The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-11 00:00:00

guiding the affairs of the Confederation. We confess we
did not expect to have heard so soon of the fall of Mexico.
The progress of the French army has hitherto been ex-
tremely slow. A considerable time elapsed after the land-
ing at Vera Cruz before Orizaba fell, and then another long
interval elapsed before the French general was enabled to
announce the capture of Puebla. By Juarez, however,the
possibility of the capture of the capital was practically re-
cognised immediately after the evacuation of Puebla. Pre-
parations were indeed made to defend Mexico, but at the
same time arrangements were made for the transfer of the
Government from the latier city to San Luiz Potosi. The
lines of defences, both natural and artificial, which inter •
vened between Mexico and Puebla, were turned to account,
but proved unavailing to check the advance of an army
flushed with recent victory, In the city itself not even the
show of resistance appears to have been made. On the 20th
May the garrison, numbering some 20,000 men, evacuated
the town and retired into the interior. Immediately after-
wards a deputation of the leaders of the Church party commu-
nicated with the French general,and on the sth June the ad-
vanced guard of the French army entered the town without
opposition. Three days later it was anticipated that the entire
of the invading force would occupy the capital of the republic.
With the scanty information which we at present possess
it would be idle to speculate on the tactics which have been
pursued by Juarez. When Puebla fell he evidently resolved
on abandoning the city of Mexico. Indeed, strategically
considered, its possession could not be regarded as valuable,
whilst the effort to hold it would not improbably have led
to a disastrous defeat. He has doubtless exercised a sound
discretion in abandoning without a blow a town which he
could never have hoped to have held against a vigorous op-
position for a considerable time. Mexico, as we had observed
on a previous occasion, is, after all, only an outpost, and it
equally suits the interest of the Mexican chief that the seat
of government should be elsewhere. On the other hand,
however, the prestige and glory gained by the French army
through the occupation of the chief city in the State must
operate in no small degree to the prejudice of the native
Government. The most serious danger which threatened
the French expedition to Mexico came from Europe. The
French people, fond though they are of military glory,
began to question the policy of endeavouring to plant the
tricolor over the halls of Montezuma. For many months
all that was known in France was that millions of francs
were being expended on an expedition at the opposite side
of the Atlantic, and that thousands of lives were being sac-
rificed without any visible fruits. In the Legislative As-
sembly a small but fearless minority denounced the policy
of the Imperial Government, and the sentiments they ex-
pressed were not received with disfavour by the mass of the
population. Just at this time Puebla was captured, and
with the news of that victory vanished for the time all ap-
pearances of popular discontent. But, after all, the taking
of Puebla was considered but as a step towards the far more
brilliant achievement of capturing the city of Mexico; and
now that the latter is announced, the French people will
not inquire too closely into the exact bearings it may have
on the ultimate reduction to submission of the Mexican
Government. We do not think that the occupation of
Mexico by the French army can be accepted as a prog-
nostication of the speedy termination of the war, but
there can be little doubt that its effect on the Government
and on the people of France will be to excite the one to re-
newed exertions, and to induce the other to regard with
more favourable eyes an expedition which at one time pro-
mised to entail upon the French armies many losses, unmi-
tigated by any increase of glory or of fame. If the capture
of Mexico opened the way to a. compromise between the
contending parties, the value of the conquest would be in-
deed great. 'We doubt, however, that such will be the re-
sult. The capital was deliberately abandoned by its nume-
rous garrison with apparently other views than probable
concessions to the invaders. The relinquishment of an un-
tenable position cannot be hailed as a sign of approaching
submission. Without, however, such submission, full and
complete, the occupation of Mexico by the French army
will be but a barren conquest. Hitherto the French
generals have been operating on the confines of
a vast, territory, which they must overrun and
subjugate before they can enforce compliance with
their demands: They have not as yet penetrated into
the interior. If the abandonment of Mexico is but the
commencement of a series of operations by which the
Mexican chief proposes to withdraw into the interior of the
country, the war may be considered as having scarcely
begun, instead of having almost reached its termination.
The readiness with which Juarez has withdrawn the gar-
rison from Mexico makes us suspect that his tactics are
those we have indicated. In the course of a short time,
however, we shall be better informed upon this point.
Meantime the French may justly congratulate themselves
on having obtained possession of the city of Mexico; and if
their army entered it without striking a blow, they have
the satisfaction of feeling that its evacuation was-randered
necessary by the prowess evinced by their troops on pre-
vious occasions.

