The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 16, 18€9

TEE ARMY.

The large range of buildings erected ,by the Go-
vernment at Brompton Barracks, Chatham, to be
used as messrooms for the officers of the Royal and
Indian Engineers, has been completed by Mr.
Stump, the contractor for military works, and will
be opened on the 26th inst. The entire suite of
rooms are of the most commodious character, and
include a handsome mess-room of lofty proportions,
together with, coffee, smoking, retiring, and other
rooms for the officers. The large mess-room is a
noble apartment, and has been fitted up with ex-
quisite taste and at considerable expense. The
interior is so arranged that it can be used either as
a ball-room or banqueting-hall, its large size en-
abling as many as 250 persons to dine in it. At the
extreme end is an elevated gallery for the Royal
Engineer band. On the occasion of the opening of
the new buildings on the 26th inst. all the heads of
departments in the garrison will be entertained by
the officers at a grand banquet, to be followed by a
theatrical entertainment.

Major-General Eyre has directed Colonel Har-
ness, C. 8., Director of the Royal Engineer establish-
ment, to make known to the officers and men under
his command the gratification experienced by the
Major-General at the satisfactory appearance of the
corps on the recent occasion of the half-yearly in-
spection at Chatham.
The 2d battalion of the 11th (North Devon)
Regiment were inspected on Southsea-Common,
Portsmouth, on Saturday. Owing to the state of
the weather the proceedings were of a very limited
character.

TEE VOLUMEE.R MOVEMENT.

