The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-07 00:00:00

Aldershott Camp Exhibition.

In this age of industrial displays ana international
competitions it was not to be expected that any
class would long escape the attractive influence of
the contagions though, as was to be expected, the
military, with characteristic conservatism, have been
the last to yield to the general example. Yield,
however, they have, and Aldershott Camp now
boasts an artistic and industrial exhibition of its
Own making, which on its intrinsic merits would
be well worth a visit wherever it was shown, but
which when viewed in connection with its history
and objects, or for its capabilities of development
in the future, is one of the most interesting
and suggestive kcal displays we have ever seen.
The whole idea is of Course not taken as a mere
emulation of other industrial displays, but is
one of a series of steps
which kind and
thoughtful officers at the camp have been taking for
the last two or three years to improve the condition
of the soldier, whether in garrison or
It has been this feeling which has beau
canvas.
n most laud.,
ably encouraged at the Horse Guards t,tia
War-office, which has led at Aldershot to the e-
blishmwhich
ent of a number of soldiers' club,, at the
W ffi
con-
sist of three huts—one for reading, well supplied
with periodicals and becks; one for genies of bagq,
telle, chess, draughts, &e., and one for such retreah,
msnts as tea and coffee, which are supplied to the
men at very low prices. Already these clubs have
had
_e. most beneficial effect in keeping the men from
canteens, or worse, Ia the day they are welt at-
tended, in the evening crowded, aed even for those
who do not care or like to read, club games and cleib
gossip are already found to be a most attractive
alternative to the canteen. A step beyond these
clubs again hes been made by supplying the men
who wi'ihed for them with tools and materials for
furniture making, joicery, and turnery work; and
though the idea of having workships for recreae
lion, in which Buell men as chose might so
amuse themselves, has not yet, we are sorry
to say, been carried out, yet such good
use has been made of the tools supplied them
as to at lance suggest the idea of having an Lucille-

trial Exhibition of the works produced by their aid.
This admirable first idea of course soon extended
itself to artistic work, needlework, and then to works
of all.kinds, bona fide the production of officers or
their wives, or soldiers or their wives, actually re-
sident in camp, or who had only been removed
since February. It is easy to believ the enthu-
siasm with which both officers and men entered
into the idea, when we now look at its results as
collected in the room and hall of the late Alder-
shot Club-house, and that this enthusiasm will
grow with each succeeding year of such industrial
displays is as certain as is the success of every
reasonable enjoyment offered to our soldiers.
Every regiment in camp has contributed to the
display—that is to say—the Royal Artillery and
Royal Engineers, the 2d and sth Battalion of the
Military Train, 6th Carabineers, let Royal Dra-
goons, 2d Scots Greys, 13th Hussars, 14th Hussars,
Ist battalion 6th Foot, Ist battalion 24th. the 37th
and 59th Regiments, 2d battalion, 60th, 73d, 75th,
and 87th Regiments, and not only these corps, but
the wives of the officers and men in each, and the
children from the regimental schools, have sent in
articles for exhibition.

