The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-01-16 00:00:00

~-.ltotirl)rib,gc 01)5ctter.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1969.

THE VOLUNTEERS.

During the many years that our volunteer
army hits been in existence the country has be.
souse increasingly indebted to it. Happily, we
have never had occasion to call on it to put into
force its motto, " Defence, not defiance ; ' but if
there is any truth in the old classic axiom, si
via parent, ris plea lallunt, it must at least be
advisable to keep a large defensive force ready
for any ernergewy that may arise. The vault.
teers have proved themselves such a folee.
They were celled into existence by the patriotic
desire to defend and protect their country at a
time when war-clouds were gathering thickly in
the horizon ; they have every year 'become in-
creasingly efficient : and it is not too much to
say that this powerful army of peaceful citizen
soldiers has tended to keep us at peace. At all
events it has made us respected abroad, if it be
not to this force that we owe the fact that we
have remained peaceful at home. Our volun-
teers have outlived the ridicule with which their
earlier history is identified, and they have also
triumphed over that dead weight of coolness and
apathy which so frequently crushes out ordinary
voluntary organisations. Considering the purely
,! spontaneous character of the movement, and
the fact that our volunteers are essentially a ,
body worthy of the name, we are justifit d in re-
garding it as the finest volunteer army in the
world. The force now numbers between 160,000
and 170,000; it is composed of itli ranks of the
people, but the working class•-3--the real wor-
kers, whether by brain or by hand—predoleinate.
There cannot be two opinions as to the etlicien
of this citizen army. They are, of course, not
equal to the regulars, either in military organi-
sation, in the capacity to endure fatigue, or in
actual work of the field; but as a defensive force,
always provided they be well officered, there is
no doubt they would prove themselves a most
powerful body.
There is such a thing as working swilling
horse to death, and there is such another thing
as imposing on good nateum ; and applying these
Witi3 saws to the modern instance, it may be said
that it is quite in the power of successive Go•
veruments to throw such a damper on the volurt•
Leer force that it may dwindle away in shaer dis-
gust at what we is ill not actually call bad treat-
ment, but at that unappreciative neglect which
is just as powerful in the lung rue. An old
English poet tells IN that " he will not when be
may, when he would he shall have nay." We
trust that this may never he realised with regard
to the vvlunteers, but the cold water thrown up-
on them by the present Government may be
regarded as the first step towards the destruc-
tion of our volunteer army. Destruction may
be a strong word, but the reader must bear in
mind that we speak only of the first step towards
it. Let us now see what the volunteers have
been asking, and how their request has been
received.

A deputation representing nearly the whole of
the volunteer commanding officers of the king-
dom has waited upon Mr. Cardwell, the Secre-
tary of State for War, to urge upon Govern-
merit the propriety of increasing the present
c witation grant. This grant is .EI per year for
each ordinarily efficient volunteer, and V lOs
per year for the extra efficient. It is urged that
this is not sufficient to reimburse the necessary
expenses of the corps; that the officers and men
have to pay out of their own pockets the expen-
se; o,)ll.l,:eted with the traiaing of the regi-
ments ; that even amateur soldiering, as it has
loJenlled, camot be carried out withcmt dis-
bursements in connection with drill grounds,
ride butts, conveyance, the wear and tear of
uniforms, ecc., need not be insisted upon. The
deputation, in fact, did not feel it necessary to
adduce any arguments in support of such self-
evident facts. They simply put these facts be-
fore the Secretary for War, arid urged that an
additional capitation grant of Al per year for
each efficient volunteer should be made. The
request is irot a new one. It has long boat f.-It
I that the gevernment allowance to the volunteers
Is not adoguLtte to thole legitiulate requirements ;