The Express.
London, England, 1864-05-30 00:00:00

THE VOLUNTEER REVIEW.

Hyde-park is always a pretty sight, but it
was unusually attractive on Saturday evening
with its world-famous Corso completely blocked
from end to end with elegant equipages, and
these latter in tura crowded with beautiful and
distinguished women ; its admirably mounted light
cavalry of private life ; its vast expanse of green
sward dotted over with gaily dressed crowds of all
classes of the people, and in the distance the silver
Serpentine peeping in and out among the trees, or
the dark columns of the volunteers, falling in or
falling out, or performing some other movement in
mass, which indicated that they were getting them-
selves up for the great event of the day. The strains
of the various bands floated across the air in
friendly collision, and the blue ticketholders plodded
along resolutely to the distant flagstaff near which
they had been informed th, best sight of the review
was to be obtained. There were but few police on
the ground, and those few were anything but de-
monstrative or intrusive. Reminiscent, perhaps,
of Primrose-hill and its consequences, and con-
scious that the eyes of Europe and Mr. Whalley
were upon them, they rather shrunk away from
the crowd and were with difficulty to be
got at when their services were indis-
pensable. We ourselves wandered on for many
a weary yard looking out anxiously for our favou-
rite Invisible Blues, and when at last we caught a
glimpse of the inspector we felt all the sense of
relief which the Australian traveller tells us he
experienced at the sight of a gibbet. We now felt
that we were in a civilised country, where our
mission would be recognised and facilitated,
and, full of confidence, we bore down upon the
distant iuspector. A place had been reserved, and
a very good place too, but its sanctity was at
this moment in very great peril. An angry peer
asked, " Was all that for their imperial majesties,
the press i" and would have stormed the inclosure,
but the inspector was firm, and the representatives
of the millions of the British public who could not
be th.re in the body were allowed ample scope
and verge for the performance of their duties.
Comfortably seated in one of the park chairs,
the ordinary penny fee for which had on
this special occasion been liberally remitted by the
Chief Commissioner of Works, we endeavoured to
take in the coup d'ail, which was iu truth very
national, inspiriting, and charming. At a
short distance on our right the standard of
England floated above our heads, now and then
lazily spreading out its broad field in response
to the gentle breeze. The enclosure was
at this point densely filled with favoured
company, and all along the line was also
very fully occupied. Behind stood the reckless
occupants of the improvised platforms—that is
to say " stood " in the intervals when they were
not engaged in the more exciting pastime of
coming down by the run, and, behind them again
was a dense packing of the " lower middles," or
"muddle lowers," whichever Mr. Gladstone might
choose to call them, who were all very jolly, and
abounded iu repartee, but who, we strongly suspect,
would have subsequently to appeal to the " ordi-
nary channels of iuformation" for any satisfactory
impression of what took place at the review. On
the far left • squadron of the household troops
glistened amongst the stately trees, ready to charge
down d intruders showed themselves in the open,
and the boundary tine'was marked by Grenadier
Guardsmen, who at long intervals good humouredly
and temperately kept the crowd in check. On the
opposite aide of the park, in their old place, the
hazy lines of the volunteers could be discerned, and
here " where distance lent enchantment to the
view," they were enabled to make all their pre-
liminary arrangements free from any too close criti-
dem of the precision of their 111111303USTell. It
was altogether a beautiful picture, and when
some heartless misanthrope who had no sympathy I
with human happiness muttered " we shall soon
have the rain down upon us," there was a general
feeling that he should be turned out for a race, •
or hunted by the agile police, likethe inevitable dog
Of the Derby. •
At ti o'clock the artillery opened fire, and there 4
TM a general movement of expectation amongst •
the crowd. Very shortly afterwards his Royal
Highness the Field Marshal Commandiog-in-Chief I
rode past the flagstaff, having on his right his Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales, in the uniform of 4
colonel of the Hon. Artillery Company, and on his
left his Serene Highness the Prince of Hesse, in a
Prussian uniform. This iatter dress was at once
recognised by the spectators, and its presence may •
perhaps account for the silence with which the •
three princes were allowed to pass by, as it is need- •
less to say that on all previous occasions the •
appearance of the Prince of Wales in public •
had always been the signal for general accla-
mation. Next in order came the royal •
landau, in which were seated her Royal Highness •
the Princess of Wales, her Royal Highness Princess
Alice of England, and her Royal Highness Princess •
Mary of Cambridge. The presence of the royal
ladies w* most enthusiastically acknowledged by •
the spectators, a special ovation, however, being
awarded' to the Princess of Wales, who, as
well as her illustrious relatives, repeatedly and
graciously acknowledged the homage of the public.
The distant volunteer columns then " formed up,"
and gave the royal salute, the bands of the House-
hold Brigade " clubbed " in the front, and played
the national anthem, and preparations wen at once
made for the " march past," which was to be the
great business of the day. A moment's interrup-
tion was, however, created by the arrival of some
distinguished visitors. Half a dozen policemen were
seen to be suddenly despatched on a special mission,
and, inillandiately_gterwards, they returned making
way fur the Mac de Nemours, the Comte de Paris,
and another of the younger Orleans princes, who
having paid their respects to the royal ladies and
been warmly greeted by Prince Louis, took a place
along with his royal highness behind the carriage,
where they remained attentive spectators to the
close of the review. The first business was the
" inspection," during which the Prince of Wales
and the Commander-i•-Chief rode carefully down
both in front and rear of the volunteers, and gave
to each corps as minute an examination as time
would permit, both princes, we were subsequently
informed, being entirely satisfied with the appear-
ance of discipline and general "set up" of the
troops, and then his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales took the command of his own corps, the
Hon. Artillery Company, riding at their head
until they had reached the royal carriage, when
his joys' highness gave the military salute to the
ladies, and remained at the carriage door whilst the
volunteers marched past. It took the troops—
somewhere about 20,000 men, and marching at
slow time—one hour and a half to pass the flag-
stale We give below a detailed enumeration of
the various brigades and their commanders, of
which it will be sufficient to say, gene-
rally, that, as a rule, drill and disci-
pliner seemed to have been very fairly main-
tained, but that the uniforms looked very
much faded, and gave to all the grey regiments a
dull and sombre look. As the time must now be
approaching when the volunteer army will have to
be newly clothed, it might perhaps be as well to
consider whether this monotonous quickly-fading
grey ought not to be discarded, and one general
green or red uniform adopted. On Saturday the
• reds" and the " greens" all looked as fresh as
on the first day, but the faded appearance of the
majority of the " greys " called forth a good deal
of disparaging criticism. Of the corps which
specially distinguished themselves by their fine
military appearance and good marching, the first
place must certainly be given to the Hon. Artillery
Company, which marched past with all the pre-
cision of first-rate troops of the line. Next to
them the corps from the two universities attracted
general admiration. Oxford looked slim and
aristocratic, Cambridge massive and mathematic,
but both were superb corps of volunteers,
and marched with an elasticity as well
as irecision which showed that if occasion
required they could march through or over any-
thing. The South Middlesex fully sustained their
established reputation, but would not be any worse
fore new outfit ; and the London Scottish marched
well, but not so well as we have seen this distin-
guished corps march on former occasions. Although
being started with a spatial motional air' a oom-