The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-25 00:00:00

••••••••
,111....

Wiml Ile( ion Review and Prize Distribution,

It is le wise practice of those charged with the
conduct of affairs at Wimbledon to celebrate each

year th e close of their arduous undertaking by in-
viting r ietropolitan Volunteers and others from the
adjoinii ig counties to take part in a grand review
held w: Thin the limits of their inclosure. Mutual
benefit s arise from this custom. Volunteers who
have r ,ot leisure or inclination to compete for prizes,
but w ho yet enjoy field days when opportunities
prese ut themselves, feel in going to 'Wimbledon

that the National Rifle Association is not for them

a purely abstract body, and are much more likely to '
ap preciata the skill of their comrades who do shoot
w nen the y traverse this enormous area in person,
than when they merely read that Corporal Dash,
of their own corps, made five bull's-eyes at 800

yards. The Association also gains, for not merely
are Volunteers, who have once visited its ground
and seen its arrangements, more likely to return
in another year, but their presence in any large
numbers is sure to attract a corresponding number
of the public, whose shillings, halfcrowns, and half
sovereigns—in the case of those with carriages—
figure very attractively in the prize list for the fol-
lowing year. On Saturday the usual features of
the Volunteer lteview were supplemented, or rather
Preceded, by the ceremonial of distributing prizes
39 on in ail the principal contests of the meeting.
Heretofore the rule was to devote a special day to
this purpose at the Crystal Palace; but it was found
that so many persons who could give up a fortnight
to the objects of the meeting scrupled to break in
upon a third week, that so many more were anxious
on account of the time of year to leave town at once,
and that other& whose cooperation was essential,
honestly doubted whether the monster platform at
sydenham was the arena best fitted for conferring
the degree in Rifle Shooting instituted by her Ma-
jesty and granted by the National Association, and
et was determined in the present instance to act on
a different plan.
In the open air accordingly, and immediately in
front of the marquees and lines of reserved seats
erected for the accommodation of spectators of the
review, the trophies won upon the field were dis-
trbuted shortly after 3 o'clock. A large stand
placed at the foot of the flagstaff and covered with
blue cloth, supported a glittering collection of vases.
cups, &c., which would have been even more nume-
rous but for the arrangement introduced by Capt.
Mildmay, Secretary of the Association, enabling
successful competitors from distant parts of the
country to take home with them the prizes in
money or in value which were gained in all the
minor competitions. The prizemen stood about the
table in a semicircle. In the midst of which were
Lord and Lady Echo, Lord Grosvenor, Col. North,
and one or two other members of the council. The
background was formed by a guard of honour fur-
nished by the London Rifle Brigade, the regiment
carrying off the highest distinction of the year.
The ceremonial was prefaced by some introductory
observations en the part of Lord Elcho, who ex-
plaihed that Lords de Grey and Ellenborough,
having both been prevented from attending, Lady
Elcho had been requested by the council to present
the prizes, believing that it would be acceptable to
the winners to receive them at the hands of a lady,
who, though he said it that should not, was one of
the heartiest and best supporters of the Volunteer
movement in the kingdom. If the Council ever
really did entertain a doubt whether men who have
earned any distinction whatever would rather re-
ceive it from the hands of a lady than a gentleman
it is the only tangible ground that has yet been
advanced for reforming the Council. The response
which followed the announcement certainly left no
doubt in anyone's mind as to the satisfaction felt
both with the request itself and the gracious man.
nor in which it was acceded to. Lord Elcho ad-
verted briefly to the great success and prosperity of
the meeting, which would, he said have been com-
plete but for the accident that occurred two days
ago. Although most grievous in its character, it was
still an accident, not traceable to any fault or mis-
arrangement on the part of the Council, and the deep
sympathy felt for the poor fellow lying over there
in his tent was not confined to those upon the ground,
for her 3lejesty that very morning had sent a tele-
gram inquiring anxiously after his condition, and
requesting that a daily report of his state might be
made to her. The Surgeon-Major of the Guards
saw him that day, and an opinion was gaining
ground that the poor man might recover from the
severe wound ha had received. With this excep-
tion everything had gone on so smoothly that there
was only one grumbler of whom he had heard. He
ha a since 'won a prize ; they had shaken hands,
and were now the best of friends. The Association
had evidently struck its roots deep into the Wim-
bledon soil, fee people came to see and interest
themselves in the encampment and the shooting
this year who had never done so before. Lord
Elcho, in conclusion, assured Volunteers, to what-
ever part of the country they might belong, that
the object of the Council was to do all in its power
for their comfort, happiness, and amusement while
at Wimbledon ; and, if they were only favoured
with fine weather, he hoped and believed that
Volunteers would go away from future meetings as
Well satisfied as they had done from the present.
The extra prizes were first distributed. Of these
many had already been taken away by gentlemen
of whom it was humorously said that "they would
not trust the Association." The Association, how-
ever, did not bear malice, for such of the prize
winners as answered to their name were duly pre
milted to Lady Elcho and congratulated by her,
those who had already made sure of their trophies
being, if anything, more at their ease than some
who appeared to feel the honour of shaking hands,.
supe"added to the care of a costly vase, rather more
then they were prepared for at one and the same
moment. In the class of extra prizes Lord Elcho
made special reference to the valuable and unique
volume of photographs presented by Mr. Herbert
Watkins. As each Volunteer advanced to the table
his name and the name of the corps to which he
belonged were called out audibly, and accompanied
with a slight running commentary of explanation,
so that the spectators, with the aid of the official
programme, in which the marks made by each com-
petitor were set out, were enabled thoroughly to
follow and comprehend the scene.
The following was the official list of the winners
and their prizes