Last evening a crowded meeting was held in the
Whittington Club, Arundel-street, Strand, " to pro-
mote the success of the Royal National Rifles." Sir
John Shelley, M.P., occupied the chair. Several in-
fluential gentlemen were present. This corps has
been formed for the purpose of affording increased
facilities to those who are desirous of contributing
their personal assistance to the patriotic Volunteer
movement; and it is to be hoped that by reducing
the expense of membership to the lowest possible
cost, and by introducing a system of weekly pay-
ments, those numerous and intelligent classes who
have hitherto been precluded from joining the
movement will avail themselves of the opportunity
thus afforded to them of assisting in the defence
of their country. These battalions, as forming
part of one brigade raised throughout the metropo-
lis, offer peculiar advantages to the industrial classes,
who by pressure of business occasionally change
their residences, as, with the consent of the com-
manding officers, a member may be transferred from
one battalion to another without expense or altera-
tion of uniform.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, said
the meeting had been called for business, and it
would be a waste of time if he were to dilate on the
advantages of the great Volunteer movement to this
.country. Formerly it would have been the duty of
a chairman at a rifle meeting to dilate on the move-
ment, but at the present time it was an established
fact, and in every part of the country men were seen
ready to defend their homes and families. The Vo-
lunteer movement had had at least one effect—we
heard no more of the bluster and bombast of certain
French colonels. We had been called a nation of
shopkeepers, and now we were rapidly becoming a
military nation—(cheers)—and foreigners were
commencing to look upon us in the light of a Scotch
thistle—better let alone than touched. His only
object in coming there that evening was to ask for
support to the Royal National Rifles. As an owner
of property in a seaboard county, he had taken part
in the great Volunteer movement there, and it was
his conviction that if the movement were to be suc-
cessful and to become permanent every class of her
Majesty's subjects ought to be represented, and in
his own county he made it a rule that the expenses
ought to be kept in a limit, so as to enable every
one to join. A correspondence had been going on
between himself and Lord Elcho on the subject of
artisan corps. Lord Elcho had a fear of the jarring
of classes. He (the chairman) had no such fear,
but if they wished to make the movement popular
they must not have expensive uniforms, as gentle-
men might get tired of them when the novelty had
worn off, and refuse to renew them when worn out.
As for special artisan corps, he himself would not
join a corps where any distinction was kept up be-
tween the members. A large sum of money had
been voted for national defence's, but London would
remain defenceless. Therefore it behoved every one
to support the movement, and thus contribute to-
wards our national defences. Up to the present time
the Lord-Lieutenant of the county had not recom-
mended the Royal National Rifles to the Govern-
ment, giving as a reason that the Queen's 'West-
minster Rifles had not completed their complement;
but he had every reason to believe that Lord Salis-
bury would soon recommend them to Government.
He was gratified to see the way in which the carps
had been supported in the metropolis, and, although
Lord Elcho found fault with the way in which the
corps was established, that noble lord had already
formed a metropolitan company on the very same
principle, thus showing that he approved it. After
some further observations he concluded by impress-
ing upon the meeting the necessity for the forma-
lion of Volunteer corps, and recommending the
Royal National Rifles to their support.
The Hon. Mr. BERKELEY, M.P., next addressed
the meeting, and, 'tiler a few preliminary observa-
tions, said he knew of no circumstance in the annals
of history like the springing to arms so spontane-
ously of a whole body of Englishmen. The move-
ment stood alone, and would be recounted as one of
the most remarkable instances of the age.. It was
extraordinary that the words of the great Duke of
Wellington should fall to the ground when he re-
commended us to be prepared for a foreign foe.
But the state of Europe at last made the people of
England reflect that a large force might at any
moment be thrown on our shores. They also re-
flected, however strong, brave, willing, and
hardy the Saxon, race might be, that a large force
of unorganised men was -no match for a weak
body of disciplined men. Seeing the attitude
France the English people had resolved not
to give up without a blow their wives
and families to foreign ravishers. (Cheers.)
He had hoped that the Government would have
treated the Volunteer movement in a different man.
ner ; they ought to have found the arms and
uniform. Had that been the case there would have
been no breeches-pocket reasoning. But it did not
please the Government to do it, and they threw
cold water on the movement. The spirit would not
be quenched, and thousands of men provided them-
selves with the uniform and arms. It was a mat-
ter of regret that the Government would not sup-
port the working classes in their wish to defend
their country. He was a working man's member,
and there was not a more loyal class in the country.
The Queen might walk in the most dangerous
parts of the country with no better protection than
the working man. He trusted the movement would
go forward, and the Royal National Rifles succeed.
He concluded by moving the following resolution :
" That this meeting considers it desirable to encourage
the formation of Rifle Corps throughout the kingdom, and
views the Volunteer movement as one which should he in
every respect national, and is of opinion that it should em-
brace every class of her Majesty's subjects."
Mr. WALTER seconded the motion, which was
carried.
Mr. BERTOLACCI moved, and Mr. BRADFORD
seconded the next resolution, as follows :
"That this meeting is of opinion that the Royal
National Rifles afford peculiar advantages to all classes,
and therefore pledges itself to support and further the
objects of the said corps, and is of opinion that it is the
duty of every patriotic Englishman to co-operate by every
means in his power."
The motion was then agreed to.
Mr. WALMISLEY moved the third resolution
That the committee be requested to continue to collect
subscriptions and enrol members."
He stated that the annual subscription for an effective
member was 10s., and the cost of uniform and
accoutrements, £3 6s. ; the corps possessed many
advantages for drill. The Duke of Cambridge
granted them the use of the Wellington Barracks,
the Lord Mayor the Guildhall, Lord Combermere
the Tower, and the First Commissioner of Works
Westminster-hall. The resolution was also agreed
to. A great many names having been enrolled, the
meeting separated with a vote of thanks to the
chairman.
The 9th Surrey (Richmond) Rifle Corps finished
on Saturday a contest for a medal and silver chal-
lenge cup on their range on East Sheen-common.
The distances fired were 300, 500, and 600 yards,
but owing to the blowing weather during the week
the scores were but small ; one of the unsuccessful
competitors had made in private practice the pre-
ceding week 19 points in the same ranges, but for
the cup the highest score was only 11, made by
Captain Ommanney, Private Hertslet scoring 10
points for the second place. This corps sent two
competitors to Wimbledon for the Queen's prize,
one of whom was in the 40 and the other among
the ties, making the points which entitle some of
them to rank in the 40, but both these gentlemen
were beaten on the present occasion. The cup is
of silver, handsomely chased, of nearly £25 value,
bearing the names of the donors, who are honorary
members, and it is to be annually shot for by the
effective members of the corps, a medal being given
each year. After the firing was concluded the cup
and medal were presented to Captain Ommanney by

