The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-13 00:00:00

edid
BOULOGNE, Monday.—The Emperor is so
well got
up
himself when on horseback, and is followed by so sln
a retinue, that it is almost worth while to cross the Chan-
nel to Boulogne to see him pass through the town. He
did so several times yesterday, and has already made an
easy conquest of the good opinion of our fair countrywomen
sojourning here in such numbers. His suite, reduced in
size by the departure of the Prince and his attendants,
gains considerably in picturesque effectiveness; nor can
one well conceive a more admirable arrangement than that
displayed in the turn-out, with the outriders leading
the way, then the Emperor alone, gravely yet gracefully
acknowledging the salutations of the humblest passer-by ;
then the officers of his household in close order, behind
them a small party of the Guides, and last of all the
" Cent. Gerdes," a magnificent termination to the caval-
cade. In this order they went yesterday morning to bear
military mass celebrated at the camp of Honvault. 11
o'clock is generally the time at which the celebration
takes place, but on this occasion it was an hour earlier,
and in consequence many of the sight-seers were disap-
pointed. Those who were present were greatly impressed
with the spectacle. 10,000 armed soldiers worshipped
God under the great vault of Nature, knelt down toge-
ther like one mau at the elevation of the hest, and joined
,---ehesseeeieesein the-eublime music with which the Ronaish
Church knows so well how to heighten the effect of her
religious services. It was impossible to witness such a dis-
play without feeling the heart moved by it. The perform-
ance of three fine military bands, the presence of the Em •
pwe.ror, and the remarkable view commanded from the spot
ith the English Channel in front, and, beyond that again,
the morning sun upon the ch-alk cliffs of our own coast—
s fronttructed byof tehaechtreonopeaeTtfamougenht rsamthaelri
In a(lded greatly to the imposing character of the spectacle.
eo
dp
space n t oouft
any
ny kind
curiousind devoted difference t
o in
ethh. g
oour
sg a
services,ni s i o n
not without a cer' •
e
yauaa
nd architectural o
u r s.
A t rceochffuhaegibt llihysv
aephn
innaetvsuwse p,
be'aetnhehdnae -dvtchao
nernyeo.
of the French are:
and when they took place they eseer
sshervelteert
marked by
simpli-
city
to which the pomp of the military mass- yaesteraay
was in striking contrast.
something of it may be hates
s the camps them-
tethhee caarememp
the advertedread to e r
resHtianygintog
them-
selves. I have as yet only visited those of Honvault and
Equihem, but they are all constructed much in the same
manner, and what is said of one may be taken as applying
to the rest. The first thing that strikes a visitor
with re-
gard to them is, that they are intended to be permanent,
or, at least, to be used summer and winter for several
years. The huts, which constitute their main feature, are
quite as good, if not better habitations for human beings
than those in which the Highland peasant shelters himself
from the storms of his native mountains, or which the
Irishman shares with his pig. As for the kitchens, the
new ones which are being constructed at Honvault are
substantial enough to last out a very long war. They
are built of brick, on the military pattern, with a chimney
shaft in the centre, and places for cooking radiating there-
from in a complete circle. Provisions can be cooked by each
for upwards of 500 men at a time. As may readily
be conceived, the number of these chimney shafts,
extending like one side (f an avenue of small obelisks along
the line of an immense encampment of mud huts, has a
very singular effect. But the important point which they
establish is the permanent character of the arrangements
which the Emperor is making, as if he contemplated a
protracted war. Next to this first and deepest impression
produced by a visit to the camps comes that of their apti-
tude for the purposes for which they are intended. The
mud huts are, of course, not very luxurious habita-
tions to dwell in, but soldiers in all times have been
obliged to fare hard, and these structures show an
amount of ingenuity in the cheap use of materials for
making them which is highly instructive. The side
walls are of clay, held together by a rough lathing of wood
internally, and a thick coating of whitewash on the exter-
nal surfaces. The frame of the roof, roughly put together,
is well thatched with straw. The tie beams of the rafters
form a convenient open loft on which to stow away arms
and accoutrements. From the entrance a passage way
is kept clear to the opposite wall of the hut, thus bisecting
