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

FIELD DAY AT WIMBLEDON.

If it is intended by these mimic performances or
bloodless warfare to inure the volunteers to some of
the trying experiences of an actual campaign, such
weather as they had yesterday for the manoeuvres
on Wimbledon-common was just the thing. But
if the affair was got up for the pleasure of an as-
sembly of spectators, and to make a London holi-
day, then it was as great a failure as the rain and
the mud could make of it. The former alternative
being taken as the correct view of this occasion, it
must be acknowledged that the patience and pluck
with which the volunteers who went out to Wimble-
don endured for so many hours their exposure to so
much that was disagreeable, from the clouds over-
head and the ground under their feet, proved their
manhood, and their soldiership too, thus far, in a
very satisfactory manner.
That corner of Hyde-park lying behind the

Knightsbridge Barracks never looked more dreary,
since a park it was, than it did at half-past eleven
o'clock, when the different Middlesex corps began

to meet there, before their march to the scene of
action. The sloppy turf, the dripping leafless
trees, the leaden sky, that sullenly, with an uni-
form persistence, kept shedding more water on so
many drenched human creatures below, and the
general expression of disapproval, not unmixed with
a grim derision, on their fades and in their talk, as
if they considered somebody was taking an undue
advantage of the custom of the First of April, and
carrying the joke rather too far—these unpleasant
aspects of the morning in that place of meeting
promised ill for the amusement of the day. But
the civilian militia of this metropolis came up like
men of business, not for a day's diversion, but for a
day's w ork in the serious exercise of their patriotic
calling, and they had not reckoned with the wea-
ther as for an excursion of social caprice. They
were quite in the mood to have gone on through
continuous rain from noon of day till dark of even-
ing, if such was their impending trial ; but a par-
tial mitigation of its expected severity was allowed
to reward their courage. For no sooner had they
begun to step out, through the Rutland-gate of the
park into the Knightsbridge-road, than the rain
ceased to fall, and during their two hours' march
through Brompton and Fulham, and over Putney-
bridge, the mud was the only present trouble which
accompanied their steps, and when they got upon
the sandy road which leads up hill to the common
the sun was shining, and there even seemed to be
some hopes of getting dry.
This column of infantry was escorted by the Mid-
dlesex Light Horse, about 40 strong, under Lord
Truro's command. It consisted of three battalions.
The first battalion, commanded by Major White-
head, was composed of the Victoria Rifles, or Ist
Middlesex, 400 strong, under Captain Clarkson,
and the 4th Middlesex, or Harrow corps. The
second battalion was commanded by Lord Enfield,
and it was made up of several companies of the
29th North Middlesex (St. Pancras), of which he is
lieutenant-colonel, under Captain Waller Jones, the
adjutant of the corps, while Captain Ross acted as
adjutant to Lord Enfield in his command of the
battalion. About 300 of this corps were on the
field. Next came the third battalion, consisting of
six companies of the Civil Service Brigade (21st
Middlesex), the Artists' Corps (38th Middlesex), 80
or 90 strong, and the 2d City of London, formed
by Messrs. Spottiswoode, the Queen's printers, with
one of the vans belonging to her Majesty's Sta-
tionery Office, as a commissariat waggon, to
bring up the rear. This was the order of the
march from Hyde-park to Wimbledon-common, by
way of Putney-bridge. The Civil Service corps
was placed under Captain Ennis, the adjutant, and
Captain Du Plat Taylor, since its lieutenant-
colonel, Lord Bury, was commander-in-chief of the
day, and Captain Hawker, who is the senior of this
corps, had the command of the whole battalion.
Among those who led the Civil Service companies
that had mustered at Somerset-house to come out
on this occasion were Captain .Tom Taylor and
Ensign Yates. The Artists' corps, commanded
by Captain Wyndham Phillips, was officered
also by Captains Leighton and Arthur Lewis,
Lieutenant Gale, and Ensign Talfourd. When the
three battalions already mentioned got out upon
the Common they found there the Surrey Light
Horse, under Captain Meller, and the Ist Admi-
nistrative Battalion of Surrey Rifles, under Major
Jones. These formed part of the Surrey Brigade,
which was commanded by Lieut.- Col. M'Donald,
of the Ist Surrey, while Lord Bury himself cam-
manded the Middlesex Brigade. The other corps
which arrived soon afterwards, before 2 o'clock,
were the 20th Middlesex (or Railway Rifles), com-
manded by Lieut.-Col. Bigge, with Captain Bowyer
as adjutant ; the 7th Surrey, under Major
Beresford, in command of a battalion (with Major
and Adjutant Jones) ; 12th Surrey, as the second
battalion, under Major Corkran, with Captain and
Adjutant Sir H. Chamberlayne ; Ist Surrey under
Captain Freeman ; Bth Surrey from Carshalton,
under Captain Hay. Altogether there must have
been three or four thousand men on the field, but it
was difficult to ascertain the exact strength mus-
tered by each of these corps, whiCh did not send all
their companies ,on this occasion. The staff was
composed as follows :—Acting Adjutant-General,
Major Nelson, the district inspector of Volunteers;
Acting Assistant-Adjutant-General, Capt. Lewis,
of the Artists' Corps ; Acting Quartermaster-
General, Lieut. Walliker, of the Civil Service Corps.
There was no artillery. All the cavalry on the
field was placed under the command of Lord Truro,
when Major and Adjutant Smith took the Middle-
sex Light Horse. This being the list of particular
commands, it should now be stated that Colonel
M'Murdo, the superintendent-general of the volun-
teer forces, came to inspect the assembled corps on
this occasion, accompanied by Capt. Williams as
his aide-de-camp, and by Lord Seymour. The
general plan of the movements which were exhi-
bited in the afternoon may be shortly described.