We need scarcely say that in an exhibition which
is really very extensive, and which embraces a large
variety of specimens of painting, drawing, photo-
graphy, carving, cabinetmaking, carpentering, mili-
tary engineering instruments, accoutrements, ar-
mourers'and smith's work, leather, needle,and cloth
work, we can do no more than summarise its general
tendencies and results. The first thing whieh strikes
the spectator is a feeling of regret that such valuable
powers of amusement and self-occupation, always
useful, often highly intellectual, which our private
soldiers evidently possess, should have been suffered
to lie dormant so long for the want of a little fos-
tering care. That they can never be so neglected
again one has only to glance round the Aldershot
exhibition to be assured. The works of officers and
officers' wives form their due proportion in this col-
lection, and no more. Little else need be said of
this branch, for it is not surprising that with their
education, time, and means they should contribute
excellent watercolours, excellent crayons, excellent
photographs, and minor works of art. In not one
single branch or class, however, do they show superie
ority over the productions of the rank and file. The
soldiers' wives beat the officers' wives in lace and flue
work. Some of the privates send watercolour sketches
which are equal to any in the collection, while in the
matter of cabinetwork and carving, smith's work
and armoury, the men, as might have been antici-
pated, have a clear superiority. In fact, the men
appear to have entered with more zest into the com-
petition for honours than the officers; and thus the
officers do not win where they ought to have won ;
but where the men ought to have won they have
succeeded. From these remarks, however, we must
except the really beautiful examples of wood-
carving and watercolour painting shown by Colonel
the Hon. H. H. Clifford, V.C., one of the chief pro-
moters of the whole display, These articles are
not surpassed, if even equalled, by anything else
of the kind in the collection. So also must we
except the collection of ivory turnings shown by
Lieutenant Wi kioson, of the sth battalion Mili-
tary Train,—a collection which would provoke the
envy of any professional turner in England ; and
so also must we except the fine and well-finished
working model of a steam-engine made by Captain
Butt, of the 75th Regiment.
The specimens shown by the men are, as we have
said, of almost every class and kind, and from their
nature in some respects indicate the right men in
wrong places, or else some strange peculiarities in
taste. Thus, strange, to say, some of the best
specimens of needlework, as exemplified in cloth
patchwork quilts, are exhibited by privates in the
Foot Regiments. Some of these quilts ace beau-
tiful examples of industry, perfect in the arrange-
ment of their geometric patterns, and especially
excellent is the general tone and choice of colours.
Equally good, also, are the woven or knitted
wool counterpanes. The Ist Royal Dragoons are
among the largest contributors from the cavalry
ranks, and the mass of the articles sent in are fur-
niture, though when we recollect how heavy are the
drill and stable duties of a cavalry private one
cannot but be astonished that the men ever found
time to finish them. Sergeants Sweet and Lee
and Private Alderson exhibit some mahogany fur-
niture, turned, plain, and polished, which would do
credit to the first upholsterer in London. The Royals
are also strong in wool-work, while the men of the
13th Hussars have mainly contributed watercolours
and photographs. The Artillery appear to have
their inventive bent subdued to what they work in
this collection almost entirely consisting of finespeci-
mens of harness, models of batteries, and Armstrong
guns carefully made to scale. The Royal Engineers,
as might be expected from a corps whose ranks com-
prise men of almost every handicraft, and nearly all
of whom know two trades, send a most varied col-
lection, which embraces everything, from drawings,
paintings, models, and maps, down to a portable
bath and marble font. Corporal Dagnall shows an
improved cartridge-pouch, which is not only ingeni-
ous, but which is a valuable invention, and one well
worth the attention of the authorities. Indeed, one
of the most important feinaires of the Exhibition
are these valuable practical hints in the way of
invention of all kinds which the Government are
likely to get from the rank and file if these displays
are encouraged. Thus, Private Bentham, of the
2d battalion of the 6th, has invented a lint-making
machine, which he works in the Exhibition. One
has only to look at it to see that the plan is simple
and admirable, and the Government have only te
apply steam instead of hand labour to the m-achine
to meke lint enough in a day. to 1.-.. at even a
Federal army for a whole campehen. So, again,
Sergeant Griffiths, of the 75'.n Regiment, has in-
vented an improved airo:aig rest and stand for pho-
tographic camera crembined, which, if we mistake
not, would prov.1 better than the exceedingly clumsy
aiming rests
we now have. The 2d and sth batta-
lions of the Military Train send the largest collec-
tion of any corps. Of the latter battalion Sergeant
1--aee.'6 three cases of stuffed English birds deserve high
' praise. The Ist battalion of the 6th Regiment is
especially strong in inlaid woodwork, of which
Private Knox and Sergeant Young contribute the
finest specimens. The 59th is very excellent in wool
and patch work, and the school children of this re-
giment send some most beautiful specimens of
needlework. The 2d battalion of the 60th has a
very good collection indeed of watercolours and
crayons, the former by Sergeant Storey and Pri-
vates Ruddlestone and Brewster, the crayons by
Mrs. Kenny, the regimental schoolmistress. Pri-
vate Farrell of the same regiment sends some beau-
' tiful wood-carvings, Corporal Porter and Privates
Woodward and Arrowsmith, excellent mahogany
furniture, and Woodward, Arrowsmith, and Far-
rell unite their efforts on a child's mahogany cot,
• which is beautifully carved and polished. The chit-
' dren from the school of this regiment also contri-
bute good specimens of needlework, and altogether
the efforts of the corps are most creditable. Private
l Pritchard, of the 73d Regiment, is evidently a
skilled upholsterer. He sends as his own work a
eomplete suite of carved drawing-room furniture
a patent spring mattress, a portable camp-bed and

mattress, and other things—in fact, his contribu-
tions fiil one room. Hospital Sergeant Crowley, of
the same regiment, has some specimens of electro-
plating, of which even Elkington need not be
ashamed. The privates of the 87th Royal Irish,
especially Hill, Ball, and Dru Lamer Stevenson, have
good specimens of painting and woodwork, and the
garrison school teachers send maps, plans, draw-
it'g4, photographs, and models. In addition to the
industrial exhibition there is an exhibition of loan

articles, consisting of weapons, ornaments, dresses, jewellers, chins, and
pictureP, collected in all parts
cf the World. There aro very few European
trophies in this. Of the helmets of the Russian
Imperial guard, Which °flea lay thick as leaves
on the hill side at Alma, but which are
now 80 E c 1 r ce, there are only two in the whole
collection, and only two or three of the old
Russian muskets. But, to make up for this
dearth of European spoils,
the Orientals have paid
double toll, and the rooms are full of Mandarin
dresses, jade vases, enamelled bronzes, Indian tul-
wars, swords, and shields, and trophies from th'
Japanese. Most of these works are of great beauty,
many—;uch us the enamelled bronzes from the Eat- I

peror's Summer P place at Pepin--of considerable
value.

