over which
he was shown by Capt. Manners, the governor, the Inspec-
tion of the several departments belonging to tbe prison oc-
cupying hint null late in the afternoon.
Yesterday tenders were received et the East India-house
for the conveyance of nearly 3,000 additional reinforements
to India, the War authorities having decided on despatching
that number of cavalry and infantry troops to India imme-
diately. The reinforcements are to be apportioned to the
three presidencies as follows—viz., 1,350 men for Calcutta,
to embark at Gravesend on the 2I and 3d of September; 470
to Bombay, to embark on the Ist of September; 240 to Ma-
dras, to embark on the 7th of. September; and 190 to Kurra-
chee, to embark on the Ist of September.
The last trial for the purpose of testing the superiority of
the Lancaster rifle musket over the Enfield rifle, in prac-
tised hands, took place at Chatham a few days since, when
a number of non-commissioned officers b-longing to the
Royal Engineers were selected to try their skill against an
equal number of non-commissioned officers selected from the
3d battalion of the Line, the Royal Engineers, as before,
using the Lancaster rifle, and the Infantry non-commis-
sioned officers the Enfield rifle. TLe expzriments took place
under the direction of Capt. G. R. Lemprie• e, the instructor
of musketry to the Royal Engineers, a number of officers
being present. Each man was supplied with 20 rounds of
ball cartridge, the targets being fixed at distances varying
from 350 to B yards. After a few rounds had been fired it
was soon evident that ,the palm of superiority would be
again awarded to the Lancaster rifle, in the bands of the
non-commissioned cfficers of the Royal Engineer., whose
practice was excellent, ball after ball being sent
into the target at six hundred yards distance. At- the
close of the trial it was found that out of 20 rounds the
average number of "points" made by the Royal Engi-
neers was 15.88, the non-commissioned officers of the
Line only averaging 8.00. The finest practice of the day
was that by Sergeant Cann, R.E., who made the
precedented number of 23 " points." The result of the ae4x--
periments is that out of three trials the averarze number of
points' made by the Royal Engineers was 15'88, and that
by the troops of the Line, with the Enfield rifle, only 12.62.
Iklajdt-General Sir William Fenwick Williams, K.C.8.,
M.P., Commandant of Woolwich garrison, having been
granted 14 days' leave of absence to proceed the Conti-
nent, has solici!ed an extension of leave of absence, for flue of visiting Nova Scotia, the place ofbis birth', which
hthiseaCrorimvarnlainider
-in-Chief has been pleased to sanction. O. n
Nova Scotia it is the intention of the proprie-
tors of the Acadian Iron Company there to present rhegal-
lant General with an exquisitely wrought sword, manufac-
tured from the produce of the mines of their colony, the
scheme having been projected and prepared soon after the
sufferings of the hero and his companiens and the evacuation
of Kars had become known to them in that distant country.
Staff-S -rgeant Collins, for many years drum-major to the
Royal Artillery Regiment at head-quarters, Woolwich, has
been permitted to retire from the service on a pension of 2s.
(1. per day, having been 24 years as non-commissioned
-officer and private in that corps. On receiving his discharge
from the Royal Artillery he will take up the duties of Band-
master in the Royal Antrim. Rifles, in command of Colonel
the Marquis of Donegall, G.C.H. In addition to his retir-
ing pension of 2s. 6d. per day he will receive £l5O per
annum by virtue of his new appointment.
The committee appointed to conduct the affairs of the late
Mr. Francis Pellatt, principal military storekeeper of Wool-
wich Arsenal, have received a reply from the Lords Com-
missioners of the Treasury, stating their regret that they
have no funds at their disposal to meet the request of the
committee, soliciting a pension for the widow of the de-
ceased, the salary having been paid up to the day of his
death, beyond which there is no legal or established claim.
Lieut.-Colonel Maude and the head-quarters staff of the
Royal Horse Artillery, with the mounted portion of the A
and K troop., in command of Brevet-Major Le Meander
Tapper and brevet-Major Arbuthnot, marched into Wool-
wich on Tuesday evening, and took up their former quarters
in thQ west range of tho Royal Artillery barracks.