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

LONDON. MONDAY MINING. JULY 16, 1860.

THIS VOLUNTEER 811.411 BATTLE AT

CHISSLHURST.

Up to flatnrday morning last there were probably
a great many people who, although rather priding them-
selves upon the amount and extent of their information. yet
did tot know much about Chiaelhuret, for Chiselhurst In •
sweet, retired, country place, down in Kent, which Mill
enjoys the now rare advantage of being some three or four
miles distant from the nearest railway eMtiou, and shame.*
only twelve miles from the great metropolis, le as still an
green, and as sylvan u if nobody lived there but Babb
Hood and has merry men, and nobody came there but the
occasional wayfayer with whom the stout outlaw was moue
to have his bout at quarter staff, and whom, having lust
taken from him his cudgelling like • gentleman, be treated
with true greenwood hospitality to the warden pie and
=demi* which he had borrowed from the neighbouring
abbey. Chiniellumat is only lobe approached by steep and narrow
country rods, green at the midge, and brown in the middle,
over which the hawthorn of the marginal hedges mole •
perfume which Mr. Himmel would in vain anemia to
imitate. Except on the rare occasion of an torrential of
volunteers, the only sounds heard in Chiselhumt 1
are the carol of the birds, and the loud single
voice of the husbandman talking to his bones or
himself in the held.. Here and there a curious little an-
miler boalizr nook breaks the monotonous hedge line, and a
cluster of some half dozen wooden cottages is seen, with
trellised windows last blos the opening scene in Lose irs
Village, with red-tiled roofs, and • perfect panoply of
, blushing roses, which might be taken for so many younger
branches of the large families of chubby chihisen that
sprawled in the gardens, or shouted at the wicketa, or sate
upon the shoulders or dun to the necks of the comely
dames who watched the volunteer" with smiling exultation
m they tramped past on Saturday last. On Friday evening,
" when the sun was low," Chiselharet, with its hill and
dale, slope and woodland, was the typo of rural peace and
rustic seclusion. On Saturday morning, " when the sun
was high," it was a mimic Hohenlinden, its normally quiet
and unfrequented roads sending up clouds of agonised dust,
its still atmosphere, broken by the clang of arms, the mea-
sured tramp of brave men, the strains of military beads,
and the crash of contending omnibuses, the last used
loaded with nervous yeasseigerz, whose fears the coachman
treated with the most cestemptuotts indifference, his every
anxiety being to psi backwards and forwards to the railway
station as ones as possible before the commencement of the
great business alike day. The rustics stood at their little
gates, wondering se if it were an earthquake, the children
held up their tiny lauds and shouted, and the very roses
on the cottage frosts seemed as if blushing with a deeper
intensity under the excitement of this sudden transition
front perpetual quiet to the noise, hurry, and confusion of
warlike movements. It was impossible for any one, whilst
gazing on this sweet picture of pleasant meadows, which
under every breath of the summer breeze revelled in new
changes of light and shade—the rich fields of corn, that
were just begiring to be tipped with gold—the smiling
hedges, crossing, and twisting, and intersecting each other
everywhere, like a gay braiding on nature's mantle— the
cottages, and the roses, and the comely women, and the
chubby, shouting children, without making • sad cue.
parison between the scene we then looked upon, and what
it might become if some fell invader were per-
mitted to pass over it like a simooni, and, at the
bidding of an ambitious despot, to make another
Palatinate of the happy villages and fertile valleys of
Kent. The young volunteer, as he tramped sturdily along
the dusty road, must have felt in looking round that be
bad • country worth fighting for, and even the soberer
passengers in the trary omnibuses consoled themselves at
every recurring but of level road with consolatory reflec-
tions of a somewhat similar character.

