The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-19 00:00:00

Impressions of the Naval Review at Spithead

The art of being miserable, as practised in this
country, with the cordial concurrence of the ele-
ments, was never more flourishing and universal
than on the great day of the 17th, when everybody
had gloomily prepared for it by the fatal resolve to
welcome pleasure and be delighted, if only circum-
stances would permit. In our wilful climate there
is a gratification of a very subtle compensating
quality in the Manichean appeal to mankind—that
we be all of us unhappy together. Everybody's
misery is your consolation and mine. We are
taue.ht to expect it; we are all the more in sym-
pathy for it, and we are the less touched inwardly
by a damping that we cannot but share in common.
&nd, besides, discomfort has its pleasant features,
just as the south-western gale can show by fits a
picturesque splendour unknown to an Oriental and
reliable summer day. Your correspondent afloat,
for instance, would have been glad to see the fleet
in motion wider a g:tutle breezy ; but it is doubtful
whether the Sultan would then have gathered
so strong and true an impression of the power
of an island kingdom whose sons are bred
to contend against adverse circumstances on land
and sea. The Review was for him, not for us. In
his passages down and up the long street of ships
at Spithead he must have caught glimpses of sur-
passing interest and significance to an Eastern so-
vereign. One may question whether a more gene-
rally favourable condition of the atmosphere would
have enabled him to see as much, or be as sensible
of the real nature of this colossal display of movable
power offered to his inspection. He beheld on Wed-
nesday the war-vessels of old times and new, and
the British sailor of all times, whose deeds ho has
read of, and of whose aptitude for repeating them
he must carry away the liveliest belief. The gale
which vexed us swept the smoke of the cannonade off
the vessels, and each one had its distinctive character.
Here the Royal Sovereign showed its fighting hull
with the crew in one close line across the
four covered turrets. Opposite, on the old war-
ships, the sailors swarmed the rigging, in some
cases right up to the topmasts, where they clung
until the Sultan had passed, cheering over the
blunt bellow of the guns, and making tha huge
masses of timber alive with their resonant shouts.
Portsmouth shore had the most to complain of, for
the dense vapour was rolled right in front of it,
and little could have been visible or audible there
beyond an occasional glimpse of misty ships through
spray and rain, and a melancholy remote reverbe-
ration as of sullen giants either at play or fisticuffs.
From Ryde all along to Sea-view the spectacle pre-
sented a clearer aspect. To a marine painter the
early part of the day gave a series of exquisite
studies, and, touched by Turner's imaginative truth-
fulness, or even the literal hand of Stansfield—
before the weather broke up and resolved into dreary
gusty grey, without hope of a break—there were two
or three of the " fine ten minutes," which a humo-
rist has said is the utmost we can expect in our
climate, unexceptionably glorious. If we could
only have had the sun a little oftner the vexa-
tious gale would have been turned to beauty. As
a matter of course, photographers were out and
busy, trying to be independent of their baffled
lord. The "impressions" taken by them are pro-
bably in complete harmony with the impressions
of the people on the beach at Southsea, and might
stand for a memorable representation of the scene
as it was surveyed by the bulk of the spectators ;
but here and there, I believe, their persevering
efforts proved successful, and there is reason to
hope that the picture of the Osborne and Helicon
rounding the Victoria and Albert, with the Fairy in
their wake, has been fixed endurably. The daring
of one adventurous photographer deserves mention
in a chronicle of heroic contention with difficulties.
This resolute man set sail in a small boat from
Southsea beach when all was clear in heaven, but
no calm rested on the sea, bearing his apparatus to
the Nomau's Fort, which is now a block of stone
just above low water, with a precarious wooden
structure on the top of it. He went out alone_ in
his undert king, scarcely venturing to think that the
boatman would be able to land him, and utterly
ignorant of his chances of returning. However, he
was landed successfully, and forthwith he commenced
a scientific struggle with the elements to wrez.t at
least one scene of the weeping pageant from devour-
ing time. He had in his desperate ardillr neglected
to take provisions of any kind. hungry, drenched,
his I.ms broken, his plates blown about, himself
with his head in his camera several times near on
being hurled bodily into,,the sea, with the prospect
of having to remain starving at his post until it was
possible for the visiting steamer to put off from
shore, he battled on undauntedly, and managed to
obtain a couple of " negatives," for which priceless
treasures his personal sufferings and professional
disasters seemed in his triumphant mind a small
payment. Tired of persecuting him, fortune to-
wards evening rewarded him for his contempt of
her. He was taken on board by a friendly boat
that happened to hear of his plight. 1 think you
will admit that he offered that spectacle said to be
best loved by the gods. Pray take him ' for
your
text to preach a sermon against croaking and
whining because all was not done on Wednesday
that we wanted to see done, and it rained, and
the scene was not so pretty as we wit ed it to be,
and we were not quite comfortable in our skins.
For my part, I think that the impressions of every
man who witnessed the review may be reduced to
two negatives as distinct in themselves as those our
photographer has obtained on his perch at Nomau's
Fort—the review, b sulked of the maineuvres of the
fleet, was not complete ; the weather was not
agreeable ; but out of the two negatives with the
introduction of a contingent " nevertheless," we
ought to produce the affirmative that it was a day
of characteristic English sea-coast weather, full of
varying features, and in itself worthy of the
occasion. This was the unanimous bentiment on
board our gallant craft. I will confess to you that
the tonnage was not of enormous weight, and that
the sitting members were scarcely in excess of the
congregated audience to which certain too we

