Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-24 00:00:00

ing ounteasts, he bell

it would be the means of detering

Frenchmen, 'Russians, or any other nationfromattacking
them, if it were known that there were enrolled in this

country, from 500,00 to one million of ..men, or even
100;000 men, - who.tould be transForted by means of rail-

em one end of the countrysto another at'a moment's
notice,•temd who were willing and able to defend their land
from any attack which could be made upon her. (Cheers).
lie thiraght • that these volunteer corps ,would be more
efficient than an ordinary army. The individuals who
joined it would be men of better education, who
would be more easily drilled, and more effective when

ways, 'fr

in attval warfare, more especially in • the use of the
rifle. ,(Hear, ,bear.) He considered, however, that the

regtilititions announced by the government, would not meet
the case. Pies of 'hear, hear, and cheerS.) He believed,
himself, that'he could bring forward a contingent from his
Ovin,vrefks,, of 25, or 50 or SO men, who would be willing
to join:in volunteer corps, but who could not spare time, or
sacrifice their own interests, or those of their employers, by
being thsent24 days in the year, eight or .ten days at a
time

Hear, hear) But if the Government would con-
seePthet the -volunteer corps should be actually volunteer
torps:end that.the men forming them should be allowed to

drillond to gaituthe use of the rifle every Satarday after-

noon, when most persons had

holiday, or in the mornings

or evetinzs of summer, he believed rifle

orps would be formed

in this t.country, which would deter any foreign nation from

attennting.to invade it, and-that they would be able to
front that the bugbear which had been lately
raised about invasion of this country would vanish. (Hear,
hear, znl3. cheers.) He hoped the committee to be formed
that evening would make such representations to government

show and

as wouliginduee some modification of the very stringent
rules now laid down. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers )
Mr. Hamad Littledale proposed the first resolution, which
declared that, '" in the opinion -of this meeting the present
state of he:nation upon the Continent of Europe, renders
it expedient that all her Majesty's loyal subjects capable of
beating anus, should prepare themselves to assist in the
defence of the country by the formation of Volunteer
Rifle 'Corps!' Mr. Littledale said he deprecated war as
much as any ruanmould, but he believed that the best way
to prevent war was to show themselves ready and willing
to fight any one who came to attack them. (Cheers, and
cries of Hear, hear.) He was sure that in this part of
-the conntry there would be no lack of spirit. (Hear, hear.;
ffeWied attention to the peculiarly undefended state of tin
rivet

zun forts, one on each si(

Ind urged

tnat tie puolic stioultl call on the government to provide an
efficient block-ship, not like the one which was in the river
at present, bat ilia as their chairman could build. (Cheers
and laughter.) With such a block-ship, and Capt. Mends
in command of it, they might defy Frenchmen, Dutchmen,
tr any one else who came to attack them. (Cheers.)
--Mr. Chamlwes, of Wallasey, seconded the motion. He
t,atad, in the course of his observations, that he had served
as a private in a. volrrnteer corps in thetrnited States, and
would be glad to serve in the same capacity in Birkenhead.
He should take care to serve only under ,men who proved
by ihtir skill, that they were qualified to make efficient
officers. (Hear, hear.)
flwresolution was carried by acclamation.

