The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-22 00:00:00

Naval and Military intellifgence.

The authorities at the Horse Guardi have deter-
mined t4hat no women or cOildren are to accompany
the rogiments now under orders to leave this coun-
try for India.
Yesterday there was another field-day at Worm-
wood Scrubs. The review took place at 10 o'clock,
the troops consisting of the Ist and 2d Regiments
of Life Guards and. the 11th Hussars. The usual
guard at the Horsa Guards was reduced in order to
take part in the review. Mai.r.General the Eail
of Cardigan, the Inspector-G:nfral of Cavalry,
commanded. Many military officers of rank were
present en the occasion. Men and horses had a

severe day.
Captains Driver, Ward, Jackson, and Kinsman
are the four selected from the Portsmouth Division
of Royal Marine Light Infantry to command com-
panies of the Royal Marine Battalion about to be
sent to China under the command of Col. Thomas
Hall-way, of the Royal Marine Artillery, Aide-de-
Camp to her Majesty.
The Seringpatam freight ship sailed from Ports-
mouth yestercky forenoon with 1 field officer, 1 cap-
tain, 13 subalterns, 1 staff, 11. sergeants, 2 drum-
mers, 8 corporals, 197 privates, 4 officers' servants,
24 women, and 24 children of the 7th Royal Fusi-
liers, for Kurrachee. The head-quarters of the 7th,
consisting of 10 officers, 17 sergeants, 7 drummers,
11 corporals, 228 rank and file, 29 women, and 13
children, were to sail also yesterday afte,n,on from
Spithead. for Kurrachee in the freight sh'p Owen
Glendower. As the shit s went out to Spithead
about half-past 8 yesterday morning their band
played "Auld Lingsyne," and the troops were en-
thus;astically cheered on their progress by large as-
semblages of the inhabitants, whose warm gratula-
tions were vociferously returned by those ou board.
These ships had not left Spithead at the despatch
of this report, at 6 p.m. yesterday, and as it was
blowing hard and freshening, it was very doubtful
whether they would weigh.
The officers and men of the 3d battalion of the
Rifle Brigade, enumerated in The sun of yester-
day, arrived at Portsmouth, yesterday forenoon
from the Camp at Al4lersholt, and Embarked on
board the Sutlej freight ship, which will be towed
to Spithead this morning, and sail this evening for
India. They are armed with the new pattern rifle.
Companies No. 6 and 7 of the 14th Battalion a
Royal Artillery left Southsea Castle and Block-
house Fort, Portsmouth, yesterday morning, and
procezded to Woolwich. They comp ised. 6 officers,
23 non commissioned officer?, 220 gunners and
drivers, 2 trumpeters, 20 women, and 21 children.
The officers are Major Smith, Capt. Bradshaw,
Lieutenants Edwardes, Cromartin, Readhead, and
Morgan.
On Saturday afternoon three Sardinian medals
were presented to the sth Dragoon Guards at Pe;rs-
hill Barracks: The Hon. Col. Dalzell presented
the medals in the absence of Viscount Melville, the
recipients being Lieutenant-Colonel lIPM:hon,
Assistant-Surgeon Cattell, and Lance-Sergeant
James Gamble. On Monday the SardMian medals
were presented to the 34th Regiment at Edinburgh
Castle on the Esplanade—the recipients being
Lieutenant-Colonel Simpson, Brevet-MajorJordan,
Lieut. Pee), Lieutenant Boyce, Colour-Sergeant J.
Pratt, and Sergeant D. Coughlan. The regiment
is under orders for India.

His Netherlands Majesty's instruction bac! the
Zeehond, Commander M. C. Von Vreeland, 12
guns, arrived at Spithead from Helveetqluys, last
from a cruise in the channel, on Monday forenoon,
and saluted the national and Port-Admiral's flags,
which compliments were duly acknowledged by
the garrison battery and the Victory.
Captain Rundle B. Watson, C. 8., who has been
appointed to the command of the screw 50-gun
frigate Chesapeake, at Chatham, vice Buckle re-
signed, will hoist a b'ue broad pendant as a com-
modore of the second class, and command the
squadron to be sent off the Indian coast.
The Hotipur Indiaman, Captain Toynbee, af• er
embarking passengers at Spithead, sailed yesterday
for Calcutta.

The screw gunvessels Roebuck, Assurance, and
Sparrowhawk, just commissioned at Portsmouth
for foreign service by Commander Marten, Bruce,
and Byng, are getting on well with their outfit.
The Roebuck will have 110, and the others 90 men
each.

