MR. OWEN STANLEYasked the Secretary of State for War, What was the amount of Military force in Chester Castle on Friday, the 8th of February; what arms and ammunition were stored there; and whether, as reported, the troops stationed there were suspected of having been tampered with by the Fenians?
GENERAL PEELMy hon. and gallant Friend has not given me notice of the alteration in the form of his Question, and I can only, therefore, give him from me- 343 mory an account of the stores in Chester Castle. With regard to the number of troops who were at Chester on Friday last, there was only one company of the 54th Regiment consisting of two officers and sixty-five men; and one officer and thirty-three men of the permanent staff of the Militia. It is the intention of His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief to relieve the Guards sent down from London by a battalion of infantry, which will be quartered between Weedon and Chester and Liverpool. The number of muskets in the Castle last Friday was about 9,000 stand; there were 4,000 swords, 900,000 rounds of ammunition, and a large store of gunpowder. I have had no information whatever respecting the existence of any Fenianism among the troops; and therefore to that portion of the Question my answer must be that no report of the kind has ever reached me.