Mr.lAncent King came forward to propose the next
resolution. Before doing so, he read letters from Mr. J.
It. slrtw, .and Mr. Wm. Jackson, M.P. •
Mr.. -;King then referred to the present state•of Europe;
and the declaration of the Emperor of the French, that
heeame•forward in the cause of Italian liberty. Far be it
from him (the speaker) to question the motives of any man ;
tint he felt-that there must be some mistake about terms
there, and.that, what that sovereign called liberty, the
meeting; in plain English, would call despotism. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) It was quite possible that this, or some
other self-elected champion of right, order, and liberty,
might lead armies into England in order to give liberty to
Englishmen.
.(Laughter and cheers.) He only hoped
that,if that, or any other man, dared to attempt such a
thing, .the answer of Englishmen would come sharp and
quickl:yon his ear, in the shape of millions of rifle bullets.
(toudetteers.) The wish of England was to pursue the
course of industry, civilisation, and peace; but she saw
all Europe arming around her, she saw that a neighbour-
ing nation .bali,beou engaged for years in increasing her
fleet - and he therefore maintained that it was the duty of
England to keep her fleet and her army in a state of the
greatest effiCienoy, .so as to be prepared for any emergency
that might arise.. (Hear, hear.) He contended that there
was a further ditty even ban that to be performed---that it
was their duty, Englishmen, to arm far the defence of
their country ; not for aggreision, but for the defence of
Old England herself. ,(Loud cheers.) The best way to
make Old England safe was to trust, under God's mercy,
to their own right arms. (Hear, and cheers.) Inde-
pendent, however, of any contingency, such
invasion, Mr

_. King urged that - the drill was
a manly accomplishment, and that it was unworthy
of English gentlemen to he ignorant of the use of arms.
(Rear, hear.) He chewed ,thatitwould be inexpensive, and
that if a very costly unitbr,m were not required, the dress,
arms, and accoutrements of a volunteer need not cost more
;than aor £7. He strongly urged the necessity of opening
'their ranks as wide as they possibly could to gallant young
fellows who had not much money in their pockets. The
Government regulations appearod to him to be, upon the
whole, reasonab!e, as they did not. insist upon every volun-
t,er being on drill 24 dm in the ycar ; 'but only offered to
those who complied with that regulation, the. privilege
of eemption from being ballotted :fee the militia
Tlfey-left it open to every man to drill just as
seldom as he liked. The speaker then appealed, in spiriten
-language, to the patriotic feelings of his hearers to support
the undertaking, and concluded amid Raul applause, by
proposing the resolution, which deelaret2--f` That this
meeting earnestly calls upon the men of Wirral ,to enroll
themselves for the purpose of forming vo3unteor rifle
regiments forthe district, and that the sanction of the Lord
Lieutenant of the county be sought."
Captain Mends, Who was received with loud cheers,
seconded the resolution. He said, he bad had the fortune to
see Englishmen fighting hand to hand with foreigners, and he
had no misgiving as to the results of a struggleupon their own
shores, against any enemy, or any innr
of enemies, in the
world. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.)
of
mththe time of
'Alfred, they had been taught in every page history
their
linethe
fight their battles upon the high seas to
Bet, if that line
enemies from their shores—and, God forbid that
might evade
should ever be broken. (Hear, hear.)
sliauld be broken through, and a wary enemy
the quickest and most careful cruisers, and the foe should
succeed in coming upon their shores, then it was that they
might be prepared for such an aggression that they were
Called !won to enrol themselves as volunteers. (eer,
bear.) They had all their peculiar notions of defence,
and his was to fight their battles on the sea. But
he did not .depend much upon such forts as they had
in Liverpool. Wear, hear.) He would not hesitate to
win hp commission any night by destroying the port of

often or as

Liverpool. (Laneater and deers). ne would ask any
practical man, 10, ether it would not be nuite possible to
pass these fbirts in the night, take six or seven smMt
gun-boats in, and do invaluable mischief to rh, docks ahtt
t) Liverpool itself ? (Hear, hew.), -Therefore let them
meet the•enemy on the sea, in the first instance ; but if he
'should mewed in crosqng that line, then let their army
and the volunteer corps which they were now about to
enrol, meet him upon their own shores. (Heat, hear, and
aheerss4

