The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-09-03 00:00:00

rim GRAND VEVIEW
• •
'OT UNTEERS‘
AT *..)-0,-*stEt.
th,osi-so DEMOSTSTRATION.

10,000 VOLUNTEERS UPOIsY TI

GROUND'

EXcittsid seEritg Ig LIVERPOOL AND

ON THE ROAD.

" Now all the. Youth of Lr.glanct ate on fire,
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies ;
Now thrive the armourers, and honotu's thought
Runs solely in the lare..l,st.of ey.grY
They sell the pastimo now to buy the horse."

HtUf V.
The long and. anxiously anticipated revieW of. the
Volunteer force of Live* adil-&nith--PatiOashire
took place, in pnrstianee of nerd per4'ti invitation, yin
Knowsley
.on Saturday,
_and, a more , brilliant
ipeetecle it would beinipossible to conceive. It wa; a
great day for LiverpOel,' which' poured out on the
occasion its congregated thousandseea greater day !in
Many respects than has yet been recorded in the annuls
of 'the 'town; and 'apart from its loCal interest, the
importanoe of the event Was enhanced by the deep
national import.and significance' ivhieh it 'ConveYs. .
Louis Napoleon, with :his suspicious and vacillating
policy has - sown dragon's teeth in England, and the
product has heen armed men-. With" Defence bat not
Defiance" as their
,motto, at the least menace or hint
of danger to our national security, the. noble 'young
Men of England have, at great pefsonal sacrifice,
cheerftilly ferward. arid . enrolled thetriselves as
citizen soldiers ..h! defence of peace and Of all which
Englishmen. hold deer. • '•
The appearance of the different..eorPs, their. orderly
derneanoni, and their :prOud, Martial bearing, was a
.sufficient answer to all the objectiOns Which have been
urged against their enrolment; but., befere• referring! to
the exciting events Of so memorable a day, it maybe
useful to pass in review. and dispose of a few of the more
prominent objections which cynical cavillers, when the
motenient was voting, -were id the habit of urging
against- the etitatlislerdent hi Edgland of this " cheap
defence of nations." First, it was urged that they
Would never. become efficient, and that in the presence
of an: enemy they would be never more than an arnied
rabble. All history refutes the notion; and who, We
may ask, believes that now ? The -men, by their
-appearance on parade, and by ' their imposing pre-
sence at, the grand review in Knowsley, Park on
Saturday; offered the best refutation to thnscandaleus
foreboding, , -Tb;e only feeling, -and: which we know; to
have been shared by all the Military men
_on ilhe
grOtlnd,tiae- one of perfect astonishment and of patriotic
at the degree .of efileielicy which, with such shbrt
and inilferfect diipdttlinitiee Of drill, hate !Arcady. been
attained. With. all the nieehanisni adel rAitilariti; Of
movement which characterise regular troops, with a
physigtes which, few but select regiments in the service
are able to display, the.. men had' all that fire and
celerity whichindividual intelligence can alone impart ;
and one felt instinctively that they were precisely such
troops as the greet Napoleon launched upon Italy
at the commencement of his brilliant series of victories,-
and just such.. as " the little Arpdtil" .-Wodd
hike lieeti4irtiiid to Ocininiand. None Itrid4 Better thou
Napolepn himself the idleness-. of hie reproach in the .
hour of bitter disappointment, that we were a "nation
of -shopkeepers ;" and 'there was more truth in his sub-
sequent remark on a certain well-fought field, "
these English, they never know when they -are 'beaten."
It is pretty-well known now that his threatened invasion
of our shores- was little more than a feint to cover other
designs;
,andevert if the Fee had been open; true fact' of
300,006 voltinteert hi ants in England was Unite ittlicient
to convince him Qf the hopeless/lest Of rideh ad atienipt.
At that time he might have counted upon the support
of a small but active .section of disappointed politicians,
•who had synepathies akin to the revolutionary principles
which he embodied—he might also have counted to some
extent upon the distraction of-parties, and the general
alienation of .clasees which prevailed. But,riove, fortis,.
pately,.we are an ,Itniteel nation; fluid instead of chronic
discontent ,Pekkading the masses, the molt elieerhig
spirit of loyalty and affection to the Throne, and
rious Constitution, are to befound alike in the cottage
br the peasant as in the !wee gorgeous residence of the
titled and the rich. Another puny sneer'at the move-
vement, while in its infancy, was, that those who joined
were more anxious to gratify•their vanity by appearing
lti a float Uniform', ripen a peaceable parAClB--a uniform
Which shotild Make theni the cynosnre of every
eyetliap actrfatec by the higher .nicities. of patriotic
feeling. which ,Could lead theni In the ho 'r of .614-fee to
court ambition at the (intitiOn'g itie Toltin=
teers•mey have possessed a very natural desire t 6 be neat,
but the objection, it is Palpable, could only proceed from
those who are men milliners themselves, and. with whom
dress is, an, absorbing thought.- The great !Ai °ray of
/our yoltiriteerseae far, as Liverpool is concerned, are
,geritienienhy hirtjt and station, or are c.orripdsed Of the
cream ofour commercial, middle, and industrious classes,
and is it for a Moment to be supposed that for the grati-
