"he *pettator" 3anuarp 17tb, 1852.
VOLUNTEER CAVALRY AND INFANTRY
SIR,—In addition to an increase of the Army and Navy—a precautionary measure imperatively required owing to the present state of Europe—it appears to me that a large Volunteer force might be readily organised, which, if practically carried -out, would probably Rrevent any sudden attempt at invasion being ever contemplated.
I would suggest that the Volunteers should not be clothed at the expense of the State, and that they should receive pay only wheucalled upon by the Crown to perform military service ; but that a permanent staff, consisting of an adjutant and a certain number of drill-sergeants for each regiment of Volunteers, should receive daily pay, to the end that the Volunteers might have an opportunity of being instructed, at their leisure moments, in whatever drill may be necessary to enable them to act together as a military body.
The arms and accoutrements should be furnished by the State ; on the receipt of which each volunteer should deposit in the hands of a Government officer their cost price ; which sum should be refunded to him whenever he ceases to belong to the Volunteers, upon his returning them into store in a proper state. . . . The Volunteers should not be required, as a sine qua non, to clothe themselves in military uniform, for their ordinary costumes would suffice ; but the officers should wear in addition some distinguishing badge. The Volunteer Cavalry and Infantry, always ready to be embodied on the shortest notice, would form the vanguard of the regular Militia.; a post of honour that would be fully
Previous page
