The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-03 00:00:00

I named Green, bore his punishment, as stated by an •
eye-witness, " like a true soldier," but the second,
named Davis, a young recruit, protested his inno-
cence of the crime of desertion, bellowed and
screamed for mercy, and supplicated Colonel Talbot
and the medical officer and others who were pre-
sent to have compassion on him, or he should die.
His back was covered with a mass of large red,
inflated boils, which bled profusely at every stroke,
and reddened the ground under his feet, upon
which the cat was ordered to be withheld for a
few moments, when, finding that his punishment
was not at an end, he gave vent to exclamations
for mercy, and partly succeeded in delivering
himself by force from the straps which bound him to
the halyards. The punishment was again ordered
to be continued, when at every succeeding stroke
his cries and exclamations were most lamentable,
insomuch that officers and men swooned away at
the sickening spectacle, and had to be carried into
the open air. One officer and upwards of 20 non-com-
missioned officers and men long in the service
fainted, and others stopped their ears and closed
their eyes, lest they, too, should become unnerved,
and be subject to the reproach and ridicule of their
comrades.
The following officers belonging to the cavalry
and infantry depots at Canterbury are ordered to
embark with the reinforcements to India --Major
T. Nisbet and Capt. J. E. Edlmann, Ist (The
King's) Dragoon Guards ; Capt. Horne 2d (The
Queen's) Dragoon Guards ; Capt. R. Hale, 7th
Hussars ; Capt. S. L. D. Hammond, 90th Light
Infantry; Lieut. G. C. Ross, Bth Hussars ; Lieut.
Billing, I7th Lancers ; Cornet G. Batley and Cor-
net W. M. Weir, 2d Dragoon Guards ; Cornet E.
Brett, 3d (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards ;
Cornet E. Metcalfe, Cornet E. H. Kennard, and
Cornet H. H. Wombwell. 7th Hussars ;;Cornet J.
J. Fraser, 17th Lancers ; Ensign C. Roger, 70th
Regiment ; Ensign D. P. Murray and Ensign F.
Russell, 90th Light Infantry. The detachments
that proceed to India from Canterbury are 62 men
of the Ist Dragoon Guards, 65 men of the 2d Dra-
goon Guards, 13 men of the 3d Dragoon Guards,
49 men of the 7th (Princess Royal's) Dragoon
Guards, 91 men of the 7th Hussars, 19 men of the
Bth Hussars, 70 men of the 17th Lancers, 28 men of
the 70th Regiment, 173 men of the 90th Light In-
fantry, and 71 men of the 98th Regiment.
The left wing and the remaining companies of
the 86th (Royal County Down) Regiment arrived
at Gravesend yesterday from India in the Northum-
berland, belonging to Messrs. Green and Co., the
other portion of the regiment having arrived at
Gravesend about a fortnight since in the Ghengis
Khan and Kennington. The left wing embarked
at Bombay on the 2d of May last, under the com-
mand of Capt. M. Lepper and four subalterns, the
total strength being 201 non-commissioned officers
and men. During the passage, which occupied 120
days, 8 deaths occurred on board. Many of the
troops have been with the regiment the whole time
the 86th has been in India, upwards of 17 years.
The companies disembarked at Gravesend yester-
day, 193 strong, and proceeded by special train to
Gosport to join head-quarters.
The head-quarters of the 84th (York and Lan-
caster) Regiment, consisting of the grenadier, light
infantry, and four companies, with the band and
colours, which arrived at Gravesend on Thursday
in the Tudor, from Calcutta, disembarked at Til-
bury Fort yesterday morning, under the command
of Capt. W. C. E. Snow, and proceeded by the Til-
bury Railway direct to Sheffield. The depot com-
panies of the regiment still remain at Chatham, but
the route for the depot to proceed to join head-
quarters is daily expected at that garrison.
The 27th (Capt. A. W. Durnford's) company of
Royal Engineers, having completed their portion of
the building at Woolwich for the manufacture of
Sir W. Armstrong's cannons, have received orders
to join head-quarters at Brompton-barracks, Chat-
ham, to prepare for embarkation for the Mauritius.
The company is expected to arrive at Chatham to-
day.

