The Express.
London, England, 1861-04-02 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 2, 1861.

THE VOLUNTEER RHAH-PIGHT AT
BRIGHTON.

The stormy event which so suddenly and so
completely peopled the vast solitude of Brighton
Downs yesterday morning was a groat fact, nut
only in the history of the Volunteer movement, but
also iu the progreas and development of the rail-
way system ; and of the powers of the latter, when
milder skilful management, of transmitting large
numbers of armed 11102 from London to any part
of the coast or country in au incredibly short epee
of time in perfect safety, and without any inter-
ru(,tion to the ordinary traffic of the line. As some
objection has been taken to the ~election of Brighton
Downs as the scene of a volunteershani- tight in which
the Metropolitan corps were to occupy a leading
position, it may be as well to mention the circum-
genet% which recommended that spot to Lord
Ranelagh for the mameuvring of his little army.
Nothing could be idler than the rumour which had
been circulated that the sham tight was appointed
to take place on Brighton Downs because the Prince
de Joinville had in his well-known pamphlet se-
lected Newhaven as the point of debarkation fur
his invading French army, and that the object now
was to show his royal highness, or his Imperial
successor, that should Newhaven ever be selected for
such a purpose, we could in a couple of hours con-
centrate a force upon the spot quite sufficient to give
the first check to the invaders. But the truth is that
neither the French nor their invading army had
anything whatever to do with the selection. The
object was to find a suitable place, at a distance
from town notover-great, and which had railway
accommodation, both of platform and line, suffi-
cient for the transit; of a large body of men within
a short space of time. Of the many places thought
of Brighton was considered to have the greatest
number of recommendations. Wimbledon was
ill-suited for evolutions, and Epsom, although fed
by two railways, too difficult of approach. It)nity
seem strange, but it is • recognized maxim
in railway administration, that if you want
to ruin a place, the must ready way of doing so
is to give it two lines of railway, as in that case
the two companies come to terms, divide the traffic,
and neither takes any interest in stimulating its
development. Epsom is in this unfortunate posi-
tion, between the Brighton and South Western
Companies, and neither has been at any pains to
supply it with such terminal facilities as would
allow of the speedy transit of a large body
of men. The Brighton main line, on the
contrary, has accommodation for any abnor-
mal amount of traffic ; and all its officials,
from Mr. Slight, its able and intelligent secretary,
down to the lowest porter, have had full practice
in transmitting its thousands by day. The Derby,
the Crystal Palace holidays, and the excursions, each
put in motion crowds much larger than yesterday's
Volunteer Army, and they have, united, given the
staff such a precision and facility iu working on
such occasions, that what is often a complete scene
of confusion, danger, and delay on other lines, goes
on here with the regularity: of clockwork. For
yesterday's volunteer journey the whole of one of
the large platforms at London-bridge was exclu-
sively employed. On each side was drawn up a
train of 20 carriages attached to an engine capable
of drawing 28 with facility, and each carriage (third
class) capable of holding b 0 persons. The corps
had thus ample platform room upon which to"fall
in" as fast as they arrived, carriages sufficient, and
all ready for them to get in, and equal room and
convenience for getting out at the other end of
their journey.
Various numbers have been furnished to us, as
of the troops which manoeuvred yesterday on
Brighton Downs. Lsxd Ranalagh himself, and his
active assistant, Sergeant Harris, of the Devon
Light Horse, estimated the whole at 10,000 men ;
whilst Superintendent Barneden, of the Brighton
Police, who most efficiently directed the local ar-
rangements, fixed the total at 7,600. The railway
authorities at London-bridge fix the numbers that
started from their twotermini at 2,800, so that if
we add the country corps, we shall see that the
police-superintendent's estimate is nearest the
actual fact. Many hundreds of individual volun-
teers, and one whole corps, the Six Foot Guards,
left town on the previous evening, and these latter
provident souse( Anak at once established a regular
military mess at the Albion Hotel. Lord Ranelagh
left town on Saturday last, and found ample occu-
pation for the interval until Monday in arranging
all the preliminaries of the sham-fight.

