rackpore, and personally thanked the regiment at a general parade; and we have reason to believe that this act, while it has had a very beneficial effect in strengthening the loyalty of the 70th Regiment and others at Barrackpore, will have the happiest influence on the minds of all well-disposed men in the native

army.

"The three companies of the 34th Regiment at Barrackpore lost no time in following the good example of the 70th.

"Meanwhile we had already received a spontaneous declaration of loyalty from the Irregular Cavalry of the Ramghur Force, in which the infantry of that force participated. And it was further reported that the Ramghur Irregular Cavalry had signally marked their sincerity by having, on first hearing of the outrage committed by the mutinous regiments at Meerut and Delhi, written to their comrades who were on leave in the district, to offer their services to the general officer commanding the Meerut Division.

"The 6th Native Infantry at Allahabad has also come forward with an assurance of its devotion to Government, and an offer of its services against the mutineers.

"We have publicly acknowledged these several declarations of loyal and soldierlike feeling.

"On the 30th of May last a part of the Meerut force was attacked near Ghazeeoodden Nugger, by a large body of the insurgents from Delhi, with five guns. The insurgents were thoroughly beaten by our troops, and dispersed with much loss; and the five guns, with ammunition and a great quantity of iutrenching tools, were taken from them. Our loss was 44 men killed and wounded, chiefly of the 60th Royal Rifles, but the greater number of these were injured by the explosion of a tumbril left by the fugitive insurgents at the bridge on the Hindun Nuddee near the place where the action was fought. This victory will, no doubt, be of great value in proving to the mutineers and to the whole army the prowess of our European troops, even in comparatively small bodies; and its occurrence just now is still more important, when, owing to difficulty in procuring sufficient carriage, and in moving the siege train which his Excellency the Commander in Chief was organizing for the attack on Delhi, a delay of some days must take place before the attacking force can reach that fortress.

"But we deeply regret to say that the attack will not be made by General Anson in person. An allusion to his having died was received by us on the 1st inst., and on the 3rd this was confirmed by tidings of his Excellency's decease at Umballah on the morning of the 27th of May by cholera. General Anson must have proceeded to Kurnaul some few days previously, for a message from his Excellency has reached us dated Kuruaul, May 25. It is probable that he had been obliged by illness to return to Umballah, where he died.

"We lost no time after the receipt of this melancholy intelligence in transmitting to Umballab, by such means as may be available at Cawnpore and Agra, and north-west of those places, our instructions to Major-General Sir H. Barnard, K.C.B., commanding the Sirhind Division, to assume the command of the force proceeding against Delhi: and we have urged upon that officer the necessity of his attacking the insurgents and mutineers at that place at the earliest possible date; the continuance of order and quiet, already much imperilled by excitement at the most important stations of Allahabad, Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Aga, and in the adjoining districts, being dependent on the early and signal discomfiture of the rebels in arms at Delhi and its neighbourhood.

"Major-General Reed, C.B., Her Majesty's service, commanding the Peshawur Division, succeeds by right of seniority, and according to custom, to the command of the Bengal army as Provincial Commander-in-Chief; but considering the emergency of existing circumstances, and the absolute neces

sity of committing the command of the army of this presidency to some officer of pre-eminent qualifications in point of knowledge of the native troops and Indian experience, we have thought it right to request Lieutenant-General Sir Patrick Grant, K.C.B., the Commander-in-Chief at Fort St. George, to come to Calcutta with all convenient expedition, to assume the office of Acting-Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal army. We trust that this important measure will be approved of by your Hon. Court. It is temporary only, and it will rest with the Home Government to appoint some officer to succeed to the high office of Commander-in-Chief in India and of the Bengal Presidency, in succession to the late General the Hon. G. Anson, deceased.

"Every effort is being made to despatch European troops to Cawnpore. The 84th Foot have been sent up almost entire; a detachment of that regiment is expected by the Coromandel immediately from Rangoon.