Mrks.
Extra 'Prize, First Series—A. Bennett gold watch, value
~-€:3l 10s—won by Captain Bevan, Ist Radnor l9
Extra Prize, Second Series —llappin Toa Service, f.. 52
10s—Mr Miller, Bristol 2O
Extra Prizo, Third Series—Smith Rifle, £4O—J. G

Ales

Mr Bass's £25, Ist prize, £lo—Lieut.-Colonel Hutch-
inson, Bth Lancashire
City of London £6oo—Range A, Ist prize, £2s—Ser-
geant Mint, 3d Ayrshire ........
City of London—Range B, Ist prize, £2s—Private
Banton, 21st Middlesex....
Ashburton Shield (public schools)—£l4o—Harrow
Earl Spencer—Cup, £15--Corporal Thornton, Chel-
tenham ....
" Saturday Review" £5O (volley firing)—First prize
£25-2d Administrative Battalion, Staffordshire .. 144
St. George's Vase—Vase, gold jewel, and £6, £2so—
Penzff, sth Stafford
Chancellors' Plare—Cup, £loo—Cambridge
Elcho Shield—Scotland
International Enfield Match—England 1,016
Wimbledon Cup—£loo—Sergt. M. Smith, Ist Middle-

taries, who voted for the condemnation of "Essays
and Reviews," reminded one almost painfully of
another somewhat cruel person who had all Lord
Westbury's unctuous pleasure in giving pain, Mr.
Whackford Squeers. "' Here's fleshAcried Squeers,
turning the boy about end indicating the plumpest
parts of his figure with divers pokes and punches
to the great discomposure of his son and heir.
Here's firmness, here's solidness ; why, you can
hardly get up enough of him between your finger
and thumb to pinch him anywhere. . . , You
couldn't shut a bit of him in a door when he's had
his dinner. Look at them tears, sir,' said Squeers,
with a triumphant air, as Master Whackford wiped
his eyes with the cuff of his jacket, there's °His
ness.'" Lord "Westbury's proceedings with the
bench of bishops, but more especially with the
Bishop of Oxford, are painfully similar, Ho "pokes
them and punches them in the plumpest parts of
their figure," he makes the Bishop of Oxford cry
with the pain, and then he says virtually in his
reply, with a triumphant air, " Look at those tears,
my Lords, there's oiliness." First he does his best
to hurt all the bishops, and observes in effect,
" Here's firmness, here's solidness," or in Lord West-
bury's own words, " Imagine, my Lords, what an
opportunity it would be for my right hon-
ourable friend the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer to spread his net, and in one haul take
in £30,000 from the highest dignitary, not to
speak of the of roXXOt, the Bishops, Deans, Arch-
deacons, Canons, Vicars" (and observe the artistic
incidental poke of calling such dignitaries the
01, roXAot " the mob"), " all included in one common
crime, all subject to one common penalty"—and then
after these more distributed and general tweaks and
twinges, he applies himself more especially to his
own chosen adversary, Bishop Wilberforce. " lam
extremely anxious to know what the thing is, called
a synodieal judgment. . . . Assuming that the re-
port of the judgment I have read is a correct one, I
am happy to tell your lordships that what is called
a synodical judgment is simply a series of well-
lubricated terms, a sentence so oily and so sapona-
ceous that no one could grasp it. Like an eel it slips
through your fingers—it is simply nothing, and I
am happy to tell my noble friend (Lord Houghton)
that it is literally no judgment at all." This is what
we call positively rioting in the indulgence of pinch-
ing, like Mr Squeers, rich and high-fed natures, the
more so that we do not know that there was any
particular reason for referring the wording of the
sentence of condemnation to the Bishop of Oxford,
beyond the Lord Chancellor's quick perception of the
opportunity he should thus gain of giving a little
additional pain by these playful allusions to that
prelate's well known soubriquet. Towards the end
