The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-10 00:00:00

Garibaldi and the Volunteer Movement,

At a dinner at Beaufort-house, Walham-green,
on Friday evening, in connection -with a drill
competition among the South Middlesex Rifles, Cal.
MaMurdo, in replying to the toast of the" Volun-
teers of Great Britain," said it had been his good
fortune to have the opportunity of paying a visit to
that great character who had recently visited this
country. They, of course, knew that he alluded to
General Garibaldi. The object for which he sought
that interview was, in the first place, to glean his
opinion of the English Volunteer movement, and to
ascertain, from his practical experience, how a
Volunteer force was likely to act on the field, and
in the face of an enemy, as. although he knew
the pluck and the spirit which animated the
British Volunteers, h© had never seen them in
this position. With regard to the first point, he
was much struck with what the gallant veteran
said. Garibaldi sail, when asked his opinion of
the English Volunteer movement, " Oh, what a
glorious, what a happy country this is, which
can find its citizens to stand out boldly as they do
as Volunteers for the defence of the nation ; and
what a noble Constitution yon must possess, when
the Government have the courage to sanction and
the people to claim and to possess such a glorious
institution as your English Volunteers! I would
to God that the same sentiments and the same
feeling would animate the Government and people
of my own beloved country." He then ex-
plained to the General some of the points
of, the constitution of
~the Volunteer force of
this country, and informed him that, although
he had frequently seen and knew the valour of
our regular troops in the field before an enemy, still
that he had never seen Volunteers in such a posi-
tion, and desired to ask him how he had found
them in such a position with regard to discipline.
He replied that he never found any difficulty on
that score. If the men found they had a bad or
disorderly character among them, one who dis-
obeyed orders, or who was prone to pilfering or
any misdeeds, they dealt with him, and he was at
once expelled. He then asked him what he did
when he found himself in the presence of the royal
army of Naples with his Volunteers, no doubt dis-
ciplined troops—did he wait for their attack, or
himself take the offensive ? General Garibaldi re-
plied that he always took the offensive. He always
found success attend him in making the attack him-
self and not waiting for it. When he landed on the
coast of Sicily with his thousand men they were
nearly all raw recruits and badly armed, and,
though they were crying out for drill, he found he
had no time for that, but pushed on, and the first
encounter they had was with Bavarian and Swiss
regiments. All the orders he gave to his volunteers
were not to fire at long distances, but to wait,
whatever the consequences might be, till they
were close to the enemy, so as to make good
their aim. On coming in front of the Bavarian
and Swiss regiments his orders wera rigidly
obeyed, until he gave the word to fire, and when
he heard the irregular " tick, tick, tick," all down
his ranks, he was fully convinced that with such
a firing they could not maintain their ground
that he at once gave the order for the advance and
the use of the bayonet. His Garibaldians rushed
upon the enemy with loud vivas, and. scattered the
disciplined soldiers of Naples in all directions. If
such could be done with those raw recruits without
drill, and with the bad arms of the volunteers which
Garibaldi had under his command, he begged to
say, without any flattery, that with their excellent
arms, their efficiency in drill, and with their spirit
and courage, in the hands of the volunteers of Great
Britain this country was perfectly safe from any
attempted invasion, let it come from whatever quar-
ter it would.