The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-30 00:00:00

The Volunteer Review.

On Saturday the Volunteers were reviewed in
Hyde Park in the presence of such a concourse of
spectators as has seldom before assembled within
its precincts. As a military demonstration it was,
of its kind, one of the most important, as a pageant
it was one of the most brilliant it is possible to
imagine. With the single slight and necessary
omission of the Royal salute at the close of the pro-
ceedings—a salute which it was impossible to give
line with such a number of men in such a limited
area of ground, the programme was rigidly adhered
to, even as to time, and the whole display reflects
the greatest credit both on Colonel N'Murdo and
the War-office, who had its management, and the
corps of Volunteers, who so perfectly carried out
their instructions.

It is now follr years since her Majesty held the
first Volunteer review is Hyde Park. Oa that
occasion only some 14,000 men were mustered, and
it is no disparagement to them to say that their
appearance then gave little indication of the solidity
of drill and discipline at which, as all saw on Sa-
turday, the force has been destined to arrive. Dar-
ing the interval that has elapsed the Volunteer
movement has taken deep root in every class of
society, and nowhere more strongly than in the
provincial towns. Comparatively short, therefore,
as was the notice:given of the review of Saturday,
it was sufficient to call together 22,000 disciplined
troops ;(there were 21,74 S rank and file on the
ground), whose fine military appearance and per-
fect regularity of drill, as compared with their evo-
lutions before the Queen four years ago, literally
astonished the spectators. Most of the London re-
giments were ordered to parade at their mustering
places at 3.30. Long before that hour, however,
groups of gentlemen in uniform had begun
to draw together, and from groups to form
companies, and from companies to expand rank after
rank into strong regiments, and from regiments to
grow massive brigades. Long before that hour,
also, it seemed as if half London was on the move to
Hyde-park ; and the thoroughfares presented much
the same sort of aspect as they would wear if the
Volunteers took it into their heads to march to
Epsom on a Derby-day. Indeed, the appearance of
the Park itself reminded one very much indeed of
the Derby. There were the same ricketty stands,
improvised out of planks and ladders, on which the
public were besought to risk their lives and limbs
for charges which rose in proportion to the height
and danger of the structure. A stand which only
offered a fall of 3 feet when it gave way could be
had for a shilling, but the more ambitious elevations
On which it was little short of manslaughter to
decoy people, were as costly as they were unsafe,
and, doubtless, for both reasons fortunately re-
mained almost unoccupied. The review-ground, or
rather the parade on which the troops were to as-
semble in line of contiguous columns, extended over
the whole length of the Park from the Ride to the
Bayswater-road, and even this space was insufficient
to permit of the alignment of the forces, which con-
sequently had to be formed up with their right
wing, so to speak, considerably advanced and at
right angles with the main body. The
space for the privileged spectators was a long en-
closure running parallel with Park-lane, and to
this admission was only to be gained by tickets.
The distribution of these admissions was unfor
tunately mismanaged, and was, in fact, a cause
of considerable dissatisfaction throughout the day.
The Board of Works had gone to the trouble of
arranging the enclosure, and, having thus done
their part, expected Sir Richard Mayne to do his
by providing a sufficient force of police to prevent
its being occupied by those who had no right
to admission. Sir Richard Mayne, however, de-
clined, it is stated, in the absence of the Sove-
reign, to draw upon the police for men to keep
the ground. The result was that only some few
additional constables were sent into the Parks, and
as these were left without orders they became, in
fact, a mere addition to the spectators. It was the
refusal of Sir Richard Mayne to send police to keep
the enclosure which led to the distribution of tickets
being postponed until they were valueless. The
country and other corps only got their shares when
they were actually marching to the ground, and
could neither use them nor give them away.
Soon after 4 o'clock some troops of Horse Guards,
with a troop of Lancers, came upon the ground,
and in a few moments quietly cleared the whole
space allotted for the review, which formed a vast
square, the line of which was thenceforward kept
only by a few sentries, but beyond whose bounds,
until the review was over, the crowd never attempted
to pass. It was not, however, from want of provo-
cation to break it that the line was kept, for the
rule laid down by the Commander-in-Chief that
officers in uniform were not to pans civilians within
the lines without tickets was flagrantly set at
naught. Every officer brought a large civilian
party, and overbearing all remonstrance on the part
of the sentries, insisted on placing them inside the
lines, and this they repeated so often that at last a
a perfect inner circ'e was formed before the seated
visitors, between whom and those standing in front
a constant altercation was going on. Sometimes the
crowd of sitters were so loud and persistent in their
cries of " Sit down in front 1" that for very peace
sake those who were obstructing their view were
obliged to do so. But the concession was seldom
made for long, so that at various points along the
line the altercation was always going on, and no-
where with more vehemence or with worse effect
than immediately round where the Prince and Prin-
cess were stationed, to which point of course all
officers took their friends.
There is a celebrated saying of a celebrated
General, that we had not a General who
could get 20,000 men out of Hyde Park. It
this was ever true, which we much doubt, it
certainly shows what strides we have made in our
military education since it was uttered. On Satur-
day there were, including regulars, nearly 25,000
men on the ground, yet they all assembled there
within an hour, and left the Park after the Review
was over in even less time. This display proves,
not only that the Volunteers have made a great
advance in numbers and efficiency, but that where
their officers take pains to make the necessary ar-
rangements beforehand, they have also acquired
considerable facility in the execution of combined
movements. To many of those ;resent it, no doubt,
seemed a simple matter to march to the Park, to
stand for a couple of hours under arms, to take part
in a general salute, to march past, and then to re-
turn in the same order in which they came. Three.
fourths of them, of course, fancied in their secret
hearts that it would have been better to barn a little
powder, or in some way to "let them show what
they could do." But in reality their united perfor-
mances were vastly more important than if each
battalion had gone through the manual and platoon
exercises with unimpeachable accuracy. The con-
centration of the various Divisions from the several
points of rendezvous was skilfully planned and
successfully executed. The Cavalry and Artillery
Brigades, the place of assembly of which was at the
east side of Grosvenor-place, the Prince of Wales's
Brigade, the rendezvous of which was at the west
aide of the Horse Guards' parade, and the first and
second brigades of the First Division, which met
respectively at the east end of the Horse Guards'
parade and the east end of the Mall, all entered by
the Hyde Park-gate. The third and fourth brigades
of the First Division and the first brigade of the
Second Division, coming from Beigrave and Eaton
squares, found their way into the Enclosure through
Albert-gate. The second brigade of the Second
Division, the, rendezvous of which was at Grobve-
nrr-square, and the third brigade of the same
Division,which had to make its way from Fins.
bury square,
passed into the Park through Gros-
venor-gate. The first brigade of the Third Division
• marching from Sussex-square, and the Second
locester-square, found a ready mode
Division from (3
of access through Victoria- gate, and the two remains
ing brigades of the Third Division, approaching one
from Russell-square and the other from Portman•
square, entered the Park by Camberland.gate.
Nearly the whole of the troops arrived at the time
appointed, or very slightly after it, and the only
flegrant departure fro m the rules laid down was in
the case of a gallant but highly erratic corps pro-
s erly belonging to the Second Division, which ap-
parently wandered about town and entered at the