The resolution was ca'rr'ied unanimously.
Mr, Charles Holland was called upon to more the next
resolution. He said lie advocated the formation of this
corps, mainly and distinctly as the great security for peace
in this country, and for maintaiutng a perfect neutrality
on the continent He had been met witlizan objection on
the part of his neighbours—men who had professed peace
trinciples, that they wer3 now 'stirring the people of
his country into. military ardour, which would induce them
to rush and embroil themselves in the contest now going on
upon the continent. His own opinion was that this measure
would have precisely a contrary t•ffeet. (Hear, hear.) If it
were not so, he for one would not 'for one moment be a
party to it. Notwithstanding the immense resources

unitry, her pro-eminence as ~regards
riches, iatellintiCe, and her commanding - fleets, in one
day when the -news of a covttest between Mo great
powers on the 4contiuent reanhed our shore, placed
property en -An insecure footing, - and caused great
alarm. lie thought there must be some great defect
amongst us that we should be. thus panic stack-en at this
shadow of a collision between two nations on the continent.
The reason of this 'was, that it was seen that a n;ighbourin,;-
country had a half of million k.f men under arms, trained
to the very 'perfection of military exercise. It was qui
possible that a-contingency ',might arise thst they rnigl•t
place their feet upon our shores, and with all the resources

Of this

at our command ire would not' be prepared to meet or (it al
with such a wary of as -this. lie said it was a s'Agm

and a reproach to us. He believed he wascorrect in sayin,4
that there was a unanimous feeling in this country that we
should have nothing to do with the affairs on the continent
of Europe. Peace was what this country required. Oa i
depended our industry, our wealth, out

)roveritv

and he hoped they should in no manner of
pretext be mixed up with-the contest between the Continen-
tal Powers. (Hear, hear.) There was much talk about
the balance of power, -but he asked what had they to do
with the balance of power ? It was said, if we allowed any
power to preponderate, our own existence as an independent
nation was in danger. Let us dismiss from our minds, or
from the minds -deny Government, .any such ar;ument, by
forming such a body of riflemen, as to put such an argu-
ment altogether out of the question. (Applause.) _There
were at one time, and there might be again, such exigencies
calling for the interference of England —such as oppressed
nationalities—bUt we should not mix ourselves up with
despots. Let Englishmen be prepared to frustrate any
attempt that might be made by any despot on this country.
(Applause.)

Britannia needs no bulwarks

Her march is on the mountain wave ;
Her home is on the deep."

They should also remember that " every Englishman's home
is his castle." That should be no longer a figure of speech.
Let every Englishman's home be truly his castle, in the
shape that he will ever be armed to defend that castle
against the enemy. (Hear, hear.) He alluded to the
wording of the proclamation which had been issued, and
expressed his regret that the words "permission to enrol"
were in it. He contended that it was an old constitutional
right of the people of England. (Hear, hear, and applause.)
He asked, when it ceased to be a right —not, he said, !up
to the time whenLthe glorious Elizabeth stood on the hills of

Dover, prepared to meet the forces of Spain, a force at the
time greater than any other despot could bring against her.
The old constitutional right of the people of England was to
go armed, and to have his arms in his house. It was not
a permissive right, but a right that appertained to every
free Englisman. The proclamation went on to state that
such a corps would be liable to be .called out in case of an
invasion of an enemy, or of rebellion, or other contingency.
Talk of rebellion in the face of an Englishman !
(Hear, hear, and applause.) He protested against this
in the strongest terns, as being a possible contingency. In
bygone time there was the possibility of such a thing in the

contest of classes, but we were now in a union of interests
of hearts and hands, such as was never seen before. He
then moved that a number of gentlemen, whose names
were read, be appointed as a committee for the purpose
of carrying out the resolutions proposed, with power
to add to their number, and to organise sub-
committees to transact and dispatch the various matters for
the district of Wirral. He said a good deal would have
to be done in reference to the regulations proposed by the
government, which be believed were very capable of
amendment.

