The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-04 00:00:00

TIE SUN,

H. R. B the Duke of Cambridge, as the General
Commanding-in-Chief, held a levee at the Horse
Guards yesterday, when rather a numerous circle
of officers waited on his Royal Highness.

It is understood the distributio❑ of the Victoria
Cross (the Order of Valour) will take place early in
the ensuing month. The precise day has not been
decided on. Her Majesty will personally award
the decoration to those gallant men entitled to the
honour, and the ceremony will take place on the
parade in front of the Horse Guards, as was the
case when the Crimean medals were distributed.

The steam frigate Cyclops, 6, from the eastward,
arrived at Plymouth on Monday, and sailed the
same day with apparatus for taking soundings in
the Atlantic..
The steam vessel Alban, 4, Commander de Bla-
quiere, and the Sprightly and the Pigmy, from
Portsmouth, with a portion of the 93d Highlanders,
arrived at Plymouth on Tuesday morning, and
transferred them to the Belleisle, for service in
China.

The screw Steam ship Exmouth, 90, Captain H.
Eyres, and the screw steam sloop Brisk, 16, Com-
mander Curtis, from Portsmouth, arrived at Ply-
mouth on Tuesday afternoon.
There is much despatch at the Devonport dock-
yard in order to prepare the screw steam ship St.
Jean d'Acre, Captain King, upon which the arti-
sans were employed on Sunday. All the magazines
are cleared, and it is intended to place 1,200 miles
of the electric cable in her hold. She is to be got
ready, if possible, by the next spring tide.
The screw steam sloop Cordelia, 11, Commander
Vernon, has been for several days in Plymouth
Sound. She made a successful trial of her engines,
and it is expected that her destination will be the
Red Sea, where she will be employed, in conjunc-
t tion with the Imaum of Muscat, to protect British
shipping engaged in the guano trade at the Kooria
. Moons Islands. Capt. Ord, superintendent for the
proprietors, was at Plymouth on Monday. He will
proceed overland, so as to reach the Islands by the
Ist Sept., which will be sufficiently early in the sea-
son for the commencement of operations. Captain
Ord will be provided with a steam-vessel. The toll,
it is understood, will be 1/. per ton to the proprie-
tors, and 2s. 6d. per ton to the Government.
Strong hopes are entertained that the Arabs will
be induced to help to load the ships.
The Colossus, 80 guns, screw steam-ship, Captain
Thomas S. Thompson, arrived at the Great Nore
at 8 p.m., on Tuesday.
The Malacca, 17 guns, steam-sloop, Captain
Arthur Farquhar, arrived at the Little Nore at 9
p.m., on Tuesday, The Colossus and Malacca are
to be dismantled and paid off at Sheerness.
The Eurydice, '26 guns, Captain John W. Tarle-
ton, C. B. Liz;c. and the Mariner, 12 guns, sloop,
Commander Wray R. G. Palliser, are ordered to
proceed to Chatham to be dismantled and paid off.
The floating battery Terror, 16 guns, has been
taken into No. 3 dry dock at Sheerness for the
purpose of a survey being held on her. She is being
rigged with all possible despatch.
By a letter received from Carthagena, dated the
11th of May last, it appears that the Orion, 91
guns, screw steam-slfp, Captain John E. Erskine,
was that day to sail, and convey the Admiral of
the West India and North American station to
Navy Bay. The Admiral was to proceed to Panama,
where he was expected to remain a few dsys, after
which the Orion was to convey him to Greytown,
from thence the Orion will convey him to Bermuda,
where he is to join his flagship, the Indus, 78 guns,
Captain John C. Dalrymple Hay, which hip leaves
Carthagena on the same day as the Orion, andpro-
ceeds direct for Bermuda. The West India squad-
ron is broken up, and the following vessels (says
the letter) are to be sent home :—" The Cossack,
20 guns, screw steam-corvette, Captain James H.
Cockburn, sailed for England yesterday, to be paid
off ; the Victor, 6 guns, screw steam gun-vessel,
Commander Algernon, F. R. De Horsey, leaves to-
day ; the Tartar, 20 guns, screw steam-corvette,
Capt. Hugh Dunlop, has proceeded to New York,
but she ie under orders to return again In a certain
number of days to Bermuda. All the vessels are ex-
pected to return home about the latter end of July
next, or the beginning of August. The Orion, it
•is expected, will return home shortly after the re-
turn of the Tartar from New York."
The fleet of 40 iron barges ordered by the Board
of Trade for the service of the Turkish Government
which are under construction by Messrs. West-
wood, Baillie, and Campbell, at Millwall, Isle of
Dogs, are rapidly progressing towards completion.
They are intended for dredging the Danube, in order
to carry out the terms of the treaty entered intofor
the free navigation of that river. They are termed
hopper barges, from their peculiar constractioo,and
are well adapted for the purpose, being fitted so as
discharge their contents by means of a trap con-
nected with the flooring. They are 30 feet long,
and carry 15 tons ; when light, they draw 15 inches
of water. One of the barges is ordered to be de-
spatched to Woolwich Dockyard to be tested in the
basin, to verify their efficiency prior to the fulfil.
ment of the builders' contract
Yesterday four 68-pounder guns, captured in the
late Russian war, were forwarded from Woolwich
Arsenal to York, 'Leeds, Sheffield, and Hudders-
field. A number of these trophies have been de-
spatched to the various provincial towns of the
kingdom, and also to the colonies, to be erected in
the parks or otherpublic places of resort.
Yesterday a number of hands employed in the mi-
litary store department of Woolwich Arsenal, who
were entitled from length of services to the superan-
nuation ftind, retired from the establishment. Most
of these men hadbeen nearly 50years in the service.
Yesterday the annual inspection of the Chatham
Division of Royal Marine Light Infantry to A( place
by Major-General Lord Rokeby, K. C. B. The whole
.of the officers and men of the battalion were formed
in the barrack-square at 10 o'clock, and on Major-
General Lord Rokeby, who was attended by Colonel
Lord A. Hay, Assistant Adjutant-General, and Col.
S. R. We-ley, Deputy Adjutant-General, arriving
he was received with a general salute, the band
playing " Rule, Britannia." After inspecting the
troops who were in heavy marehing order, the bat-
talion was formed into 10 companies, and, headed
by Col. E. A. Parker, the commandant, proceeded
to the Great Lines with colours flying. Lord Rokeby
having concluded the inspection of the barracks,
the barrack accounts, and the sergeants' mess,
visited Melville Hospital, over which he was con-
ducted by Mr. Drummond, Deputy Inspector of
Hospitals, and, having made an examination of
that building, proceeded with his staff and nearly
all the field officers of the garrison ,to the lines,
where the Marines went through a variety of evo-
lutions and light infantry manceuvres, each mart
having been supplied with 15 rounds of blank car-
tridge. On the conclusion of the evolutions Lord
Rokehy, addressing Col. Parker and the battalion,
expressed his entire satisfaction with the result of
his inspection, and p rid a compliment to the com-
mandant on the high state of discipline of the corps
of the Royal Marines under his command. Lord
Rokeby and suite then left the ground to visit the
batteries, where he inspected the Marine gunners
in the great gun drill under Capt. R. G. Connolly,
the manner in which that body of men worked the
guns eliciting unqualified approbation.
The Royal Horse Artillery, under the command
of Col. Wood, were yesterday morning drawn up
on Woolwich common in field-day order. Shortly
10 o'clock Col. Bloomfield, aide-de-camp to her
Majesty, Acting-Commandant of the garrison--;
Brigade-Major Shaw, and.the garrison staff, in un-
dress uniforms, accompanied by Count Von Bern-
storff, the Prttaia.n Ambassador, and Sir Culling
E. Eardley,. arrived on the ground and took up
their positron,' when the troops commenced a series
of field inanceuvres, and fired 15 rounds of ammu-
nition. At later, hour the whole of the Royal
Marine force, under the command of the respective
Colonels ,of Divisions. also assembled on Woolwich-
common, and went through a course of platoon and
other field drills.