of his speech, Lord Westbury even ventured so far
as to affect the solemnity of clerical warning and
illustration, in a way that assures us, no less than his
more serious efforts in the same line, that had he
entered the Church he might easily have be-
come a " most reverend" prelate, if he could
but so far have subdued his native arrogance of
mind as to persuade himself to act through life
a part that he can easily assume to perfection either
for a light or serious purpose. When he earnestly ad-
vised the bishops and other members of Convocation
that "if there be any attempt to carry Convocation
beyond its proper limits, their best plan will be,
after protesting, to gather up their garments and
leave the place—remembering, the pillar of salt, and
resolving not to cast a look behind," he carried the
mock solemnity of his allusions beyond the verge of
decorum, and almost lost some of his cruel advan-
tage by this open display of his feelings towards
the Bible. It must have been a triumph ant moment
for Lord Westbury when the Bishop of Oxford gave
vent to the cry of pain which Lord Westbury's tor-
ture extracted. The Bishop directly admitted that
Lord Westbury's words had blistered those on
whom they fell, and consoled himself by explaining
to the House of Lords what he should have felt on
his deathbed if ho had not laid himself open to this
persecution. Lord Westbury's delight was evidently
unbounded. "The right reverend prelate," he says,
" has in that excited manner which characterised
the greater portion of his speech—and at which, I
beg to say, that I was not at all surprised—with
much licence of language, charged me with misre-
presenting a passage in an act of Parliament. His
apology, I think, must be that he himself does not
quite understand it." Squeers' triumphant excla-
mation when Master Whackford wiped his eyes
with the cuff of his jacket, "Look at them tears,
sir—there's oiliness !" was humanity itself compared
with the exultation of Lord Westbury. As a mere
literary effect no doubt the unctuous style has much
mere to recommend it when it just gilds the intel-
lectual cruelty of such cold vivisection as Lord West-
bury, but we wish it were wholly left to those
whosa words, though " softer than butter," speak
the " war in their heart," and strike like swords
though they be " smoother than oil." The
Psalmist who wrote these words was a very different
man, we take it, from the Bishop of Oxford, but we
feel sure he had some adversary who was the anti-
type of Lord Westbury.
THE "EXAMINER." ON BISMARK,—The offer, said
to have been made by Prince John of Giucksburg,
of Denmark's joining the German Confederation,
was a cierisiNe one. The great monarchs of Vienna
and Berlin do not want a democratic associate, and
Denmark can be no other than democratic. its
aristocracy Ir:s died away, and the last monarch of
Denmark, quite a Jacobin in his line, helped the
remains of the national noblesse to extinction. We
have heard a good deal of the hardship of German
Schleswig-Holeteiners being ruled by Danes. But
the Dams had similar objections to being ruled by
Schleswig-Holsteiners. The latter have a noblesse,
nay, a feudal noblesse, just the stuff of which
Mdlisters are made. And King Christian has
nominated one of them, Count Moltke. a Holsteiner,
to be Prime Minister of Denmark. He may use-
fully serve to drive the nail, in other words, con-
clude a peace. But he could not long govern Den-
mark as it was, much less as it is, in that feudal
and reactionary manner which it seems that Bis-
mark and Rechberg require. The attempt to
govern in Copenbegen according to their behests
will produce the inevitable result of a popular in-
surrection. The efforts of the two worthies,
Rechberg and Bismark, in Schleswig-Holstein, are
