The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-06 00:00:00

THE FORTHCOMING VOLUNTEER &MEW.

A meeting was held at the War-office on Saturda
afternoon, at which the oonnuanderin-chief of the
volunteer fortes, General Lindsay, a large number of the
commanding officers of metropolitan and other corps.
and a deputation from the local committee at
Portsmouth, were present. It is clear ttu.t to dir
with the sham fight is to eliminate a very=T
rans element from the day's operations, because the
annual demonstration of our civil-military strength in the
southern provinces was never intended to be a mere spec.
Mae for the gratification of sight-seers, but we,
designed to pve to the volunteers something
like a practial lesson in the science of war-
fare. On the other hand, the local authorities
are unwilling to forego the attraction of the um:
holiday show of a march past ; but as the carrying
out of the two parts of the programme was: authonts-
lively pronounoed to be impracticable, it was manifest
that one must give way. As an intermediary alternative
it was proposed that after the march past a portion of the
fora should be detached for service in the neighbourhood
of Poet:down-hill, thus rendering the body roses wieldy,
and drawing off from Southern a portion of the immense
crowd of spectators which it is expected will assemble
there, and the proposition was supported by several of the
commanding officers present at the council. But
main which were felt to be insuperable here
again presented themselves. It is oto ions 19011•
over that such an arrangement would neceeii
tate the appoinmezt of an additional staff, and
that it would divide the interest in the day's pro-
osediap. We understand that the decision chi•
mealy arrived at, and from which it is to be pre-
:red :Zharthetteth:odsrhaoufl Oigunht•
Uses should • mar* past " the reviewing officer, tint in
=fdtliznenetramainr-distanos alum, and that the/
perform a series of evolutions
&octal to the tuna open:Aims of a fielilday. It
is ire=s,
or however, that these can be of
mol complicatede nature, because of the
einparalively limited MS of Seathemeornmen, and the
spaces white will be eeeed by the spectators. But the
Interest et the event might be oonsiderably heightened by
the oemtpation of the ortifications on the sea front so
Portsmouth garrison of Lump's fort, and of Southses
Castle, with its flank'earthworks, and by the employment
al a dotal& of gunboat and smaller craft on the Goan
tins which forms the southern sad south-western boun-
daries of Southemeranmon. Thees, however, are :nation
of detail which come within the province of the autho-
rities at the War-office and at Whitehall. We wider-
stand that at the meeting a very general wish was es.
premed that to make up in some measure for the &Ap-
pointment oocasioned by the abandonment of the she:
fight, as influsetial deputation should wait on her Majcati
rE4 andeaukfar
as
tethrtneesnermythe mareh..thontiempaat.
are
concerned,
do
I.—• programme of armagemente for the Portsmouth color
tom review wee Issued on Friday. The metroec
4 than seeps will leave either hy the London sod
: South Western route frees Waterloo and. lied
singles, or by the Leedom, Brighton, and South
I Goan route from Victoria and London-bridge. The we
S train down is from Waterloo at 1 p.m. on Thandg•
1 April 9. The fares are to be Is. for officers, and Ix tAd•
I for men, and the tickets will be available from ThuroblY,
the 9th, to TN:easy, the letis On Tuesday ..et.ll.
4 greed ball is to take plea, and the pricers wont
t
ere to be distributed, and, mmoreover,most of a
the apart
meats have been taken and paid for till the Wedneson•

i: oo::::ard:vareaan°ll""aansini.Does
matardaeoniesf:7ttlbeutrell; A4901t w ta°eek ('l.:'
g marrow) ; I Pwritani, with NMI& Fieretti and tido,'
1 Kerr (Thursday) ; sad Us lkillo in lhochtro, for 110
the
- At Drury-lane the operas announced for
-
prent week an /1. Trovestore, vitt Siio.4 /Mai° :16 "
4 Kaariee (torenow might) ; Lew* di Char/wow, for W
Kellogg (Thursday) ; and Dee Gionsfini (Saturday).
Belie is now in Paris 000 ducting the reheard'
of re Boenaian Girl, which is about is be brought out it
the 14riiirie. This opera wee gives hi hare some yew.
seo with great wow&
TH3 Wm Lois Domini, Ifswitersturtf.
The suaiber al priers raw terhaest at this licipits:
during the prt week wooded to 591, of which 214 were
ier
'IIIwROTAI, Pm Iloartra., GsAT's-nrs-RoAck—The
0 ..akoto maim& et this began" dung do
week ewusFAira 4 woo 3,907. al whir 1,296 were bey
nom
- Ossisea Pares. HALT-A-Csoint DO.--
I 41431 n 4.---Adomiatiest so pormoo,tl 1-16 •
bialimi oskoto, 6,141; MORI vitliori, 6,16&