it in two equal halves, and on each of these a sloping
platform of planks, and supported from the ground
by a very simple staging, gives room for six men to lie
down. The hut therefore accommodates 12 men, 6on one
side and 6 on the other, with their feet towards the centre,
and their heads towards the end walls. An aperture above
door, and another directly opposite, afford ample facilities
for ventilation in summer, and may be more or less en-
tirely closed up in winter. The cost of the whole structure
must be very trifling, and if any part gives way it can be
readily repaired. As the full strength of the company in
French regiments is 120 men, it takes 10 huts to house
that number, and, accordingly, in the arrangement of the
camp at Honvault it may be observed that the huts of each
company stand in double rows of five each, with streets
between and behind, as in our own service, those of the
officers in regular order. A broad street, running the
whole length of the encampment, separates the officers' huts
from those of the men, the latter being in front and the for-
mer behind. All the rectangular distributions of an American
city are faithfully observed. The French army, however,
does not satisfy itself with the Republican use of numbers
in its camp directory, but appropriately leaves soldiers or
visitors to ind or fight their way through the camp by the
names of the great battles which it won under the first
Napoleon. Any adventurous stranger who finds his way
out to Equihem will see as he passes along the lines ample
evidences of the extent to which the glorious traditions of
each corps are preserved. Besides the cheap and excellent
shelter of their huts, the orderly manner in which they
are arranged and the systematic plan upon which the
streets of the different camps are laid out, it is worthy of
remark that the telegraph is carried through them all—
not expensively put up, but still perfectly efficient, and
placing each in instantaneous communication with the
Emperor. From his hotel in the Capecure he can issue,
without a moment's previous notice, any order that he de-
sires to see executed, and it is this power which he pos-
sesses and exercises of coming down upon people unex-
pectedly which keeps everybody around him perpetually
on the qui vier, It should ha stated that many of the mud
huts not being finished, a considerable number of canvas
tents are still used. These aro of two kinds —one, the
small one (capable of holding six), which the soldiers now
carry about with them, and bivouac in, the other; a large
oval-shaped tent, used before this was introduced, in which
16 men sleep, and which, of course, forms part of the bag-
gage on the march. Both are interesting to examine,
partly as suggesting comparisons with our own bell tents,
but still more as helping to form en opinion whether it would
not be possible to improve greatly upon all existing arrange-
ments of the sort. Knowing what we do of cholera, and
squeezing together so many men at night into small unven-
tilated tents, it seems hardly wonderful that the morta-
lity of that disease should recently have been so lament-
ably great in the East.

As pet, neither at Honvault nor at Equihem have the
troops had much time to decorate their encampment ; but
they are beginning to do so, and there is no want of amuse-
ments to keep them occupied. The strict religious feeling
of the English people will be rather scandalised to hear
that Sunday afternoon and evening are devoted in the
camp of their allies to gaiety. Some play at bowling,
others at " loto," and as the evening closes in officers and
men repair to large ball-rooms behind the lines, where
dancing is kept up till 10 o'clock with great spirit, and,
it is only fair to add, with perfect propriety of manner.
Excellent regimental bands perform in the orchestras, sen-
tinels stand at the different entrances, and officers are ap-
pointed specially to see that decorum is strictly pre-
served. There seems to be no lack of fair partners on
these occasions, and among them, or at least looking ap-
provingly on,, may nearly always be seen parties of our
own countrymen and women, whose friends at home
would doubtless be much scandalised at knowing the fact.
The Emperor's movements are somewhat uncertain, but,
as at present arranged, he will remain at Boulogne during
the ensuing week, unless the promised visit to King Leo-
pold should bring him to the Belgian frontier. About the
18th Napoleon will leave Paris for Bordeaux, to
city the Empress will repair after leaving Biarritz.
• e the Empress to Paris, and will
whichT
The
Emperor then will briny
leave her at Compiegne, after which ho will again visit the
camp of the north and manoeuvre the troops.
