The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-29 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.

Manchester, Nov. 25, IS3I.
SIRS I was in Salisbury on the 2d of November,
when your Paper of the Ist, containing a letter from
" An Inhabitant" of the place, was put into my
hands. It happened that this was the drill day of the
corps of volunteer infantry therein alluded to; and Leing
much pleased with the observations contained in
your Paper, and having been myself formerly in the
army, I strolled out in the afternoon, to see what
sort of stuff this corps was composed of ; and 1
must confess, that if I was astonished, in the first
instance, at the military appearance they presented,
I was much more so at the extraordinary facility
ett ith which they performed their movements. No
man seemed to me to be at a loss. Every one knew
his place, and I was particularly struck with the
manner in which they performed the difficult ma-
noeuvre of street-firing, and with the wonderful or-
der they preserved in charging with bayonet in line.
In fact, I have never seen a regiment of regular ~01
dins preserve better order. I was surprised to Lind
that this corps had not bee:i embodied much mere
than nine months, and that they had never had an
Adjutant to instruct them. I learnt, on further in-
epliry, that their Lieutenant-Colonel, Mr. Brodie,
though he had never been in the army, had a natu-
ral taste for military tactics, and that he had, during
the last %vat., been an officer of volunteers, and that
there was an intelligent setjeant-majur ; and that by
these two, and by a few sctjeents and corporals, who
had been formerly members of volunteer corps, the
battalion hal been brought to its present extraor-
dinary state of perfection. I must not omit to
add, that I was further informed, that the exer-
tions of these persons have been rendered in, re
successful by the great zeal of the parties whom
they had to instruct. The battalion, I was told,
consisted principally (both officers and privates) of
tradesmen—that the Mayor elect was a private—
that many other privates were wealthy men, or the
sons of wealthy men—and that the remainder were
artisans, but all respectable, and all having a strong
esprit de corps. My informant added, that the for.
[nation of this little battalion had done more good
than any one thing he had ever recollected to have
taken place in Salisbury ; that it had united, " for a
good purpose," men of different political opinions
and of different grades in society ; and that he was
quite sure that, under all eirctandaneey, every mem-
ber of the corps would do his utmost to preserve the
public tranquiliity. I have been thus diffuse about
this corps, because I am convinced that, with such a
force, Salisbury is secure from all riots anti distur-
bailee. lied such a body of men existed in Bristol,
that city would have been saved from the disgrace
which must henceforth ever attach to her name. 'Now
let me come to my grand point. You pertinently
remark in your Paper, of the let of November, that
" were there to be anything like a ,general ferment,
the military alone would be found inadequate to the
demands on them." Was there ever a remark- more
just, and could I have supposed that a month would
have elapsed without Government calling on the In-
habitants of, at least, the larger towns to come for-
ward to enrol themselves as volunteers, particularly
as they must have known, or ought to have known,
the good effects produced by the existence of such a
corps at Salisbury ? Are they afraid to arm the
middle classes ? or, are they afraid that the haughty
Tory aristocrats will call them to account for
doing so ? Let me give them one word of ad-
vice. Let them be wise while they can. If
they are desirous of saving this yet happy country
from all the horrors of the first years of the French
Revolution, when, from the contempt on the part of
the nobles towards the middle classes, the Govern-
ment of that wretched and devoted country was
vested in the very scum and dregs of society. If, I
say, they are desirous of saving their country, let
them, at once, put their trust in all those who have
property to defend ; let them place confidence in
them, and I will answer for it that their power and
influence will be sufficient to keep the rest in sub-
jection. Do not let it be supposed that, when the
Reform Bill shall have been passed (which it will
be), all things will go on quietly. No; the lower
orders, the uneducated, and the unreflecting, still
struggling with difficulties, will be disappointed be-
cause immediate relief is not afforded them. There
will be tumults, dreadful riots, and bloodshed, such
as it sickens the heart to contemplate. Yes, I re-
peat, there will be, if the middle classes are not
armed. Ido not mean that they should arm them-
selves without authority from his Majesty's
Government, but I do call on that Govern-
ment most earnestly, without loss of time, to insti-
tute Corps of Volunteer Infantry in all the principal
towns of the kingdom. Let them be entirely under
the controul of Government—let judgment and dis-
cretion be exercised in the choice of the Com-
manding Officer in particular, and of the other
officers, and let no man be admitted, even as a pri-
vate, who cannot (as I understand has been the case
at Salisbury) bring good testimonials as to his cha-
racter. With such a force, under the eontroul of the
King and his Government, the nation will be safe.
Without it—ligfoun of no Ream Bill—the nation