VOLUNTEER CAVALRY
ONCE more attention is drawn to the want of Volunteer Cavalry. Many horsemen have set forth their views on this important sub- ject in the columns of a great contemporary, and it is time the question were thoroughly debated. The Rifle Infantry are ac- cumulating by the hundred in every parish in spite of the ridi- culous exclusiveness of the ballot-box corps, the would-be fine gentlemen who are only willing to die for their country in cliques. It is full time that something were done for the volunteer horse, since our defensive arrangements will be incomplete, indeed, with- out clouds of dashing irregular horsemen.
Next to Hungary one would think that Great Britain would spontaneously furnish a larger body of cavalry than any country in the world. Among us everybody rides a horse who can. We alone keep up fox-hunting as a national pastime. No other nation can " do " a steeple-chase as we can do it. A large proportion of the rustic population and all the farmers and gentry, to use t slang phrase, are " born in the saddle." How to direct a horse across country at a high speed, and get from point to point with the utmost despatch, we practise as an art. Wherefore, then, the difficulty of raising volunteer horse equal, if not superior, to those magnificent squadrons of improvised hussars with which Guyon so nearly retrieved the battle of Temesvar ? The difficulty is that which beset the formation of rifle volun- teer infantry : we have not taken up the thing in earnest ; we have not applied our minds to the matter; it is a neglected branch of national defence. Will to do it out of hand is wanting. The prejudices of Lords-Lieutenant, of a respectable but old fogy school of military men, of the peace party, have been overcome in the matter of volunteer infantry. A similar feat remains to be performed in regard to volunteer cavalry. And we have no doubt that it will be done, when the usual amount of preliminary writing and speaking, which the British people always exact, has been accomplished.
The materials are not wanting. There are the Yeomanry Cavalry ready to our hand as a beginning. But the Yeomanry must no longer be, what they are with a few splendid exceptions, the playthings of county magnates. The Yeomanry Cavalry should cease to be bad imitations of our regular horse. They should be taken in hand afresh, and remodelled on the pattern of the best irregular model. They should be clothed in a reasonable way, and armed with serviceable weapons. Discard the wretched old carbine and give the men either revolvers, or the "little car- bine," used in the hand, which Jacob's Horse have found so effec- tive. Give the cavalry man a sword that will out, and an effec- tive scabbard that will not blunt its edge. Thus armed, and trained in the simplest manoeuvres, very competent judges tell us that in good hands nearly all our yeomanry regiments would go anywhere and do anything that irregular horse could be called upon to perform. General Napier has shown how usefully they could be employed in combination with rifle companies and Armstrong guns. But care must be taken not to train them to be mere machines, not to harass them with frivolous exercises, but to make each man a powerful independent horseman, capable of taking care of himself, and at the same time ready and able to act in concert with other men of a similar stamp. It is the in- dividual excellence of each man that constitutes the worth of ir- regular horse. Out of the material afforded by the serviceable horses and spirited men in the ranks of our Yeomanry Cavalry, we are satisfied that a Jacob or a Hodson would make a force of horsemen second to none of their kind.
But are there no horsemen to be found beyond the limits of the Yeomanry Cavalry ? We own to the opinion that we should prefer to see this force taken in hand first and made the most of, pre- cisely because it is in existence, and contains the right stuff. At the same time it is undoubtedly true that much good material does not find its way into the Yeomanry. If only a few corps were formed out of this unused material, it would be well. We cannot see why the fox-hunters, not only the red coats, but the black coats and bottle greens, should not be formed into troops, and shown what useful service they could render. If the dashing charges, it is said they could make when handled in small bodies, be visionary, few will deny that they could be used with great effect as guides, as orderlies, on outpost duty, as patrols. An enemy could do nothing that would escape the vigilance of such men. And we believe, with " Anglo-Catholicus," that " each well-established hunt could readily furnish a squadron or two of first-rate horsemen, officered by-gentry, unequalled in their know- ledge of the country, and power of crossinff it, by any corps of guides, mounted or unmounted, in any continental army." But after all that can be said of fox-hunters, the great strength of our volunteer cavalry must be supplied by the Yeomanry. Better to have them armed and trained as Mounted Rifles, than keep them as they are. We should prefer to see them as swords- men rather than as riflemen ; yet as riflemen rather than as nothing at all, but a caricature of the regulars. " It seems to be the general opinion," writes " Melton Mowbray," " that our
Yeomanry Cavalry should be armed with the breech-loading rifled carbine, which will make good practice at 1000 yards ; that they should meet for drill once a month, not as a regiment, but by companies ; that they should be exercised at a target, on foot and on horseback ; and that every man should be expected to bring his horse perfectly steady to stand fire, and that regiments should meet for field practice for one week twice in the year." What- ever is done let it be done on system, and do not allow the fine available materials to be wasted for want of a few guiding prin-
ciples applicable to all :corps. Consult Nolan, and above all Jacob ; get hints from the best Indian Irregulars, and then adapt what is found to the sturdy character of our countrymen and the circumstances of the time. This is a matter in which the Go- vernment must act. If, at a crisis, we are without an effective Irregular Cavalry, heavily will fall the responsibility on the shoulders of those who may neglect to provide in time an ample supply of that indispensable arm.
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