The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-08 00:00:00

THE VOLUNTEER REVIEW.

P01:TS3IOUTII, Tuesday.
The arrangements made here with regard to the
review of the Volunteers on Easter Monday have
ended in a complete bungle. The Volunteers have
undoubtedly been placed in a false position, and
the extraordinary part of the matter is that neither
the War-office authorities, Major-General Lindsay,
commanding the Reserved Forces, and his staff of
Volunteer inspecting officers ; Sir George Buller,
the general commanding Portsmouth and the south-
west district ; the commanding officers of the
Volunteer corps intending to be present, or the local
Review Committee appear to have the power or the
will to remedy the blunders that have been com-
mitted. It is unfortunate, as a day's great lesson
in the art of war over an unlimited extent of
ground covered with " lines" of fortification and
detached forts of unparalleled size and strength,
offering one of the finest fields in Europe for a
mock fight, is in danger of being abandoned for an
absurd attempt at a " march past" on a strip of sea-
shore not much larger than the Temple-gardens.
Every one concerned acknowledges the absurdity
of the Southsea-common scheme. but no one ccmes
forward with the power to carry out a new pro-
gramme for Monday next. The original plan pro-
posed by the heads of the Volunteer forces for com-
bining a march past on Southsea-common with the
review at Hilsea and Portsdown was feasible enough
with an army of 17,000 or 18,000 men, but when
the numbers asking to be present rose to 30,000 the
affair assumed a different complexion. It then, in
fact, resolved itself into a question of time. How
long would it take these 30,000 men to march past
the reviewing officer on Southsea-common ? What
time would afterwards be occupied by them in
marching from Southsea-common to the scene of
the proposed review? And what time would re-
main for the review after arriving on the ground,
and for despatching the Volunteers home again ?
At the meeting of the volunteer officers held at
the War-office on Saturday last, Major-General
Lindsay—the representative of the War-office in
volunteer matters—distinctly stated that, after
having visited Portsmouth and inspected the whole
of the ground at Portsdown and at Southsea, he
had come to the conclusion that a march past on
Southsea common, and a Review under Portsdown
with so large a number of Volunteers, would be
impracticable in one day, and that they must choose
either the review proper, between Hilsea lines and
Portsdown-hill, or a march past and such other dis-
play as they could arrange on Southsea-common.
By some as yet unexplained means the officers pre-
sent decided in favour of the march past on South-
sea beach, and abandoned the review. The local
Review Committee at Portsmouth were astounded
on this decision being made known ; Sir George
Buller and all the officers and his staff were
equally surprised, and all military men in
the garrison ridiculed the idea of marching past,
and afterwards massing 30,000 Volunteers on so
small a space of ground, The Mayor of the
borough, accompanied by the officer commanding
the 2d Hants Artillery, and a member of the local
Review Committee, went up to London yesterday,
and had an interview with General Lindsay, at
which they pointed out the extremely small extent
and the unsuitable nature of Southsea-common for
any massing or manoeuvres of large bodies of men.
They urged the necessity for holding the review of
the Volunteer army at Hilsea and Portsdown, and
of abandoning the idea of any march past on South-
sea-common, and maintained that otherwise the re-
view of 1868 must prove a failure and discredit to
the Volunteer organisation generally. To this rea-
sonable statement Major-General Lindsay appears
to have had but one reply :—" The Volunteer offi-
cers had decided the matter for themselves on
Saturday last at the War-office, and he did not
see how it could now be altered." This morning
Colonel the Hon. W. J. Colville, the Assistant-
Volunteer Inspector of the district, and the imme-
diate subordinate of Major-General Lindsay, the
Inspector-General, arrived at Portsmouth, and made
an inspection of the ground at Southsea and of the
line of the old fortifications of the town. The Mayor
brought under Colonel Colville's notice the general
impression entertained by all acquainted with the
locality, both military men and civilians, that it was
imperatively necessary to reconsider the question,
and substitute the review proper of the Volunteer
forces at Hilsea and Portsdown for the Southsea.-
common attempt at a parade. With Colonel Col-
Ale, however, the Mayor was not more suc-
cessful than with General Lindsay, the answer being
again "that the officers of the Volunteer Corps who
met at the War-office on Saturday were alone re-
sponsible for the difficulty." Thus far the department
of the Government entrusted with the special super-
vision and control of the Volunteers make no attempt
to relieve them from the dilemma in which they
find themselves unwittingly placed, and unless
Lieut.-General Sir Geo. Buller interferes by giving
a decided opinion upon the practicability or im-
practicability of any attempt at anything on South-
sea-common the affair may go on to a disgraceful
failure. The chances of the review of the Volun-
teers yet taking place on ground between the Hilsea
lines of fortification and the crest of Portsdown-hill
lies in the probable interference of Sir Geo. Buller
as the officer selected as reviewing officer, and
in an awakening of the War-office authorities to a
sense of the responsibilities of their position. What-
ever plan may be eventually carried into effect by
the Volunteers on Easter Monday must be ap-
proved by the constituted regular military autho-
rities, and especially with regard to its practic-
ability. If an impracticable scheme such as
the proposed Southsea-common affair is attempted,
it will not be the Volunteers who will be held re-
sponsible for the failure which must follow, but the
representatives of the Horse Guards and War-office
Generals Hon. J. Lindsay and Sir George Buller.
In the meantime the Volunteer Review arrange-
ments wait, and the regular military authorities
stop the way.

Colonel Warde arrived There this evening from
London, bringing written conditions from Major-
General Lindsay to submit to the Mayor and the
Review Committee. They are to the effect that
only on condition that the Volunteers have entire
possession of the main road from Cosham to Ports-
mouth from 9 a.m. and throughout the day, with
barriers at named points, and a bridge of barges
built solely for the use of the public over Hilsea
Creek, a march past of the Volunteers at Southsea,
with a field day at Portsdown, can be at all enter..
tained. The Mayor is requested to put his inten-
tions upon paper, and to state what force of police
he ca❑ muster, and what power he has to keep the
road clear from Cosham to the borough boundary.
At a meeting of the committee held this evening,
a resolution was passed unanimously accepting the
conditions specified by General Lindsay.
Col. Warde will take back to London the official
reply of the committee, and an official telegram is
expected in reply from Gen. Lindsay sanctioning
the original programme for the review, of a march
past of some portion of the Volunteers on Southsea-
common, and afterwards a sham fight at Hilsea and
Portsdown.

WORN CoIN.—A vote of £15,000 will be again
proposed this session to cover the deficiency in the weight
by wear of silver coin being received at the Mint at its
nominil value. There will also be a vote of £5OO to pal
premium at 2 per cent. on old copper coin sent in to the
Mint, and the carriage of bronze coin remitted in e%
change.