WIMBLEDON PRIZE MEETING.

my
u nrdlehre
arked at all the
rangesta ched
tshheo os
at imn ge
con-
noon—that hWd iitmi 0 bn
el e da os no : otnhtei npureedv
iyo ensst earfdt
eary.
noon—that is to say, the troops In
towthheeredifisea
gtasrgweetsrebeein:p Iy e d thet h buttsnsk e
t art-
instructors of Volunteer corps, and .
by Volunteers
aided and superintended by one or tw
whose services had been accepted in tohims
ecmapbaecristyof,
the Council, and among them Col. Lloyd Lindsay.
.
be excellent, and was so entirely relia ;
The Volunteer marking was universalileytandamt
iinttseodmto
b e
cases the tables were turned upon a marksman in a
g filledo
with
i
the
drd
flag i s o had
call
been iwna
the
e thatm a
marker's
littler,s
butt, expected.remarked
he
o t lord,w a swhie
firedl
at his
to the fact, and allowed a little time to elapse before
pointing out the bullet mark, which he did without
indicating where the hit had been made, as the shot
had been fired clearly in defiance of the regulations.
In the course of the afternoon he was informed that
the firer of the shot had lodged a protest, counter-
signed by a friend, against the neglect of the marker
to lowered.
attention
He ie a ttarget
once
waved before the
dangeran ge
to register the hit which he had made. The officer
in charge of the firing party accepted the protest,
knowing nothing of the circumstances; but the name
and address thus given afforded the Council a con-
venient opportunity of inflicting the penalty for the
breach of rule committed. Throughout the whole
afternoon the marking was carried on without the
slightest casualty ; but about 6 o'clock p.m. one ac-
cident did take place which, alight as it was, in-
duced the Council seriously to reconsider the ques-
tion of the propriety of continuing that system of
marking. It seems that one of the Volunteers heard
a bullet strike his target, but was unable to
discover for nearly a minute whereabouts it bad
struck. Instead of putting up the danger-signal at
once, he allowed this interval to elapse before doing
so, and then proceeded to mark the hit and to paint
it out in the usual way. Meanwhile, the firing party
at the other end of the range,
concluding that there
had been a miss, proceeded to fire another shot,
, which reached its destination while the marker was
thus occupied, and some splashes unfortunately
grazed him, but so slightly that it was not necessary
to resort to the professional assistance of Dr. West-
macott. Bat such an event having occurred, precisely
one of that nature which cannot be foreseen
or guarded against, the Council felt them-
selves placed in this position ;—Against the de-
clared opinion of the military authorities, they
were upholding a system of marking which was
theoretically perfect, but which in practice it was
evident called for the services of a more experienced
class of markers than they were likely on the spur
of the moment to obtain. It had worked well for
the best part of two days, but the slightest inatten-
tion to rule rendered an accident all but inevitable.
They, therefore, felt it best to retreat, and to retreat
with a good grace, from the position they had occu-
pied. They accepted the scratch feet received as con-
demnatory, not so much of the principle as of its
expediency for the purposes of the present meeting ;
and to-morrow morning a new system of marking,
possessing the merits of the disc system, but guard-
ing against its dangers, will be adopted, The
mantlets will be prolonged so as to guard against
the possibility of splashes coming into the butt;
and the marker will imiie4te the place Noihere the
shot has otruelt the iron target, not upon that
target itself, but upon a " dummy" wooden target
of smaller size placed over his head. It need scarcely
be said that this will entail considerable labour on
been sug"
• t them
f guarding s
gested as the best means o pins
A flag Ely Otern•
the executive, but it was felt right at all hazards to
put a stop to accidents, and this plan has
without returning to the unsatisfactory ..___ bis
dangerous path
The running-man
yesterday,
mites a sharp ringing and nearly
soun
the aim of the marksman. . • ti two 11:n-
-ever,
ra__ f
d attested the aeon °Y
it was a remarkable fea-
wan perpetually travereieb :

ture in connection with this target in motion that
the side of this figure represented in a scarlet uni-
form was hit much less frequently than the gray
tunic pained on the other side. On Wednesday,
when the running-man was last exposed to the fire
of the Volunteers, the gray side was struck 74
times, while the red side only exhibited 42 hits.