of the same tendency, and will produce similar
results. They refuse to recognise the Duke of
Augustenburg, because he declares that, owing
his SUCCCi33 to the attachment and choice of the
people of these Duchies, ho must impart
to them a liberal constitution. In that case
you shall not be Duke, said Bismark. The
Log of Prussia looks to the Sultan of North Ger-
many, as the Emperor of Austria is to be the Sul-
tan of South Germany, and minor Powers must
consent to occupy the position of Hospodars. We
need not say that the pretension excites the utmost
resentment and disgust. The minor Powers and
Princes of Germany, excluded from the negotia-
tions at Vienna, will meet at Frankfort cr elsewhere,
when a formidable schism will be the consequence,
with the Confederation of the Rhino looming in the
distance. There are, however, certain complica-
tions, as all the minor Powers are not liberal, and
do not favour liberal constitutions. And Napoleon
himself, however ready to patronise a Confederation
of minor Powers against Austria and Prussia, does
not like constitutions after the English fashion—
that is, with liberty of representation, of speech,
and of printing. A prince therefore must be found,
and the Duke of Oldenburg has been pitched upon
by Prussia, less with the idea of installing him than
of forcing the Diet to consent to the terms of Prus-
sia. The Duke of Oldenburg, however, has not the
shadow of a rightful claim. If he had, we should
have heard of it, and have seen it expounded before
now. Prussian bayonets have held Slesvig, and
Prussian bayonets may undertake to dispose of it.
If So, there will be an insurrection there too. And
if Bismark turn his bayonets on the Slesvig-
Holsteinere, what will Fatherland get next
from the absolutism of a statesman who
seems to have undertaken the task of rendering
Prussia in everything the antagonist of Germany
The worst of Bismark's policy is that ho loves to
weave schemes, and he has by some underhand
policy induced the cautious Austrian Government
to adopt, in this respect, his views. He pushed the
war with Denmark to the verge of war with Eng-
land. And having succeeded in carrying his point
yhing. And s im seems
without incurring the dangerous alternative, he is
ntoowbo d n fookreatnhet Liberal partyhi ina Germany
bnool w etoo upgr
ohv
to insurrection. He is convinced that he will get
the better of it by bayonets, and that he can do-
minate not only to Prussia, but North Germany.
Perhaps, if the German people were to be let alone
in this agitation, the military might prevail. But
there is another potentate who certainly will have
his finger in the pie, and that is the French Em-
peror. Nor are we prepared to blame him. He
cannot allow a military power like Prussia to ag-
grandise herself as to become his equal. The pros-
pect is that a German insurrection might make a
war undertaken by France necessary to aid the
popular party. This is the Italian campaign over
again, fought on the Rhine and Elbe, not the Po.
Austrian &sleets, we presume, may remain neutral.
Who can doubt that the enormous aggrandisement
of Franco would follow such an outburst ? And this
is what Bismark is risking, gratuitously risking,
by keeping the question of the Duchies open, and
striving to extract, some personal advantage out of
it. King Leopold has undertaken the task of re-
presenting the danger of Bisnaark's madness to the
Emperor at Vicay. But often that potentate
seems to be so amueed and tickled by the Prussian
statesman's frenzy that lie is almost inclined to
patronise it.
THE " LONDON REVIEW" ON THE DANISH WAR.
—The war between Denmark and Germany is over.
A suspension el: hostilities by land and sea, from the
26t1.1 to the 31. et, instant, hen becu ograti]upoc, and