But this wee Chiselhurst, the bright end of the diorama,
which commenced at Loudon-bridge, where the picture was
as different as one representative of mundane things could
possibly be to another. The railway authorities had evi-
dently bees taken by surprise, and although Mr. Knight,
the active superintendent of the South-Eastern line, untie-
hausted by his exertions ut the Agricultural Show only •
few days before, was unwearied and most suocessful in his
exertions to woommxiate and transmit everybody, the
means of transit were obviously unequal to the sudden de-
mend, and the struggle to get stowed away in
soy kind of a railway carriage far surpassed
anything we had ever before witnessed during ra-
ther an extended experience of monster gatberinp.
We have had often before to fight our way to the door of •
railway carriage, and to hold on by the handles at the risk
of a broken arm or of being dragged off the platform, bat
then we bad to contend only with ordinary crowds, caw
pressible civilians like ourselves, and could generally get •
piece somehow on the first assault. But on this omission
the platform was densely packed with athletic young robot-
teen, all eager to be in time on Campden-hill, and, when-
ever any one else attempted to get in, along with a platoon,
the only remit was to get his bead buried in • forest of
Enfield rides, long and short, and to feel his companions
mumbling into the carriages in down over his hack. The
police, who endeavoured to keep the edge of the platform
dear, were swept away like the mill on the floss, and thus,
taste after train, had attempts to be made and disappoint-
ments to be experienced, until slowly and tediously as
inadequate number of carriages found seats for all the
crowd. The journey down too, although only twelve
miles, took ;wan hour and a half, *ogres; is the traffic oath,
South Beaters family of lines, and so frequent the stoppages
required for passing or crossing trains. To manage all this
with mfety to lumen life must have required all the vigi-
lance and all the attention of the whole railway staff, and
the allows with which that all important object was
achieved, both going and returning—the latter infinitely the
most critical portion of the day's travelling—reflects the
utmost credit on the superintendent and the whole of his
subordinates, on whom the responsibility rested. As coin.
plaints will probably be made against the South Eastern
Cemp•sy for insufficiency of preparation, it is only fair to
then to mention, that nothing that had transpired pre-
view to Saturday respecting the sham fight justified
them in expecting that it would be so great a success and
so powerful an attraction for the public as it subsequently
turned out to be. Rumours, too well authenticated, wine
in circulatioo, of divisions amongst the volunteer chiefs—
how lord Grosvenor had refused the attendance of the
"Queen's," and how Lord Elcho had determined
to keep lack the Loudon Scottish. The attempt
at a volunteer sham fight was considered to he premature,
and there were not wanting people to amen that lord
Riusekgh was running a race for a volunteer lead with Lord
Etch°, and that his tkinpden.hill campaign would in the
end turn out to be nothing men than an ambitious failure.
But the event has proved Lord Itanelagh to have been right,
and that in the case of a /mat satiated movement, which is
to be sustained by national enthusiasm, there is nothing like
studding its progress with great tangible facts, which the
people an understand, sod which will have the effect of
concentrating their attention on the point to which it is
vitally noceseary it should be directed. 'The review in
Hyde-part was a great fact which added thousands of men
to the volunteer levies throughout the country, and
now we have the sham battle of Campden.hill for
another, to show that, may as it was to get civilians to
enrol for purposes of national defence, it is quits as easy
to convert thorn into good practical soldiers, In • space d'
time in which previously no one would have con-
ceived sack an achievement possible. There were
scores of experleoced military men on Canipden.hdl on
Saturday last, and their impression of what they saw was
one of delight and surprise at the military ability and seal
which in so shed a tines had enabled tee voiniesers to go
so creditably tlizengli their welt lions. Tbsrs is nothing
succeeds like socoein, and the mom of Saturday will give
the volunteer cause a peat impetus, bat is the mesatims,
as it was so unexpected, and as such great pains lad been
taken in so many influential quarters to mks it a failure,
it is sot to be wondered at that the South Eastern tom
pany should have been taken a little by surprise at the
eisernione rah of volunteers and sight seekers which they
were called as to transmit, at a room/ties notion, to a little
bye station to which the ordinary traffic is sot mare than
some half-dosen pamengers each train. They did Ikea,
work slowly, but they did it wifely, and that is no smell
praise, when such a vast anima of human life was con.
awned.