The 1st Madras European Fusiliers have been also sent up by transit carriages, by the bullock train, and by steamers.

Of the 64th Foot, who have just arrived from Bombay, 350 men will proceed on a steamer and flat immediately, and the remainder of the regiment will be sent up by dawk carriages and the bullock train.

"The other regiments expected from Bombay and Ceylon will be pushed upward as expeditiously as possible.

"We are now despatching instructions to Rangoon to send round her Majesty's 29th Foot as soon as the corps can be brought down from Thyet

mew.

"It is our confident hope that by the next mail we shall have it in our power to report to your Hon. Court that signal retribution has been inflicted on the mutineers and rebels at Delhi, and that the immediate result has been the perceptible tendency in all the districts to return, at no distant period, to quiet and good order."

GENERAL ORDERS.

REGIMENTAL SCHOOLS.

[The following General Order supersedes an order of the same date previously issued. The third paragraph is very different to its predecessor.]

HORSE GUARDS, S.W., 19th June, 1857.-His Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief calls the attention of officers commanding regiments, depots, and depot battalions, to the condition of their regimental schools.

It is scarcely less essential to the soldier to be able to read and write, and keep his own accounts, than to be acquainted with his dril. Without these elementary acquirements no soldier is capable of profiting by the instruction given him in the use of the rifle musket, his promotion is rendered less probable, and be is deprived of the interest and improvement derivable from the excellent libraries now placed within his reach.

His Royal Highness, therefore, recommends to commanding officers that, for the future, every soldier, after being dismissed from drill, shall be encou raged to attend school, until he is reported upon as sufficiently advanced in reading, writing, and arithmetic.

With the concurrence of the Secretary of State for War, no fees are to be required for this attendance at school.

It will be desirable that commanding officers should so arrange the duties of the men as to give, if possible, at least four hours' attendance, each week, to all men disposed to attend the above class.

No man is to be considered eligible for promotion to corporal, unless in the field, who has not been dismissed the above class.

For promotion to the rank of sergeant higher qualifications may be expected. It is not intended at present to lay down an absolute rule on the subject; but the attention of commanding officers is particularly called by His Royal High

ness the General Commanding-in-Chief to the importance of carrying the education of non-commissioned officers to a higher point than the mere acquisition of the arts of reading and writing. With this view it must be well understood that those men who avail themselves most intelligently of the means of improvement within their reach will be generally preferred for promotion, when, in respect to conduct and soldier-like bearing, they are eligible for it; and that neglect so to do will be regarded as a disqualification. It is not, however, intended hereby to fetter the discretion of commanding officers in the promotion of men who display conspicuous courage, or show the tact and moral influence which give non-commissioned officers weight with their comrades.By command of His Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief. G. A. WETHERALL, Adjutant-General.

THE ORDER OF VALOUR.

MEMORANDUM.-HORSE GUARDS, June 26.-The Queen having this day distributed the Victoria Cross to those who, by personal valour, have earned that honourable distinction, has ordered His Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief to make known to Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Campbell, G.C.B., commanding, and to Major-Generals the Earl of Cardigan, K.C.B., Lord Rokeby, K.C.B., Sir W. F. Williams, Bart., K.C.B., and Lord William Paulet, C.B., her perfect approval of the soldier-like bearing and appearance of the troops under their respective commands, forming the review on this memorable occasion.-By command of His Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief.

G. A. WETHERALL, Adjutant General.

AUGMENTATION OF THE ARMY.

The Adjutant-General, in a circular memorandum of the 14th of July, to officers commanding regiments and depots, refers to the circular of the 14th inst., directing all regiments of infantry to be completed to 1,000 rank and file, and stating that it is to be understood that only those now specified in the margin, being corps at home, or ordered home, are to be recruited to that strength.

The regiments now stationed in India, and those ordered out to that country, are to be completed to a strength of 1,100 rank and file, and are to make recruiting arrangements accordingly.

