The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-02 00:00:00

ME ARMY.

Lieut.-Col. Cormick and the officers of the Ist
battalionl 20th Regiment, serving in India, have re-
mitted a considerable sum of money to the officer
commanding the depot at Chatham, for the purpose
of presenting a gold watch and chain to Sergeant
Legge for his integrity and services as mess ser-
geant, which presentation was made to the sergeant
on Saturday at Chatham.
The examination by the Vice-President and mem-
bers of the Council of Military Education of candi-
dates for direct commissions commenced yesterday
with the medical examination at the Royal Hospi-
tal, Chelsea. Gen. Knollys, the successor of Major-
Gen. Rumley, now Inspector-General of Infantry,
assumed his duties as Tice -President. Major• Gen.
Portlock and Col. Elwyn were the members of the
council present. Close upon 100 were candidates
on this occasion.

7HE VOLUNTEERS.

THE REVIEW AT BRIGHTON.

The long-projected Volunteer RevieNy and sham
fight at Brighton, which has during the last three
weeks or so given rise to so much discussion among
the various metropolitan rifle corps, and especially
between their commanders, came off yesterday.
Everything which could add to the effect of a bril-
liant display was in favour of the Riflemen. Unlike
the weather in the metropolis, the day was all that
could be wished at Brighton—clear, mild, and
genial, sufficiently hot to make the sea breeze wel-
come, with not enough of the breeze to make the
bleak downs cool. There was as immense concourse
of spectators from all parts of the country. The
day was kept a general holiday at Brighton, and,
in short, no accessory was wanting which could add
eclat to the whole demonstration. Nevertheless,
in spite of all these unlooked-for aids, the display,
we are sorry to say, was a comparative failure. It
was a failure in point of the numbers of Volun-
teers that attended ; it was a failure in a more
important point of view—in the disappointment
inflicted on thousands of spectators who had come
from all parts to see the sham fight, and who, from
the manner in which the troops were kept behind
the most distant hills, saw no more of what was
going forward than if they had remained in Lon-
don.

When the demonstration was first contemplated
at Brighton the great reason always put forward
in defence of such a distant rendezvous was that
by such a choice the chance of a great crowd from
the metropolis was done away with. In the face
of this excuse the feeling of the promoters of the
Brighton scheme against those who decided on
Wimbledon always appeared to us rather unreason-
able, as nothing could have better answered their
views than the Wimbledon Review if they were
really sincere in their desire to avoid a large con-
course of sightseers at their own more distant dis-
play. But those who contended so strongly for the
comparative retirement of the downs quite over-
looked
the fact that Brighton is not a village, and
that the spectators from that town alone, with the
numbers sure to be added to them from the sur-
rounding districts, would be certain to make as
large an assemblage as any likely to be brought
together near the metropolis. Yet the noble and
gallant officers in charge of the arrangements refused
to see this obvious fact up to the last, and then ap-
parently only tried to remedy it by fixing the spot
for the manoeuvres in a valley beneath a hill at least
two miles distant from where the people were as-
sembled. Had they taken place in a plain, good
glasseg might have done something even ',at
that distance, but the huge chalk hill was, of
course, opaque to the most powerful of telescopes.
We have every reason for knowing that the most
elaborate precautions were taken to keep the forces
at a distance from the spectators, but we 'never for
a moment supposed that these would have gone the
absurd length of taking them totally out of sight.
It may he said that the public were free to follow
the troops if they chose; but this, it will be seen
from the arrangements made, it was quite out of
their power to do. Commanders show a lamentable
ignorance of human nature in general and Volun-
teer nature in particular when they thus seek to
shut out the public. The Volunteer movement is
essentially a popular one, and the public are not a
whit more anxious to see a sham fight than the
Velunteers are that they themselves should be seen.
We do not think a great many corps will be anxious
for another private review like that of yesterday,
and we feel morally convinced that the good people
•
of and round Brighton will not again be so easily
duped by the programme of a sham fight. , Very '
many of the Volunteers went down to Brighton on
Sunday, so that by the evening that great watering
Place had assumed a most warlike aspect, and the
streets Were •
all the corps gay with uniforms representing nearly I
expected to arrive yesterday. For
some reason or another, the authorities at tile Horse
Guards did
not enter quite so warmly into the
proposed plan,
and in fact,
n fact, not to mimeo matters
were rumoured as bein
Quite averse; the whole
display. This partiawaslity, led them
to turn a deaf ear to 4' it
refuse
t
requested loan of some
pieces of artillery, and to f
o allow the ,sth
Dragoons to " keep" the ground.
Consequently
againstre
as oti
werethe
Volunteer feeling was rather r
G u anis, who fur some inscruottlasbetlie
trying to in-
oe, a remark that
of in a geber,al wd,a,y
always ,;liolle" as tr •
troduce " the thin end of the we
must have concealed some exceedingly bitter mean.
ing, since, though everybody made it, it was 1
8. ways
was
in Volunteer circles loudly approved.

