The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-08 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PAELIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS-YESTERDAY.
MILITARY DRILL IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Lord CAMPBELL said no topic, however inconsider-
able it may seem at first sight, if it bears at all on the in-
terests of the Volunteer movement, ought in the House of
Lords to meet with inattention. It is in that house, if no
where else, that the movement may rely on cordiality and
sympathy, inasmuch'as most of those who habitually attend
it either as officers or as lord-lieutenants, or as members of
the late Government, or as members of the present Go-
vernment, have had an active share in its formation and
encouragement. And if, as we hear whispered, :the move-
ment is now exposed to some rising hasards and some
temporary clouds which did not formerly present
themselves, the notice of to-day has greater prac-
tical importance than would otherwise belong to it.
It is not, however, requisite to discuss at length the argu-
ments in favour of military drill in public schools at present.
So long ago as December, 1859, a few months after the
volunteer movement had commenced, deeming the time
favourable, I ventured to address the editor of a great and
well-known journal on the subject. Soon after, in February,
1860, at a meeting at the Thatched House Tavern, the
same cause had far more powerful supporters in Lord
Elcho, in the late Provost of Eton, in Lord Enfield, in
Lcrd West, in Sir De Lacy Evans, and many other
gentlemen who assembled at that place and at that t me
with the view to promote the change I have referred to.
A. few days afterwards a yet more influential ad vocate ap-
peared in the editor of the Times himself, who by a leading
article lent his power and authority to bring about the ob-
ject of the meeting. My view rather is to counteract, so
far as I am able, two impressions, either of which would be
mistaken ; first, the impression that nothing has been done
since the agitation and discussion in February, 186.1, on the
question ; and secondly, the impression that what has been
done requires no further efforts to secure and to establish it.
So far from nothing having been done, before the meeting
happened, and quite at the beginning of the year, some
military instruction was introduced at Eton. Soon after
Easter, Rugby, Harrow, Winchester, and Westminster,
adopted the example. At a later period something of the
same kind began at Charterhouse. At Wimbledon the public
schools have competed for shooting-prizes. Not very long
ago the Eton companies were reviewed by the Queen her-
self ; and the occasion was the last at which the
lamented Prince was seen by the public. The
discussions, therefore, in 1859 and in 1860 were far from
being attendee with no consequences. On the other hand,
and this is most important to consider all that has been done
is voluntary and precarious. At any moment it may perish
altogether. It depends on novelty, which must pass away
on youthful zeal, which cannot always be relied upon on
fashion, which is apt to change in public schools as it does
elsewhere. Above all, it depends very much on the exist-
ence and the force of the volunteer movement in the country
of which, in point of fact, it is a reflex. Already
some decline has been exhibited. At Westminster,
in spite of the zeal of the head master and the judi-
cious aid which he received from Captain Arbuckle
the gallant and accomplished adjutant of the London Scot-
tish Rifles, it has altogether passed away. At Eton four
hundred was the number who enrolled in 1860 ; two hun-
dred is about the number of the corps at present. At Har-
row at one time it ranged above two hundred, and has
fallen to one hundred. At Winchester my information is
less accurate, but it is not thought there to be established
very firmly. At Charter-house the decline has only been
from eighty to fifty. At Rugby there has been no sensible
decline ; bat there, too, the basis is entirely precarious.
Something exists, therefore, to which permanence is wanting,
and the question occurs at once as to how far the commis-
sion on public schools is able to impart it by the sound and
practical suggestions which daily offer on the subject. As
it has not been included in the queries they have sent out
although the instructions they have had would seem to be
so wide as to admit it, the question is in some degree a
doubtful one. A declaration from the Government would
very easily resolve it. No doubt, however, the Commission
of which Lord Clarendon is the head, are bound to approach
the subject as unprejudiced inquirers, and not to assume
the merits of the change on which public schools have thus
provisionally entered. Its merit rests, however on a few con-
siderations which are very easy to refer to. Military drill
at public schools, so carried on as to embrace the greater
portion of the higher classes, must tend to make the volun-
teer officers effective. It is not in later life that they can
gain with fulness and effect the aptitudes and information
which their duties call for. It is not the want of energy or
spirit, but of time, which is the obstacle. Professional pur-
suits are always in the way of military exercises. And a
great advantage will occur if public schools sent out year by
year a supply of young men already fit to take commis-
sions. But even if the force were ever so effective, what
would tend more strongly to perpetuate it than the existence
of a higher class imbued with military knowledge, and un-
willing to See the field of its activity withdrawn. But sup-
posing it should pass away with the fears and dangers
which excited it, what can be more important to the country
than to have its educated classes trained to arms, so that
the militia would always be supplied with valuable officers,
and so that any sudden levy of the people on a particular
emergency should have the necessary leaders to direct and
to inspirit it. As regards the moral, the intellectual,
and physical effects of military drill on those who
come under its influence, much has been and
much may be said ; but it ie all subsidiary to
the 'great arguments which show, however
It is
look at them, that such a system at publio schools .S a
means of national defence and national security. far
more easy to secure for it that permanence now wanting
than at first sight it might appear to us. If it is secured at
Eton it is secured at all the other
according
suitable to the detail which may be most publiobslechools
to each.
The
commission need, therefore, only bring to bear their in-
fluence
Eton, e
.. it is. well known
e instructions of the
Eton, Will not be
thatth e and
authorities
operation upon
would
not be waftiting in +l,-*r
u-Lei part.
found
dnoubnleeqluaorld
ttlaisekawuhthicoh,etiesf
tho,
commissioners are wide enough, would naturally seem to
them. The noble lord concluded • h fall upon oa thend
Wit the ques-
tion of which he had give notice.
Earl of CLARENDON, a,.
The e president of the public
schools commission, said the instructions that had been
issued had been so formed to embrace the subjectof
mili-
tary drill. They not only proposed to inquire into the time
devoted to study, but also into the manner in which the
boys employed their leisure time. He agreed that it
was of the highest imp ()dance that the Volunteer
movement should become permazent, and also that it was

impossible to speak too highly of that splendid demonstra-
tion. The subject, he assured the noble lord, would be
y considered.
most careful'

COMMITTEES.

The Declaration of Title Bill, the Security of Purchasers
Bill, the Transfer of Land Bill, the Real Property (Title of
Purchasers) Bill, the Industrial Schools Acts 1861 Amend-
ment Bill, and the Whipping Bill, passed through com-
mittee.
PIERS AND B ARBOURS ACT AMENDMENT