As a salutary and sensible measure, previous to
these martial evolutions, we must commend those
by whom the proceedings of the day were directed
for commencing with a good dinner. The Civil
Service, and other corps of the same brigade, had'
provided themselves, by contract, with an excellent
repast in a tent reserved for their own use ; Lord
Enfield had taken care of the North Middlesex, and
the 20th Railway Corps had brought out with them
several carriers' waggons loaded with something to
eat. This was better than the starvation inflicted
last year on those who fought with their hunger at
the battle of Bromley, and who in the small hours
of a Sunday morning, having tasted no food since
their breakfast on Saturday, returned in a famish-
ing state to their homes. Unless it were designed
to put their valour to the test of intestinal privation
as well as to that of muscular fatigue and exposure
to inclement weather, since all these are probable
sufferings to be anticipated as the realities of war,
it was not quite justifiable to manage or mismanage
the preparations at Chislehurst with that result;
but those made at Wimbledon yesterday were suf-
ficient to make the bad weather there more endu-

rable than the summer serenity of a former day.
Allusion has been made to a gleam of sunshine that
for once broke the pouring clouds yesterday, and
greeted the Middlesex brigade on their arrival.
BefOre they had eaten their dinner the bleak com-
mon was frowned upon and darkened by a menacing
pile of the impending tempest, which might have
filled even the breast clad in a volunteer uniform
with dismay. One gallant ensign of our acquaint-
ance, acting on the approved military principle of
saute qui peut, did verily get into a cab and drive
home to London, where, perhaps, being already wet
and chilled, he put himself to bed. But the storm
shower descended, and the volunteers withstood its
rage.

An imaginary hostile army was coming up from
the south coast, where it had landed, and it be-
hoved our volunteer forces to resist its advance
along the Portsmouth road towards London, by
taking their post across the road, on a ridge or brow
of the hilllooking south-west down towards Kings-
ton Bottom, and towards that well-known public-
house, the Baldfaced Stag. The place was on the
side of the common adjoining Combe Park and
Roehampton. This was a very strong position, as
afterwards explained by Colonel 111'Murdo ; but
the enemy was supposed to make an effort pre-
sently to turn it, by a right-flank movement of his,
which would bring him up, through the hollows or
valleys near the practising butts, to the high flat
ground marked by a windmill that stands near the
Putney and Wimbledon road, This supposed
movement obliged the defending force to quit its
former position, and to take up a second position
on the level ground near the windmill, throwing
out a line of skirmishers to keep the enemy at bay.
All this was done, and the firing was kept up with
a good deal of spirit and alacrity; but the rain
made the air very thick, and prevented the smoke
from rising, so that the spectators could not always
see what was going on. Having formed in line in
their new position, and discharged several volleys
at their foe, the volunteers again formed into bat-
talions, and the engagement was considered to be
over—but, as it seemed, with a doubtful result.
The object of these movements, which are here
very imperfectly described, may be understood
from the speech addressed by Colonel M'Murdo to
the volunteers, formed in square to hear him, as
soon as they had done. He spoke to them as
follows