the knowledge of this little feeling of soreness,'
coupled with the doubts which existed as to who
was entitled to the salute in marching past—the
Lord-Lieutenant of the county or the General of
the district—which led to its being universally
reported yesterday that the Volunteers would not
and did not salute the latter. We need hardly say
that neither officers nor men ever contemplated
such a gross and absurd breach of discipline.
By eight o'clock yesterday morning Volunteer
bugles were rousing the echoes of Brighton in all
directions with the shrill notes of the " assembly."
True to the call, the men turned out into the streets
with heroic indifference to the state of the weather,,
which just then was to say the least, discouraging.
In fact, it was raining in torrents—the usual keen
wind and merciless driving shower that generally
ushers in all popular holidays and out-door fetes in
England. The dejection shown on every counte-
nance at this most dreaded aspect was deep and
general. Fortunately it was not lasting. At half-
past eight there was a break in the clouds out to
sea ; by nine the downpour had ceased, the sun was
shining brightly, and all Brighton was wreathed
in smiles. From that hour out the weather was
propitious and cheery as a day in June.
Brighton is not, as &general rule, a hardworking
town. Yesterday, therefore, it at once took advan-
tage of the display to give itself a holiday. The
shops were almost as generally closed as if it had
been Sunday, and the streets all along the line of
route to be traversed and occupied by the volunteers
were thronged with spectators from the town itself,
and apparently from all the adjoining districts.
Some 16,000, we are told, came in by rail, and,
what with the crowds in the streets and on the
racecourse, not less than 80,000 turned out to see
and admire the riflemen. It was a pity, however,
that they had not more to see, for to all this sack
there was not a pennyworth of bread, the united
strength of all the volunteers on the ground being
short, we should say, of 7,000 men. Of these very
little more than 4,000 came from London. This
was a sad disappointment to the Brighton folks,
who bad been carefully informed by some of our con-
temporaries that they might fully depend on seeing
a force more than twice as numerous as that of the
British troops at Alma, or about 54,000 men, col-
lected on their downs. From 54,000 to 7,000 was a
sad falling off; but everybody, nevertheless, made
the best of it, happily knowing nothing of the
greater disappointment still in store for them. The
first detachments from London began arriving a
little before 9 o'clock.

