The Story of Our Volunteers. By G. B. L. Woodhouse,
B.A. (Newman and Co.)—Mr. Woodhouse begins with giving us a brief
sketch of the Volunteer movement of 1803, when between four and five hundred thousand men were enrolled, a royal duke entering the Teddington regiment as a private. He notices also briefly the earlier martial movements of the same kind, and gives a sketch of the history of the Honourable Artillery Company, and then proceeds to relate the revival of Volunteering in 1859. Here, too, there had been preliminary efforts. As early as 1837, Captain Hans Busk "had urged the formation of a Volunteer army on Lord Melbourne," without success, having previously attempted the establishment of corps in the Universities. His name, as well as that of Colonel Bonfield (to whom Mr. Woodhouse dedicates this book), ought to be perpetually associated with the movement. This is an interesting volume, and the
anther has done good service to his country in prodncing it. We may quote from his conclusion one significant sentence :—" The Volunteers have not been kept together by Government rewards or favours. Not a title, not an order, not a single post of aide-de-camp to her Majesty, has fallen to the lot of either a promoter or main- tainer of this force." Military distinction could not be expected, under the present government of the Army ; but surely some Minister might have given a C.B.—A more detailed account of a special regiment will be found in the History of the Queen's City of Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Brigade, by W. Stephen. (Blackwood and Son.)
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