----e
there is every reason to expect that within that in-
terval negotiations conducted directly between the
Northern Power on the one hand and Austria and
Prussia on the other, will convert the truce into B.
treaty of peace. On what terms, and at what sacri-
fice, on the part of Denmark, a final arrangement
may be come to between the belligerents, it is use-
less to conjecture with our present means of know-
ledge. The neutral Powers have by their conduct
forfeited any right to be informed of what is going
on, and they will have only themselves to blame if
the result is one detrimental to their interests or in-
juriously affecting the balance of power. Although
we know nothing positively, we are inclined to think
that Christian IX. has really made an offer to enter
the Germanic Confederation with the whole of Den.
mark. Whether he is in earnest in such a proposi-
tion, or whether he has thrown it out merely with
a view of sowing dissension between the German
Powers and exciting the alarm of France, it is riot
easy to say ; but if the latter he his object, he has
probably succeeded as completely on one
point as he certainly hes on the other. Aus-
tria may well look with favour on the accession of
Denmark to the Band. For, while the strength of
the whole body would be increased, the peculiar
influence of Prussia would be diminished by the
presence in North Germany of a state independent
—to say the least—of the influence of the Court of
Berlin. For that very reason M. von Bismarck will
probably set himself against the scheme attributed
to the new Danish Ministry ; and in this he will
have the support of Russia, which can hardly view
with indifference so marked an addition to the
strength of Germany on the Baltic. How France
regards such a combination we are at no loss to
conjecture. The official organs, no doubt under the
immediate inspiration of the Foreign Office, have
been denouncing it during the past week in terms
which sufficiently indicate the irritation and alarm
which it has excited in the mind of their imperial
master. Beneath their affectation of disbelief that
any proposition of the kind has been made, one can
readily perceive a very substantial uneasiness lest
in some form or other it should be accepted. It is
not impcssible that by this time the Emperor is
convinced that he has made a mistake in leaving
Denmark to her fate ; and that even at the lass
moment his interposition may somewhat soften her
fall. But we cannot pretend to calculate upon the
action of any of the Powers with whom the decision
of the question now rests. Having no real basis for
the formation of an opinion it is better not to ex-
press one. Considering the conduct of her Majes-
ty's Government, which has now by the vote of the
House of Commons become that of the country, foe
Englishmen will desire to say more than
is absolutely necessary on a subject so fraught with
painful and self-accusing reflections.
THE " TABLET" ON THE HOPLEY CASE.—Since
Canning wrote the parody on Martha Browning,
Who whipped two female prentices to death
And hid them in the coal hole ; for her mind
Framed schemes of sagest discipline. . . .
there has been nothing like Sir James Wilde's
euphuistic allusion to Mr Hopley's peccadillo for
which he was sentenced to four years of penal ser-
vitude. "It was a prominent fact in the case,"
said Sir James, " that in 1860 the respondent com-
mitted some act which brought him within the
grasp of the law." [He only beat one of his pupils,
the poor boy Canceller, to death. lant pis pour
Cancellor!] "and very heavily," continued Sir
James, " did the hand of the law fall on him; and
a man of education and refinement" (so refined as
to collect a large amount of saliva in his month and
spit in his wife's face for beckoning her children in
upon a cold snowy day), " of great natural ability,
and with a great many noble though visionary as-
pirations, was taken from his home and imprisoned
for three years." No man, said Sir James, " who
had heard Mr Hopley, could say he was wanting'
in warm affection and in proper religious feelings,
but he was plainly a man whose opinion was not
in harmony with the rest of the world, and that
want of harmony was likely to produce a continual
jangle—and he had thought so much on certain
subjects, particularly that of the bringing up of
young children that he was extravagant, not to say
more, in many of his views. The husband would
no doubt learn a lesson from this case, and be
would know that if he ever lifted his hand against
her she would be entitled to protection. If they
were separated the children must be deprived
either of a father or a mother. If they lived toge-
ther again there might be better things in store for
them. The husband had hitherto been
wrong-headed man, but seeing how other people,
viewed his conduct, he might surrender
some of his opinions. His wife had taken him for
better or worse. Even if a decree were granted, he
doubted whether that devoted woman would be cone
tent to settle down with her children and her own
family, and see her husband struggling with the
world apart from them" We have given these ex-
tracts from the learned judge's summing up, notes.
a correct summary or abridgment of it, for there
was much more of which no one could complain ;
and we think that few will differ from the judge
and jury in holding, both that Mr.Hopley had been
guilty of cruelty, and also that the wife's condone"
tion of that cruelty was clearly shown. The learned
judge told the jury that unless they believed Mrs..
Hopley to have perjured herself which be did not,•
her husband had undoubtedly been guilty of great
cruelty, and they should say so; still if they thought
that condonation had been proved (and he did thiDt
that it had) they were also bound to say so. The
jury found accordingly, and, so far, no injustice bah
been done. But how did those passages which we
have quoted and of which we complain, find their
way into the summing up which they so grievously
disfigure P In the mouth of an advocate they would
be understood, as instances of the rhetorical skill
with which a lawyer often seeks to work upon
In'
jury, by the introduction of irrelevent topics, cnar
by appealing to sentiment instead of to reason. ,
the prevailing feeling in Sir Jame Wilde's mind hot
been, this man is a great brute and a savage, half ma'
with pride and pedantry, fanatical theories, full of
religious cant and fulsome self-conceit, and not only
capable of, but actually guilty of, shocking barbarity
to a woman who is his own wife, to a baby who is his
own child, to a schoolboy who was his pupil ; still
justice is justice, and law is law, and duty is duty',
and he is entitled to his rights, and it is my business
to influence the jury to find a verdict for him on tie
.
plea of condonation, no body, could have complainee_
But in that case the summing up would surely root
have contained the passages which we have quoted