This circumstance, no doubt, will be regarded as an
argument in support of the view always entertained
by military men that scarlet, though the most bril-
liant, is yet the colour most difficult to hit. The
fact appears to be that against the sky line scarlet
can be pie:ed out at almost any distance ; but when,
es at Wimbledon, there is a green or any dark
background, scarlet in motion produces an optical
illusion by leaving a deceptive red streak behind,
which unsettles the aim of the marksman. Any
one can try the experiment for himself by twisting
round a lighted stick in the dark ; every one knows
that it will produce the appearance of a circle of
fire, and, exercising merely the organ of sight, and
Lot of touch, it would puzzle even the holder of the
stick to say whereabouts exactly the point of the
stick was at a given second.
The firing for the first stage of the Queen's Prize
concluded last evening, and the excitement which
had been exceedingly great as time advanced, cul-
minated when it became known that the high score
of 49 had been made by two. The fortunate com-
petitors were not only cheered, but chaired ; and the
enthusiasm of their friends was nearly as great as if
the second instead of merely the first stage had been
brought to a close.
The following were the highest total scores at the
200, 500, and 600 yards ranges for the first stage of
the Queen's Prize up to seven p.m. last evening :
Private Whisker, 2d Essex, 49 marks ; Sergt. Milard
(St. George's), 49 ; Private Miller ; Ist Gloucester,
47 ; Capt. Henderson, 12th Cornwall, 44; Sergeant
Winser, 3d Kent, 44 ; Private Phillips, Ist Shrop-
shire, 43 ; Sergt. Allen, 25th Somerset, 43 ; Corp.
Worth, Bth Warwick, 43 ; Private March, 12th
Norfolk, 43 ; Private Pace, 26th Kent, 43 ; Sergeant
Bingham, Ist Gloucester, 43; Private Ridler, Ist
Gloucester, 43 ; Private Adamson, 47th Lancashire,
42; Corporal Marshall, 6th Lincoln, 42; Ensign
Bland, Bth Lancashire, 42 ; Colour-Sergeant Gale,
10th Surrey, 42 ; Private Richardson, 10th Nor-
folk, 42 ; Private Cranford, 11th Renfrew, 42;
Private Fuller, sth Isle of Wight, 42 ; Sergeant
Graham, 2d Wilts, 42 ; Sergeant Banning, 2d Bed-
ford, 42; Corporal Coldclengh, 7th Durham, 42;
Private Wyatt, let City of London, 42 ; Lieut. Mar-
riner, 9th Middlesex, 42; Private Mackenzie, Lon-
don Scottish, 42 ; Sergeaut Smith, 15th Derby, 42 ;
Sergeant Curtis, 15th Glamorgan, 42 ; Corporal
Whitehouse, 3d Leicester, 41; Sergeant Darley, 9th
Leicester, 41; Private Richardson, 6th Lincoln,
41; Corporal Clitheroe, 9th Lincoln, 41; Private
Ellie, Bth Surrey, 41 ; Corporal Allen, 14th
Wilts, 41; Lieut. Brougham, 13th Stafford, 41;
Private Trotter, 4th N. York, 41 ; Private Russell,
29th Kent, 41 ; Private Birkley, 2d Tower Ham-
lets, 41; Sergeant Brookes, 12th Middlesex, 41;
Corporal Taylor, 21st Middlesex, 41; Lieut. Bea-
van, 17th Glamorgan, 41 ; Private Rhea, 3d Glou-
cester, 41 ; Corporal Anderson, 40th Lancashire,
40; Captain Brooks, 10th Leicester, 40 ; Sergeant
Brown, Ist Lanark, 40; Private Murray, Ist Mid-
lothian, 40 ; Major Pipon, 13th Sussex, 40 ; Ser-
geant Haines, 16th Surrey, 40; Private Chuter,
25:1 Surrey, 40 ; Private Coles, Ist Notts, 40 ;
Sergeant Norseworthy, Ist Oxford, 40 ; Lieutenant
Watson, Newcastle, 40 ; Private Houghton, sth
Norfolk, 40 ; Private Garwood, 15th Norfolk, 40 ;
Corporal Kettle, 16th Stafford, 40; Lieutenant Har-
rison, 36th West York, 40; Private Batts, Ist War-
wick, 40 ; Private Read, 14th Suffolk, 40 ; Private
Roberts, 12th Shropshire, 40; Private Bazeley, 3d
Cambridge, 40; Lieut. Pollard, 13th Cornwall, 40;
Lieut. Taylor, 26th Lancashire, 40; Colour Sergeant
Gregory, 13th Dorset, 40; Colour Sergeant Pyman,
4th Bucks, 40; Colour Sergeant White, -39th Mid-
dlesex, 40; Private Kersey, 20th Middlesex, 40;
Private Cree, London Scottish, 40 ; Private Avis,
Ist Devon, 40; Gunner Hyde, Ist Glamorgan, A.V.,
30; Private Walters, Ist Edinburgh, 40.