The railway arrangements were really excellent.
The trains, which were filled with men of all regi-
ments, and all cheering and waving their hats from
the windows, drew up outside the ordinary pas-
senger station at a huge outbuilding for rolling
stock, capable of containing some 5,000 men. The
instant the train stopped the men were out, and
passing through the shed, formed up at once in
the open space beyond. From this they marched
down, headed by their bands, along the Mont-
pelier-road, towards the open space called the
Level, where they were battalionised in the pre-
sence of a very admiring multitude. The Artil-
lery Corps were about the first to make their ap-
pearance in marching order. Owing to the refusal
of the Horse Guards to lend artillery there was at
one time a strong probability that the battle would
have to be fought without guns. Fortunately,
this important deficiency was not added to the
other shortcomings, for four field guns, belonging
to some Sussex Artillery, were borrowed for the
occasion. To the noise made by these pieces the
mass of spectators are indebted for the knowledge
that there was any sham fight at all. Massing the
regiments on the Level was about the best part of
the day's proceedings. There, at least, the people
could not only see the regiments but the individuals
composing them. Later in the day they were re-
quested to recognise in a very distant noise of
musketry an important strategical manoeuvre, and
through a telescope to appreciate the drill of Vo-
lunteers as displayed by an irregular dark line on
a hill side some two miles off, if not much more: It
was announced that all the troops were to march
past the Grand Stand on the racecourse previous to
commencing the evolutions of the day. This, there-
fore, was the universal centre of attraction. An
admission fee of 10s. was charged to the Grand
Stand, and, as at the race on a Derby day, carriages
were also charged 10s. and ss. for coming within
the enclosure near the ropes, and when once fixed
the horses were removed forthwith. Stands of the
largest dimensions, and apparently of the frailest
proportions, were erected on every side, and people
gladly paid their money to scramble to the tops of
these, of course, under a general impression that
they would see something in return for their venture
of both purse and person. In fact, all round the
the Grand Stand, and for a considerable distance
along the course, the scene presented was just the
same as on the days when races are to be run and
won, and the mass had evidently taken their stands
and paid their money in the belief that they would
be able at least to see the sham battle, if they could
not understand it. To assist in whiling away the
time that intervened before that event there was
the usual muster of negro melodists, grinning with
more than the dental abandon peculiar to the
race ; mountebanks and tumblers, gipsies dis•
pensing unheard of fortunes, card sharpers,
pickpockets, performing monkeys, and precocious
children. Babes scarcely able to stand upon their
feet earned a precarious livelihood upon their
hands in wooden platters, and these, with
interludes of tumbling, boxing with the gloves,
above all " Aunt Sally," whom his Grace of Beau-
fort first brought under public notice on that very
spot, passed the time away well enough till the
Volunteers came on the ground.

The Earl of Chichester, Lord-Lieutenant of the
county, occupied a place on the Grand Stand, and
Major-Gen. Scarlett, Military-Commandant of the
district, was also present with his Staff, represent-
ing the authorities at the Horse Guards. Before
12 o'clock the Volunteers began moving out of
Brighton by different routes, and were gathered in
open columns of companies on the brow of the hill
next the sea, above the Stand. At a little after
one the marcLing past commenced in the following
order :

ARTILLERY BRIGADE.
Colonel Estridge commanding.
Ist Battalion Brighton Artillery.
4th Battalion Cinque Ports.
2d Hants.
2d Sussex.

IST BRIGADE INPANTRY.
Lieut.-Colonel Faunce commanding; Captain Deedes,
Brigade Major.
Ist Battalion, Col. M'Leod-Ist Middlesex Engineers.
12th Battalion; Major Atherley-32d Middlesex Guards.
13th Battalion, Captain Ives-2d South Middlesex; 11th
Middlesex, St. Georges's 36th Middlesex, Paddington.
2D BRIGADE.
Lord Radstock commanding; Captain Chitty, Brigade
Major.
Ist Battalion-9th Middlesex, West; 2d do. Adminis-
trative Battalion.
2d Battalion, Col. Money-6th Tower Hamlets; 4th do.
and 7th Islington.
3d Battalion—Col. Colville-39th Middlesex (Clerken..
well) ; Kent Rifles (companies) 4, 13, 17, 21, 34.
3D BRIGADE.

Colonel Moorsom commanding; Major Penton, Brigade
Major.
Ist Battalion-3d Battalion Administrative Sussex.
2d Battalion—lst Cinque Ports.
3d Battalion-2d Battalion Administrative Sussex.

4TH BRIGADE.

Colonel Valency commanding ; Major Deedes, Brigade

Major.
Ist Battalion, Col. Conran-Ist Battalion Hants (Win-
chester) ; 3d do. ; 6th do.

