The Express.
London, England, 1852-03-23 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL DEFENCES.

(Pram the Daily Nein.)

" The Militia" question was raised again is the
Howe of Commons last night, and the country
must at once be prepared to pronounce its will upon
this subject. Are we to have a conscription in Eng-
land again or not P That is the question.
When Sir FRANCIS Hr.sopublished his work on the
defenceless state of Great Bntain, he went the " whole
hog" of exaggeration. We were not safe for a mo-
ment, and nothing less would do for him than to Sod
the French safely housed in Westminster. The
Times, in an article which it bestowed on this produc-
fiat, went, on the other hand, not only the " whole
hog" of security, but even insulted the British na-
tion, by declaring that the mass of the people were
indifferent to foreign masters. " England," said that
journal, " may be a very fine place to a gentleman
with 5,000/. a year, or a peer of the realm, or
a man with any sort of position ; and such
a man may be ready to stake half his fortune for the
maintenance of a position which he could not re-
place in any other soil; but the vast majority who
would certainly mend their position in a newer, a
more open, and less taxed country, will not consent
to so costly an insurance as that Sir FRANCIS HEAD
recommends. Out of their 20e. or 12s. a week they
will not spare as. or 3s. to be secured so humble an
income on the soil of their fathers, when they know
they can attain equal safety, and a better income, by
a few days' sail to the west. The test of insurance
thus settles the matter. We don't expect to be in-
vaded, and we are prepared to stand the risk
of ruin rather than certainly ruin ourselves by over-
doing our national defences."
The tables a month or two ago were fairly turned,
and we had Sir Fits-Nent HEAD begging of the
limes to be more quiet in its language, and assuring
the public that the PRESIDENT of the French was
a most trustworthy personage; the Times, on the
other hand, looking hourly for BONAPARTE'S arrival
in this country to devastate us with fire and sword,
and not knowing how we were to be protected, but
demanding improved armaments. The wrr panic
and the Times panic hare since cooled, but we are
still told that the government intend to " call out
the militia."

---Thismpllask" of the mass of the English people
has bent ateply proved by the readiness with which
our proposition respecting rifle clubs, was received.
Fran north to south, and from east to west, Great
Britain showed herself ready for division into volun-
tary armed districts, each ready to protect their own,
and thereby save the enormous expense of a forced
militia, and allowing government to obtain the great-
est advantage from its small regular army, by being
able to concentrate that force under the protection
of these volunteer regiments.
But rifle clubs have been "snubbed." The govern-
ment will not have them. They prefix " calling out
the militia," sad have fixed Monday next for moot-
ing the subject in the Home of Commons. Now, if
history is to be taken as a guide, and the expe-
rience gained by the destruction of militia forces in
every nation of Europe is not to be thrown away, we
and all true friends of England must hope that a
militia will not bo re-established in this country.
To train a man to be a soldier, requires not only a
long period of constant service under arms, but also
that feeling of discipline which is incompatible with
social life. It is this want of discipline which caused
the defeat in engagement after engagement of the
Spanish levies; of the Hungarian forces before
the veterans of Naroteost ; and of late years the
defeat of the revolutionary party in Lombardy.
For the mass of a nation to make itself dangerous
to an invading force, should not become a militia
but volunteers who should confine their opera-
tions to cutting off stragglers and supplies,
attacking isolated detachments, and, in fact, doing
the enemy every injury, without at the same time
exposing themselves in a body to general defeat,
as militiamen must do. How was it the Vendeans
overpowered the numerous republican armies
sent against them ? A waggoner, CATIIELINEATI
by name, and a young gamekeeper, STOFFLET,
at the head of a few countrymen, began
the insurrection. Adapting their tactics to the
nature of the country, they took advan-
tage of the hedges and inequalities of the
ground, and surrounding their opponents by a
line of sharpshooters, they picked off their enemy,
whilst they themselves were in safety. They were
sharpshooters not militia men. As soon as the enemy
appeared thrown into confusion they rushed at them
with the butt ends of their guns and with heavy
sticks. In the Tyrol the success of irregular forces
was still more remarkable. Organised in a military
manner, the men who were fit for service were classed
into companies with sections of riflemen. Divided
amongst the several districts with certain fixed posts
to defend ; at times of emergency twenty thousand
men could turn out, is they did in 1809, to disturb
the rear of the enemy. That year they completely
drove out the French forces, for taking advantage of
their rocks and defiles, no body of troops could wake
a march without being nearly exterminated by these
riflemen. In 1813 and 1814, the German partisans,
both foot and horse, under TETTENBORN, gave the
allies the greatest assistance. These men, so useful
in opposing invaders, were volunteers, not con-
scripts.
To make good partisans requires merely activity
of body and a perfect knowledge of their weapons. If
on horseback, they must be well mounted and be good
horsemen, and that both foot and mounted yeomen
should have the love of their country at heart. For
such corps, no nation possesses such resources as
England. Hunting and shooting are national pas-
times, and to be a good rider or a crack shot have ever
been objects of ambition with the mass of the people.
From gentry to peasant, this fondness for field sports
has given them a boldness of demeanour, added
to a thorough knowledge of every spot in their
county. To form valuable corps of riflemen does
not require red or blue uniforms, or stiff stocks or
crossbelts ; but a shooting coat and a rifle slung over
the shoulder is ample for any purposes of warfare. If
the government, instead of refusing the services of such
men, had entrusted the formation of bodies of volun-
teers to the lord lieutenants of counties, and to the
chief magistrates of towns, clubs without number
would have been formed, ready to pay every expense
of self-armament; and the government might have
assisted this by selling to each man a Minis rifle at
cost price. Hut we must, we are told, have
conscripts. Now, if a militia is raised, it
no longer represents the nation ; for citizens
get free of it, by obtaining substitutes,
and the militia is generally filled, more or less, with
a vagrant class. who are then ready to be drafted
Into the line for the purposes of aggressive foreign
war, should • government think fit to wage one.
This last work volunteer rifle clubs would not do,
and therefore we are to " call out the militia."
Volunteer rifle clubs formed of every class, gentle or
simple, would consist of men who, if they have not
3,01001. a year, or are not peers of the realm, have
yet wives, and children, and sisters, and hearths to
defend; aye, and the pride and honour of England
to defend also. But they would not go over to Bel-
gium, to fight foe the families of COBV2O or ORLEANS,