fication of a poor ;and idle *iv, they would willingly
subMit tai. the hardshiiseof.dril. and the great and posi-
tive sacrifice of timeandmeans NOilet a Connection with
the 'force is well knoWn td involve ? The idea defelft
itself by its own absurdity. The uniforms Chosen by
the Liverpool Voltinteert are certainly as varied as they
are pietdrestjUe, andsileak well for the taste which must
have presided in their selection: have s striking
military appearance, anti all combine the, great eaeivail-
tages of fitness and simplicity. While on this sfilejebt,
let us venture to throw out nhint. It is admitted on all
hands that, the. yc4tiv.tecr movement, to attain its due
effect arld fall sfcetth of depahility; !Mist iris ode to a
much greater extent than it has hither:6 • dein(' the
artisan class, which forms the thews and sinews of the.
nation.' .The bilk of these .are knownito be; highly
favourable to the movement ; the great difficulty_;
which has hitherto stood in the way of their enrolment
has been the expense of their equipinent. Now,
not tine Matter di Onifrierd beenreOde, ,
etag-
gerated iniPortatice All that is v'ranted for' teal fight-
ing purposes, or in the assemblage of any body of nien
for some combined movement, is 'that there- should be
some visible, well-known sign of uniforniitY. Unless
We mistake; the citizen soldery of • the United' States,'--
we the-Militia proper, and not the differentvolune
tear corps,--,--assemble at muster simply in a black dress,
to which a suf#eiently tilitary.;aktpeifartee is imparted
by.a White belt thiciwn across ,the 4ainheo
far as we read, the only distinctive- uniform *Ord by
"Garibeldeemen, is the faMons red shirt. ' A uniforii like
that would be furnished by any of our Liverpool outfitters
at the rate of about 6s per man; and speakitig on this
hint, why should not we have a few regiments of Cac-
cietori, e le Garibaldi, in
.Liverpool ? Our hint seems
really of .value,. and.if' a continued. neeessity..exists, as.
there is too much reason to fear,-for an extension of the?
volunteer niavenient,lte. hope that it will be taken up
in a tangihlelerni. are as great helieere. teS-Carlerle
-in "clothes philosophy," and hate, therefore, ednievtliat
enlarged on What may bethought 'A
Very minor branch
of our subject.
It is right to look all 'objections in the face ; and why,
therefore, throtigh delicacy,..ehouldwe Omit -.mention of
the fear so Often expressed that, asei soldier's life is often
mixed uposie-,what is the same thidg; is. supposed to be
Mixed up, With some degree Of lieentiotieness, sd our
Volunteers- would be tempted to indulge in hurtful
carouses, consequent upon theli gatherings, their differ-
ent " niarclieinnd nierry rneetinge." Ren'e'e know
.
who sang that .
- • A soldier's a man, actinic:bait a span,
So then let the cannikin clink. • '
It was feared, -in fact, that 'e-of -idlefieSs
Might be engendered ; but the' very- reveese has
proved to be the fact. Thecatinikin has atilaked leis
since the volunteer movelnent'Vegkin, 44-tv,e4Y.4sublican
knows.; and More pernicions -ecenei;'OrdiAtlgien ce: still
number fader victims. .ddvf'.ii'dul4-It*V•i Otherwise ?
Men associating together fot any Uollelltht, ticiftlite
insensibly a new sense of self-reepeeteake temptation
whial:might act- upon an individull-leees its power.. in
presence of the thought that if yielded fait might bring
disgrace upon his company or cloth., The .admirable
eyrie de corps engendered by such • institutions stands
protaiierititideed in
-tile adittritAge's
That the voltinteer diciiemient has had' qiiite the oppo-
site effect of leading into eiciotie habits, We have the
testimony Of the fair -get- thenieelteseille best Of all
judges in Matter of social propriety ;< and had such. not
been the case; it is scarcely likely that we should have
found them engaged in such pleasing ceremonies as sub-
scribing for, and presenting, silver bugles to favourite
corm or attending on every-eccasion where their pre-
sence could' afford encouragement, by :reining, as they
didon Saturday, their influence upon the Scene.
But then it is pleaded by the peace-at-any-price
party, and by those whose motives if .not opinions are
emitted to more resPeet,. that one great danger to be
apprehended frinie the -Volunteer movement is the war-
like spirit which it will evoke. If by this is meant that
when, nationally, we feel strong,. we should, therefore,
become aggressive, it is simply a libel upon the good
sense of Englishmen. With a great nation, the -con-
scions posSession of .strength invites to repose,, and it is
A sense of weakness only which leads to rash enterprise,
or would invite aggression. But supposing that a
warlike spirit thOuld prevail; eta twai ?—Such we-main-
tain to be the healthy and normal *condition of England.
All great natio* were ever warlike ; and , ;
' This little isle
Sct like a gem Within a ,ilver sea,
would have been of .no. More importance, and have
exercised power for good in 'the world than
its simple . geographical limits determine, but for
that warlike spirit which it is now the cant to con-
demn. War is a great- (vil, but there are worse
evils Which accompany the decadence of a state ;
and if we Ore to Maintain our position in the world,
thre is no doubt that we, shotild.encourage in our youth
'that: combativeness of spirit -Which will give them
.a