LORD SALISBURY AND RIFLE CLUBS.
(To THE EDITOR OP TIIE "SPECTATOR.")
SIB;4 have read your article on Lord Salisbury's speech with the greatest interest and sympathy. Anything that will at this moment tend to rouse the spirit of the country and Induce as many of her citizens as possible to qualify them- selves to take part in her defence, if the occasion should arise, is of supreme importance. Those who agree on the main point are not likely to quarrel seriously on questions of detail. But I am sorry that you have confined your remarks to only one part of a soldier's duty. It is not enough that a man should be a good shot. The reported good shooting of the Boers, joined with their success at the beginning of the war, has perhaps given the public an exaggerated notion of the supreme value of this accomplishment. But the accounts of their shooting vary very considerably. According to many the Boers are not much superior in this respect to our own men, and by common consent they possess other qualifications which are equally remarkable and equally useful. I will instance their power of choosing inaccessible positions, of quickly constructing good trenches in exactly the proper place, of taking advantage of every scrap of cover, of retreat- ing with the smallest amount of loss, and of moving with the greatest rapidity from place to place. It stands to reason that the best shots in the world would be of no use to a general in case of an invasion unless he could move them by word of command, place them where he wished, and advance or retire them without their getting into confusion. This must be true even among the hills of Switzerland or South Africa, but much more so in a comparatively level country like our own. I say nothing of the panic to which the bravest men may be liable if they take the field in a totally un- disciplined state. My object in writing is not to discourage practising with the rifle, but to express a hope that you will use your great influence to induce the able-bodied men of this country who are willing to learn to shoot, to submit them- selves at the same time to the less interesting drudgery of going through a sufficient amount of drill to make their shooting of some use,—in other words, to form rifle corps Instead of rifle clubs. This question was thoroughly debated forty years ago, and I am sorry to say that I can remember the discussion. The result was the establishment of the Volunteers, and if the present agitation has the effect of increasing that force and improving its shooting, it will do a great deal more good than if it is diverted in the direc- tion you propose. Do not let it be supposed for one moment that there is any appreciable number of men who can spare time for shooting and who cannot spare time for drill. The drill necessary to make a Volun- teer fairly efficient, though it could not be learned all in a moment when the enemy had already landed, can be acquired by the sacrifice of a very few hours in each week, and where there is a drill-shed a great deal of it can be done at night, which is not the case with shooting. The truth is many men are willing to practise shooting, because it is amusing, who are not willing to practise drill, because it is tiresome, and the amusement of shooting, if provided at the public expense, should be reserved for those who are willing to undergo the dulness of drill. As a landowner, I thoroughly concur with most of the remarks in the last part of your article. I established a range in my park here forty years ago, and another in the neighbourhood soon afterwards. They are both open at present free of charge to all members of the Auxiliary Forces, but I shall think a long time before I open them to anybody else. Most ranges are practically safe with men under discipline, who have gone through a certain amount of musketry instruction before they are allowed to fire a shot, and who must make a certain number of marks at the short ranges before they are promoted to the longer ones. But it would be difficult to enforce these or any other rules upon the undisciplined members of a club. I quite agree with you that we must not be too nervous about the safety of the public. When we are familiarised with the slaughter of war, the few accidents which may be the result of a large increase of rifle ranges seem of very little importance compared with the object in view. But we must take all the precautions we can for this reason, if for no other. If in a time of profound peace, when the horrors of battle are forgotten, two or three people work- ing in the fields or walking on the roads should happen to be killed in the course of a few weeks, so strong a prejudice might arise against all rifle shooting as seriously to interfere with its practice. I cannot agree with you about rifle clubs, but I am sure that you and all other patriotic men will agree with me that we must have a large increase of the Volunteer Force, that we must improve the shooting of the Volunteers to the utmost possible extent, and that sufficient ranges for this purpose must be found. I do not think that there need be one in every village. If there is one wain three or four miles of the headquarters of every company it will be quite enough. I join heartily in your appeal to the owners of land, and I will add the occupiers also, to assist in this purpose. Whether the matter should be taken up by the Government. or the County Council, and paid for out of the rates or out of the taxes, invites a discussion into which I will not enter now, as I feel that I have already presumed too much upon your [No reasonable person will dispute Lord Cowper's proposi. tion that Volunteer regiments are of more use to the nation than rifle clubs. Our object in advocating rifle clubs is in order to obtain the necessary and essential basis for a good system of Volunteer home defence, —i.e., a population acquainted with the use of the rifle, even though only at 300- yard ranges. With a population so instructed, patriotic feeling will do much. If there is no general know- ledge of the use of the rifle, patriotic enthusiasm is a pathetic farce. Of course we must do everything possible to maintain the Volunteers in efficiency, but let us have rifle clubs as feeders. Rifle clubs must not be substituted for Volunteer regiments, but must supplement them and recruit for them.— ED. Spectator.]
Previous page
