The Express.
London, England, 1862-04-21 00:00:00

i*OL

THE BRIGHTON REVIEW.

011011 ova own aroma)
BRIGHTON, SUNDAY.
The first, greatest, and most interesting fact
connected with any out-door celebration in Eng-
land, is of course the weather, and I am happy. to
be able to state that, so far, the weather promises
to be on its good behaviour on Brighton Downs.
There is no sun it is true—which perhaps can be
dispensed with by evolutionary heroes—but there
is plenty of wind, and a reasonable quantity of
dust, an article of which Brighton is seldom with-
out a tolerably liberal supply. The general
opinion here, at least amongst those whose heads
are cool enough to form an opinion is, that to-
morrow's field-day will be the greatest local fact
that has transpired since Brighton grew out of
Brighthelmstone, and since before the fourth
George had built the Pavilion. I suppose it is the
announcement of Lord Clyde's name that has done
it all, seeing how much greater the local excitement
is than it was this time last year, when volunteers
had to review "on their own hook," and volunteer
commandants were setting up rival encampments
in various corners of Middlesex and Kent. At the
railway station the verdict of Mr. Webbley, the
very intelligent superintendent, is that the excite-
ment set in on Thursday last, when he had to
supply more first and second class carriages for
visitors from London than had ever before been
required since his assuming the seals, or rather the
keys of office ; and on Friday and Saturday the
pressure extended to the third class, showing the
number of artisans who came down and the thou-
sands et volunteers who had determined to be at the
scene of action in time and fresh for their arduous
work to-morrow. The meet complete arrange-
ments have been, by the joint exertions of
Mr. Slight and Mr. Hawkins, prepared for
the eventful day, and both gentlemen feel
quite sure that, if the various corps reach
heir respective stations in time, their subsequent
arrival at the trysting-ground may be taken as a
matter of certainty. Out of the 90,000 men who
are expected to be on the ground more than 12,000
will be from London, a fact which seems to indicate
the extreme courtesy of the metropolitan corps to
the Brighton folks in coming fifty miles to give
them a military treat, whilst their own homes and
friends are left desolate and deserted. Surely we
must have another volunteer field-day this summer
nearer London, and then we shall see whether the
Kanto; and South-coast corps will go up to Wimble-
don or Epsom with the same alacrity as that exhi-
bited by the Londoners in coming down to Brighton.
It is merely f believe, that respect for precedent
which is inherent in the English character, that
has caused the metropolitan corps to consent to
come again to Brighton, as the general feeling
amongst all their members with whom I have con-
versed is, that it would be much more con-
venient to themselves, and more agreeable
to their friends, if the Champ de Mars could
be found somewhat nearer home. Let us see :
sixteen trains have been ordered, each to carry 800
men, and supposing the first to start at six, and the
remainder at intervals of a quarter of an hour, they
would all have been cleared off from London-bridge
and Victoria by nine o'clock, and the rear guard
might be at the rendezvous before eleven. It is a
tough march up lull all the way to the Downs, and
as in the volunteer army the martial spirit burns
not exclusively in the breasts of men who would be
selected as Chasseure de Vincennes, we may give
them another hour before they are formed in order

of battle.
Everyone knows Brighton Downs, and how their
undulating character tends to make an army sud-
denly disappear from the view of the spectators if
evolutions of too ambitious a character are contem-
plated. Feelingly alive to what happened in that
way last year, the authorities have determined
that everything shall take place within
the ridge which crests White Hawk Downs,
so as that the Grand Stand people and
the great mass of spectators shall see every-
thing that is to be seen. As there is to be no
sham fight—a most prudent arrangement—the
divisions will probably march to the ground in
contiguous columns of companies, then deploy into
line and commence file firing, when it is to be
hoped that the practice will not too strongly re-
mind the hearers of the " distant and random
gun " which formed such a remarkable feature at
the burial of Sir John Moore. Last year some of
the corps fired very close and well, and there were
others who had reason to thank the prevision of
Lord Banelagh in removing them entirely out of
public sight and hearing. By the time the volun-
teers have exhausted their regulated allowance of
blank cartridge in this harmless practice her Ma-
jesty's gallant 18th Hussars, 400 strong, will most
probably appear on the scene, and, charging down
at a three-quarter gallop, try the nerves and the
discipline of the gallant volunteers. The latter
will, of course, have to form square to receive
the new visitors, who will exert themselves to
pull up when within about six inches of their noses.
This will be excellent practice for steadying in-
fantry, and was a favourite manoeuvre with the
late Emperor Nicholas of Russia, who would him-
self brave the shook of fifty squadrons, and not be
satisfied unless he could touch the nose of the front
rank horse at the pull up. The cavalry charge
may, however, be only a feint to induce the forma-
tion of the square, in order to make the latter a
better mark for artillery, and then the artillery
will open, and the discipline of the volunteers will
be tried in echelon movements undertaken to avoid
the new danger. If the day should be warm such
• programme as the foregoing would (dye the
volunteers plenty of work, and the signal to
" break off" and seek refreshment would no doubt
form a highly acceptable finale to the manoeuvres.
The "march past," so highly popular with the
volunteers for its "elegant simplicity," and with
the spectators for its fine effect, and for being a
manoeuvre which they can all understand, is still,
I believe, unsettled as to time, but the general
impression is that it will `take place at the oom-
mencement,when the volunteers, and thespectators,
and everything, being fresh, it will no doubt have a
very tine effect. It will take 20,000 men about an
hour and a half to march past and salute, and as
Colonel M'ltudo expects to have his whole army.
back at the trains by five o'clock, there will not be
much time for complicated manoeuvres.
So much for the camp. As for the town, it will
be earlier for the public to imsgine than for me to
describe the excitement of Brighton in the-premo-
nitory agony of a volunteer review. Ever since I
arrived here I found the streets almost impassable,
the hotels hotly besieged, and the keepers of
lodging-houses standing at their doors enjoying the
cruel luxury of turning away whole regiments of
carpet-hags, with the information that they (the
lodging-house keepers) were " quite fulL" The
shopkeepers pronounce it to be better than " the
season,' and when a Brighton shopkeeper admits
that anything is better than "the season," you may
take it for granted that it is something very superla-
tive indeed. Theoorporation, a wholly invisible, but
dreadfully potent Vehmgerieht, about which nobody
here seems to know anything except its mysterious
power, has published all sorts of ukases, to
strangers, to townspeople, to volunteers, to regu-
lars, to cabmen, and to innkeepers. Every one
says that the regulations so promulgated are
absurd, but nobody ventures to resist them.
" The corporation" has ordered it, and my impres-
sion is that instant death, aggravated by the most
cruel tortures, would be the infallible result of the
slighest attempt at grumbling or disobedience.
Happily there is no prohibitren against prome-
nading King's-road and the adjacent sea lines, and
consequently they are literally alive with gallant
volunteers and fair ladies who have come out to sea
them. Such of the former—and they are hundreds,
if not thousands—who were wise enough to get down
yesterday, have done very well. The " Cavil Ser-
vice" engaged an entire hotel, the host under-
taking to frank them until Tuesday morning at a
guinea • head, a very reasonable tariff considering
the retail prices demanded in the same quarters.
The celebrated " Muttons" is besieged from morn-
ing until night with as much vigour as if it were
the No.lo Island in the Miasissippi, but I am happy
to say with much better success. The volunteers
must by this time have stormed and sacked