The first volunteer train left London-bridge at a
' quarter to 8 o'clock, the second at a quarter past,
the third at five minutes to 9, and the fourth and
last at twenty-one minutes past 9. Three of these
trains were quite full, but the fourth had room
for a considerable number of orthuary pas-
sengers, the latter not being so numerous as might
have been expected, probably in consequence
of the suspension on this occasion of the usual ex-
cursion fares. As each volunteer corps came up
the men marched in heavy column on to the plat-
form, beaded by its band, which played the mon in
with some exhilarating popular air. They thee
" fell in " with great regularity opposite the car-
riages, and iu a moment, in obedience to another
word of command, took their places inside without
the slightest delay or confusion. It was curious to
observe that during the despatch of the two later
trains the Easter Monday Crystal Palace traffic
commenced, and immense crowds were filling the
trains of that line on one platform simulta-
neously with the. arranging and placing of hun-
dreds of volunteers on the other. We understood
that at the west-end, the new Victoria-station
gave equal accommodation to the volunteers. The
corps which went from London were the let Mid-
dlesex (En&eers), the Six Foot Guards, South
Middlesex (Lord Ranelagh's own corps, a thousand
strong), 11th Middlesex (St. George's), and 30th
(Paddington). There were also the 9th and 2nd
Middlesex, the Gth Tower Hamlets, 7th Islington,
39th Middlesex (Clerkenwell), and the 10th, 19th,
and 20th Surrey. Although the Queen's (West-
minster) did not go in a body, a numerous contin-
gent of their white plumes was observable at the
sham-fight, and there werea great many individual
volunteers from most of the metropolitan corps. The
London Artisan Company made a most creditable
appearance both on the platform and at the review,
and was loudly cheered by the spectators. Crowds
lined all the avenues to the railway station, loudly
cheering each corps as it passed along ; and this,
together with the lively music of the numerous
volunteer bands, gave the whole affair the air of a
great military festival.

At Brighton, as the public are already aware,
the volunteers had a station to themselves, and
here, under the superintendence and skilful manage-
ment of Colonel Lindsay, they were all speedily
formed into columns and marched off to the trysting
ground. Major-General Sir James Searlett, the
inspecting officer on the part of the govern-
ment, came down by the 10 o'clock express,
and on reaching the Level found the whole
massed and ready to receive him. Nothing could
exceed the regularity with which they marched in
succession through the town where the whole popu-
lation had turned out to bid them welcome. All
the shops were shut, except the refreshment houses ;
banners streamed from the windows, or flaunted
scream the street, and everything bore the air of
welcome and festivity, except some placards which
an over-zealous member of the Peace Society bad
stuck on the walls, and in which the sham-fight
was denounced as the veriest of shams, the volun-
teers as a conceited set of fools, and every one, in
fact, as being in the wrong, except the author of
the placard, who sang his own praises in some
doggrel verses of very questionable poetic excel-
knee.

The weather with which this brilliant volunteer
display was favoured is deserving of particular notice.
The ground was wet at London-bridge in the morning,
indicating recent rain, and more was evidently