L. s matter of course, tint satearsiv• askr miming buil
tis mike invasion of ilia Lasilsweridge *item by mow

peat liedim of KO er 1,000 men at itime, were totally un-
illifirattsthese vishassirho got down early,and had taken their
times fa the meowed seats by two o'clock in the afternoon.
Their pelisses was sorely tried, as the review did not con-
suase mega, and even the picturesque beauties of the
peek hoi exhausted their curiosity long before that time.
Catepilen-park is a very pretty country gentleman's place,
with plenty of bill and dale, and some rather respectable
pisistatimo A little river divides it from Bickley-park, its
neighbour, much better wooded, but as both slope down to
the river they me admirably adapted to enable people to
see • sham fight going on in one or both, whatever difficul-
ties their steeply undulating surface might oppose to
the performance of complicated military evolutions.
Cavalry could hardly have made any very brilliant charges
against those steep hills, nor would artillery have much claim
to the epithet " Flying," in moving about amongst the dense
shrubberies and brushwood, but both cavalry and artillery
had been refused, and this refund, more than anything
else, contributed to the triumphant success of the day. The
commanders were obliged to confine themselves entirely
to infantry manieuvres,and the agile volunteers made Both*
of clambering up the hills, or rushing down the valleys,
leaping the ditches, or even plunging into the river, • whole
company having in one ease crossed, holding their rifle,
over their heads, sod with the water rising far above their
waists. The result was a most animating sham fight,
which everyone could see, and the manta-owes of which
they could follow mid understand ; and accordingly it was
enjoyed, followed, and applauded to the echo. The prepa-
pomy arrangements were of the simplest kind. Two at
three sten& the spectators in the most elevated positions,
and a line of bivouac tents "few awl far between," at the
edge of the park, were all the accommodation which had
been provided for either spectators or volunteers ; but the
whole surface of the park presented • succession of amphi-
theatres, so that people had only to sit down on the grass, '
spread out their napkins, and discuss their luncheons, whilst I
they could see all that was going on everywhere around
them. The crowd accumulated very gradually. At first • thin
fringe of people only could be seen on every ridge, but
gradually it swelled, and brightened with gay costumes
until at last there were perhaps 23,000 persons grouped
everywhere over • park of six or seven hundred acres, wait-
ing patiently or impatiently, according to their tempera-
ment, for the arrival of the troop. Au for the " Grand
Stands," the occupants soon got heartily tired of them, and,
descending, mixed with the crowd, where there was much
more excitement going on. The ladies, of course, remained,
and would have been very dull indeed bet that the modern
dieroveries of science came to their aid, and enabled the
gallant commander, Lord Ramble., to send from his distant
encampment an inquiry of " Whether &little music would
be agreeable to the ladies." Professor Wheatatone's field
telegraph had been laid down, and was in full work, under
the skilful manipulation of Mr. Holmes, in front of the
stand. Of course, the other end was in the battle.
field at the service of the Commander-in-Chief, and the
latter availed himself of it to send the aforesaid
polite message. The answer "most agreeable," of true tele-
graphic brevity, was promptly returned, and in due time
Herr Schallehn with his accomplished artists of the South
Middlesex band took up a position in front of the grand
stand, and discoursed most eloquent music during the day.
But for this judicious combination of knightly courtesy and
scientific manipulation,we fear that the fair spectators of the
tournament would have felt the time bang heavily on their
hands long before the mimic strife of the knight. began.
Previous to this, there was a dreadful conspiracy of nigger
minstrels to drive every one frantic with the rattle of bones
and the maddening thrum of banjoes, and • persevering
band of little boys, who,with drums and fifes, seemed to be
perfectly übiquitous, kept popping up everywhere, and de-
luding the expectant company with the notion that at length
the volunteers were coming. Twenty times we could hear
the ladies exclaim, " Hark, here they are," bat in a
few moments the now familiar discordance of
the nom to be finished " Annie Laurie,' was ream-
aimed, and a murmur " Oh, it's only those tiresome
little boys," was followed by aresither gloomy collapse into
silent expectation. Later in the day the beer began to
tell slightly on the peripatetic crowd. One gentleman in
his shirt sleeves placed his back against • tree, and boldly
announced that " Forty policemen shouldn't stir him from
that spot." The crowd soon gathered round, and when
come one asked " If this was the sham fight," the observa-
tion was accepted as a sally of mild sarcasm on the military
delay, and was received with shouts of applause. With
such incidents as these the time was whiled away during
• long summer's day until seven o'clock, when the
manwovres began in the distant woods, from which a
rattling report and an occasional puff of white smoke proved
that "villanous saltpetre" had at last commented its ope-
rations amid the opposing column, of the volunteers.
In accordance with the established practice in the case of
sham fights, ea order of the day had previously been pub-
lished, telling how the battle was to be won and lost, and
enumerating the troops that were to be engaged ;
but, inasmuch as this programme included the operations of
cavalry and artillery, which were not allowed to come, and
enumerated various metropolitan corps, the leaders of which
thought it wise to day away, it. republication here would
be very tittle elncidatory of what really did occur. It
amused the spectators to reed it and grumble over it whilst
they waited, but the alteration which subsequently occurred
was received in the best spirit, and the actual operations
with shouts of acclamation and applause. Previous to the
sigma for attack, which was given at seven o'clock, the first
brigade of the second or attacking division was formed in •
field in the rear of Bickley Wood, and they formed the left
point of the attack. This brigade was about 1,200
strong, consisting of throe battalions—the first formed
of the West Middlesex, under the command of Ma-
jor Compton, consisting of five companies of the West
Middlesex Rifles, 260 strong. The second battalion was un-
der the command of Captain Wilkinson, consisting of two
companies of the 14th Middlesex (Highgate), two mea-
nies of the 29th, or North Middlesex, conimaiaded by Cap-
tains Ross and Cameron, and consisting of about one hun-
dred men ; two companies of the 20th, or Railway
Rifles, about eighty men, under Captain Houghton ;
one company of the Honney Rifles, fifty men, under
Captain Warner ; and one company of the Hamp-
stead, under Captain hignnes, about thirty men. The
3rd battalion consisted of the 19th Working Men's
College, three companies, about one hundred and thirty
men ; the 3rd Tower Hamlet., under Sir E. F. &otos, two
companies, or about sixty men ; the 7th Surrey Rifles, under
Major Botsford, two companies, about one hundred sad
twenty men ; the 4th Surrey, under Captain Emans, the
Bth Surrey Rifles, Captain Yeatman ; and the 9th Surrey
Rides, under Captain Hattie. This brigade was under the
command of Lieutetant-Colmel Lord Radstock and the