For the rest, we can only soi that the Exhibi-
tion fills well all d.ay, and thrAt almost all the works
made by the soldiers were sold on the first opening
last week at their own prices. The Exhibition is
well worth a visit, a.nd deserves every encourage-
ment and support. Its conception reflects the
highest credit on tt ►e kindly thoughtfulness of the
officers who origins ted it and on the men whose
skill and industry have supported it with so much
credit.

THE PIVUSSIAN ARMY.

(From the Times" Special Correspondent,)
FLENSBURG, July 3.

The Danes here are greatly disheartened by the
capture of Alsen, and the German part of the popu-
lation declare their conviction that the troops that
fight under the Dannebrog flag will never again
hold their greuntJ against those of Prussia and
Austria, but will run or surrender almost as soon as
attacked. " They fired a few shots and then
bolted," a Prussian officer told me yesterday, and,
indeed, I suspect they will never do more. The
Danish' officers may be all honourable men, and the
soldiers stout of h eart, but they ate decidedly defi-
cient in military qualities. Perhaps they are badly
commanded; the fault may lie with the Generals;
bat if only the colonels were good one would think
that something termer might be done than such a tame
defence as that of Alsen, which may be summed up as
a skirmish and a scamper. They did not even run
fast enough to save themselves, but lost some 2,500
prisoners. Not so many Schleswigers were among
these as was at first supposed. Up to the evening
of the Ist inst., 445 of the prisoners had been re-
leased, having proved that they belonged to Schles-
wig. The way in which this is ascertained is by
baptismal certificates. Notice has been given that
Schleswig families having sons in the Danish army
should send to an officer at Flensburg extracts from
the registers of baptism. A prisoner who claims to
be a Schleswiger is asked his age and name and the
names of his parents, and the register is referred to
in verification of his statement. Some concerning
whom particulars have not been received prove
that they belong to Schleswig by producing letters
from their families. One Schleswiger was retained
prisoner at his own request, under peculiar circum-
stances. He had entered the army as substitute
for a Dane, and was to receive a considerable sum
for so doing. If released he would not be paid, so
he preferred remaining captive.
On the expiration of the armistice the Prussians
busied themselves in erecting batteries along Alsen
Sund. Boats were also brought up from the Schlei
on carriages, and were concealed in Satrup Waod,
and pontoons were collected there and at Belle-
gaard. At least 60 rifled guns, 24's, 12's, and 6's,
were placed between Ballegaard and Sandborg.
The Danes seem to have removed their guns, or
else never to have armed the batteries they had on
the east shore of the Sund. At least the Prussian
accounts say that from the northernmost point on
the Danish side down to the little bay or inlet
near Kjar they found only seven guns and a few
of those mediaeval espingardas by which the Danes
set much store, but which never, so far as I can
learn, have done much halm to anybody,
except, perhaps, at Veile, where they are
said to have killed a few Austrians. You will do
well utterly to discredit the accounts you may
see in some German papers of the storm of shell and
grape and every other kind of projectile under
which the passage of the Sound was effected. Ihe
operation was carefully planned, well managed, and
executed with ease and trifling loss. The Rolf
Brake is said to have fired, on her first sortie from
Augustenburg Bay, more than 50 shots, distributing
them among the batteries, the boats, and the troops
assembled on the shore waiting for shipment, but I
cannot learn that she did any harm beyond sinking
two boats. She did not come to close quarters, but
fired at a long range. To have done any good she
must have risked her plates and timbers more than
she seems-to have been disposed to do. One great
proof of the discouragement of the Danes seems to
me apparent in the ease with which the Prussians
drove them across the island. There never was
better ground for defence, if the defenders
had meant to fight. I drove a little about the
island yesterday, to Ulkeboll, Augustenburg,
and in that neighbourhood, and I am assured that
its whole surface is much of the same nature. If
so, it abounds in excellent positions. It is cut up
into smatl fields, with high banks and hedges,
affording abundant cover, from behind which good
infantry ought not to gave allowed themselves to be
dislodged until they had inflicted very heavy loss on
their assailants. The Prussians took very few guns
across with them. Where was the Danish field artily
lery ? It does not seem to have shown itself at all.
They had plenty of heavy guns in positions which
the Prussians took care not to attack. Their idea
seems to have been that they would be assailed from
the Dappel heights, and that Zonderburg would be
the point of attack. Huge 84-pounders, two mortars,
and some rifled guns are still to be seen in the
Church Battery, as it is called, on the Danish right
of Sonderborg. They perfectly command the ro-
from Dappel Mill, and would have inflicte,'
loss on a force coming from that side. - aheavy
a serious attack. A feint was ' and intending
a
tion. Eight rifled guns WV' ide from that direc-
-d stationed on the Duppel
heights, and, simult-
eaneously with the commence-
ment of the p‘...ssage from Satrap, they opened a
heavy fir', on the Church Battery and the adjacent
wclies. At the same tiene a few companies embarked
in boats on the shore of the Venningbund, not tar
from the spot where stood Duppel Fort No. 1, and
pulled towards Sonderborg. The Church Battery
blazed at them with all its migh', whereupon they
presently returned, the sole object having been to
divert the attention of the Danes from the real
point of attack.

