VOLUNTEERS!
SOME actual measures have been taken since we last noticed this subject to provide the backbone of our system of national defence. The presence of war on the continent, the spectacle of an Austrian army pillaging the plains of Piedmont, has told upon the public mind far more than argument or rhetoric ; and the unanimous resolve to be neutral has only added the desire to be safe. Bir- kenhead will form a rifle club. Cambridge, Town and Univer- sity, will do likewise. Newcastle, Shields, Sunderland, Bristol, and other places have given indications of goodwill. In the metropolis there has been much talk, a good deal of ink spilt, and some work done. The Honourable Artillery Company have been recruiting ; the Victoria Rifles have taken the opportunity of making known their merits ; and the clerks in Somerset House, with a spirit deserving of encouragement, have set about the work of enrolling themselves in companies.
But the great fact of the week is the appearance while we are writing of a circular from General Peel to the Lords-Lieutenant of Counties inviting them to raise corps of Volunteers. This is what we have so long desired, and so long looked for.
We trust that the Government have recognized that a nation unaccustomed to the use of arms is never safe ; that reliance upon the militia is reliance upon a rotten prop ; that good riflemen in tens of thousands would enable the country to laugh at the idea of invasion. We are glad they have given a distinct and emphatic sanction to the national desire for an adequate and a truly national defensive force. Far more fruitful of solid re- sults to the nation will be the raising of efficient corps of volunteer marksmen than the adding of fifty battalions to the Line, not because the marksmen would be more effective than the regulars, but because they will be more numerous and, we hope, more permanent than those sudden additions to the Regu- lar Army, and those sudden subtractions from that army to which Governments are prone. Nor while we raise infantry battalions, as the least expensive and most effective forces, should we neglect our horse. The yeo- manry cavalry might be raised by a little exertion to 40,000 sabres. And to these might be added in every county several strong squadrons of Volunteer Hunting Cavalry on the plan sug- gested by " the Horn of Chase." His proposal has met with the sanction of one so well qualified to speak, as Mr. Paterson Saun- ders, whose exploits with the Agra Volunteers during the late mutiny, were as conspicuous for daring and tenacity as any within our ken. Mr. Saunders has given his support in the fol- lowing admirable letter which we find in the Globe. .‘ I have had some experience of Volunteer Horse composed of civil- ians, and I entirely coincide in the above-mentioned writer's suggestion that they should be armed only with sword and revolver. A rifle on horseback is a troublesome and useless weapon and suited only for long bowls, which is not the style of warfare we should adopt towards an invading foe. Nor is the charge of a body of horsemen on infantry, armed with mus- kets or even rifles, nearly so formidable as is supposed. The military cal- culation that it requires nearly the weight of a man in lead to kill him in battle is quite true, and the fire on a body of rapidly charging cavalry is seldom very effective. I hope I may, on an occasion like the present, with- out subjecting myself to the charge of vain-gloriousness, mention a case in point. I was with twelve mounted Agra Volunteers when we were attacked by 300 rebels, in the district of Allyghur, about seven miles from the town of Cod. They came on in a well-formed line, over-lapping the main road on both sides. We charged at once at full gallop, and they commenced to fire at a dis- tance of about 300 yards. As we approached them we passed a garden, exactly eighty yards from the road, where they had posted about thirty-nine men who saluted us with a volley as we passed. At our first fire (with revolvers) they broke and fled across the fields as none but Asiatics can fly. Neither from the fire from the garden, nor from the front fire of the long line of the enemy did we suffer a single casualty. I do not mean to say that Russians or French would fly as these men did ; but I would only point out the com- parative harmlessness of musketry on a rapidly moving body of cavalry, and the formidable nature of a charge with revolvers, when every man can fire six shots in rapid succession. I have no doubt that a body of British hunts- men, armed with revolvers, would give a good account of French or Russian infantry, should they over dare to show themselves on British soil. " The sword should be the cavalry sword well sharpened, and scabbard made of leather."
That is the right spirit. We are satisfied that if the Govern- ment gives a hearty sanction and a cordial supervision to a comprehensive plan for raising volunteers, both horse and foot, a year will not pass before we have a respectable volunteer army, that inestimable auxiliary to our second line of defence.
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