known hon. gentlemen are accustomed to address
their eloquent evening observations. .1 wish to
convey to yogi what I imagine to be the impression
of the majority of those who really saw the whole
scene from beginning to end—that, despite the cur-
tailment of the programme, the review was not a
fiasco, and was, maugre ill fortune, as far as it went,
a success.—Morning Pcst.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.—This Day

LONDON, July 19.--Wind this day at noon—South-
Westerly; moderate breeze and fine weather, but rather
cloudy.
OFY HURST CA.STLD, Juno 18 Arrived—Teutonia, screw
steamer, from New York. _ _ .

GRAVESEND, Friday Morning.
Arrived, July 18—Nora, steamer, from Harlingen ;
Gabrielle, from River Plate ; Elizabeth Ann Oliver from
Calakai Mode, from Dominica; Terra Nova and Alexan-
der, both from Alexandria; Domino, from St. Vincent;
Vesper, from Narva ; Home, from New York; Monarch,
from Jamaica; Dersud, from Singapore; Cromwell, from
Minititlan : Indian Chief, from Barbadoes ; John Walters.
from Boston ; Joseph, from Porto Rico ; Hebe, from Mira-
michi ; British Constitution, from Colombo; Adol, from
Rostock; Granton, steamer, from Hamburg.
Sailed —Lord John Russell, steamer, for Dunkirk; Pan-
ther, steamer, for Boulogne; Normandie, steamer, for
Dunkirk.

DEAL, Friday Morning.
Passed, July 18— Far West, from Falmouth, for London,
for
Passed, July 19 —Cadiz, screw steamer, from
Cadiz,
London ; H.M.S. Serapis, from the West, for the River ;
Moderazione, from Nicolaieff, for Antwerp, Andrea Dara-
vara, from 'Taganrog, for Rotterdam ; Isabella Woodhouse,
of Shields, from the West, for London.
Anchored—Elizabeth Tatham, from the north for the
west; Sabrina, screw steamer, froßLondon, for the west;
England's Rose, from London, for
—St. Lawrence, from
urble
Pass©d the back of the Goodwin
London, for Calcutta.

We are requested to state that the dress in which
the guests are expected to appear at the ball given by the
Secretary of State and the Council of India to his Impe-
rial Majesty the Sultan will be the same as at the Queen's
ball.
LARGE IMPORTATION OF NORWAY MACKEREL.—
Yesterday an immense supply of mackerel, caught off the
Norwegian coast, was received by the salesmen at Billings-
gate. The fiEh, which aro of a very large size, are packed
in ice in large boxes ; and although their flavour is not so
excellent as those caught in the Channel, th©y form a good
substitute when served up with tho customary sauce. The
retail prices yesterday varied from 2d. to 4d. each, accord-
fug to size.