All other regiments stationed in the colonies are to recruit to 840 rank and file. The parties that will be sent out in consequence of the circular of the 14th inst., if not required to recruit at present for their own corps, will be ordered to raise men for the regiments specified in the margin.†

ARMY REWARDS.-The Adjutant-General has issued a circular to commanding officers, which states that the effective strength of infantry regiments, exclusive of colonial corps and regiments in the East Indies, having been fixed at 840 rank and file, His Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief desires, that commanding officers of regiments having the above strength will confine themselves, in their recommendations of men for gratuities for long service and good conduct, to the annual sum of £30 instead of £40, as regulated for an establishment of 1,000 rank and file by the Warrant of the 13th of April, 1854.

LORD LIEUTENANT'S STAFF.-His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief has issued an order that all officers on the Lord Lieutenant's Staff, when not in waiting, are to return to their respective corps and do duty.

*

15th, 16th, 18th, 22nd, 25th, 36th, 44th, 51st, 56th, 68th, 67th, 69th, 72nd, 94th, 96th, 98th, 99th Foot; and Rifle Brigade (1st Bat).

+ Ordered home-11th, 30th, 47th, 55th, 58th, and 68th Foot.

CAVALRY MESSING.-An order, private and confidential, has directed that the cavalry, household and line, are not to be included in the recent orders relative to messing. It has been found impossible for a cavalry regiment, with its small number of dining members, to mess for two shillings a head per diem.

MILITARY CLERKSHIPS.-The Secretary of State for War, with a view of encouraging deserving non-commissioned officers and soldiers, has stated that he is disposed to constitute clerkships at out-stations of the War Department as rewards for good services, and that in future he will place only on his list the names of such men as his Royal Highness the General Commanding-inChief may recommend, and who possess the necessary qualifications for the appointment, instead of noting names on the applications of candidates themselves.

MUSKETRY PRACTICE.-In cases of targets being rendered unserviceable by breakage, which with ordinary care can seldom happen, a hoard of three officers-the barrack master to be one of them is to be assembled to decide if the damage was occasioned by fair wear, or through neglect in raising or lowering the targets.

NEW ACCOUTREMENTS.-Officers commanding regiments at home and of depots have been directed to forward requisitions to the War Department for accoutrements of the new pattern, to replace those of the old pattern now in their possession.

THE NEW KNAPSACK.-The Adjutant-General, in a circular memorandum, states that it having been decided, with a view of obtaining uniformity in the pattern of knapsacks, that those of the pattern in use previous to 1854 shall be exchanged gratis for knapsacks of the pattern of that year, commanding officers are authorized to make a requisition on the War Office for knapsacks to replace those of old patterns, and on their arrival the knapsacks now in use will be handed over in as good order as possible to the nearest military storekeeper. H.R.H. the General Commanding-in-Chief also wishes that the men should be encouraged to have the stick and strap added to the knapsack according to the new pattern. The expense of this addition is trifling, ard by the introduction of the stick the knapsack will be found to fit more closely to the upper part of the back, and will, consequently, be carried with greater ease. The slings may in some instances require to be lengthened by the addition of a small piece of buff at the ends.

CHARACTERS OF SOLDIERS ON DISCHARGE.-It having come to the knowledge of his Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief, that parchment certificates of discharge given to soldiers are frequently altered subsequent to delivery by the preface of the word "very" or other expletive to the word good" in the character of the bearer, commanding officers have been instructed, when they wish to record a soldier's character simply as "good" on his parchment certificate, to write "conduct good," by which the possibility of any prefix being afterwards added will be prevented.

66

COLDSTREAM GUARDS.-The members of the Nulli Secundus Club (the Coldstream Guards) lately dined together at the London Tavern, the Hon. Colonel George Upton in the chair, supported by Field-Marshal the Earl of Strafford, Lord Frederick Paulet, Lord Hotham, Sir William Gomm, Sir Alexander Woodford, Major-General Sir H. Bentinck, Colonel Newton, Lord Melville, Lieutenant Colonel Byng, Lieut.-Col. Burdett, Viscount Wellesley, Lieut.-Col. Strong, &c.

