The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-17 00:00:00

JIBE MAJESTY AT A.LDERSHOTT.

The troops at Aldershott were reviewed yesterday
in -the presence of her Majesty, and, though the
first field day of the season, it was one of the best
attended as well as the most brilliant and interest-
ing in its manoeuvres, which has been seen at camp
for a long time past. The crowds of visitors, not
only from London but all parts of the country
round Aldershott, were more numerous than on any
previous occasion, which was rather surprising,
considering how very frequently the public have
been disappointed on these state occasions, and that
there is not now much more than half the number
of troops in camp which the course of another
month will see assembled there. A large attendance,
too, seemed forbidden by the weather, which in
any other part of the kingdom but Aldershott
would decidedly have been accounted as unfavour-
able - but, notwithstanding these drawbacks the
heath was covered with carriages of the nobility
and country gentry, and the dusty approaches to
the Long Valley swarmed with pedestrians. It
might, perhaps, give rise to a feeling of insubor-
dination among London cabmen were we to
allude even distantly to the cab fares which were
demanded and paid eagerly yesterday at Alder -
ahott, and if there is any gratitude extant at all the
fly-drivers along the camp-road ought to carry all
persons gratis for the next month to come.
According to the first arrangement the troops
were to have quitted their cantonments at half-past
- -9, but at that hour the rain, which had long been
threatening, had thrown off all disguise, and was
coming dawn with that dull pertinacity almost pe-
culiar to the celebration of out-door fetes and grand
holiday ceremonials in England. The rain, how-
ever appalling at its commencement, was to those
who had come prepared to make a holiday, in
truth, a great comfort, as it in some measure checked
the ascendancy, of those blinding simooms which
sweep across the heath, and thus enabled the spec-
tators to witness the earlier movements of the day
with tolerable distinctness. Owing to this change
in the weather the march of the troops was for a
time delayed, but soon after 10 the whole force in
three strong brigades of infantry and one of cavalry
passed through the south camp and across the moor
to the steep knolls and ridges which stretch between
the royal pavilion and the high picturesque mound
known as Caesar's Camp, on the Winchester road.
The Ist brigade, under Major-Gen. Lord Win.
Paulet, was the strongest, having 4,600 men of all
arms, as follows :-2d battalion 4th Regiment, 1,000
strong; 11th Regiment, 800 strong; 36th Regi-
ment, 900 ; Staffordshire Militia, 850 ; North Cork
Rifles, 700 ; and a field battery of 6 guns and 200
men. The 2d brigade was under Major-Gen. Hon.
A. Spencer, and mustered 4,180 men—including Ist
battalion 9th Foot, 850 ; 2d battalion 11th Foot,
850 ; 2d West York Rifles, 830 ; East Kent Militia,
700; Oxford Militia, 750 ; and a battery of 6 guns
and 200 men. The 3d brigade was under Major-
Gen. Lawrenee, and only mustered 2,490 men,
being the 2d battalion of the 47th, 860 strong, a
detachment of 450 of the 100th Royal Canadians ;
the Antrim Rifles, 750; and the Stirlingshire
Militia, 600 strong. The cavalry brigade, under
Major-General Lawrence, consisting of the 4th
Dragoon Guards, 650 strong ; the 10th Hussars,
500 strong ; a troop of Horse Artillery of 6 guns
and 220 men, mustered about 1,300 sabres in all. In
addition to these were a troop of the Royal Engi-
neer train, 120 strong, two companies of the Royal
Engineers in charge of pontoons, a detachment of
the Ist Battalian of the Military Train, 140 strong,
with the 3d Battalian of the same corps, 340 strong.
The total force upon the ground, then, of all arms
was a little over 13,000, officers and men, with 18
guns. The whole corps cr armee concentrated it-
self in the strong natural position we have men-
tioned; the left wing, covered by the steep Roman
Camp, and the right, where the ground was more
open, protected by the cavalry and a troop of Horse
Artillery. The programme of the day's proceedings
supposed the division on the previous day to have
been intercepted by' a superior force of the enemy
in crossing the Moor on its march to Reading, and
therefore to have halted and taken up a strong po-
sition under cover of Caesar's Camp. The duty of
the Aldershott division, as the advanced gaard of a
large corps d'armee, was therefore to reconnoitre the
enemy's position, and endeavour by turnin g his right
to recover communications with the Reading road.