The motion was

)nded by Mr. Ravenscroft. Ile

remarked ti

iat, this movement would not only protect their
country from an invasion, but an individual benefit would
be derived from the immediate contact with others in whom
they might find many qualities to admire. It might be
the means of removing old animosities, and whilst they were
acting in common for the benefit of their country, they
might become better citizens and better men. (Applause.)
The Chairman then put the resolution to the meeting,
and it was carried unanimously.

Mr. Percy M. Dove came forward, at the call of the Chair-
man, to move the fourth resolution, which was to the effect,
"That that meeting cordially apprme of the foregoing
resolutions ; invoked the co-operation of all classes in
the district to assist in the sapport of the reo'iment to be
formed by enlisting themselves, and if not, to be honorary
members and subscribers to it." He said that, in 1798 an
apology was made by the minister of the day in reference
to forming a volunteer corps, and it would be incurring
what he considered a possible danger, in putting arms into
the hands of the people. He felt certain the people of
1859 would not use the arms put into their hands for any
other but patriotic purposes, and for the purpose of defend-
ing their, country. If the people of England were alive,
he thdught there was no danger of an invasion, and
he was quite sure that, looking at the history of
our own' race .that under the power of Almighty
God, which was nationally acknowledged and served, that
it would be impossible for the world combined against us
to subjugate the British land. (Applause.) He had been
in communication with General Bell, and some other officers
of the staff, who said they would be very happy to lend
their assistance in the forming of this corps. (Applause.)
Mr. Ledward seconded the resolution. In doing so, he
complained of the smallness of the place where they were
met on that occasion, and thought the first step the com-
missioners ought to have taken, after finding the successful
state of their funds, was to provide them with a better place
of meeting. (Hear, hear.)
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.
The Chairman said he had been requested to state that
the first meeting of the committee now appointed would be
held in the commissioners board room on Wednesday morn-
ing at nine o'clock, and that the dommittee would sit there
until further accommodation was provided. They were
most anxious to begin
.business immediately.

Mr. Pooley moved a vote of thanks to the chairman.
Mr. King seconded the motion. (Great cheering followed
the proposal.)

The Chairman, in returning thanks, said he would
become an honorary member of the corps, and a subscriber.
His age and other infirmities (laughter) prevented him
from enlisting. He thought, from those connected with
him, he would be able to form a good auxiliary to. the
eorps He intimated his intention to set about, as one of the
committee, getting modifications of the Governments regu-
lations, such as would make them practical, and which was
much required.. (Hear, hear, and cheers )
Three cheers were given for the Queen, and the meeting
then dispersed.

RIFLE CORPS IN THE CITY OF LONDON.
We understand that a Company has been 'formed by
wealthy and influential City firms to foster the Rifle Corps
movement, and to `give it a thorough system of combination
and central organisation. It proposes to supply the clubs
with a sound weapon and good uniform at a figure that will
remunerate the Company, and yet be infinitely cheaper than
the clubs could supply themselves. The Company also
intends to extend to the Rifle Corps great facilities for pay-
ment by instalments ; and, what is most important, will
undertake to supply cartridges at a cheap rate, as this item
of expense would be a most serious consideration to many
clubs. Messrs. Hughes and Masterman are the solicitors,
;a the prospectus will he forthcoming next week. At the
.precent there seems to be a great want of organisation on
the pa, :t of the Rifle Corps movement, and the Company takes
the field s2,t the right moment, and with sound views as to
what is requred.--.London Paper.

DESCRIPTION
ARMS FOR VOLUNTEER RIFLE

CORPS

The Field, in alluding to the sanction by Government of
the fiirmation of a Volunte.
,u- Rifle Corps, says :---
"We believe that voluntet:rs should have a rifle so con-
structed as almost to be incapaNe of mismanagement, and
such certainly is not the Enfield. A breech-loader requires
no skill in loading, and in that opero.tion it can hardly drive
a ball through the body of its owner; but we are afraid that
such will not long be said of any muzzle-loading arm when
placed in the hands of volunteers e7Ccite4 ,),y a desire to do

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