The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-07-16 00:00:00

CHURCH SERVICES ON SUNDAY.

The picturesquely situated camp of the Naval Ar-
tillery 'Volunteers, the 4th Dragoon Guards, the Army
Hospital, and Army Service Corps in Windsor Great
Park, near Queen
.Anne's Ride, attracted a large
number of visitors on Sunday. In the morning the
naval volunteers, under Captain Domville, with Chief
Gunner's Mate Pedder and a party ef searaen gunners
from H.M.S. Excellent, paraded in front of their
line, and were addressed by Sir T. Brassey,
M.P., who congratulated them upon their effi-
ciency, and spoke in high praise of the manner in
which they had passed through the review. Later on
the seamen attended a church service held under the
shade of the elms in Queen Anne's Ride by the Rev.
Canon Girdlestone, of Bristol, and in the course of
the day quitted the camp for their homes. Prince
Edward of Saxe-Weimar, several distinguished
officers, and the Royal Engineers camped in the
Home Park, attended the half-past nine o'clock
garrison service at Holy Trinity Church in the morn-
ing, the Rev. A. Robins, chaplain to the Queen,
preaching the sermon.

Amid the bustle and excitement that prevailed in
Windsor Great Park on Saturday during the grand
parade of Volunteers before the Queen, it is very pro-
bable that the good service rendered on the field by
the Volunteer Ambulance Corps may have been over-
looked by the many thousands who were present at
the Review. Two field hospitals were established in
the Great Park, each being composed of about seven
tents, with sets of panniers and field companions,
bearers, water-bottles, and other requisite appli-
ances, three waggons, with six large stretchers and
twenty field stretchers, one general service waggon,
two water carts, and all other appliances. Their ser-
vices proved very valuable, as the number of cases
receiving treatment during the assembly, parading,
and Review amounted to one hundred and fifty,
twenty-five of which were at the monent of a serious
character. Ten of these were from sunstrokes, the
remaining fifteen casualties being cases of faintness
caused by exposure to the extreme heat and the
fatigue which had been endured by the Volun-
teers during the long railway journeys. The
other casualties comprised sprains, contusions,
and faintings, most of which received immediate
medical relief in the field, the more serious cases being
removed to the hospitals for careful treatment. Out
of the 150 casualties all but eight of the sufferers were
able to rejoin their Corps or leave for their homes in
the course of the evening, the worst case, one of sun-
stroke, being eventually removed to the Guards'
Hospital at Windsor, while Captain Sparkes, the
Adjutant of the Ist Surrey Artillery, who fell from
his horse and received a severe contusion on the back,
remained in the field hospital at the Cavalry Exercise
Ground until Sunday afternoon, when he was removed
to his own home in London.

The Times, in a leader, makes the following remarks
on the Review :
The Volunteer Review at Windsor on Saturday will be a
memorable occasion, alike to the Queen, to the Volunteers
who paraded before her, and to the spectators who witnessed
the display. Feelings of pride must have possessed Her
Majesty at the -spectacle of over 50,000 of her subjects,
serving as soldiers at their own expense, gathered from all
parts of the country to put in evidence both their loyalty
and their discipline. A quarter of the whole Volunteer
force of Great Britain was present—a very large contingent
when it is considered that the time with most of the men
was snatched from business, that the expenses of the
day were considerable, and the journey in many cases long
and fatiguing. As a sight alone, apart from its ulterior
siqiiitleas'ee, the review was most impres,,fte. Tie enlminis of
infantry ninviag over the picturesque p ch, it nia-s-
-ing in long lines of scarlet, gray, an.i black, nod
defiling to stirring music under the eyes of their Sovereign,
presented a scene which, in its array of numbers at all
events, is without a parallel in British military history. The
Volunteers were not put through any difficult iranceuvres.
They had merely to show that they could march with tolerable
precision, and that they were imbued with the spirit of dis-
cipline. These requirements they fulfilled with spirit, as
they were expected to do. The Crown Prince of Germany
and the Military attachds who followed in the train of the
Royal carriages will not make the mistake of comparing this
review with their own huge military arrays. The
Volunteers may not stand comparison with the
military machines of the great Continental Powers.
But they are troops which a little additional train-
ing could render equal to the best line soldiers of
the Continent. Against an invading enemy they would even
now with their good marksmanship stand at an advantage.
Above all, they are "voluntary soldiers," seß-instructed
and self-equipped. The impression that Englishmen and
foreigners alike must have carried away from the review
was that this voluntary spirit of patriotic devotion has
given to the country a trustworthy security against attack.
Little favour is shown among us towards proposals for a
conscription or a scheme of universal military service. But
this unwillingness may be due in part to the consciousness
that for home defence, at least, the Volunteers are able to
supplement indefinitely the smallness of our regular army.
The Volunteer Review was excellently managed by the
military and the railway authorities. It is easy to say that
both had plenty of leisure for al-ranging; that there was no
great merit in performing their work correctly, but great
disgrace in doing it badly. They are fairly entitled, how-
ever, to the praise of success. Every one stood ready to
blame ; now arises the more pleasant duty of commending.
Forebodings of failure probably helped to put the authorities
on their mettle, and to insure success. There was no let or
hinderance anywhere. The railway's took the corps to
Windsor quickly and not too soon, and brought them away
early. The men were able to carry with them plenty to eat
and drink, and what little commissariat arrangements were
necessary were satisfactorily carried out. There was little
of that lreary waiting under arms so familiar upon review-
days, aad whet-, the time came for the march past each
corps took its place as if taught by long practice. The
weather, agair, , was all that could be desired. The specta-
tors were numerous, though not so numerous as they might
have been had not prophecies of discomtort frightened many
from attempting the railway journey. There are few people
in England who have ever seen 60,000 men collected under
arms. The sight has never been seen in this country, at all
events, and a larger crowd would under ordinary circum-
stances have assembled. Hyde Park would net have afforded
sufficient accommodation to 50,000 Volunteers and the
crowds of spectators who would certainly have gathered
there. As it was, nothing interfered with the success of
the review in Windsor Park, and the only regret is that the
distance from London was so great as to prevent it being
witnessed by a larger throng. •

The correspondent of the Daily Telegraph remarks:—
What effect the review will have on the minds of the
distinguished foreigners who witnessed it I cannot of course
pretend to say But to those experienced men with whom I
had the pleasure of conversing, this immense parade has
marked a revolution in the military history of England. . . .
When it is reflected that this magnificent force only forms part
of the citizen army we actually possess, that the railway com-
panies, if they had not had to bring a heavy public freight,
might have carried many more soldiers than were assembled on
Saturday, and that by an effort of no great magnitude a very
much larger force than was on the ground might have been
brought together, the nature of the army which patriotism
and the English love of hearth and home have called into
existepce will be understood and partly appreciated
The army which marelli.d past the Queen on Saturday was
the finest military body we, as Englishmen, at home, have
ever seen, and my long experience of foreign armies, wars,
and peaceful parades does not remind me of anything more
wonderful than the appearance of the splendid infantry
whose marchin.r surprised and whose numbers amazed all
who witnessed them as they passed by the Queen.