The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-06-23 00:00:00

TO BE OR NOT TQ BE ?".

IF the Volunteer Movement is to be rendered
permanent, something must be done at once to
secure that object. At prefient, as .we have
formerly-shown, there are not more than four- per
cent. of our male population who are capable of
bearing arms enrolled in the Volunteer ranks;
and there is no satisfactory provision for the
expense of maintaining the corps efficiently.
There are millions of men in this country who
are entitled to be entrusted with arms, and who
are not callous to the appeals of patriotism, but
who are virtually debarred from enrolment by
their pecuniary inability to meet the cost of
equipment. Moreover, the expense of conduct,
ing the present comparatively small army of
Volunteers falls too unequally and oppressively
on a few to be compatible with the idea of real
permanency. These difficulties must be met,
and now is the time to do it. ,If the Volunteer
principle is to be made good for anything it
must be developed until it embraces a very much
larger number of men; arid if the labour 4and
expense already incurred are to be turned to any
account, that development must be effected at
once. Delays are always dangerous but espe-
cially so in this instance. Supposing that the
present force could be maintained, what would it
be worth in the event of an actual invasion ?
Supposing that, in the hour of need, none of the
members of the existing corps would be found
absent from muster, how much could be effected
by such an amount of force diffusedly spread
over the whole kingdom ? Is it likely that they
could, or desirable that they should, ever be more
than very partially concentrated on one spot ?
Were it possible, it were sca,rcety...adv.isahieior-
various reasons; neither would it be necessary,
were all the properly. qualified male population
enrolled and drilled. There would, in that case,
always be enough of force, in every direction, to
meet emergencies; and their numbers could
easily be supplemented, if .necessary,without
much local disturbance. • To make it worth
while sustaining the present orgaplisatist,th?..rpc,,
fore, we maintain that-its vast extension is
lutely necessary. . : .

Dare anyone doubt the proprietss•Otlik4eneral
body of the people being trained: teil'inilitary
exercises, and entrusted with
.e.rms in their
hands ? We believe the people of England are
at heart loyal and contented, and determined to
maintain the Throne and Constitution. Nay
more, we believe that enrolment
_in:.a:great
national self-defence organisation. .would only
Make them more Conservative than :ever. We
Would not hesitate to trust any pOwer 'in the
ff 4
hands of a Man who had. Proved himself, by
regularity,. steadiness, and e cieney, . to be a
thoroughly good Volunteer soldier. The same
exercise that makes him a proficient in drill
Would tend to produce a healthy and well-
affected moral tone, and to develop patriotic'
sentiment and constitutional action.. We would
almost be disposed to go the length of saying
that every man who had served as a Volunteer,
for a•fixed period, with satisfaction to his superior:
officers, might, thereby alone, justify his right to
the franchise. Why should we fear the respect-
able and well-trained British artisan ? •Is .he
not of our own flesh and blood, alike in interests,'
sympathies, and aspirations ? Is be not, with
the aid of. capital, the wealth-producing element
of the State? It may be just to hold .that
because artisans, of the humbler class, are the
most powerful in numbers, they •should not, for
that reason alone, be permitted to overweigh and
outbalance the votes of all other classes haVing
a deeper stake in the property of the country;
and therefore the upper and middle classes may
object to being swamped in Parliament by the
mere numerical strength of one class ; but that is
a mere question of the balance of power, and
implies no want of due .respect for the just
rights, or confidence in the• loyalty, of 'the
multitude. Shall .we tacitly affront ourselves,
and insult 'the people of these realms, by sup-
PcOng, fpr one moment, t nit they desivq to sei,:e
an undue influence in the State ; or by tacitly
implying that we are withholding from them
privileges to which they are justly entitled ?
411 legislation has been progressively in favour
Of the masses. We know it, and so do they
and they' are satisfied. Who, then, be :shall
insane enough to insinuate so disastrous an idea
as that, by putting arms into the. hands of the