DUEL PREVENTED.-Colonel Rowland Smyth has been held to bail by the magistrate at Marlborough Street, for sending a threatening letter to a Mr. H. R. Hughes, with intent to provoke him to fight a duel. The original cause of offence was understood to be some words spoken of a lady of high rank.

ANOTHER DEFEAT OF RUSSIAN TROOPS BY CIRCASSIANS.-A few days after their successful resistance to the Russian attack on the banks of the Chabacha, Mehemet Bey's Poles, in concert with a large body of Circassians, and under the immediate command of Sefer Pasha, followed up their success by a wellconcerted attack on Abiun, a strong Russian fortress near Soujak, north of Soukoum Kaleh. The g rrison offered an obstinate resistance, and it was only after several hours' hard fighing, and at considerable loss, that the assailants carried the fort and made some 300 prisoners. At the date of the latest intelligence from the coast, the Russians had suffered further defeats in their attempts to land troops at Gagar, where the Circassians and their Polish allies had taken up a strong position.

NIGHT ATTACK AND SIEGE OPERATIONS.-On Friday night, July 10, the whole of the troops belonging to the Royal Engineers and the East India Company's Sappers and Miners, at present at head-quarters, Chatham, together with the troops from the provisional battalions, and those of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, were engaged until nearly midnight in some siege operations of a highly interesting description, together with a night attack on a strongly fortified position, defended by a large force from the garrison. The operations consisted of an attack on the line of fortifications around Chatham garrison, the spot selected as the base of operations being the extreme end of the lines. The whole was executed under the general superintendence of Colonel H. Sandham, of the Royal Engineers.

NETLEY MILITARY HOSPITAL.-Lord Palmerston replied to Mr. Wilcox that there was no change in the intention of the Government; and with respect to the healthiness of the spot, he was perfectly satisfied ou that point. He was convinced from local knowledge that it was very healthy, and totally free from objection on sanatory grounds. He had received a letter from a medical gentleman in the neighbourhood, assuring him that for twenty years he had never known a case of ague occurring there.

ITEMS OF MILITARY NEWS.

A LETTER from Cape Coast Castle mentions that there is a great paucity of medical officers. Two young assistant-surgeons are insufficient for the purposes of the colony.-Neither the 9th Lancers nor 14th Light Dragoons return to England this year. All officers at home are to proceed forthwith to rejoin head-quarters, and large augmentation drafts have sailed.-On Sunday evening last a fire broke out in the Registry-office, War Office, Pall Mall, and one desk containing official documents was destroyed. Lord Panmure has instituted a very strict investigation, but the mystery has not yet been found out.-A letter, dated April 16th, states that the Germans are very happy, and were then building houses at a place on the frontier, which will soon have the appearance of a large town, to be called Stutterheim, in honour of General Stutterheim.-It is in contemplation to increase the pay of the several grades of non-commissioned officers, including lance corporals and lance sergeants, who are at present doing the duty of corporals and sergeants without any other remuneration than the hope of promotion.-His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, by the will of the late Duchess of Gloucester, has become the owner of Gloucester House, Piccadilly, for the unexpired term of the lease (20 years).-The West Block Point battery, erected at the entrance of Milford Haven, for the defence of the roadstead and the royal arsenal at Pembroke Dockyard, has been completed. It mounts six guus of heavy calibre, and from its position will prove a very effective defence. A large number of masons have left for Netley, and a number of others have volunteered.-A handsome monument has been erected in St. James's Church, Cheltenham, to the memory of Major Gilby, 47th Regiment, who died in July, 1855, from wounds received in the trenches before Sebastopol-A corporal of the West York Militia, who deserted in December,