Volunteers I—To men of understanding it is not neces-
sary that the movements which you have gone through
to-day should be fully explained. I think it only neces-
sary to call your attention to the nature of the two positions
which you have taken up. The first position which
you took up was .one naturally of great strength, so
much strength, indeed, that two-thirds of the
enemy must have been non-engaged that is to
say, neither his cavalry could have been of any
effect, nor his artillery of much effect, except by
vertical file. But it was supposed that the enemy, finding
that position too strong for him to take, endeavoured to
reach this plateau on which you are standing, by turning
your flank by one of these long valleys in the direction of
Wimbledon. It was necessary, therefore, that you should
quit that strong position which you formerly held by chang-
ing your front to the left. The enemy had a double object
in doing this. He desired to come upon plain level ground,
by which means he could bring both his cavalry and his
artillery to bear in the action as well as his infantry. He
also desired, by turning your left flank, to reach the Wim-
bledon-road, by which he could march through upon Lon-
don. Now it is my desire to point out to you the difference
of the positions you held. I t was very different when you
were along that rugged crest of the hill where neither ca-
valry her artillery could reach you. You checked the enemy
there—any number of bold men could check:any enemy
there. But here you were brought upon a billiard table,
and you will be brought man to man, against, perhaps, the
best troops in Europe. Now, gentlemen, I observed, in
your forming line here, some battalions—l do not blame
them, because they have had very little practice as yet--
were a little unsteady in coming into line here. If they
were unsteady coming into line to-day, what would be the
case if this plain was swept by the artillery of the enemy,
and then, perhaps, as you were choking with dust, and
many of your comrades falling about you, suddenly through
the dust the very ground was shaken by the heavy masses
of the enemy's cavalry charging you ? Now, then, con-
sider how unsteady, how liable to be unsteady, young
troops would be under such circumstances. And what is it
that overcomes all this ? It is discipline—discipline alone.
By the term discipline I do not mean the checking of bad
conduct. I mean that habitual union, that combination
of mind and body brought to bear upon a certain object,
which sets aside all individual action, and makes a
company of men, a battalion or a brigade, act like a
machine. Now, this can only be gained by company drill—
I repeat, it can only be gained by attention to your com-
pany drill. I consider a company to be the unit of an army.
But where the men of a company are steady and well-
drilled, the whole army will be steady and well drilled. I
therefore say it is of no avail, all that you have learned in
the way of shooting; all your zeal and your patriotism will
be of no avail in the day of battle without a thorough know-
ledge of your company drill. I will harp upon company
drill. Nothing but company drill will do; and therefore I
beg of you not to consider that excellence in shooting is
everything; because nothing will do unless you have perfect
steadiness of formation under fire. Gentlemen, you have
gone through a hard day's work, and your feet are wet. I
will not therefore detain you, but let you retire to your
homes, which you are well able to protect. Good evening.
We have only now toadd that the volunteers who
had taken part in the manoeuvres of the day got
back to London either by road or railway, tired
and wet, but not perhaps much the worse for what
they had gone through. The Queen's (Westminster)
Rifles were on the Common, 850 strong, but did not
take an active part in the proceedings.

FIELD DAY AND SHAM FIGHT AT
RICHMOND.

Notwithstanding the gatherings at Brighton and
Wimbledon, a sufficient number of volunteers were
found to make a display at Richmond, although the
affair, if not so grand as Wimbledon or Brighton,
was of a sufficiently imposing character to be worthy
of notice. The total number of men under arms at
one time was 1,200. The 19th Middlesex, under
Col. Bathurst, assembled at an early hour in the
morning, and marched from their head quarters in
Queen-square, Bloomsbury, headed by the band, to
the Waterloo station, and proceeded to Richmond
by train. Nine companies were present, and during
the greater part of the time the men were in the
park the rain poured in torrents, which completely
drenched the volunteers. In the midst of a shower
of hail the men were exercised in volley and file
firing, which was delivered with great precision.
The rain having subsided, Col. Bathurst determined
the volunteers should enjoy themselves, and for that
purpose a sham fight on a small scale was arranged
and took place, after which the volunteers,
having re-formed company, marched back to the
station, and went home by train, The members of
the 16th Middlesex (Twickenham) Rifles mustered
to the extent of three companies at Twickenham,
and under the command of Capt. Murray marched
to Richmond-park, where they piled arms. Having
reformed, they proceeded to Kingston, where they
were provided with a dinner, given by Capt. Lowe.
The effective members of the Central London Rifle
Rangers (40th Middlesex), mustered, to the num-
ber of 200, at:Gray's-inn-square, and went to Rich-
mond-park by train. The men under the command
of Col. Somerset, Capt. Walker, Capt. Searle, Capt.
A. Plews, and Capt. E. W. Plews, went through
battalion drill in a very efficient manner. The two
bands of the regiment, under the able management
of Mr. Sayers, gave great satisfaction. Notwith-
standing the very unfavourable state of the weather,
the park was thronged with spectators.