It will be seen that there were two ties of 49
points for the first place and silver medal; 14 ties
of 41 points for three places, 28 to 30, Whitworth
rifles ; and 28 ties of 40 marks for 19 places, 42 to
60, in second 30 and £5. The ties will be shot off

this day.
When the firing for the day was over Private
Wisker was carried on the shoulders of some of his
comrades from the firing ground to the exhibition
tent, where he was greeted with loud applause.
The highest scores for the other prizes shot for
'during the day were as follows :
First Stage, House of Lords, 500 yards—Corporal
Kemp, 41st Middlesex, 22 marks ; Sergeant Col-
lett, 7th Sussex, 21 ; Colour Sergeant Gibbs, 80th
Lancashire, 24; Private Scott, 3d Renfrew, 24;
Private Horrard, 23d Middlesex, 22 ; Miller, Ist
Lanark, 22 ; Sergeant Hesketh, 27th Lancashire,
23; Sergeant Tilley, 2d Derby, 23.
First Series, Extra Prizes, 800 yards, Small
Bores—Lieut. Branzill, 61st Lancashire, 23 marks;
Lieut. Evans, Derby, 26; Captain Rowlands, 55th
Regiment, 24.
Second Series, Extra Prizes. 577 Bore, 600 yds.
—Private Johnson, Bth Stafford, 19 marks; Ser-
geant Dove, Ist Devon, 19; Sergeant Nodder, Ist
Lancashire, 19 ; Corporal Harms, 29th Kent, 21.
Small Bore, All Comers —2OO Yards—Major
Margery, 23 marks ; Sergeant Palmer, 36th Staf-
ford, 23; Sergeant Wilkin, 6th Aberdeen, 23;
Captain Thresher, sth Dorset, 25 ; Sergeant Cun-
liffe, 26th Cheshire, 23.
500 Yards—Ensign Peterkin, Cambridge, 23;
Ensign Quarm, Civil Service, 23 ; Sergeant Brown,
26 ; Ensign Baynes, 12th Surrey, 23.
600 Yards—Colonel Dougall, Fife Artillery, 21 ;
Sergeant Tnffnall, 61st Regiment, 21 ; Ensign
Baynes, 12th Surrey, 23; Ensign Ross•Civiliai, 23 ;
Lieut. Marriner, Ist Middlesex, 23.
Enfield, All Corners.-200 Yards.— Corporal Rus-
sell, Ist Essex, 23 ; Private Cunliffe, 26th Cheshire,
23 ; Private Morris, Ist Hants, 24 ; Private Hollo-
way, sth Gloucester, 24; Lieut. Perry, Ist Guern-
sey, 23; Ensign Walton, 17th West York, 23; En-
sign Saw, 4th London, 23; Ensign Lockhart, 11th
Cheshire, 23.
600 Yards.-Privitte Brunk, Hants Engineers,
22 ; Private Coore, Cambridge University, 22 ; Pri-
vate Westcott, 7th Surrey, 22; Sergeant Curtis,
sth Glamorgan, 22 ; Sergeant Chase, 4th Suffolk,
22 ; Sergeant Blaokmore, 2d Devon, 22.

NIGHT MEETING IN CAMP.
About 10 o'clock the meeting round the camp fire
for purposes of discussion and conviviality, which
has grown into an institution in connexion
The
th
these gatherings at Wimbledon, was held,
scone was such as artists would delight to sketch, bus, ,
indeed, any pencil could have caught and
done j
tied to its varied features. The large flickering
distinction.
bonfire reflected its alternate glare and shadow on
an assembly of most diverse dress and domposition,
The white head-dresses almost universal at Wimble-
don, owing to the heat of the last week, imparted a
foreign aspect to the groups which embraced all
tendency Volunteer
levelling
assembly' and it '
included many other persons of may have
camp meeting certainly has
oit'''t'rhde Is" grown The
with the growth
might have been e . year the
ounted b attendance
probably extended to thousands,Y hundred, .
, this year it
of cordial good fell The
_ owsto ,Same feeling
and if proof we IP' "wever,
e needed, of , was Still evinced,
the entirely amicable
01 deiinatioln,o; rfdoredi lie
jaidayst
Bio
v,
1,,,,1,.
i:or