The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-25 00:00:00

Grand Volunteer Review in Hyde Park.

One of the assemblages of Volunteer regiments
upon a grand scale to which the distinctive title of
64 Hyde Park Reviews" has been given, to -mark
them out from minor gatherings, was held on
Saturday afternoon, the number of Volunteers pre-
sent under arms exceeding 15,000. The weather
was brilliant, and though limits of time and space
prevented the achievement of anything more ambi-
tious in the way of evolutions than the formation of
line and the march past the Commander-in •Chief,
the occasion, as shown by the enormous attendance
of the public, excited a great amount of interest.
Periodical reviews of such magnitude are not only
attractive in themselves as spectacles, but furnish
an effectual test of the progress or decline of the
movement in particular districts, and they illustrate
also the strength of the hold which the Volunteer
spirit possesses of the nation. It would not be
surprising, though upon the surface there was no-
thing to indicate the fact, if other considerations than
a love, pure and simple, of Volunteering, contributed
on Saturday to draw together such masses of the peo-
ple. Martial ideas and the lust of conquest are once
more filling the minds of rulers, and kindling conflict
upon the Continent. Among ourselves the Fenians,
happily, have not fulfilled their dream of an " Irish
Republic virtually established," and the would-be
subjects of that mythical State have knocked their
heads against hard walls in Canada. But one short
week's campaigning in Central Europe has seen two
German kingdoms virtually abolished, and the
troops of those countries reduced to the status of con-
tingents serving in the army of Austria. Mingling,
therefore, with the satisfaction which Englishmen
feel in the very appearance of the Volunteers, the
news arriving from the seat of war afforded addi-
tional reasons, if any were needed, why the public
should turn out in force to honour the representa-
tive of the British army of reserve.
Volunteer reviews have in their nature such a
strong resemblance to each other, so many from
time to time have been held and been described, that
it is difficult to impart much novelty to the theme.
Given the fact that so many regiments are to enter
the park at a particular hour byspecified approaches,
there to execute a number of movements, all care-
fully laid down and printed beforehand, and one
can almost etch out by anticipation a description of
the scene. The corps likely to muster in greatest
force, the regiments that will probably distinguish
themselves by superior marching, the commanding
officers who, being special favourites, will obtain
the loudest applause ; all these are matters known
pretty nearly as well before as after the review,
and any departure from this imaginary pro-
gramme will probably be only differences of
degree. There is, however, a point from which
reviews have not been habitually regarded, and
that is from the point of view of the Volunteers
themselves. Let us invert the glass ; let us walk
with the ranks, or, better still, in the ranks, on
their way to the park and see what information is
to be gained.
The first thing which strikes a Londoner who

steps off the pavement with the design of marching
along the centre of the street for miles in the direc-
tion of the park, is a doubt whether he may not
thereby be invalidating his policy of assurance.
To cross a main thoroughfare is risk enough; but to
pursue your way, with cabs, carts, and carriages
on every side, and with similar vehicles rushing
out from ambuscades at the corners of all the
streets that you pass, looks like a wilful " tempting
of Providence." Assuming that you are an inner
member of your own " four," and have somebody
else between you and danger, your apprehensions are
next diverted to the general public, who really do
run extraordinary risks. Fascinated by the music,
never looking where they are going, but marching
straight forward, and gazing into the ranks all the
while, hundreds of boys, grown men, and even
women, walk up against the wheels of omnibuses,
into the very chests of horses, between the shafts of
carts and handles of wheelbarrows, with as little care
or consciousness of danger as birds that fly into the
fowler's snare. At one or other of the different
rendezvous there is time to halt and look about and
compare notes as to the merits, in point of accoutre-
ments, numbers, &c., of rival corps, for it takes
some time to form up in the order in which they
must enter the park. Once more in motion there is
sometimes an advantage, sometimes a painful dis-
advantage, in proximity to other regiments. If you
belong to a numerous corps; and your company
stands sixth or eighth on parade, you are of
necessity far down the line, and much more in-
debted to the band of the corps that follows than
your own, which very possibly you cannot hear at
all. But sometimes it happens that you can hear
both, and then either one half of the regiment is
marching to the tune of the first band, and the rest
keeping step with the band in rear, or else there is a
fidgetting uncertainty all down the line. Here and
there the regiment encounters on its march some one
of its own members kept away by considerations of
health, or business, or urgent private affairs—eupho-
nious, perhaps, for downright laziness—but who
finds himself at. the critical moment at a point where
he can see and be seen, and of course comes in
for his share of friendly reprobation. At the dif-
ferent entrances to Hyde Park, detachments of
police were stationed to keep the approaches clear,
and thence to the ground, marked out by a line of
hurdles as reserved for the review and march past,
the way was easy, though the crowds beyond the lines
increased at every step. Staff officers waited to
point out the ground to be occupied by each regiment.
When the first few corps marched in, the enclosure
was covered to a large extent by groups of sightseers,
transgressors of the appointed limits, but before
long, squadrons of the 2d Life Guards pressed them
back to their proper boundaries, and kept them
there. Then was seen, in its full advantage, the
superiority of the position occupied by the Volun-
teers relatively to the spectators. Not cooped up
behind iron railings, free from the reproaches of
police or guardsmen, removed from the disagree-
able vicinity of pickpockets, or still more doubtful
proximity to the hoofs of chargers, the Volunteers
were able to enjoy a pleasant breathing time while
Colonel Erskine mustered the fresh arrivals.
With regard to the accommodation of the public,
considerable uncertainty appeared to prevail—in
fact, it is doubtful whether the vexed question of a
year or two ago has yet been actually decided.
The War Department, in the first instance, issued
tickets to members of either branch of the Legisla-
ture entitling them to admission within a particular
enclosure. These tickets were afterwards cancelled,
and other tickets issued in their stead from the De..
partment of Works. Chairs were provided at a
moderate charge ; and that invaluable section of the
A division of police which, from long and late hours
of duty at the Houses of Parliament, knows the
Peers and Commoners at a glance, was on guard to
exclude all not entitled to the entree. These were the
only members of the police force within the lines, the
ground being kept exclusively by the military. In
the absence of any reserved seats for those of the
Fel?oral public who could afford to pay for them a
frail and fungous growth of stands sprang up along
the line of hurdles.
Ladders, barrels, planks,
wheel-barrows, anything that would carry weight
for an hour or two was pressed into the service, and
in all cases the enterprise seemed to be remunera-
tive.
The Inspector-General of Volunteers had barely
half an hour to marshal his forces, and to place
them properly in a line extending from between
the Marble Arch and the Serpentine to a point some
300 yards weotwai •d of the Marble-arch when the
Commander-in-Chief arrived and was
received
by Lieut.-General
Sir Hope Grant, cr
• al and
Staff ; Major-General Lord F. Paulet, Brigaier-
General. penny, Brigadier-General Sir A. Horsford,
K.C.8.; Col. Erskine, Inspector-General of Volea_
teem ; Col. Wright, Deputy
Metropolitan inspector
of Volunteers ; Cols. Manby
and Gregory, Volun-
teer Engineer Railway Staff, Sze • There were also
present the Earl of Cardigan, the Earl of Denbigh,
Lieut.-Col. the Hon. J. W. Colville, Lieut.-Col. Sir
E. F. Campbell, Viscount Sydney, Lord Llanover,
and other persons of distinction. The general
salute by Volunteers is rarely ever given with the
same ensemble as by regulars, but in this case it
was steadily done. A band selected from each
brigade played in turn as the Commander-in-