VOLUNTEERING.
Wz are all pretty well agreed that it is desirable to make the Volunteer Reserve Army a permanent institution, and that it is desirable to make the Volunteers themselves efficient. How far the system in practice is calculated to effect both these objects we can only learn from experience. The use- fulness of Rifle Associations can hardly be contested. The parent association in London, which deserves ample support, will soon be surrounded by a fine brood of County Associa- tions, and the honours to be won at Wimbledon will stimu- late the men to win honours in their own ranges, and at the county meetings. Rifle matches, indeed, it is now manifest, will only be limited in quantity by time and money. The youth and manhood of England are as eager to contend for victory with the rifle as our forefathers were with the bow. But to keep up the stimulus the public must provide funds for the purchase of prizes and the management of metropolitan and local contests. The appeal has been made in the counties and in the metropolis, and we trust it will not have been made in vain. To make the Volunteers permanent, volunteer soldiering must have an object, and this object is partly sup- plied by the rifle contest. But there are other modes, not so much in favour. One of the most obvious is that the weekly drills and parades should be conducted on sound principles, so that the men may feel that they are making real progress. Nothing dis- gusts men more than unsystematic teaching, the result of which is that they are never sure what they know, and never feel confident of their power to execute any manceuvre which an inspector, for instance, might suggest. Another memo, also much neglected, is the careful appointment of really com- petent non-commissioned officers, now too often selected for any but military reasons. A third would be found in a summer encampment. Here some insight might be obtained into the conditions of real service, and the men might be subjected to at least an approach to the strict discipline essential to an army in the field. Here companies and regi- ments might be taught to throw up field works, to surround a small outpost with temporary defences, to pass obstacles and cross streams. Here, in addition to field evolutions in battalion or brigade, the mode of attacking, holding, or re- tiring from a position in open order, might be easily taught; the work to be done being made interesting by a clear ex- planation beforehand of the object for which it was to be done. Parades, systematic drill, marching out, encampments, rifle contests, all will contribute to the permanence and effi- ciency of the Volunteers. But there is one thing that will contribute to nothing of the sort-the sham fight on the model of that got up last year by Lord Ranelagh. The folly as to be repeated this year. Volunteers are invited to go on the 1st of April to Brighton, and there engage in a sham fight. What object will be gained by this turn-out on the Downs ? Will one single volunteer return with an additional item of experience of any value to himself or his country ? No; nothing will be learned. The commanders will learn nothing, but they will show that they know little ; the men will learn nothing, for the whole thing will be unintelligible to them. They will gain a loss in the expenditure of money, and the only pos- sible benefit the men may derive from the proceeding is that which may result from a day in the open air. How different would the result be were two regiments manceuvred against each other upon some prearranged plan of operations, de- vised by some competent soldier, designed to illustrate the principles of attack and defence, and lucidly expounded to the men beforehand. Here something would actually be ac- quired. Two-thirds of the men engaged would understand what they were about, and would be able to apply their knowledge on other occasions ; and the experience of one day of systematic soldiering would give more real satisfac- tion than the noise and nonsense of fifty sham fights, which at the best only please the boys and the commanding officers.
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