2d Battalion, Major Roupell-19th Surrey; 10th do.
(Bermondsey).
3d Battalion, Col. Sir H. Fletcher-2d Surrey; 20th do.
(Norwood).

RESERVE.
d City of London ; Brighton Cadets ; 11th Tower
Hamlets.

There is very little to say of the marching past
manwuvre, which took place in open columns of
companies. One or two of the corps were lament-
ably unsteady, and went past the Stand in a skir-
mishing order that would have been inexcusable in
any but very young companies. With such an evi-
dent want of knowledge of company drill as one or
two of them showed, it appears surprising how they
could have been relied on for regular acting in
brigade with the rest. These, however, were the
exceptions. The mass, as a rule, went by with a
steady good order which did them infinite credit,

and their subsequent evolutions, though very
simple, deserved still higher praise from the quick-
ness and comparative solidity with which they were
executed. Among the best were the 2d South Mid-
dlesex and the St. George's.. The 3d City of London
Regiment (the Working Men's) though a very
young corps, went past with a steadiness that was
really astonishing, considering the short time they
had been under drill.
As soon as this meagre ceremony of marching
past was over the men moved up the racecourse to
the left, and the huge mass of spectators settled
themselves down to enjoy the sham fight that was
to follow, and which it was fully expected was to be
seen also. In front of the great concourse of spec-
tators lay a deep, amphitheatrical valley, about a
mile across, with the steep ridges of the Downs
rising up on the other side, so as to form a horizon
stretching inland from the sea, and beyond which
nothing of course was visible. Away round this
went the troops to the left in dark glittering masses,
gradually getting more and more distant on the
ridge of hills till at length they quite disappeared.
Simultaneously with their exit from the scene, a
yellow mass of smoke sprung up in what was sup-
posed to be the right of their position. It grew and
spread far and wide in thick sallow masses that for
a time led the spectators to believe that the action
was raging with uncommon fury in that direction,
and would soon break out along the chain of hills
in a tempest of musketry and canton. It turned out,
however, not to be a sham battle on the right, but
a heath fire, which, as the wind was fresh and
straight up the valley from the sea, burnt with a
rapidity and fierceness that was at one time almost
alarming. Of course no one knew who lit it. Pos-
sibly it might have been accidental ; but from the
damp state of the heath after the morning's rain, and
from the fact that it was stated to have commenced
in two points simultaneously, it would almost
appear as if the act was wilful, and had originated
among the crowds of idle boys spread over all that
part of the Downs.
While this heath fire was burning, the volunteers
continued their march till they had placed the hill
between themselves and the public, when they de-
ployed into line with their left resting on the sea,
near the little village of Ovingdean, and their right
stretching far—much too far, in our humble judg-
ment, for their numbers—away inland in the direc-
tion of Newmarket-hill. In this order and almost
without reserves (for two-thirds of the reserve con-
sisted of the 3d London, which was in line on the
extreme right) the whole force advanced up the hill
till the crest was gained, when to the spectators on
the racecourse who had very strong glasses they at
last became visible, a thin fine dark line, not very
regular, and only two deep, though extending very
nearly a mile in length. The manoeuvres which
followed were supposed• in a general way to repre-
sent the actions of Quatre Bras and Waterloo, of

course with the difference that the final position
was taken up immediately after the great premoni-
tory contest of the 16th June. This is the official
programme, but what the great concourse of spec-
tators saw was merely a ridge like a very small
hedge stretching irregularly across the chain of hill,
but which was scarcely visible till the firing began.
The action commenced on the left with an irregular
and semi-occasional cannonade, which in the most
entire manner was given forth at rare intervals,
and this, as far as the public were concerned,
constituted the great review and sham battle. By
and by the " action" became more general along
the line, and the whole force commenced file
firing with a rapidity and energy that made itself
audible even across the huge valley that yawned
between the forces and the public, which had come
so far to see them. The fusillade seemed to be of
an entirely fancy character, inasmuch as it was
maintained by little volleys and by big volleys, or file
fire, apparently according to the discretion of each
corps' commanding officer. Gradually the fire that
had given the hills a thin ridge of smoke ( which
was utterly eclipsed however by the burning heath),
ceased along the line, and forming up in open
columns of companies, the whole force passed over
the hill and disappeared from the public gaze for
good and all. The utter astonishment and blank
that seemed to fall on the spectators, who had con-
fidently counted on the line advancing near enough