coming. There was a north wind, and a " sea
fog " was prognosticated by the weather-seers for
the company cm the Downs. But all these
autici-
pations were most agreeably disappointed, as pro-
bably never was finer weather seen than that which
held up duringthe whole day at Brighton. The sky
was without a cloud, the sun shone with mid-
summer brilliancy, the sea wax as smooth as glass,
and there was just such a gentle breeze on
the Downs as made the proceedings pleasant
both for performers and spectators. Nothing could
be finer than the scene as viewed from the Grand
Stand just before the volunteers commenced their
" march jail." Thu undulatory character of
Brighton Downs is familiar to most of our rotders,
but on this occasion so clear was the air that they
could be seen stretching out in an almost endless
succession el hills, and every hill seemed to be
dotted with. its own crowd of spectators. To the
right the Mae Ma slept calm and motionless, un-
disturbed by a single sail, except the email French
passenger steamer from Dieppe, which crept
stealthily and seemed as if it had
cools there to reconnoitre our defensive de-
monstrations on shore. Behind the Stand,
down lost in a rather smoky valley, the whole
two of Brighton weld be taken in at a
glauce, and each road leading thereform exhibited
its long advancing line of the dark columns and
glancing bayonets of the coming volunteers.
Mili-
tary music mingled with much cheering filled the
air, so that what with the downs and the sea, the
town, the marching volunteers, the bands and
the fine weather there probably never was a more
joyous combination of sight and sound got together
on a holiday than that which regaled at least a
hundred thousand gratified spectators on Brighton
racecourse yesterday.
The troops having been all collected and
massed in columns according to the pro-
trane published in the morning's papers,
aljoTGeneral Sir James Scarlett, attended by an
aide-de-camp, and accompanied by the Earl of
Chichester, lord lieutenant of the county, took his
place within the racecourse paling, immediately
op olite the grand stand, and the marching past
commenced. It was beautifully done by all the
corps, and marked an immense improvement on the
performances of last year. Indeed it would be im-
possible for any regular troops, however highly dis-
ciplined, to perform this simple but most imposing
mauwuvre with greater precision and effect. The
Sussex and Cinque Ports Artillery came first, and
wire loudly cheered, the Brighton public evi-
dently feeling highly gratified at their firm
tread and martial bearing. Them came the
Seuth Middlesex, the very perfection of a volunteer
corps', and which was the object of a must special
ovation. Lord Ranelagh headed his corps until
they came opposite the Major-General, when his
lordship fell out, and remained beside Sir James
Scarlett during the remainder of the march past.
Oa they came in a long succession of corps, and in
most imposing array—lands playing, colours flying,
officers saluting, and spectators cheering. Sir
James frequently said " Good !" "Capital !" but
where all were so good, it would be invidious to
point out the fortunate corps which were honoured
with thia mark of discriminating commendation.
The marching past occupied upwards of an hour, to
the great delight of everybody, the "march past" of a
sham-fight being exactly the one thing which every-
body can admire and understand. The troops
continued their march along the curve of the race-
course, the people following them in large num-
bers, and repaired to the hill, where their mime-
vres were to commence. Unhappily the exigencies
of the battle and the character of the ground car-
ried them very soon out of sight of the occupants
of the grand stand, and those of the latter who
were not active or curious enough to follow the
fortunes of the war descended into Mr. Careless's
refreshment saloon, and made a very care-
ful and satisfactory inspection of his com-
missariat arrangements. But this was not for
the army or its chronicler. Nothing fatigued by
their early journey from town, or their terrible
march from the station—four miles up a tremen-
dous hill—which, by the way, ought to have been
avoided if possible, the volunteers marched steadily
on up hill and down valley, taking up positions
and defending to the death, forming squares
to resist ea and driving the said cavalry into
the sea, and the time keeping up a constant
din of murderous file and volley firing, which was
as close and as steady as if it had been that of the
guards at Inkermann. In a hollow on the sea-side the
artillery took up its position, pounding the invaders
with six-pound shot, whilst the infantry on the
other side peppered them with rifle bullets, or drove
them before them with the bayonet. In all fair-
ness it must be confessed, however, that this enemy,
who our readers are aware was entirely • ' ,
seemed to give our volunteers a good est of
trouble. He had to be driven from hill to bill,
until victors and vanquished both became invisible
from the people on the grand stand, whose only
comfort wax that he was, according to the pro-
gramme, to be finally driven into the sea close
under their eyes. Unfortunately, however, this
final pleasure was denied them, as the ammunition
fell short before his complete discomfiture could
be effected, and, instead of pursuing him with
well merited vengeance to his utter destruction,
the various corps of the volunteer army came to
a halt on the fourth of these closely contested hills,
and the officers being called to the front, Major-
General Scarlett made a few observations expressive
of his high gratification at everything he had seen,
and his opinion that the country and the govern-
ment were deeply indebted to Lord Ranelagh and
the various volunteer corps for the exertions they
were making to place the country in an efficient
state of defence. These observations, which we
hare reason to believe were no idle compliments,
but the sincere opinions of this distinguished
officer as well as of his staff, were
loudly cheered by the volunteers, and at
their terminaticn the latter commenced slowly
and by various routes to make their way
back to the points from which they had started in
the morning. Some might be seen winding along
the coast, others came up the race-course, and •
third section turned short and marched to the town
by a different route. By these means all confusion
or blocking was avoided, and every one got speedily
and comfortably back to town. Lord Ranelagh
himself, at the head of his corps, marched past the
Grand Stand, and was repeatedly cheered by its
numerous and fashionable occupants. Thus ter-
minated the proceedings of a very brilliant'!
and successful volunteer sham fight, in which
excellent generalship was exhibited on the part of
the commanding officers, and wonderful pluck, bot-
tom, and discipline by the officers and men who
had thus come a long journey in the morning and
had marched and manoeuvred through the length
of rather a warm day, without fee or reward, except
the consciousness that in thus preparing them-
selves to defend their country from invasion,
shoiffd it ever be attacked, they were bravely doing
their duty as patriots and as Englishmen.
We subjoin the official list of the forces engaged :
ARTILLERY BRIGADE.
Colonel Petridge, Commanding.
let Battalion Brighton Artillery, 4th Cinque Porta, 2nd
Hants. 2nd Sure:.