The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-12 00:00:00

smoke to leeward, enabled thespectators almost uninter-
ruptedly to mark the splendour of the spectacle. The
deep bass of the 68 and 84-pounders, chiming in at in-
tervals with the sharper roar of the lighter guns, could
be readily distinguished, and the observer could even
note how these tremendous engines of destruction hurled
forth a more projected and larger mass of flame and
smoke into the wind's eye. Along the whole line of
battle, nearly three miles long, the cannonading was
kept up for many minutes with a fury which it is quite
impossible to convey an idea of in words. The expedi-
tion and facility with which the crews worked their guns
in the midst of this terrible hubbub was a subject of
nearer and hardly less interesting observation than the
general effect of the battle. On board the Odin, com-
manded by Captain Scott, and the heavy armament of
which is peculiarly unwieldy, this was very con-
spicuous.
The enemy had replied vigorously at the outset to the
fire of the fleet, and this was sustained for some time ;
but at last the Prince Regent, the Queen, and London
began to slacken their fire. When the firing had ceased
and the great " war cloud" formed by it had swept com-
pletely away, the signal was given to "chase to the
south," and in this direction the whole fleet proceeded
at full steaming speed. The movement was only con-
tinued long enough to make a fair display of the supe-
riority of the Imperieuse, the Agamemnon, and the Duke
of Wellington screws. These would have beaten all the
rest of the fleet, and seem to establish the inferiority of
the paddle-wheel construction to their own not only for
fighting, but even for speed. The royal yacht, which
had retired to a safe distance during the action, joined
with its attendant flotilla of steamers in the chase ; and
both houses of Parliament, in the Stromboli and Bull-
dog,
also joined eagerly in the pursuit. They were bolder
still, for, just before the engagement commenced, they
passed through the line of the fleet into the central space
between it and the enemy. They were thus exposed to
the entire fury of the cannonade, and it is expected that,
in consequence, for some time to come there will be a
marked diminution in the number of interjectional
" hear, hears" observable in our Parliamentary reports.
To yachtmen a leading attraction in this part of the re-
view was furnished by the performances of two beautiful
foreign vessels sent over to the Ryde Regatta—one an
American, the other a S wede, and both remarkably swift.
These kept up with the squadron the whole day, and ac-
companied it on its return to Spithead. This return was
made in the order which each ship could maintain by her
sailing powers, the Duke of Wellington and the Aga-
memnon, however, easily leading. It was a fine irregu-
lar race back to the starting point of the morning, the
stalwart and martial-looking war-vessels shouldering
their way by screw power through clouds of yachts and
steamers. Far behind, under a press of canvas, came
the gigantic sail-of-the-line—distance and the declining
sunlight giving somewhat of a spectral character to their
movements. The fleet reached Spithead about 6 o'clock,
and on its arrival the signal was given for the gunboats
of all the ships to assemble, manned and armed, round
the royal yacht. The execution of this order involved a
greater amount of exertion on the part of the crews than
any other of the day's proceedings. Having seen proved
the difficulties attendant on launching heavy boats with
all the discipline and resources of a man-of-war at com-
mand, we can now understand how the terrors of ship-
wreck become so aggravated. Yesterday the gunboats
of the fleet were all round the royal yacht in a space of
little more than half-an-hour from the time when the sig-
nal was given. They then commenced, for the amuse-
ment of the multitudes of spectators on shore, a grand
attack with great guns and small arms on the Magicienne
and Conflict steam-frigates.
Thus terminated a spectacle unprecedented in this
country, and that could be produced nowhere else ;
a spectacle which well accords with our national
sympathies, and which is doubly gratifying from
the light in which it places the efficiency of our
navy. If it restores our confidence in that surest and
greatest arm of defence for this island kingdom of ours,
it will not have been held in vain.

[FROM ANOTHER OBSERVER.]
On July 16, 1845, now just eight years ago, her Ma-
jesty Queen Victoria inspected the Experimental Squa-
dron of that day, under the command of Admiral Hyde
Parker. The sight attracted an immense crowd of per-
sons from the metropolis and the surrounding country,
and well were they repaid by one of the most splendid
spectacles ever beheld. But at one time there were great
fears entertained on shore that the sight-seers would be
disappointed. The success of the whole ceremonial de-
pended on " the wind," which was then the deity be-
loved or the demon abhorred by poor Jack, according as
it was fair or foul, for he was the exception to the
" nobody" to whom an ill wind is inferred to be of some
advantage. Many an old sailor turned aside to pucker
up his lips into a sly whistle, thinking, after all, there
could be no harm in the moribund superstition, and that
it might do good to indulge in it, and it was felt that if
these little supplicatory expostulations with Providence
did not succeed and the wind remained in abeyance, the
exhibition might do very well for Vandevelde to paint
" a dead calm" from, but would be very uninteresting
to the Queen and her subjects. No doubt, too, there
were thousands of good honest blue jackets who did not
like seeing her Majesty in a "smoker" at all, and would
much sooner have beheld the Royal standard floating
from one of those gaily ornamented barges, which were
fondly believed to be Royal yachts half a century ago by
a generation not yet recovered from their reverence for
the " Shrewsbury wonder" and the " Brighton Tally-
ho." But a mightier power than the wind was spring-
ing fast into maturity. The youthful giant was in baby-
clothes. Most people said he would never be fit for
fighting, and recommended him to be kept to work on
railways or to serve in the merchant marine ; but now
he has grown up, and he has changed the whole tactics
of war. Knock away the paddles or the shaft of a
steamer of the old school, and you had a very dangerous
log on the water, which might scald you to death, and
which was deprived of half her broadside by the space
taken up by her paddle-boxes. Fire a shot into her, and
the chances were she became a vast mortar filled with
steam and blew the crew out of her. But now we
have a perfect man-of-war, with a propelling force work-
ing down deep in the water, and secured against most
contingencies except that of breakage, with her engines
below water-line, and, despite the prejudices of our old
" salts," there is reason to think that from and after
this time very few ships will be built indeed which are
not provided with that potent auxiliary " the screw."
