The Express.
London, England, 1860-07-16 00:00:00

(Stamped, id. Additional.) [TWOPENCE.

Skirmishing companies of the West Middlesex took the
initiative in firing from the wood, whilst the 14* and 29th
North Middlesex, the 20th sad the Homey and Hampstead
were lying in ambush. The skirmishers advanced from the
wood besting back those of the enemy, and on a given
signal the whole attacking body suddenly made their ap-
pearance through the wood sad formed a most splendid
line, and commenced firing in volleys in fins order. The
army of defence being right under the bill upon which the
great body of the spectators stood, the meaning and object
of these preliminary movements were at first by no means
clear to civilian comprehension. We could see small red
rows of the Six-feet Guards and their similarly coloured
comrades skirmishing in the middle of a field with desperate
energy. They peppered the wood so perseveringly that the
internal slaughter must have been really awful. This,
another field was covered with heavy columns of
infantry nosed at right angles to the spectator, ail
we were for a time very much puzzled as to what business
they had there, and what they were going to do. Sud-
denly, the bugle sounded the advance, and each column, es
if turning on • pivot, wheeled slowly round, and formed • '
magnificent line extending the whole length of the field.
This manoeuvre was beautifully executed, sad elicited shouts
of applause. They were the invading army, and they were
about to annihilate the devoted garrison of the wood. Now,
the plot began to thicken, the smoke to rise more densely,
widths uadentanding of the looker. on to be more and
more confused. We ocedd see Alderman Rose on • white
charger riding daindleesly up and down is the thickest ci

are, and Lord Itaneli;ghand Colonel Hicks, like King
William and the great Farm* Mendasl, imparting tofilidroc•
to their men, and exposing themselves in the most reckless
manner. The time for skirmishing had now evidently
caned, and the pickets had all been driven, or called in,
Fresh forces marched up from the road. or emerged
in heavy columns from the woods, and the smart file firing
which we had so much admired became changed into rattling
vollies, the closeness and regularity of which perfectly
astonished every one who heard them. The spectators,
men, woman, and children. elated with the strife, had by
this time crowded down the bill, and were quite dome
up to the defending army, whom they encouraged with thedi
plaudits. To their surprise, however, the moment came
when their champions must give way, and perhaps • more
singular sight was never witnessed than the retreat on the
bill, the volunteers retiring with their faces to the enemy,
their confused ranks mixed up with groups of ladies and
children, all laughing and enjoying the fun, making nothing
of the rattle of musketry by which they were surrounded,
the smell of powder, or the gun wadding which was flying
about their heads in showem. We of course had to retire
along with the rest, and when we stopped at the crest of
the till to take breath, we found that the army of defence
had determined to make one final stand, and were beanti•
fully drawn out in the "thin red line" which the Dualism
D'Abrantes tells us used to puzzle Soult and Marmont so
much in the battles of the Peninsula. Such work was enough
to make any one thin, such • bill, such an
attack, such a defence, and such warm weather, but our
brave engineers, our stalwart guards, showed not the slight-
est symptom of fatigue. They " dressed up" with the ac-
curacy of a parade, and fixing their terrible sword-bayonets
prepared for the final stand. We could hear the word
" Charge !" and in • moment down they went upon their
assailants. Hand to heed they struggled fur • abort period,
but at last, again defeated, they were again driven up the
hill, and the ladies and the children and the crowd and
the reporters along with them. For ourselves, personally,
we felt that we had done quite enough for honour ; so
having thus disputed the hill inch by inch, we took a mid-
den turn to the right at the top of the bill, and retreated in
good order into the grand stand to watch the conclusion of
the fight. And it was decidedly the most interesting and
the moat intelligible scene of the day's spectacle. Now,
Hicks and his engineers had it ; now, Thorold seemed to
pin pond, and lookers-on shouted with excitement, as if
they new • real battle. There was, directly opposite the
Illemeed meats, a piece of table land at the top of the bill,
• wwww of which was enclosed with hurdles. Within this
Wee s•elcoure stood General Eyre, Col. Knee, and several
other experienced military men, and they looked on
with perfect delight and astonishment at what was
being done on the plateau before them. At
OW aide the attack formed a magnificent line,
and at the other the defenders stood to their arms, sullen
and resolute, as the Spartans may have done at Thermo-
pyhe. The deadly Enfield went to work on both sides, and
the steadiness and intensity of the fire were perfectly marvel.
lees. No desultory " pop, pop," as one might have ex-
pected from such forces, but • fierce, regulated, incessant
rattle, whilst a thousand tong us of flame came rushing
from the guns in the twilight with the regularity of long
rows of pa jets. A most experienced military man, who
looked on, said he had never seen a more deadly or steady
fire, and, what was bettor, as be forcibly expressed it, the
men who after three months' drill could fire that way in
play, would fire twice as well in earnest. This gentleman
also expressed his conviction that before such a fire se that
the beet foreign troops in the world must immediately give
we,. For ourselves, having seen many English sham fights,
awl foreign petite, guerres, we must say that we never saw
anything that g►ve no so vivid an impression of reality as
that final battle of musketry on the crest of Camplen-hill.
The steadiness of the lines, the terrible certainty of the fire,
ea Indicated by the measured although rapid roll of the re.
garb and the exact order of the flashes, the advance "like
a wall" of the conquerors, and the tardy retreat of the van.
{died—all made the illusion so complete that we felt
quite a sensation of relief when the sight of a flag of them
announced the cessation of hostilities.

