The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-05-01 00:00:00

THE PORTSMOUTH REVIEW.

The Volunteer nevi° SC at Port: month, on Monday, paean(
off successfully, awl has been pronounced a pretty speciucl.•.
Excursiora by steamer and by rail brought large nuo.b., •
of visitors into Portamouto, and the townspeople themsel!!
required no second invitation to keep high holiday. 1:3
chl,4 streets were not decorated to speak of, but the humid, r
thoroughfares made up for the deficiency. The Solent, I,
blue mid sparkling, was alive with sails, and the prevail!.
cheer. Illness of sky awl sea reflected itself upon the two
The troops were drawn up in line of contigit.
n-lanins of battalions along the chicle, and me! •
the terrace fronting the beech, forming two vi
of a equate. The spectators lined the teach to
Castle, and fringed the entire common. The fringe we;
all colours, the main fabric being gay paranoia, and gliit.nie
silks, with tassel-dots at intervals on its e Ige, represent° ii.
the redcoats, who were supposed to keep the course. Crimson
flags fluttered here and there, and there was. general ground-
work of green grass to harmonise the sight of many gloats.
To those who had survived Dover, and remembered its black-
s.ne aml tempest, tilt: was verily a fairy picture.
'•• - - •

_
About three i'clock the march past commenced, and lasted
25 minutes, sae is thus described by the correspondent of Mot
Daily Nesct c— I !lid isa good indication that the total streugte
in the field sea ; oetween 8,000 and 9,000. Lieutenant-Genf rel
Sir G. Butler cm the reviewing officer, and the War-office
was represented by Colonel Wright and Colonel Colville.
Lord Bury, in private dress, and Colonel Loyd Lindsay, ins
undress, were upon the staff. The officers composing that
brilliant body appeared upon the scene at the usual
gallop, and inspected the troops rear and front. Tho
regiments then defiled to the right and wheeled, ins
have the whole length of the Common before them. The
glitter of the arms dazzled the eye, until a friendly clued of
dust interposed. The bands of the regulars were massed
opposite the capacious and well-tilled grand stand, where,
however, there were no Queen and Bengalese princes as had
been expected.
Major-General Carey bad the command of the first division,
which consisted of a squadron of the Droxford Mounted
Rifles, and field batteries of the Royal Artillery, two batta-
lions of the Royal Marine Artillery, the 13th regiment, awl
the 101st Fusiliers, and 07th Regiment. The second division,
commanded by Major-General Lyons, was composed of the
volunteer field battery, the Hants Artillery, and the Volun-
teers from Derset, Isle of Wight, Wilts, the lind and 4t15
liants, the Ist Hants Engineers, the 40th Middlesex, some
Surrey and Sussex Volunteers, and the 101st Fusiliers.
There is nothing special to mention respectihg the march-
ing, except that the Southampton Engineers were cheered ifs
reward for a capital piece of earthwork they had thrown un
between nine o'clock on Sunday evening and eaylight.
There were very few of the London corps prevent.
Upon searching past, the first division went away
beyond Southsea Castle to represent the invaders, and
the second retraced their path towarde the town L.i
act on the defemive. The Volunteer Artillery manned
the guns and the parapets on the seaward face of the
linen; the Surrey and Sumex corps with the Fusiliers metaled
the parapets from the King's Bastion to the Town Mewit
Bastion; the field battery and the regulars (13th and 191st)
were the reserve.
The attacking force was represented by the Volunteer
cavalry, the Volunteer field battery, and the remaining
three brigades or Volunteers. L)ing in the Solent were fie
gunboata and the Scorpion turret-ship, but for some 1111,. -
plained cause the latter did not fire a gun, although she let,
evidently ready to do so, and had steamed from her moor-
ings for the express purpose. The men of the 67th Regi-
ment, with a field battery issued from the garrison and
slowly proceeded across the common to reconnoitre.
An au gun or so was fired from Southses Castle whicli
was the first object of attack. Beyond this strong-
hold, which is the key to the whole position, the Invade',
were drawn up, as if just landed from their ships. The held'
battery opened fire, and almost simultaneously the gunboats
In line did the same. After firing a few shots, Soutbsea
Castle, one of the strongest of our fortifications, hauled
clown its flag. The little vessels in a haze of smoke passed
along the beach to wait events. The "thin red line" o,
reconnoiterers proceeded until a descent was made up'.
them by a heedful of mounted ritlemeu, whereupon the,
formed into squares to receive cavalry. 'ibis operate,.
executed Cu the one side by trained infantry, and v.
the other by daring riders in picturesque coquille, was r
peated several times, much to the popular wish. Ib.
Invaders, upon the silencing of the hems of the Castle, ad-
vanced, supported by a heavy fire from their field piece,,
and maintaining themselves a brisk shooting. The guns or
the other side here began to sound from the town entrench-
ments, and the caution which the Mayor had published,
recommending the people, if they wished to preserve their
windows, to keep them closed, was clearly justified
by the deafening volleys now added to by the gun-
boats. While the fleet were thus attacking the Ports-
mouth lines, the regiments of the invadera were ticliouchin,,
by some back streets to prolong the line of attack from the
Pier Hotel to High-street. The defenders reti red in good order
towards the town, followed by their pursuers—rill of their,
firing smartly. The spectators at this point coolly mingled will,
the invading columns, and no one seemed tocheek them. Ir
deed, the notice to the public to keep clear of the common we
never enforced, and, therefore, never observed. During t 11.:
manfeuvres winch attended the advance and retreat the field-
pieces were wheeled about with nmeh rapidity in the thiea
of the crowd, and that there should have lieen no eferi,cc
accident seems almost incredible. The effect of men, mei
boys, and women mingling with, and in some cases leadfle,
on the attacking force was ludicrous. The people were 50d...,
to the volunteers engaged that had one of them by mistase
fired away his ramrod it must have spitted rims
them like larks. It appeared to be very gmel fun, and 41.,
not much hinder the advance of the invaders, although it :lei
turn order into confusion. By and bye the sham fight near,
its end, and the tide of battle gathered close under the wall..
of the town. The big guns shook the air, the pit-pat of th
Snider's sounded like the throbbing of a hundred engines; the
bayonets gleamed like lightning when the smoke lifted n
Little, and the clear occasional note of the bugle was needy
drowned by the other sounds, however combined and r.-
verberating they might be. Need it lie said that the specta-
tors were enchanted at the noise and the smoke and tfe.
sight ! The last twenty niinutes was hot work for all C.
warriors, and the tiring was kept up in a continual chore.
By and bye the atormers were driven back, two short it,l
sharp sorties were made from the town defences, ati
the attacking force were driven off the field, 1.
sumably sadder and wiser men. The alleged al. i.
dity is that Southsea Castle could be taken after
a fashion, or that, being taken, the invaders could arty • •
over so unprotected a plain in the teeth of the tremor,
ramparts at the end of the Common. At any rate, tie •
hours' mimic warfare pleased the spectators, and put 01.
In good humour for the fireworks and bail that followc is
the evening.
•