Yesterday the third division of troops, numbering
upwards of 800 men, proceeding to India for the
purpose of reinforcing the regiments serving in
Bengal, Bombay, and Madras, left Chatham and
embarked at Gravesend.
The Lords of the Admiraly made an official visit
to Sheerness yard yesterday. They arrived at 11.55
a.m., under a salute from the flag-ship Waterloo.
Their lordships made a minute inspection of the
naval as well as the civil departments.
The Renown, 91 guns, new screw steamship, has
been taken into No. 3 dry dock at Sheerness to
complete her fitments.
Her Majesty's Paddlewheel steam sloop Gorgon,
6, Commander George W. Towsey, arrived at
Woolwich yesterday morning from the Mediterra-
nean, having on board a cargo of antiquities des-
tined for the British Museum.
Major Smith's and Captain Palmer's 6th and 7th
companies of the 14th battalion, Royal Artillery,
under orders for India, arrived at head quarter,,
Woolwich, yesterday. The board of medical of.

cers have commenced the dutiE.'s of attesting the
compani-s ordercd for foreign service. One ser-
geant and 14 gunners of the Royal Art l'ery are
ordered to proceed to China, to be attached t,) each
of the companies recently despatched thither. The
brigade of Royal Horse Artillery, under the com-
mand of Colonel Wood, at Woolwich,. have com-
menced a series of rocket practice and gun drill
preparatory to active service.

The following, appo'ntments were made yater-
day at the Admin.lty :
St. Vincent D. Lake, mate to the Sparrowhawk ;
the Rev. T. C. E. Wareap, chiplain and naval in-
s ructor to the Pelorus ; the Rev. Arthur Bro,Nne,
chaplain and naval instructor to the Pyla'les ; J.
P. Dillon, master to the Imaum ; James Worsley,
second master to the Chesapeake.

THE BENGAL ARMY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir, —I know not whether I am trespassing too
heavily upon your indulgence under the circum-
stances, when I solicit the favour of your giving
publicity to the accomranying correspondence.
The farewell ad-tress to the armies of India, re-
ferred to by me in the course of it is printed in
Allen's Indian, Mail, No. 287, of March 4, 1856.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your 1110 A obedient Servant,
WILLIAM GOMM, General.
10, New-Street, Spring-gardens, July 20.
"10, New-street, Spring-gardens, July 15.
"My dear Lord Melville,—You may, perhaps, think
me super-sensitive—and others may think so, too—in
what I am going to say. I will, notwithstanding, run
the risk of incurring this reproach, with a view to re-
lievin7 my-elf from a much greater ore.
"The Times of the 1411 reports you as stating to the
House of Lords, in the debate of the previous evening
that 'you considered the discipline of the Bengal native
army while passing under yrur own observat • , as being
of the worst possible description, and in that light it
had been looked upon by the late Geneial Anson, who
had in consequence ever since he assumed the command
of the army in India deemed.it to be his duty to repre-
sent to the Board of Directors the absolute necessity of
increasing the European force in India,' &u.
"In your zeal to manifest pair preference for the
tr sops of Bombay you may not have been aware of the
reflection you were thus casting upon those who had
the chief supervision of the Bengal force you were ar-
raigning in such unqualified terms (I am assuming the
report to be correctly given), the obvious, and, I should
think, inevitable inference to be deduced from your state-
ment being, either that the superintendence uas eul=
pably slack, or that these authorities neglected the duty
or apprising the Governme.i,t of their inability to check
the spirit of insubordiaation which they saw growing
apace.

" But .1 can in no wise submit to have either charge
fastened upon me. The Bengal army was, I maintain,
in a perfectly 13,altby state of discip;ine when I sur-
randered the command, immediateiy preceding the
peaceful occupation awl annexation of Oade.
"A considerable portion of that army had, indeed,
very recently given substantial proof of its good spirit
in the suppression, without the assistance of a cor-
poral's guard of British troops, or any other aux;li-
aries, of the Santa' Insurrection, both native men and
officers, commissioned and non-commissioned, bearing
unu,uel hardships and privations with admirable tem-
per and loyalty, and so I felt it my duty to record
of them in my farewell address to the army at large
of January 3, 1856.
"To what cau-e, to what fatality, this strange out-
break is owing—by what misunderstanding these mise-
rable men have been led in o such a course of wild
tscess—l do not pretend to divine.

"Neither will I diFotiss the question of advancement
to the grade of native officers iu the three presulencie3
—the merits or demerits of this or that wy tem.

" Meantime I am c ,ntent to side in opinion on this
matter With Ike Duke of Wellington, and with Lords
flardinge ow -Moue), and Sir Charles Napier (see their
evidence before the Lords' committee of 1852-3), and
it would appear with Lord Ellenborough, since lord
ship records such proofs of surpassing merit falling
under his own ob•ervation among the native officers of
the several distingu'shed Bengal corps iae brings to the
notice of the House.

"But, while acting upon this Bengal system, you
are much deceived if you think that seniority and weight
of years alone carried the day under my superintend•
ence. Numbers were successively passed over by me,
and I presume by my predecessors in the command,
who bad no other merit to entitle them to advancement,
while I confess that what is called smartness and off-
handedness' had not alone the weight with me, or, I may
add, with Sir Charles Napier, which it appears to have
commanded elsewhere."

"I cannot in reason expect that you will subscribe to
my view of the condition of the 13zingal army at the
period of my ri languishing the command of it af.er
the statements which you have thought proper to make
in Parliament respecting it ; and yet it is necessary fbr
my•own vindication (while I aria writing the report of
what pmsed last night in the House Gf Commons—the
natural reeult of your statement of the preceding day—
come before mom) that the putlic should understand why
I made no report t,) Government unfavourable to the
force in que4tion before quitting its command.

