The Express.
London, England, 1865-04-18 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, q TUMMY EVENING, APRIL' " 215,`: • 188 L

civilian army complete in all its arms. I know
two regiments, one, Goloael Edwards's York-
shire men, and the other, Sir John Gerrard 's
Lencashire Human, who would do credit to
any military dispay. The latter were the
grand Um of the Knowsley review, and I do
not see why one of those regimenta should not have
been invited to Brighton Downs. The carbinesze
in their brass legniets, and with their perfect disci-
pline, it is true looked magnificent ; but they were
not volunteers, and without volunteer cavalry a
volunteer field-day was not complete. Major-
General Walpole and • not very numerous or
brilliant staff arrived on the ground at half-past
eleven o'clock, and several bands having commenced
playing in the immediate neighbourhood of the
stand, the spectators had ample amusement in
watching and listening until the commencement of
the operations.
At about twelve o'clock the General and his
staff took their places under the royal standard,
and almost immediately after the dense columns
with which White Hawk Downs had gradually been
covered began to show symptoms of movement.
The march past then commenced, headed by the car-
bineers, whose appearance and martial bearing it
would be quite superfluous to praise, and which
was recognised with the most tumultuous cheering
by the crowd. At this time there were about
60,000 spectators on the ground, and probably
never had so great a multitude such an opportunity
of witnessing a military spectacle. The artillery
followed, exhibiting undoubtedly a falling off, with
the exception of the Finsbury Bombardiers, as com- '
pared with former years, and the military effect of
their advance being in some instances totally spoiled
by the appearance of the drivers in Sussex
" mufti," by no means an improvement on the
regulation uniform. Countrymen must, of course,
come with country horses, but I recollect that last
year Captain Phillips, of the Third Middle-
sex, brought down • number of uniform
suits, and this gave his bumpkins a very warlike
and satisfactory appearance. The infantry took up
about an hour and a half in marching pest at a
very rapid pace, and sometimes breaking into the
double in a rather tumultuous manner. It would
be idle to say that their marching
;won any
progress as compared with former reviews
contrary, I regret to have to report a falling off in
many instances, and very few cases in which the
performances were honoured with an ovation. The
London Irish got a hearty cheer, the London Scot-
tish a grand reception, and Lord Ranelagh's regi-
ment quite an ovation. The lens of Court were
also well received : but perhaps the most vociferous
reception of the day was awarded to the various
Engineer corps, which are principally composed of
working men. Some of these " dressed " ad-
mirably, and preserved their line unbroken
all along the course, to the immense de-
light of the spectators. I had here occa-
sion to notice what I had often observed
before, namely, that a crowd, either in a theatre or
in the open air, seldom make mistakes in recog-
nising what is really good. On this occasion the
few regiments that marched, first rate, were picked
out with unerring acumen, and you could hear the
cheer with which they were greeted rise simul- '
taneously from the stand-house and from the open,
and also notice it as being sustained all along the
line, until the corps d'elite had reached its position
for the battle. The collected bands played during
the march past, complimenting the London
Scottish and Irish corps with appropriate melodies,
and receiving the Inns of Court with its usual
satanic pibroch. There had been a few heavy drops
of rain fall during the marching, but nothing to
cause the slightest interruption to the proceedings.
There was now an interregnum, during which
the volunteers emptied their De Grey haver-
sacks and exhausted their water bottles, and
I shall leave it to grumble at what looked
very like unfair play on the pert of the comp-
trollers. They had filled it in the morning
with visitors at half-a-crown and seven and six-
pence, and now, when the bar was to be benefited
by an influx, the doors were thrown open to the
outside crowd, and the early occupants of the stand
found their seats taken possession of op their re-
turn. Besides, the stand refreshment room is
specially intended for the stand visitors, and in
this case they found themselves hustled and ex-
cluded by the crowd who had been admitted for
nothing. Numbers of ladies who were quite ex-
hausted with sitting in the stand from early morn-
ing were quite unable to obtain any refreshment, and
suffered very great inconvenience. I hope that the
municipality, ever anxious for the comfort of the
visitors by whom the town annually clears 40,0001.,
will arrange this as well as the omnibus question
by next Easter Monday.
It is generady admitted that the greatest literary
fallacies are the previously printed programmes of
a sham fight. Even at Aldershot, where the thing
is of weekly occurrence, nobody ever expects to see
the programme carried out, and bow much less
must we look for exactitude in a volunteer review.
cannot say whether or no the programme was
exactly carried out this time, for by no amount of
exertion or expenditure could I obtain a copy or
ascertain whether or no such a thing was actually
in existence. I knew generally that one body was
to be told off for attack and the other for defence,
and that a windmill and farm-house, which could
be seen very distinctly from the stand, were to be
the Buguemont and Belle Alliance of the grand
struggle. The general was very anxious to have
it begin or to see it over, for he broke
away from the flagstaff before all the
troops had marched past, and consequently
two or three of the late corps had to
camper after him with the liveliest quickstep I
had ever seen except in a retreat. But the public
did not fo;low iu any considerable numbers ; they
had seen them march past, the thing that they
liked and understood, and the great majority pre-
ferred enjoying themselves in the roundabouts or at
Punch's theatre to toiling after the retiring
columns up the rather sharp hill upon which the
windmill was perched. The attacking force never-
theless took up its position close to the " Slaughter-
house," and the defending force was visible for a
moment before the smoke began under the wind-
mill. Then the artillery opened fire, and began to
pound away with great vigour and regularity • and
having thus opened the enemy's lines, the infantry
commenced file firing and advancing at the double.
There was the usual quantity of squares and
columns and skirmishing, and of noise and smoke,
and unintelligibility, whilst the contending forces
fought their way over the crest of the hill. Aides
might be seen scampering about, carrying orders
or bringing news to the commander-in-chief, and
in this way all the review mimicry of real warfare
was skilfully and spiritedly enacted. A sham-fight
is, as a general rule, admitted to be • spectacle
which it is hard to understand, but on this occasion,
in consequence of the favourable position in which
the contending forces were placed, there was cer-
tainly less perplexity than usual ; but it was a
mistake to have the march past first. The old-
fashioned boxing-night audience used to sit out
George Barnwell whilst waiting for the panto-
mime, but if the tragedy came last I question
whether there would have been much of an audi-
ence to enjoy the catastrophe.
Perhaps the most noteworthy circumstance con-
nected with the volunteer review is the rapidly-
increasing interest taken in such displays by the
general public. Mr. Whebley, the station-master
at Brighton, informed me that the influx of holiday
visitors, not only from London, but from the whole
country with which the Brighton line has communi-
cation, has been greater this year than on any previous
occasion. Twenty-two special trains arrived from
London to-day, bringing down amongst other pas-
sengers, 14,000 volunteers. In addition to this,
there were 36 special trains bringing from four to
eighteen hundred passengers each, besides the local
volunteer corps, making altogether an amount of
traffic which, I suppose, could hardly be equalled
on any line in the world. The certainty, safety and
accuracy as to time, with which it is carried re-
flects the highest credit on the whole staff of the
Brighton Company.

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