The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-15 00:00:00

DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES AND

VOLUNTEER FIELD DAY.

Saturday last was a great day on our cockney
Champ de Mars. There were the distribution of
prizes for the rifle shooting of the previous fort-
night, and the subsequent volunteer muster and
field day, and, besides, there was plenty of rain
before, and after, and agreeably between, both im-
posing ceremonials. When is the watery feud be-
tween the volunteers and the weather to terminate ?
The Wars of the Roses at last came to an end, and
so did the Thirty Years War, but this terrible anta-
gonism between the rifles and the rain seems to I
be " never ending, still beginning," every time our
gallant civilian warriors turn out to show what they
can do in case disagreeable visitors from abroad
should intrude uninvited on our shores. The scenery
of Wimbledon-common is never, under the most
favourable circumstances, remarkable for picturesque
variety. There is neither hill, nor dale, nor tree,
nor shrub, nor grass, nor water—except, in case of
the latter, in innumerable holes, in which the
treacherous fluid, instead of gladding the eye, soaks
the ankles; whilst the only object which art has
supplied to break the monotony is the historic mill
from which the miller of Wimbledon witnessed that
terrific duello between a warlike peer and a sturdy
civilian which subsequently became matter for a
State trial in the House of Lords. But on a wet
day Wimbledon-common is an English imitation of
Mark Tapley's transatlantic Eden, wide, waste,
humid, vaporous ; a place upon which the last man
might take his station and reconcile himself to the
proximate destruction of the world. We have a
popular phrase for describing a particularly fine
day, which we call" Queen's weather," and we must
henceforth have another for the genuine volunteers'
soak, and evendown teem. Wimbledon weather it
shall be called from henceforth, and at the next
whisper of the ominous words every man must
unfold his Macintosh, and ascertain that no friend
has borrowed his umbrella.
Saturday's events developed some pleasing varie-
ties of the Wimbledon weather. The meteorological
department had evidently had a hard struggle as to
how it should preserve its traditional respect for
royalty and at the same time give the volunteers
their proper and accustomed seasoning. There
was the distribution of prizes at which a royal duke
was to preside, the sham battle in which the volun-
teers were to attack and drive away from " this
fair realm of England" innumerable hosts of ima-
ginary invaders, and there was the final " march
past," in which their proficiency in Marshal Saxe's
well-known desideratum was again to bring royalty
to the field. Under these circumstances the weather
made an equitable compromise. It was fine whilst
his Royal Highness the General Commanding-in•
Chief was very gracefully, and with much dignity,
distributing the prizes; there was abundance of
rain in the interval between that time and the sham
fight, so as to make the ground delightfully soft
and splashy for the recumbent manoeuvres of the
sharpshooters and skirmishers; a suspension of
hostilities whilst his royal highness superintended
the march past ; and finally, torrents of blinding
rain for the refreshment of the volunteers as they
defiled off the ground and made their way home to ,
their different headquarters in town or suburb. It
is quite evident that if our noble defensive institu-
tion should ever crumble away, the weather does
not mean that "dry rot" should be included
amongst the causes of its dissolution.
The first portion of the day's ceremonial, the dis-
tribution of prizes, came off at about three o'clock
in the afternoon. The prizes were displayed on a
platform in front of the grand stand, and there his
royal highness stood, surrounded by his staff and
the council of the association, to distribute the
various objects for which the riflemen had been
contesting so hardly during the previous fortnight.
The band of the Coldstream Guards played appro.
priate music at intervals, and Lord Elcho's fine
corps attended as a guard of honour. The prizes
were rather various in character, including engrav-
ings, iron safes, and various amounts of the
circulating medium, Of this last named,
perhaps most popular form of reward, Mr.
Jopling carried away about £250, and the only
regret was that he had not also won the iron safe,
in order that he might have a suitable depository
for his large acquisition of treasure. His Royal
Highness opened the proceedings with a few judi-
cious and well chosen observations, delivered in a
frank and soldierly manner, and which were received
with acclamation by the select audience," fit though
few,"
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left. This, and the arrangement which separated
by so long an interval the distribution and the re-
view, must be taken as accountingforthethinat-
at-
tendance at what is generally a great attraction.
His Royal Highness congratulated the association
on the success of their rifle match, hoped often to
meet them again, and cautionedtheriflemen to keep
their practice up, their rifles steady, and their
commencement
thofemthoen their pro-
powder dry.
theH
co
pro-
gress sinceHe congratulated
volunteer
movement, and hinted in a delicate way that if the
association got more subscriptions, there was no
doubt but that next year their arrangements would
be still more liberal and efficient than they were
admitted to be in the present. The distribution was
then proceeded with, with ti kind and encouraging
word from the royal distributor to sr.q.eh recipient,
and a cheer from all who could see the presentation,
or hear his Royal Highness's observations. As we
have already published the names of the successful
competitors day- by day it will not be nees,ssary
here to publish them in extolls°, the more especially