Mfrs in 10 eUtur.
VOLUNTEER RIFLEMEN.
Bombay Presidency, 27th February, 1860.
Bra—The question of the organization that may be best adapted to Volun- teer Riflemen generally, so that it may stand on a system by which the country would gain a reserve force at once efficient and permanent, carries with it some reflections as to which may be the one most suited to the prac- tical views and habits of our countrymen. It will probably be conceded by many, that training and drill are as essentially required by Volunteer Rifle- men, as by all other armed bodies of men, whose duty it may be to confront, with success, the disciplined masses of an enemy in the field. For by too lightly esteeming, and consequently neglecting, the practice of a duty so necessary, they would be unequal, in the event of their services being re- quired, to the important position which otherwise they might be selected to occupy. It is m the ranks alone our Volunteer Riflemen can acquire practical knowledge of drill, and learn to appreciate the details of com- bined movements, whether for attack or defence, and feel the confidence in disciplined numbers which experience has proved to be irresist-
ible. For this object, companies might be mustered, at intervals of time, for drill as light troops, in battalions of 509 men each ; and these latter, in like manner, might be massed in brigades. By means of railways, such concentration might be rapidly made, on some central position, in any county ; and should the time of year be selected when the militia would be called out for annual drill, united camps might be formed for divisional or brigade manceuvres. Against this proposal may be urged, and with truth, the expense and sacrifice of time, which of necessity accompany absence from home, and which would be felt especially by those engaged in the cul- tivation of the soil. Since then, it may be anticipated that the fresh enthu- siasm of the movement may at no distant date become lessened, it may be suggested as perhaps the wiser course, that our Volunteer Riflemen should rather spare no efforts to become, as scientific marksmen, unapproachable : and that liberal prizes be given at annual meetings to induce good shots to enter as competitors. The spirit of emulation thus excited, may perhaps lead to a few simple manceuvres of light drill being at such seasons at least occasionally practised, since on such it is impossible to place too high a
value. A VETERAN.
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