The quarterly ball held by the officers of the
Royal Artillery garrison took place on Tuesday
evening in the mess-room of the establishment at
Woolwich. This evening (Thursday) a grand din-
ner Ens to be given by• the mess committee of
the establishment to Lieutenant-Colonel R. A.
Shafto Adair, Commandant of the Suffolk Artillery
Militia, and Mr. Bell, the sculptor. Major-Gen.
Sir W. F. Williams will preside at the entertain-
ment, the object of which is to inagurate a white
marble statue representing " Armed Science,"
presented by Col. Shafto Adair. The statue is
chiselled out of a solid block of Carrara warble.

It stands 6 feet 6 inches above the pedestal, and is
placed in a well-selected position, within a recess
at the northern extremity of the mess-room.
The following regiments are held in readiness at
short notice to proceed from Dublin for Cork for
embarkation, the former for Ceylon and the latter
for the Cape of Good Hope :—The 50th, consisting
of 36 officers, and 800 men, including non-conantis-
!toned officers, drummers, and rank and file, under
the command of Col. R. Waddy, C.B. The 95th,
consisting of 40 officers and 800 non-commissioned
officers, drummers, and rank and file, under the
command of Lieut.-Col. Hume, C.B. Of these 30
officers and 200 rank and file, with a number of
women and children, will' go in the Beechfield, and
the
remainder in two other vessels which are daily
expected. Major li. Smith, late 3d Buffs, is now
Adjutant-General of Cork district. Col. Smyly,
99th Regiment, is Acting Quartermaster-General,
in the room of Quartermaster-General Packe, on
leave of absence.

A number of volunteers arrived in Cork on
ou their way to Alder-
from Templ,-more,

shot Camp, to join the 88th Regiment, under
orders f)r India.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :-11. W. Burnett, master, to the
Basilisk ; C. Mitchell, mate, to the Princees Char-
lotte ; E. Key, assistant-paymaster, to the Edin-
burgh.