The Naval Review had been an exhibition of our first line of defence, and though there was nothing in the nature of boastfulness or arrogance about it, it was such a demonstration as could have been made by no other Power—perhaps, by no two Foreign Powers in combination. |Review at Aldershot.| The Military Review at Aldershot on July 1 was, of course, a much more modest affair, but the quality of the troops employed imparted a distinction to the function which went far to compensate for their smallness in numbers. Judged by Continental standards our Army is insignificant in size, but it must always command respect. Its traditions are splendid, and its recent achievements completely satisfactory. Some of the foreign Princes who were present with the Queen at Aldershot on July 1 had seen ten times as many soldiers in review, but it is safe to say that not one of them had ever seen a finer body, man for man, than the 28,000 British troops gathered together on Laffan’s Plain. The presence among these of detachments from so many British Colonies added a significance to the proceedings that could not have been paralleled at a Military Review anywhere else in the World.
About a quarter-past four o’clock the Queen drove up in a carriage. The troops were arranged in the shape of three sides of a great rectangle, Her Majesty occupying the centre of the vacant side. A Royal Salute was given, and then commenced the march past. The honour of marching in the van had been assigned very properly to the Colonial troops, consisting of 434 cavalry, 184 artillery and engineers, and 423 infantry.
From a Photograph] [by H. N. King.
HER MAJESTY PLANTING A TREE IN THE GROUNDS OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE AS A MEMORIAL OF THE JUBILEE, June 28, 1897.
From a Photograph] [by H. N. King.
HER MAJESTY’S WATERMEN.
The troops which followed represented almost every branch of the regular army and made a splendid show. But here, as in the Jubilee Procession itself, the Colonial contingent attracted the greatest share of attention. To see gallant horsemen and steady marching infantry in picturesque unfamiliar uniforms from every Continent all following the same flag and serving the same Queen was to receive a new and inspiring impression of the Empire. The red spaces on the map of the earth’s surface we had known from childhood’s day to represent portions of our own Empire—but the impression was a vague one until we saw Canadian, Australian, and South African, actually under arms in defence of their and our Queen, as much as of their own distant homes. It was then brought home to us, with startling effect, how great is the birthright of every Briton, how great the privileges attaching to such citizenship—and how great the responsibilities. These men came to us, not in gratitude for any priceless advantages we have bestowed upon them—for we have done nothing of the kind—but simply because their blood is the same as ours, their traditions the same, and their sympathies. We are still well able to take care of ourselves; but who shall say that the Old Country may not one day need the strong, right arms of her children across the seas?
That our Colonial troops are not merely ornamental soldiers their shooting at Bisley, at the meeting which ended on July 10, amply proved, if their splendid horsemanship and marching had not proved it before. Though for the most part entirely unused to the new Lee-Metford rifle, they secured the Kolapore Cup, and, in a year which produced record scores, held their own against the picked marksmen of our Regulars and Volunteer Army.