The enemy was supposed to be posted with his
right on Tweezledown-hill, and his left resting on
Pyestock-ridges, holding the route across the Moor
leading to the coveted Reading road. As by this
.convement supposition the enemy had acted most
imprudently in taking up an almost indefensible
line, and, in case of emergency, leaving himself
nothing better to retreat into than the Basingstoke
Canal, his speedy discomfitnre under the most
ignominious circumstances was naturally looked
forward to by the public. Nor were they disap-
pointed. The Aldershott Division posted itself
strongly and so secretly behind the ridges that
scarcely a man was seen, save the strong force of
Rifle skirmishers, which, in a dark irregular line,
dotted the hill-side. The guns were placed on the
most commanding points, and the infantry and ca-
valry behind them in dense masses waited for the
expected signal to advance. This, however, was de-
layed for some time, during which the military re-
mained immovable, and the visitors, detached in
loose skirmishing order over the heath, actually gave
an animated appearance to that bleak %old, and at
the first glance led the spectator to imagine that the
usual order of things had been reversed, and that the
troops were reviewing the public. At 20 minutes
past eleven her Majesty quitted the Pavilion in
an open pony carriage. At either side of her were
seated the Princesses Alice and Helena, and Lady
Macdonald and the Hon. Miss Stanley also occupied
seats in the carriage. His Royal Highness the
Prince Consort, in the uniform of the Colonel of the
Rifle Brigade, with the Duke of Cambridge, fol-
lowed the Royal carriage with a numerous and
brilliant staff of the chief officers in camp. The
cortege having passed through the ranks of the
Division descended the ridges, and took up a posi-
tion at the head of the Long Valley, when the
review immediately commenced. The first affair
was merely driving in the enemy's outposts, which
was soon accomplished by a sharp fire and rapid
advance of the Riflemen. As these got closer down
upon the enemy a supporting cannonade was
opened, and the strength of the Aldershott
position, till then concealed, was distinctly seen.
Up on the steep heights, and far away in
picturesque nooks and glens, where no one
dreamt that guns lay lurking, came the thick
spurts of flame and smoke, till the cannonade along
the line was loud and general. It was not of long
duration, however, and ere the heights were well
crowned with smoke the peculiar rumble and jing-
ling noise told that the guns were already limbering
up, and an advance of the whole line commencing.
As the great object of the advance was to turn the
enemy's right, it followed as a matter of course that
the left of the Aldershott division had to bear the
brunt of the day. A brigade of infantry, with a
strong force of skirmishers and some guns, made a
rapid movement on the left, and, supported by the
10th Hussars, advanced against the copses of Bick-
ley- Farm, where the enemy's Riflemen were strongly
placed. A confused rattle of skirmishers followed,
after a few minutes, by the heavy continuous roll of
musketry and guns, showed that the left of the
troops was hotly engaged, and the advance of the
right and centre began- at once. The infantry
poured down the hill in dense bright masses of
close columns, the heavy cavalry on their right and
the guns winding cautiously down the steep ascent-
with all the artillerymen hanging on behind to the
drag-ropes, to prevent the ordnance rushing down
and overwhelming horses and men. By and by the
scene grows more exciting. • The guns keep still
busy on the left, and the confused din of musketry
has penetrated the wood, and tells:that Aldershott
is gaining so far, and that the copse is being cleared
of the enemy. The light cavalry circle and move
about till they emerge from a cloud of dust in line,
and wait to charge till the enemy shall emerge from
the wood upon the open. Bugle sounds and hoarse
shouts resound through the right and centre bri-
gades as they come up with a rapid dull tramp in
close column, till they reach the head of the Long
Valley, and deploy into a front of more than a mile
in length. The Aldershott division at last clear
Biekley copses, and, advancing at a canter, the
10th Hussars prepare to charge them as they
cross the moor. They move to the edge of the
wood and halt, while their ranks form up,
and then advance, slowly at first, but gradually in-
crease in speed till the " charrre" rings from the bugles
from troop to troop, and they sweep over the Moor
like a whirlwind, shaking the solid earth with the
noise of distant thunder, and scattering the turf and
grass like water behind them. The heavy cavalry
at a slow pace, and in massive squadrons, advance,
while the light at last retire, having pursued the
enemy to the very foot of the Pyestock Ridges.
Directly this was accomplished, the left division of
the Aldershott corps issued from the wood, and
advanced rapidly against the enemy's right, so as
to throw it
a completely upon the line of hills
above the Basiek n
sttoke Canal. At the same time
the right and centre
.isance upon the plain in line,
and, mounting the
under cover of a cannonade,
the battle becomes
general along the whole front.
The enemy were now
Supposed to be in a bad
way, and apparently were well
aware of the fact,
for the ridge of hills was desperately contested. The
file fire began on the extreme left, and as fast as the
regiments of the centre and right came into
crackled
they joined the fusillade, till it roared and
over the hills and valleys in a dense line of fire and
smoke nearly a mile and a half in length. The guns
on the flanks hurried up, and each as soon as it un-
limbered came into action, almost drowning in their
heavy reverberations the continuous roll of mus-