In these eight years a complete revolution has been
effected in our navy and our system of tactics, and the
most striking evidence of the superior merit of the new
order of things was to be found in the proceedings of
yesterday, and, above all, in the rapidity with which it
has been produced.
On the occasion of the Queen's visit to Spithead in
1845 the squadron consisted of the St. Vincent, Tra-
falgar, Queen, Rodney, Albion, Canopus, Vanguard,
Superb, and Rattler. Of these, one—just one—(the
Rattler)—was a screw steamer ! A vessel of 880 tons
and 200-horse power, and by no means deserving of her
name so far as speed was concerned, thought built by
Sir W. Symonds, represented our navy, all the rest of
the squadron being sailing vessels.
Yesterday we saw in a fleet of 20 men-of-war 13 screw
steamers, and these by far the most efficient ships in the
whole squadron ; and as if to admit the fact of their
superiority in a tacit sort of way, the vessels of the
squadron which was intended to be beaten were com-
posed altogether of sailing vessels and paddle-wheel
steamers.
It was, in every sense of the word, a national exhi-
bition yesterday, and, as far as might be, in spite of the
localised nature of the display, a national holiday. Such
a day was never seen in Portsmouth, even when our
navy was wont to tow in whole fleets to testify to its
prowess. Many a strange tale has been told ere this of
the dreadful shifts to which visitors were put on Wed-
nesday in order to find a resting place—the hotels were
filled with people, who roamed all night in hopes of some
one being driven out of his room by an electric tele-
graph, a fire, or insanity, and who, failing in their ex-
pectations, lay down in holes and corners wonderful to
think of, and it is to be feared that many a respectable
man with a well-filled purse had no better_ resting place
than his house-dog was enjoying in the back yard at
home. The trains swallowed up thousands, only to
leave more thousands behind, and then delivered them
over to hungry waterrnen with the keenest thirst of gold
ever known, or to innkeepers, seized with equally acute
manifestations of a similar appetite.
The note of preparation sounded all through the n'ght,
and soon after daybreak the whole world of Portsmouth,
Gosport, and Southsea rushed down to the beach to find
the fleet quietly at its moorings, with scarcely a sign of
life on board except the steam blowing off from the
boilers. Thousands repaired to the dockyard in order to
get on board the men-of-war for which they had orders ;
and so great was the anxiety to be in time that the yachts
from Cowes and about the island ran over and anchored
during the night in the shingle off Southsea beach, in
order to get a good start of wind for the Nab in the
morning, and stood off at an early hour for the point of
action indicated in the programme which was published
in yesterday's paper. The sky gave promise of a fine
day—regular "Queen's weather"—and the day fulfilled
the pledge. The wind was east-north-east, and though
there was not enough of it for the sailing vessels to work
with, and to puff the smoke away, it would have been
uncharitable and ungallant to have asked for more, when
so many ladies were preparing to brave some amount of
suffering in trusting themselves even to the tame and
gentle Neptune of the Solent. Soft white clouds floated
placidly through the blue sky, and the sun shone out
brightly, the only consequence of his appearance being
the adoption and use of an extensive crop of " uglies,"
and the production of a good deal of refraction along the
water, which interfered with the full scope of the tele-
scope. As the morning wore on the crowds of course
increased along the shore. Every landing place was a
centre of attraction, and men-of-*ar and shore boats
laden with parties of ladies and gentlemen, and portly
hampers 4 provender, crossed to and fro, coming and
going in all directions, the sun's rays flashing brightly
back all the while from the blaze of gold in the officers'
uniforms as they sat in state and dignity in their trim
gigs. Hour after hour passed cheerfully away, for there
was plenty to see and remark upon in the ever-changing
panorama which lay before one from the Southsea beach
to the opposite shore, where the Isle of Wight, rich in
all its natural beauties, formed a graceful background to
the scene. Soon after 10' o'clock so me long-sighted people
declared the " flag was down at Osborne," and, indeed,
it soon turned out they had reason to be proud of their
eyesight or of their imagination, for the royal standard
not long after was transferred to the main of the Victo-
ria and Albert, which lay off shore in the Cowes roads.
The yacht in a few minutes afterwards left her moor-
ings, and steamed towards Spithead, threading her
way with care and difficulty amid the innumerable
craft that crowded the course. As she passed along the
dense masses of people who darkened every eminence
on the beach, who swarmed on the platform and ram-