to be tolerably visible even to the naked eye was at

first extreme ; but, in the full confidence of .their
speedy return, they allowed themselves to be con-
soled with lunch, of which the majority partook
out of pocket-handkerchiefs and baskets laid on the
grass, the minority doing justice to well-filled
hampers. Thus, for half an hour or so the time
was passed in expectation, but still no Volunteer
made their appearance. At last a distant sound, as
of a sustained fire of musketry, became gradually
audible, and then for the first time the truth seemed
to flash upon the spectators that the riflemen had
gone farther and farther away than ever. Half the
people had paid for their places either in stands or
for their carriages (from which the horses had been
removed) within the circle of the race-course. There
was no chance, therefore, of overtaking the retreat-
ing army at that hour, and, with bitter expressions
of disappointment, a great many drove off the
course at once. The general public, with the happy
versatility which characterises them on these occa-
sions, betook themselves to " Aunt Sally," Punch,
and whatever cheap and general amusements were
nearest at hand. A very large majority of the
country gentry and visitors still sat in their
carriages, and waited with what patience they could
command for the return of the Volunteers. As a
rule, however, donkey riding and three throws a
penny became the order of the day, and the great
crowd gradually spread themselves over the Downs
in search of their own amusements.

In the meantime the Volunteers continued their
retreat behind the hills to the mouth of a smaller
valley, where almost secure from curious gazers the
sham battle really commenced. A few cf the better
mounted, or the more enterprising occupants of
carriages who had not paid to have their horses
taken from them, followed up the course for some
long distance to where an opening botween the hills
gave a chance of seeing what was going forward.
But the smoke of the heath fire swept across this
part so densely that it was only dimly and at rare
intervals that even these could see the smoke mado
by the Volunteers beyond. After retreating from
the first ridge of hills, the regiments moved back in
good order, till it was supposed their extreme right
was seriously menaced, when a stand was made, and a
sustained and, for a time, a really tremendous roar
of musketry was kept up along the line. But appa-
rently the riflemen had a far more obstinate foe to
deal with than they are ever likely to encounter in
any reol invasion, for, in despite of the fusillade, the
enemy was supposed to have pressed in, and strong
supports had to be sent to reinforce the right wing.
All the movements were simple in the extreme,
as with such young troops it was very right they
should be. But still, such as they were, they were
executed, not perhaps with any great quickness,
but certainly in most corps with a steadiness that
was in the highest degree commendable. To
those accustomed to the evolutions of large and
well-trained armies the slow and comparative
irregularity of the troops in the Downs yesterday
was apparent, yet on the whole it was less
perceptible than the most sanguine could have
anticipated, But, as a rule, we cannot help think-
ing that the impression left was that the regiments
were far less in want of these great field days' than
of steady company drill, or at most a brigade day
in Hyde Park with one or two other corps. Every
field officer in the army knows that it is worse than
useless to send a regiment to Aldershott unless it
has been carefully set up by a long course of bar-
rack-yard drill. If commanding officers will push
their corps into running before they can walk well
the downfall of some rifle corps in public estimation
is pretty certain to be the result. At the same time
we would venture to suggest with the utmost de-
ference .that the hurried lines into which the men
are thrown are by no means calculated to give them
any notion of what their position would be during
an actual engagement. The first line formed yes-
terday was about twice as long and twice as thin as
it would have been in actual warfare", and it was cer-
tainly more than three times the distance it should
have been in rear of its artillery. As yet the
Volunteers are, as our future great national defence,
still in the rough. The question is, will they be
made better by rough handling, or if these stide-