The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-24 00:00:00

Naval and Military intelligenc

We hear that Major-General John Spink is very
likely to have the Colonelcy of the 55th Regiment,
vacant by the death of Major-General Anson.
The Duke of Cambridge and a large number of
military officers were present at the review of the
Ist and 2d Life Guards yesterday at Wormwool-
scrubs, under the command of Major-General the
Earl of Cardigan. Both men and horses were
much fatigued after the review.

The Duke of Cambridge inspected four battalions
of the Foot Guards in Hyde Park this morning.
The parade formed at half-past eight o'clock.
Each man had 15 rounds of ammunition. The
troops at the Tower did duty 'at the west-end, so
that the Guards at St. George's, Wellington, and
Portman barracks were enabled to attend the in-
spection.

Yt sterday orders were received at Chatham for
the following reinforcements to em hark at Graves-
end to-morrow on board the Etat India Company's
troop-ship
com-
mand of Brevet-Major W. C. Mollan, 75th Regi-
ment—viz, 150 non-commissioned officers and
men of the 32d Regiment, and 92 men of the 75th
Regiment. Orders were also received for the rein-
forcements of the 10th and 84th Regiments, num-
bering 151 non-commissioned officers and privates,
to embark on board the Indianian Agamemnon. on
the 31st instant. The whole of the reinforcements
are fully
equipped and armed with the Enfield
rifle, so as to be able to take the field immediately
on landing in India.
The Frolic, 16, Commander L. W. Peyton
(acting), from the Cape of Good Hope, arrived at
Chatham on Wednesday evening, having been in
commission three years.
The whole of the Royal Artillery force under
orders for India were yesterday inspected at Wool-
wich by Colonel Bloomfield, commanding the garri-
son, and staff. Orders have been given. to organize
other troops and companies, to supply the place of
the abovenamed, by promotion and recruits.
Commodore Shepherl, Superintendent of Wool-
wich Dockyard, yesterday inspected the steam-
sloop Gorgon, returned from Asia Minor. The
ship is to be paid off "all standing," and will most
probably be taken up in the service of transporting
troops or stores from India.

Mr. Partridge, Inspecting Engineer of the Fac•
tory Department at Woolwich Dockyard, has been
furnished with renewed instructions to proceed to
LiverpGol, Glasgow, and other shipbuilding ports
to assist the East India Company's agents in pur-
chasing and chartering vessels for the service of the
Company, and to hold himself at their disposal,
under the orders of the Admiralty, for the purpose
of expediting the transport equipment for India.
A court-martial assembled yesterday on board the
flagship Waterloo, at Sheerness, to try Mr. E. F.
Craven, acting-mate, doing lieutenant's duty on
board the Cossack, on the charge of intoxication.
The Court gave its opinion that the charge had
been fully proved, and adjudged the prisoner to be
severely reprimanded and to serve afloat as acting-
mate for two years, and if he should pass during
that period he should be ineligible for promotion
during such period of two years from the date of
this sentence.

A letter dated Hong Kong, May 23, gives the
following particulars relative to some of the gun-
boats sent out from England to join the squadron
in the China Seas :—" The Plover gunboat arrived
in the Roads this day ; her dates are—arrived at
Teneriffe on
.the 24th Oct., left there on the 28th ;
arrived at Rio de Janeiro 6th Dec., left there on
tho 13th Dec. ; arrived at Simon's Bay, Cape,
Jan. 17, 1857, left Feb. 22 ; made Anger Point,
Island of Java, April 16, left April 18 ; arrived at
Singapore April 23, left there April 26. The High-
flyer had four to five gunboats in company with her.
The Cruiser lost two of her chicken (gunboats), as
they are called, the Haughty and Forester, after
leaving the Cape ; she then returned to the Cape
andt
a
r with the Plover. The Star-
linggunboat has already been engaged with
junks and p company
iratical junks. The English
hthe war
w joineda
mail arrived to-day, and haves for England on
Monday afternoon next. All the gunboats are fit-
ting for Canton jiver, where they are to proceed
on Tuesday next. The Plover has been delayed,
and the 8-inch guu
not having a gun-slide for her 8-inch gun, which is
being made here. The 32-pounder guns are put
right
I to lt
theet gunboats,
between the main and the mizen-
be forwardpplaced
e din b
mast. The Starling and Bastard are already in
• the river, and the Staunch sailed to-day. They

In giving the appoinTmt-7nt of Captain Buckle,
to the command of the Chesapeake, 51, new screw
frigate, we alluded to her celebrated name, and re-
marked that she was inferior in modern classiGca-
Lion of screw frigates as she was in battle to the still
more distinguished ShannOn. Captiin Watson,
C. 8., has since superseded C.tp'ain Buckle, and
will doubtless fit out the Chesapeake awl proceed
with her on foreign service—to China, it is said
—where both ship and captain will most likely take
the place of the lost Raleigh, 5), and her gallant
commander, Captain the Hon. H. Keppel, C. 8.,
who, by the time the final order reaches him for
entirely abandoning the Raleigh, will most pro-
bably have attained his flag rank. If Captain
Buckle's was a good appointment, that of Captain
Watson id:quite as g ed. Tie latt i ga'lant officer
, won his promotion and honours in China. He has
seivel since in two commissions, and during the
latter part of his command of the 51.-gun screw
frigate Imperieuse, as senior officer of the advanced
squadron in the Baltic. The appointment; there-
fore, by the First Lord of the Admiralty of Capt.
Watson to proceed to China, to become second in
command to Sir M. Seymour, is admitted to 133 a
most judicious selection, and one that promises in
every respect to be advantageous to the service and
conducive to the honour and glory of the country,
if opportunity should be afforded for acquiring it.
The selection, too, of the Chesapeake to replace
the Raleigh will be an advantage to the China
squadron, for one such ship as the former is worth
three of the latter for that station ; in fact, we may
regard the machinery of a man of war in the China
seas as an auxiliary means of self-preservation,
although a screw man of war, the Reycard, Com-
mander Cracroft (now captain), was lost on the
Pratas shoal.

The Chesapeake is 2,355 tons and 400-horse
power ; but the Shannon is 2,655 tons and
600-horse power. They carry the same number of
guns-51 ; but on the main deck the Shannon has
30 guns, 8-inch, 65 cwt., 9 feet long, throughout ;
whereas the Chesapeake has only 8 guns of that
calibre and 22 guns, 32-pounders, 58 cwt. or 56
cwt., 9 ft. 6 in. long, to make up her main-deck
armament. On the upper deck the Shannon has
20 guns, 32-pounders, 56 cwt., 9 ft. 6 in. long, and
a 68-pounder pivot, 95 cwt., and 10 ft. -long. The
Chesapeake carries on her upper deck a pivot-gun
like the Shannon ; and two guns, 8-inch, 65 cwt.,
9 ft. long ; and 18 guns, 32-pounders, 45 cwt. 8 ft.
6 in. long. The complement of the Shannon is
560 ; that of the Chesapeake 530.