Alsen, I mast say, SO far as I have seen it, is an
island worth fighting for, which is more than can
be said for many parts of Schleswig. It is just now
green as an emerald, rich in verdure and foliage
(there has been a great deal of rain here of late, and
we can hardly be said to have got out of spring),
looking like a garden, with green lanes and pleasant
pastures. The thorn trees and laburnums are still
in bloom, and one drives along the road between
lofty hedges covered with roses and honeysuckles.
It is very like many parts of England, although not
so trim and highly cultivated. The villages and
houses are remarkably neat and clean, bright glass
and plentiful flowers in all the windows. There is
no appearance of recent occupation by large bodies
of troops; nothing broken, or trodden down, or
defaced. Doubtless many of the Sonderborg people
had dispersed themselves among the villages of the
island when the barbarous storm of Prussian shell
made their town residence untenable, for yester-
day I met scores of carts going in from country
parts. They ware filled with household furniture,
chairs and tables and mattresses, and feather beds,
and the owners for the most part sat on the top of
their chattels with a half-pleased, half-sorry look,
as if they were glad to return, but had not
yet got over their violent and cruel ejection. In
Sonderborg, too, one saw families wandering about,
seeking their dwellings and often finding only the
spot where these had stood. More than one mourn-
ful group did I chance upon, gray-hailed fathers,
and careworn mothers, and fair rosyacheeked
daughters, gazing sadly and tearfully at heaps of
broken stones and burnt rafters, and seemingly
conjuring up for themselves, out of the devastation,
the presence of the cozy chambers and the cheerful
fireside where they so often had sat before those
brutal tubes on Gamruelemark crushed them under
a shower of iron. Whether Sonderborg will ever
rise from its ashes it is hard to say, but at present
it is a mere wreck. I should think nearly half the
houses are wholly or in great measure destroyed.
But the situation is a pleasant one, and tempting to
the builder. Already, on the Sundowitt side, build-
ings ruined by the war begin to rise again. In West
Duppel,and its neighbourhood I saw old houses
being repaired, roofs putting on them in lieu of those
shattered by German or Danish shell, and acme en-
tirely new cottages being built. The corn springs
green over many a spot lately reddened with blood;
the peasants are hard at work filling up the trendies
'and levelling earth, and the traces of war are rapidly
disappearing.
Besides a great number of guns, the Danes left

behind them a very large quantity of ammunition,
intended, we must presume, to furnish a much
more stubborn defence than was offered. As I have
often had occasion to remark the Danes:are wonderful
people for preparing defences which are not made
when the hour arrives. They are great at building
batteries and throwing up earthworks, but they do
not hold them so long as we were taught to expect
they would. This war will have completely de-
stroyed the military prestige so abundantly attri.
buted to them at its commencement. Their navy,
although it has not shown itself very daring in its
operations against land forces and batteries, has
done better by sea, having severely mauled the
Austrians in the only sea fight worthy of the name
that has taken place. Judging from the increase of
the Prussian navy, it is probable that we may hear
of another naval engagement before long. Much
as they exult in their triumphs by land, and large
as is the weed of praise their domestic chroniclers
assign to them, a yet louder trumpet of glorification
would probably be blown did the Prussians obtain
a decisive success upon the water. Such a success
might also be looked upon as a desirable prelimi-
nary to the attack on Funen, which many are san-
guine will soon take place. My own advices on
this subject are very corticting, but moat of the
troops that can be spared from Sundewitt and Alsan
are marching northward (although some few are
also going south), and as that seems the only quar-
ter in which it is possible that any fighting can
occur, I myself move to-day in the same direction.