Then did those late comb•tanta forget all their feuds and
all their f►tigues, and march gaily off in search of the bi
Tomes which beams° promised, but which their comman-
ders, like the Austrian generals at Solferino, had quite for-
gotten to supply with creature comforts. Captain Grant
was to have been there with his much lauded cooking ap-
peratus ; but there was alas ! neither the cook nor the cook-
ing apparatus, nor anything to cook. Feeling, ourselves,
some slight interest in this question, we could fully sym-
pathise with the disappointment of the brave volunteers ;
but they bore it without grumbling, like gentlemen as they
were, formed again and marched off four miles to the rail-
way station, making up for their inability to fill their sto-
machs by filling the air with their many, manly songs as
they tramped along the road. At this little railway station,
their patience, Baal-humour, and discipline were again put
to a severe teat. Marching down in bodies of 500 or 1,000
at a time, it was impossible to avoid keeping heavy masses
waiting in the road, whilst the first comers were
being cleared off ; but they saw at mice that the offi-
cials were doing everything that was passible and that
the delay was inevitable, and so they patiently piled their
arms, took out their pipe. and cigars, and waited fur their
turns. One beery country clown, who attempted to force
in the station door, gave more trouble than a thousand
armed men, and it was the volunteers themselves who re-
moved him in the gentlest manner, whilst he howled and
kicked and bellowed with all the brutal energy of drunken-
aem. The same deficiency of carriages which nad created
such delay in the morning was agaia felt, and with increased
ante city, in consequence of the returning crowd all pouring
into the station at once. The trains were filled the moment
they drew up to the platform, and the rush, each time, was
tremendous. We ourselves were .driven back six times, and
did nut geta seat until a full hour after arrival on the plat-
form. It then took two hours to get to town, which, as the
distance was only twelve miles, can only be accounted for
by the immense length of the train, and the lendable
anxiety of the superintendent to prevent even the slightest
chance of au accident. At one o'clock on Sunday morning
all the avenues leading from London Bridge were black with
volunteers, marching home sagaily, and with as elastic step.
as if they had not been hard at work fres
ix o'clock on Saturday morning, and had sot
bola left without refreshment on the ground, except what
bad been provided for them by Mr. F. J. Smith, a public
spirited wine.mercluint of Bromley, who had secured a small
marquee. Here, although he had an undisputed moan-
' poly of 30,000 hungry customers, Mr. Smith dispensed wine,
and beef, and beer, at what, under such circumstances, must
be considered as merely nominal charges. But Mr. Smith
is a volunteer himself, and distributed his refreshments in
full uniform. In his ease it was evident tist the esprit
de corps had o►eruonte the instincts of trade and the
eniminp of speculation, and it would therefore be doing
injustice to history if his name were not preserved.
It is to be regretted that the proceedings of the sham
tied did a* prowd-withaat one weridast of a somewhat

lamentable character. It appears that after the West Mid•
dimes had performed their skirmishing evolutions, and were
again forming, one of the memben of the corps, who had
not discharged hie rifle, put it, as he supposed, on half cock,
and in the course of the movements the piece exploded, and
the wedding entered the back of the gentleman immediately
in front, Mr. Taylor, of Cornwall-terrace, Regent's-park,
wounding him veryeeverely. The unfortunate gentleman fall,
and on the surgeon of the Highgate Rifles, who was in the im- •
mediate vicinity, attending upon hum immediately, it ma
found that a portion of the wadding had entered the Wok
nearly an inch and a half, carrying with it some of the
clothing, so that the muzzle of the piece must have been
quite close to the back, which also, as well se the coat, was
much singed. The wadding was extracted, sod the wound
having been dressed, the unfortunate gentleman was moved
from the field. A very similar occurrence took place in
the North Middlesex Corps, by which the hand of Mr.
Griffiths, who is a ampere! in the corps, was slightly in-
jured. The corps had been forming, and had just passed
the lime kiln, which had been taken, when they formed
fours and trailed arms, and in doing so an undischarged
rifle went off. Mr. Griffiths' hand was much stung and
blackened with the powder, but on being examined by Dr.
Rayne, the acting surgeon of the corps, it was found that
no serious injury had resulted.
The whole of the movements of the day were under the
superintendence of Major•Genenl Eyre, who was deputed
to attend on the part of the government. He inspected the
corps previous to going iato action, and ascertained the
mareegth of each body, and that they were the eorps which
had permission to attend. The gallant general was attended
by a numerous Matt. There was a large attendance of
military ollioers present, and a great number of members of
both houses of parliament. Several members of the
Mounted Huntingdonshire Rifles were present, and assisted
the aides-de-camp in conveyingorders to varime parts of the
field, and the ground was kept by pickets of the North
Sent Yeomanry Cavalry.