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, Col.
M'Murdo, 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 foree 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, he 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 you 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 ho 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 were 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. It
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 coukage, in the hands of the volunteers of Great
Britain this country was perfectly safe from any
attempted invasion, let it come from whatever quar-
t ter it would.

The Cultivation of Cotton in Egypt.

In the Times' City Article we find the following
information respecting the cultivation of cotton in
Egypt :—" According to the mercantile Advises
from Egypt, the cotton still to come forward from
the last crop was not estim -tted at more than 200,000
cwt. and it is consequently believed the amount of
gold to be supplied from England during the next
few months will not be very large. The entire
crop of last season, it appears, was about 1,500,000
cwt., and was, therefore, less than had been
anticipated. The opinion expressed by experienced
persons more than a year ago that the amount of
gold or silver that would be hoarded by the fellahs and
buried in the ground would not be so great as was
apprehended, and that the practice would gradually
diminish with the progress of good govetnment,
seems to be in course of realisation. In proportion
as they have become possessors of larger sums they
have acquired a taste for expenditure, and they
now buy silks, jewels, and all kinds of luxuries, which
are consequently imported in large quantities. At the
same time, the importation of cattle this year from
France, Italy, Austria, and Turkey, as well of
machinery, railway material, vessels, &c., has in a
great degree counterbalanced the specie require-
ments which would otherwise have made the
drain more serious from England and other
countries that have to pay for cotton. For
the next year the prospects of trade are de-
scribed to be most favourable, and such has
been the impetus given by the enlightened
tendencies of the Viceroy, and the profits of
last year's crops, that those who have lately
returned to Egypt, after having been absent
but for a few months, state the alteration to be be-
yond anything they could have hoped.
" There
seems,"and says
onewhich
wri e r
was, to n
e v reigner a general ease
known before.
At Alexandria and in the interior chimneys are
cheerfulness
visible everywhere, and machinery and engines are
in active work. Mansourah, one of the largest
towns of Lower Egypt and the centre of the cotton
districts, looks like a manufacturing town in
Europe. There are many cotton gins in operation
there, and locomotives for working pumps are
being placed in all directions en the banks of the
Nile." The cattle murrain, it is added, will actually
have conferred benefit from the way in which it has
forced the people to the use of machinery, encou-
raged by the Government, who have imported large
quantities and given them to cultivators. It is fur
irrigation purposes that the use of pumps driven by
locomotives is found especially advantageous, and
even the fellahs are now beginning to clamour
for their increased application. The rate of
discount in Alexandria remains at 7 to 9 per cent.
Money is employed in advances to cultivators on
cereals and new cotton crops as well as in land and
Government securities. Many people also buy
cattle and machinery, and the intercourse being
much greater than formerly the cash in circulation
through a great number of hands
Passes
back before it
to Alexandria. Thegets complaints
against the administration of the Alexandria
and Suez Railway have continued
to be general,
and, although the inconvenience
was attri-
butable to almost uncontrollable
circumstances, it
was not the less annoying and severe. The Viceroy,
it is said, has now, to the satisfaction of everyone,
named the most
able man in the country for the
task, Abderachm
an R ouchdi Bey, director general
of the railway, with unlimited power to do what he
thinks necessary, Mr. Rouse, an Englishman fami-
liar with engineering works in Egypt, being at the
same time appointed Inspector-General of the line."

----
WIGAN.—The returns both of the Guardians and
the Relief Committee again show a very great de-
crease as compared with the preceding reports, The Com-
mittee have now on their books 4,819 persons, to whom the
sum of £293 17s was paid last week. This is a decrease of
160 cases, or 440 persons, and of £3l in the cost on the
return presented to the Committee a fortnight ago. The
guardians are relieving 4,437 persons, and their expenditure
is £2BB 13s 7d—a decrease of 90 persons, and of Li 6s 43,
as compared with last week.
THE ENGLISH PORKOPOLIS.—A farmer near
Dorchester has now the enormous number of 3,090 pigs.
He breeds and purchases to keep up his stock. One week
he bought 600 pigs, They are fed partly on wheat.
According to the Wiltshire Mirror, there are
now 101 Roman Catholics in the British Parliament-68 in
the House of Peers, and 33 in the Rouse of Commans I
NEW ACT OF UNION RELIEF.—An Oct of Par-
liament has just been printed to extend the provision of the
Union Relief Aid Acts. The power of the Poor-law Board
to issue orders under the acts is to determine on the Ist of
L July next,