.'r7~~

common people, and training them to mili
tary evolutions, we should endanger the State ?
They who say or think so ought to be ashamed
of themselves. It is no part of true Conser-
vatism to distrust the people, or to treat them as
if we knew that they only waited for an oppor-
tunity to avenge existing wrongs which we are
unwilling to rectify. It were wrong to act upon
such a theory simply because it has no founda-
tion in fact. There being, therefore, no ground
for fear, why should we act as if there were ?
Such a policy were suicidal, and, of itself, might
produce confusion and irreparable mischief. Let
us arm the people, then, and train them as a
glorious army of Volunteers. Then, and not till
then, shall we be able to boast of our British
Volunteers as the best defence of the. nation

against foreign invasion.
It may be taken for granted, we think, that the
present movement can neither be extended, nor
even be maintained in statu quo without some
more adequate general provision for meeting the
necessary expenses. This is a vital point. If
the movement is of any use at all, it is for the
common behoof ; and it is absurd to suppose that.
a select few should or would continue to bear
the burden
_of its cost. It were degrading to the
nation to permit the continuance of such a
system. All honour to those who have under-
taken the cost of the experiment ; but the proof
having been completed, let the nation gratefully
accept the established fact, and make the most of
it at its own expense. If it is not deemed
worthy of imperial support it cannot be sup-
posed that a small body of individual patriots
will insist upon a contrary belief at their own
charge, and in the face of difficulties which
would, ou such a supposition, render the move-
ment incapable of efficient development. how
is this expense to be met ? , An eminent Volun-
teer says : " There is no difficulty whatever in
the matter. Only let Parliament empower the
levying a small rate, say one farthing in the
pound, for the necessary expenses of storehouses,
&c., &c., and the country is at once and for ever
well armed. No sensible man in the kingdom
will object to pay the trifle, and if any are so
unpatriotic as to grudge the pittance, their neigh-
bours will pay it for them. The True Peace
League Rate' would be a good title for such
a popular levy." There can be little doubt that,
if the permanency of this branch of our defensive
forces is desirable, some such principle must be
acted upon. The levy, however great in the
aggregate, would be individually imperceptible.
Nay, would it not much more than repay itself
by the utter extinction for ever of the invasion
panics which yearly torment us, and interrupt
commerce and trade ? By some such means Ni e
must be put in possession of the necessary funds
for equipping the whole population fitted for
military drill, and then the question of the
permanency and efficiency of the Volunteer
movement shall no longer hang doubtfully in

the. scale.
With those who disbelieve in the necessity or
usefulness of such a movement, we have at
present no argument. We address ourselves chiefly
to those who have acknowledged the importance
of the organisation, and who have proved their
sincerity by no small sacrifices. We ask them,
how do you propose to carry out this movement ?
We would warn them of the danger of allowing
this season to pass without an effective agitation
of the questions—how far the people of this
country believe in the Volunteer scheme, and
how far they are prepared to take it into their
own hands. We are much mistaken, if the iron
be struck now when it is hot, if the people of
England do not, by a vast majority, declare
themselves in favour of its complete adoption, as
their best bulwark to freedom and independence;
and we dare not for one moment question their
cheerful submission to the trifling impost neces-
sary to secure its permanent success. Let the
question of extension and maintenance of the
Volunteer system be taken up at once. The
issue involved must be speedily determined one
way or the other ; for there can be no doubt
that, as regards our Volunteer Artillery and
Rifle Corps, it involves the vitally important
question of

"To be or not to be ?"

LATEST NEWS.

(BY BRITISH AND IRMA MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)

FRANCE.

Prince Jerome is so ill that his death is expected
from one moment to another.
It is said that M. Thouvenel is about to issue
a diplomatic circular, divulging to a certain
extent and explaining the result of the meeting
of Baden-Baden.

THE FRENCH FUNDS.
PARIS, June 22.

3 30 P.M.—The Bourse has been very dull.
Rentes closed at 68f 65c, or about the same as yes-
terday.

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, June 22.

In yesterday's sitting of the Council of the
Empire the Emperor accorded to the Italian
members of the council permission to. speak in
Italian.

SWITZERLAND.

,V3e.";

BERNE, June 22.

In view of an approaching conference on the
annexation of Savoy, the Federal Council has
confidentially proposed to the Great Powers a
new combination to be substituted for the stipu-
lations of article 92 of the final act of Vienna.
The proposition of the Federal Council com-
mences by stating that, after the annexation of
Savoy to France, the neutralisation of Faucigny
and Chablais would be of no practical use what-
ever for the maintenance of the neutrality of
Switzerland. In order to attain this object Swit-
zerland claims such a portion of territory as
might be traversed in a two hours' march, and
which, surrounding the lake of Geneva, would
form a bulwark between Switzerland and France.
The Swiss diplomatic agents abroad are charged
to recommend a similar combination for adoption
by the Great Powers, and more especially by
England, who has already taken the initiative in
a similar proposal, but which denicartcle,cl a fur
more considerable territorial cession.