The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-29 00:00:00

ril 4, LOI\DON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 29, 1864.

slop_•s more or less steep and diversified as to ruts
end rabb't holes WI it terminates at Farley in the
thin belt of trees we have sp,.;ken of. It is not
ex..ctly the kind of ground far any sport which re-
quires an exhibition of the speed of either man or
beast. Toe surface is always rough, uneven, and
much cut up, and in its best places is deep with
heather, in short, what any military man would term
difficult ground on which to show off the niceties of
regimental setting up. For cavalry the heath would
be all but impracticable, though, unlike Chobham,
which in other respects Blackheath so much re-
sembles, it is free from bog or quagmire from end to
end. Before the review commenced there were no
lack of prophets of evil, loud in their prognosti-
cations that the volunteers would be unable to keep
anything like formation on such a soil. But the
event proved that these dismal forebodings were
premature. Undoubtedly the volunteers would
have got:on much easier on downs and pasture lands,
but it is far more creditable to them now to have
achieved the magnificent display of yesterday over
a country of which even military men were afraid
than if they had gone through the same man-
oeuvres with faultless precision on a s ward like
that of Hyde Park. In mere picturesqueness the
choice of ground had everything to recommend it,
and on almost every side from the heath the valleys
below opened out in long undulating blue vistas,
which were exquisitely beautiful, and fine scenery is
by no means an unimportant accessory in the suc-
cess of these great military displays. The real fault
of the heath is one which it is almost impossible to
remedy—namely, that it is too small. A large space
is required for the proper evolutions of a force of„
18,000 men and 24 guns. Blackheath is only ate
the most a mile and a half long by a mile wide
and unless on future occasions Farley-heath, which
adjoins Blackheath, be added to that yesterday
at the disposal of the authorities, it will be difficult
to make these reviews either useful or effective.
For some reason which has yet to be explained the
Volunteers were yesterday refused permission to
enter on Farley-heath at all. _ .

In consequence of the delays already mentioned in
the arrival of the various corps it was impossible to
get them all in their places on the ground by 12
o'clock, but in half an hour or so afterwards nearly
all the attacking and defending forces began mov-
ing across the Heath in great masses to the positions
assigned to each. At this time there was a great
concourse of spectators on the ground which fringed
the woods with long irregular lines, or covered the
knolls and slopes with dense black groups. Towards
1 o'clock the who'e force was stationed at their
allotted points of attack and defence, and almost
precisely as the last complete disposition was made
the weather, too, finished its arrangements for the
day, and began to rain. The morning had been
lovely, and despite the delicate attentions of a north-
east wind, which drove the thin fleecy banks of
clouds along with ominous rapidity ; despite, too,
the morel disheartening fact that it was a great
Volunteer day, and, therefore, one which, according
to precedent, ought to stand in the almanack as
"stormy, wita much rain," everyone steadily ig-
nored the possibility of rain, and hoped against hope
in the fact of the fast accumulating low dark clouds.
At last, as we have said, when everything was com-
pleted, the weather threw eff all disguise and broke
in cold, sharp showers, which fell with unpleasing
frequency almost throughout the remainder of the
d:s.y. As a matter of course, no Volunteer minded
this, nor, to do them justice, did the spectators ap-
pear to regard it much, and the real business of the
day—the sham battle—went forward with as much
ardour and animation as might be expected from
Volunteers who have been used to nothing but wet
weather since the days they were first enrolled.

The actual details of the evolutions of which the
battle consisted may be summed up almost briefly,
for though the mock contest lasted at least two
hours, its most striking feature was the sustained
and tremendous fire kept up on both sides, :as the
peculiar nature and limited space of ground forbad
any attempt at complicated or extended manoeuvres.
Major-Gen. Russell, with the defending forces we
have already enumerated, occupied the ridge of hills
stretching across the common, facing rather to the
south, where the main attack was anticipated from
Farley-woods. The assailants, under Major-General
Rumiey, may be said, in fact, to have been divided
into two bodies—one of about 4,000 men, with
eight guns, while the main body of 5,090 men, with
two pieces of horse artillery and four fieid-guns,
made a flank march under cover of the woods, and
delivered the real attack on General Russell's ex-
treme left. It was this feint and real attack, and the
necessity which Gen. Russell was under to bring
his troops from his left to meet the fl ink attack on
his right, which constituted the evolution of the
day, in which, from the absence of cavalry, there
was a sameness almost amounting to monotony, as
far as the spectators were concerned. To do the
Volunteers mere justice, it is but fair to say that
they did their best by the rapidity of their move-
ments to make up for the want of cavalry, and to
them it was cJrtainly one of the most fatiguing days
they have had for a long time. The great majority
of them mest have been ten hours in the ranks be•
fore they started to return to London.

The bnovements commenced with the feint attack
on the right of the assailants, who suddenly showed
their skirmishers from under cover of the thin cop-
pices, and began a cautious advance, while their
gnus were ostentatiously pushed forward to the
commanding eminences and began a heavy cannon-
uede. In a few minutes more and the whole of the
extreme right of the enemy showed itself, the skir-
mishers leading, the support in open columns of
companies, pouring down rank on rank in solid
lines, while the guns were slo vvly advanced after
them from point to point, so that the fire of the
artillery never slackened for a moment. With the
first indications of the onset all Gen. Russeli's troops
were on the alert, though beyond throwing out their
skirmishers and moving forward a few corps in their
extreme right, no advance was attempted till the
numerical superiority of those making the feint
attack on the left was seen. Then their guns, too,
were brought forward, and their line of skirmishers
and supports advanced tit' almost their whole front
was at right angles with the concealed force of the
enemy, which lay under the ridges between the two
clumps of woodland. For some 20 minutes or so this
state of things remained—a heavy artillery duel
going on from the heights, while the sputtering fire
of the riflemen in front sunk and rose and spread
irregularly up and down the slopes and ridges. All
this time the attacking force were quietly massing
brigades under cover in such a position as that when
they debouched into the plain Gen. Russell would
ba completely outflanked. It was not until a move-
ment of the defending skirmishers was made against
this part of the field that the real attack was un-
masked. Then suddenly the aspect of things was
changed, and the movements at once assumed the
most animated and exciting appearance. From where
Gen. Rutnley lay concealed on the right a perfect
cloud of riflemen suddenly swarmed down into the
woods, while the Hoe. Artillery Company, in spite
of the difficult nature of the ground, brought up their
guns in splendid style, and commenced a inking
tiro which enfiladed the whole defending line. The
confined space of the ground and the woods in which
both forces met here; the rapidity with which the
real attack was hurried on, and the unforeseen spots
from which assailants kept pouring forth; the bugle
notes to recal the skirmishers from the overwhelming
force they had so unwarily provoked—all gave to
this surprise an t ffgct which was wonderfully exciting,
and which perfectly resembled in its haste and in
some places by no means simulated confusion all the
mein elements of a real battle and a real surprise.
The defending skirmishers who had entered the
wood were for the time thrown into real disorder,
and the haste with which the recal had been obeyed
by the main line left groups of 20 or 30 intermixed
among the trees, firing desperately against the
masses that were closing in upon them, and making
the coppice re-echo with a metallic clang that was
almost deafening. Fortunately, they managed to
extricate themselves, and gain the open, though,
had the laws of the sham contest permitted, it would
not have made several companies of the defenders
prisoners of war. Almost simultaneously with the
appearance of their skirmishers the steep slopes
leading out from the wood and in rear of the guns
began to be covered as if by magic with advancing
troops, marching as closely as they could, and hur-