THE BISHOP OF SALISBURY.
The following letter appeared in The Times, from tha
Rev. IL P. Liddon, Christ Church, Oxford, on Tues.
day:—
In The TillteB of to-day you quote a paragraph from thoo
Pall Mall Gazette, which describes the Bishop of Salisbury UR
having " broken down both in mind RIO body." Will you,
allow me to state that this is inaccurate ? Throughout hi.;
long and painful illness, the Bishop's mini has been perfectly
clear, although, for obvious reasons, he has not been allowol
to attend to business. According to the prsagraph la ques-
tion, "persuasion and remonstrance have both been ex-
hausted in a fruitless effort to Induce" the Bishop of Salis-
bury and three other prelates "to resign, in order that
efficient successors may be appointed." This, too, is inaccurate,
as no such persuasion or remonstrance of any ICIII CI, or from
any quarter, has reached the Bishop, or those about him.
The simple fact is that the Bishop of Salisbury is Sloan in
the prime of life who has been struck down in She midst of
his work by a fatal illness. In resisting its ravages his Lord-
ship's constitution has discovered a strength and resources
, for which his medical advisers were unprepared. More than
three months ago it seemed as it the struggle could only last
for a few days at most ; and if the Bishop had not twisted
upon continuing to work in his diocese in the autunin of last
year, when he ought to have been in bed or at the seaside,
it is, humanly speaking, at least possible that his life might
have been spared for many years to come.