Menials of Abercorn. Lord Valletort and Major Chitty
acted as aides•de-camp to the commander of this brigade.
The second brigade was the stronger force, and ceaslsted
of the South Middlesex, commanded by Colonel Thorold ;
Ist battalion by Major M'Pherson and Major Burke ; the
second battalion by Major Farrell, consisting of the 3rd,
4th, Bth, 13th, 18th, 21st, and 34th Kent Rides ; and the
3rd battalion, commanded by the Hoe. Colonel Lindsay,
consisting of the St. George's Rifles ; Civil fiervios, Lord
Bury ; Paddington Rides, Cismeral Donning ; the Scottish
Rides, Ist Company ; the Artists, Captain Phillips ; and
the Barnet Rifles, Captain Taylor. This brigade was posted
en the right of Bilidey Wood, near Mr. Dent's park, and
was nadir the eswmand•inchief of Lienteuant-Colonel

Hicks. This division, of course, advanced from the open
country.

The defending &vides was commanded by Colonel Hick,
—l4 mid Ind Batiallene—Major Close, City Brigade. 3ed

Battalion—Captain .llrLewd, engineers ; Hon. Captain
Rms. Rix-Feet Chards ; Major Scott, lit Kent Rides ;
Clafidailt Laborde, bird Kent Rifles.
The first movement was made by the West blUddbessz
amain through a think hedge from the field above mean
Wird. through the enclosed grounds of an old farradaouse
leading Into Hinkley Wood on the right, sad the remainder
of the battalions of this brigade debonaked by • asrvew Isms
lar the Is& After marching some quarter of • mile, •
siorseeset to the right took place up • steep embankment,
shhislasieght the battalions into the middle of the weed.
Atlesiatessehts some 200 yards deft ea ezesediagly rough
bat weewsttie roadway, covered and etareeaded by trees sad
lavehweed. the first einurds of 111 enemy being in front IF
COMO blows bona • %tisk firs of skirmishers into the wand.
Mao were the Iran @hub bed, sad the bet hadassiisathei,
sa maw Wanda milk% asi. tr it Vas believed; la haws