The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-16 00:00:00

THE ARMY,

It was the intention of his Royal Highness the
General Commanding-in-Chief to inspect the bri-
gade of Foot Guards, quartered in the metropolis,
early on Saturday morning, but the order was coun-
termanded at the last moment, the Duke having
gone to Windsor Castle at an early hour, on learn-
ing the dangerous state the Prince Consort was in.
The Ist battalion of the Grenadier Guards at the
Tower are under orders to proceed to Southampton
on Thursday morning to embark at that port for
Canada. The battalion will be of its full complement
of 100 rank and file. The 2d battalion of the Scots
Fusileer Guards at Wellington barracks are under
similar orders, and will also embark at that port.
The greatest activity prevails in the military store
department at the Tower, the men being employed
almost continuously day and night in getting the
various stores required for service in Canada ready
for shipment.

Orders were on Saturday received at the Royal
Engineer Establishment, Chatham, from the Horae
Guards, directing the various non-commissioned
officers and men transferred from the several com-
panies to the 18th Company at Portsmouth to be
held in readiness to proceed on an early day this
week to Southampton, where they will join the
main body of the 18th Company and embark for
Canada. A number of non-commissioned officers,
all of them skilled in their various engineering
duties, who have been transferred to the 18th Com-
pany, have joined headquarters from the various
out stations, and will proceed from Brompton bar-
racks with the other detachments.

The entire force of the garrison at Chatham, under
the immediate command of Major-Gen. Eyre, was
engaged in some important military operations on
Saturday, the object of which was to accustom the
officers and men of the several battalions to active
operations in the field by an extended reconnais-
sance of the country surrounding the garrison.
For this purpose advantage was taken of the fine
weather on Saturday to assemble the whole of the
available troops, including the Royal Artillery,
the Royal Engineers, the three battalions of infan-
try of the line, and the battalion of Royal Marine
Light Infantry, to take part in the proposed man-
oeuvres. Each battalion assembled in front of its
respective quarters at an early hour, and, after 10
rounds of blank bad been served out to each man,
the final orders for the day were issued, and the
several divisions marched off by different routes to
take up the position assigned to each. The plan of
the operations supposed the enemy to be assembled
in force in or near the town of Maidstone, with the
intention of marching on Chatham, the troops of
which garrison had been ordered out to intercept
his movements and hold him in check until a larger
force had been organised in rear. The troops ac-
cordingly occupied the range of hills extending
from Blue Bell-hill, Aylesford, to Bosley, near
Maidstone, the line extending somewhere about four
miles a position well chosen for strategical purposes,
the left resting on a wood, and the right near an
extensive valley. The various positions were gained
by each division marching by different routes until
the rallying points were reached and the line of ob-
servation formed. Communication with each was
kept up by a chain of pickets, patrols, and videttes.
A sufficient force was kept in reserve along the line
of road, and sufficiently retired from the crest of the
range of hills to be hidden from the view of those
in the valley. The Royal Artillery acted as cavalry,
the troops on each flank throwing forward patrols
to the various cross-roads and keeping up communi-
cations with the videttes. In anticipation of the
enemy retiring from Maidstone and destroying
Aylesford-bridge the Royal Engineers were in-
structed to be in readiness to construct a pontoon
bridge to enable the brigade to cross the Medway to
harass his rear until a superior force had arrived
from Chatham to attack his flank near the river.
The several corps having been detailed in position,
Major-Gen. Eyre and his staff visited the varioas
points in order to ascertain if each of the command-
ing officers was acquainted with the duty devolving
upon him. This accomplished, and the whole of the
previously arranged details carried out, the order
was given for the force to return to the garrison.
They arrived there shortly before 3 o'clock, after an
absence of nearly six hours.
The Colonelcy of the 49th Foot has bacome va-
cant by the demise of Gen. Sir E. Bowater, K.C.8.,
intelligence of whose death was received at Buck-
ingham Palace yesterday morning by telegraph.
Sir Edward died at Cannes at 6 o'clock on Saturday
evening. The gallant officer as Groom in Waiting
to the Queen was selected by her Majesty to take
charge of his Royal Highness Prince Leopold dur-
ing the Prince's sojourn in the south of France.
He had been declining in health ever since his ar-
rival at Cannes. The late General, who was in his
74th year, was the only son of the late Admiral E.
Bowater, of Hampton Court. He entered the 3d
Foot Guards in 1804, and saw much active service
with that gallant regiment during the war. He
was wounded both at Talavera and Waterloo. He
was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Ha-
noverian Guelphic Order in 1837, by the late King
William IV., and had received the silver war medal
and five clasps for Talavera, Salamanca, Vittoria,
Nivelle, and Nive. Shortly after the late Prince
Consort's arrival in this country in 1840 the de-
ceased General was appointed a Groom in Waiting
in ordinary to her Majesty, and in the same year
Colonel of the 49th (the Princess Charlotte's of
Wales, or Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot.

ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL, PADDINGTON.—A public
meeting was held on Wednesday, in the vestry-hall, Har-
row-road, to consider the financial condition of the hospital.
The Bishop of London took the chair. It was stated by the
several speakers that a debt of ,C 3,000 was due for current
expenses, but that this did not arise so much from the ex-
penditure exceeding the income as from the fact that a debt
of that amount had existed from the opening of the hospi-
tal. Resolutions were moved by Canon Boyd, Messrs.
Wade, H. Paull, M.P., R. Martineau, B. Shaw, and Sir
R. Carden, expressing regret at the present depressed con-
dition of the finances, and pledging the meeting to make
a vigorous effort to pay off the present debt. Mr. Capel and
Mr. Banting each handed to the treasurer checks for £lOO,
and several other donations were promised.
Tho proclamation prohibiting the export or
transport coastwise of arms, ammunition, lead, and other
military stores, was read at the Market Cross, Edinburgh,
at noon on Thursday, with the usual formalities.
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