The proceedings and sentence of a district court-
martial which assembled at Chatham garrison a
few days since for the trial of a sapper of the Royal
Engineers on a charge of desertion and fraudulent
re-enlistment having been approved by the Major-
General, the same was read to the Royal and East
India Engineers at a full parade at Brompton-bar-
racks. The prisoner, John Farrar, who has only
been a few months in the service, deserted from
head-quarters six months ago, and immediately
afterwards enlisted into the 80th at Buttevant, by
which he defrauded the Government of the sum of
£5 13s. bounty. He was, however, after wards ap-
prehended as a deserter, and sent to head-quarters.
The court found him " guilty," and sentenced him
to be marked on the body with the letter " D," to
be imprisoned in Fort Clarence for 112 days, and
to be placed under stoppages until the whole
amount which he fraudulently obt lined from the
Government is made good.
A battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, consist-
ing of 125 men, 105 horses and four guns, two 18-
pounders, and two 9-pounders, under the command
of Major Davies, Capt. Saunders, Lieut. Maunsell,
Lieut. Isaacson, and Lieut. Elwin, arrived in Exe-
ter on Thursday on their way to Devonport. They
have been stationed at Aldershott, and will perform
garrison duty at Devonport.
The Himalaya, screw troopship, Corn. Seccombe,
embarked yesterday at Gravesend the following
officers and
.troops :—Capt. Close, R.A., wife, two
children, and female servant ; Quartermaster
Morris, R.A., wife and child ; 3 staff sergeants, 1
sergeant, 1 armourer sergeant, 1 bombardier, and 5
gunners of the Royal Artillery ; 6 women and 16
children ; and one man discharged from the 100th
Regiment, for conveyance to Quebec. The Hima-
laya will leave for her destination (Halifax) this
morning. From Halifax she proceeds to Queb( c
and Bermuda, returning from the latter port with
the 26th Regiment on board to Spithead.

TILE VICTORIA CROSS.

(From the Gazette of last evening)

The Queen has been graciously pleased to signify her
intention to confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross on
the undermentioned officer and private of her Majesty's
army, whose claims to the same have been submitted for
hor Majesty's approval, on account of acts of bravery per-
formed by them in India, as recorded against their names,
viz :

Lieutenant (now Captain) Andrew Cathcart Bogle, 78th
Regiment (now of the 2d Battalion 13th Regiment)—For
conspicuous gallantry on the 29th July, 1857, in the attack
at Oonao, in leading the way into a loopholed hour;;,
strongly occupied by the enemy, from which a heavy fire
harassed the advance of his regiment. Captain Bogle was
severely wounded in this important service.
Private Henry Addison, 43d Regiment—For gallant con-
duct on the 2d of January, 1859, near Kurrereah, in defend-
ing against a large force, and saving the life of Lieut.
Osborn, Political Agent, who had fallen en the ground
wounded. Private Addison received two dangerous wounds,
and lost a leg, in this gallant service.

SHOCKING DEATHS.—Yesterday morning about
seven o'clock considerable alarm was caused in the neigh-
bourhood of Hammersmith by the discovery of the bodies
of two fine young women upon the top of a brick-kiln, in a
field belonging to Messrs. Williams, the brickmakers, at
Shepherd's Bush. It appears that the deceased have been
seen by the police and others wandering about the neigh-
bourhood of Shepherd's Bush for some time past, and sleep-
ing in the fields at night. When asked who they were one
represented that her name was Holmes, the daughter of a
pensioned police-sergeant of the B division, and the other
stated that her name was Thompson, and that she had come
from Twickenham. They both represented that they had
run away from their parents, and had been confined in re-
formatories, which they had also left. Holmes had been
seen about for the last six weeks, and the other about nine
days. It is supposed that they crept upon the kiln for
warmth, the night being cold, and while asleep were suffo-
cated with the fumes from the burning bricks. Their bodies
presented a most shocking appearance, and they were re-
moved without delay to the dead •house of the Fulham
Union.
THE HOPS IN MAIDSTONE. —The weather of late
has been most propitious for the final growth of the hops.
The gardens were scarcely ever in better order, and the ex-
traordinary progrt ss made during the last week or ten days
has induced a rise in the amount of duty betted on which
will probably lead to much disappointment and surprise at
the settling day. Although the hops in many and, in fact,
in most places look nearly as promising as they did in 1855,
—the year of the highest duty—it seems to be forgotten
that the acreage in that year was written as 57,757, whereas
the estimated acreage of the present year is only 44,000, so
that, even the produce per acre being the same as in 1855,
the total must fall far short. The picking has already com-
menced, the Messrs. Stonham, of Arple Farm, having
opened the ball on 'Wednesday. Next week the picking
will be general. The " College" gardens perhaps never
looked better ; and the remark applies alike to the 01l
ground on the top of the hill, and to that which was brought
into hop culture only a few years ago, looking westerly
over the village of Toville. Yesterday the trains brought
down 200 or 300 of the Irish pickers; to-day there have
arrived as many thousands.