To-day, at 12 o'clock his Majesty rode out to thecamp at
Equihem, and inspected the
troops there. It is stated
that there will be a grand feigned battle in the immediate
neighgthe
armycouwrsiell obfetswuoppoorsetdhreteo
days,bionurh.ooloidebof
tßbeou
carry the town by storm.
aletgtancekiinn
The Emperor's splendid stud of horses excited the admi-
ration of the Prince's suite, and is not unworthy of notice
in connection wiih the Emperor's well-directed efforts to
improve the breed of horses in France. The cavalry horses
of the French army are mostly bred in Normandy, except
the horses of the light cavalry, which come from Tarbes,
near the Pyrenees, and which have a mixture of Arab
blood. With many excellent qualities of endurance, the
horses of the French cavalry are capable of great improve-
ment in point of blood and bone, and Napoleon's attention
is unceasingly directed to this object. Large purchases of
English horses are frequently made by his agents, and,
seeing the prices which are given for good steeds, and the
rivalry which exists between the buyers for the French
and German Governments to secure the best animals,
some astonishment is expressed that English farmers
do not more generally avail themselves of the facilities
they possess for rearing first-rate horses for so cer-
tain and so good a market. Besides the haras of
the Emperor, he has a stud and breeding establish-
ment at St. Cloud, at which colts
of extraordinary
o oo
vn
es Ltu ririue
value are reared from a mixture of English and Arab
blood. The Imperial stables at Boulogne, which are in
gne htt tooannn ,od f the
olraer
geEmperor'st:dd,
rcinleoslisdesednpacryzs,aimrbeuitt m
aynxtetoxrtetehmeepiyo e Hotel
c convenient
and covering nearly half an acre of
36 English saddle-horses for the use of the EniTeror, his
suite, and visitors ; 36 carriage-horses Emperor's
for the
caleches char-i-bancs , • , and other vehicles, and 30 POst-
horses. The Emperor's chargers
are in reserved for his exclusive
use at reviews and in the field,
six number. They
are all English, as are, of the
indeed, the greater part
saddle and carriage horses and as their former names are
retained, and every stall ha's the horse's name painted ore?
the animal's head, the English visitor might forget that was in a foreign country, and imagine that be was
pThe
walk-
ing through the stables of some English nobleman.
called
Emperor's favourite steed is a dark chestnut horseof whom
Phillips, after Mr. Phi"ips' of Knightenbork,lif l'nd spirited
the Emperor purchased him.
Se
is
a Emperor when he
animal, and is usually ridden by the
himself
be distinguishesby
reviews the troops, where
his habit of bowing and.
his beautiful action and 7.
Oi; the colours of a regi-
prancing when ho
approaches the
same moment raises his
regi-
ment. As the Emperor a
rider appear to sedate the colours
together, to the a
hat, the horse and the
tdelight
ght of the troops. Both
the Emperor's stud Feat
establishment at St. Cloud and.
that at Boulogne
are under the superintendence of the pre-
mier piqueur of his Majesty, Mr. Gamble, whose thorough
knowledge of the points and treatment of the animals un-
derknown to the English sporting world.
his care is well
control of the stud The general
Emperor
to
Colonel Fleury, PPremierE cuycr to his Majesty. lek
the saddle room aro seen two gorgeous saddles and bridles,
presented to the Emperor by the Sultan, the saddle-cloths
of which are most richly embroidered with gold, all
the mountings being of solid gold, and the bit of
silver gilt. One of these saddlea, &e., was used by
Emperor when riding out one day with the Prince Consort.
Its value is estimated at two hundred and fifty thousand
francs. Anothersplendid saddle, with crimson velvet seat,
was a present from Abd•el-liader with three Arab horses.
The Imperial carriages and liveries are of dark green ; the
former are all manufactured in Paris. Few things grieved
Louis Napoleon more than being obliged, when President,
to break up his stud and dispose of his horses ; but now
that his exalted position supplies him with the rev:dal-fa
resources he loses no occasion of obtaining the bolt UP lick hottei that mosey can procure.