"You will hardly be surprise-d,-therefore, to hear me
telling you that I may find it nkessary to seek to ob-
tain publicily for this letter in the same columns through
which the implied accusation bas gone alor ied.
"Believe me to be always, illy dear Lord Melville,
th fa I ly yourg,

"W. GOMM.
"Major-General Viscount Melville, K.C.8."

"7, Portugal street, July 16.

"My dear Sir Wiliam.—l am very sorry you should
feel that any observations of mine in relation
to the lainentable occurrences in Bengal should
in any way cast reflection upon you, as having been
recently in command of the Bengal arwy, and
which I had not the slightest intention
of doing. Neither did I say that Gen. Anson concurred
in the view I took of the bad state of discipline of that
army. Ail I did say in reference to Anson was the pre
vilmt report, that ever since he had been in command
he had represented the necessity of an increase to the
European force, and of which no notice had been taken.
I said nothing about his view of the discipline of the
army, because I knew nothing of his opinions. Of
Lord Hardinge and Slr Charles Napier I had more
knowledge, and the unfavourable opinion which the
latter entertained is recorded in the history of his life.
Eotertaining the worst opinion privately, Lord liar
dioge never would express it publicly, trying thereby to
bolster up a bad f,37 •tern, on the ground of the impolicy
of making pui..Fc the slight thread by which we held
our tenure of that empire.

" I do not pretend to interfere with any view you may
entertain, no pereoa being better able to come to a ju,t
conclusion than yourielf. I formed my own from what I
saw and what came directly under my own knowledge.
Without co-operation from the Curt of Directors and
their cordial support I do not believe
.it was in your
power or the'Governer-General's combined to reform the
bad system which prevails in the Bengal army in every
detail.

" Sir Charles Napier's expression in 1349, when seve-
ral regiments mutind, two of the number being those
at Rawul Pindee under Sir Colin Campbell, and which
in some degree concerned me, that we were sitting on a
mice which nobody could tell when it might explode,
has only come ton true.
" Sir Eiward Paget's opinion, given 30 years ago, has
only proved hoN true an estimate he formed of the
morale of the Bengal native infantry. It would require
too much detail to ent ,r into all the circumstances which
have conduced to the formatisn of the opinion I enter-
tain of the system fi Rowed and the discipline maintained
in the Bengal native army, and even the Company's
European force in that Presidency.
" That opinion was formed before you came to India,
and you may believe ins that I am not singular in that
opinion ; but at the same time entirely repudiate all in-
tention, and most distinctly all inclination, to cast any
reflection on you while administering a system bad in
itself, and which you could only struggle by every means
in your power to strengthen and uphold.
" BAieve me yours very sincerely,
" MELVILLE,
" General Sir Walken Gomm, K.C.8."

"10, New-street, Spring-gardens, July 17.
"My dear Lord Melville,—l am thankful to you for
your explanations in r:ply to my letter LI the 15th.
" Still I cannot consider inyseif relieved by the excuses
which you furnish me (rem tee imputation of complicity,
at least, in a course of proceeding big} reprehensiblr
to my mind, in one belling tho chief Indian command
through no inconsiderable term, if really indulged in,
and my cemscience repudiates it.
" I really believed the Bengal native army deserving
of the encomiums with which I took leave of it in my
parting addle ss of January, 3, 1856 ; and the disastrous
occurrences of the present hour in no wise lead me to
the concleeion that I was then self-deceived, while posi-
tively no sharer in the policy of deceiving others.
" The facts upon which you ground your sweeping
condemnation of the Bengal system are, indeed, wholly
indefensible as individual traits. As a counterpoise,
hear Lord Hardinge vouching in his examination before
the Lords' Committee of 1852-3 for the enduring con-
stancy manifested by the Bengal army in the mass, when
confronted with the Sikhs at the same period, under
severer temptation to revolt than the force of either of
the other Presidencies was ever exposed to ; and whe-
ther attributable to the much-abused influence of caste,
pension in prospect, or whatever other motive proper
to Bengal, there stands the fact, lastingly to the credit
of its native army, and requiring no deduction in the
report on the score of p licy to trim it for favourable
acceptance with the world.
" For all these reasons I am taking leave to place our
correspondence before the public as it stands; it commits
you in no way, beyond your already recorded opinions,
while it may have the effect of relieving me from a cer-
tain share of blame to which I do not consider myself
amenable, with some minds. —I am always, my dear
Lord Melville, faithfully yours,
" W. GOMM,
"Major-General Viscount Melville, K.C.8."

ALLEGED NUISANCE FROM BLEACHING IN THE, CITY.
—The report of Dr. Letbeby, Medical Officer of Health
of the C►ty of London, read yesterday at the Court of
City Sewers, complain of a great nuisance caused by the
combustion of sulphur in the warehouse of Messrs. Tom-
lin and Bendel!, in Crown-court, Philpot-lane, caused by
bleaching ginger ; it recommends that orders be given
to abate the nuisance.