Mr. E. Penrhyn, one of the donors, in the presence
of the corps and of many ladies and gentlemen, who
had assembled to witness the proceedings.
On Sunday the 20th Surrey (Norwood) Rifle
Corps paraded at their head-quarters, the Working
Men's Institute, and were marched by their com-
manding officer, Major Ouchterlony, to Upper
Norwood Church, where a sermon was preached
to a crowded congregation, on the subject of the
Volunteer Movement, by the Rev. R. M. Browne,
M.A., the honorary chaplain of the corps. The
20th Surrey, which is composed almost exclusively
of working men, including many of the persons
employed by the Crystal Palace Company, now
musters in considerable strength, and has at-
tained a highly creditable degree of skill and
steadiness in drill and musketry practice.
The 2d London (Captain-Commandant G. A.
Spottiswoode) assembled on Saturday last at the
drill-ground, New Bridge-street, Blackfriars, and
proceeded to Gray's-inn-square, where it was in-
' snected by Major Nelson. The corps subsequently
marched down Holborn and Fetter-lane, to the

head-quarters, No. 10, Little New-street, preceded
by its own band, composed entirely of Volunteers-
The 4th Middlesex North London Rifle Volun-
teers marched out on Saturday evening, com-
manded by Lord Truro, and headed by the drums
and fifes of the Foot Guards. Notwithstanding the

unsettled state of the weather they proceeded along
Islington, Stoke Newington, Kingsland, Stamford-
hill to the Tottenham turnpike, returning by the
Seven Sisters-road, through Ii ighbury,to head-
quarters, where his lordship, who appeared much
pleased, complimented the men on their behaviour
and soldierly performance. The 4th Middlesex new
number about 260 men, and their strength is daily

increasing.
The shooting for prizes offered by the Devon
County Volunteer Association, which extended over
four days of last week, closed 'on Saturday at
Newton Abbot. The great prize of £lOO was shot
for on Friday, and attracted considerable interest.
It was open to all Volunteers from the western
counties—Devon, Somerset, Gloucester, Wilts, and
Dorset—or any regular Militia regiment within
these counties. There were no less than 63 com-
petitors. The range was 700 yards, five rounds;
and 900 yards, five rounds. Colour-Sergeant Gul.
ston, of the 12th Regiment of Foot, made seven
points at 700 yards, and three at 900, yards and
was declared the winner of the prize. Next to
the winner the highest scores were made by Lieut.
T. B. Richardson, R.A.; Sergeant-Major W. Park,
12th Regiment; Private Hounsell, of the Ist
Dorset Volunteer Rifles ; and Private Thomas,
of the City of Bristol Volunteer Rifles, each of
whom made six points. Mr. Hounsell made the
largest score at the long range, obtaining five
points out of his five rounds. A challenge
cup, worth 20 guineas (together with £5 given by
Earl Fortescue) presented by Viscount Ebrington
to the Devonshire 'Volunteer who made the highest
aggregate number of points in shooting in three
classes, was won by Sergeant Hook, of the 3d De-
von Volunteer Rifles, who scored 26 points and 20
hits. A prize of £lO was awarded to Ensign Mac-
donald, of the 12th Regiment. Sergeant Hern, of
the Ashburton Rifles, won a prize of eight guineas,
given by Mr. Harvey, gun and rifle maker, Exeter.
Sergeant Hook won the first prize in Class A, at
150 and 200 yards ; Captain F. D. Bewes, 2d Ply-
mouth Volunteers, the second; Private N. Clarke,
Stonehouse Volunteers, the third ; and Corporal J.
S. Short, Exeter Volunteers, the fourth. In Class
B, at 400 and 600 yards, Sergeant Collard, 14th
Devon Volunteer Rifles ; Private Tucker, Ist batta-
lion of Devon Rifles; Corporal Heath, 13th Devon
Rifles; Private Rossiter, 14th Devon Rifles; and
Private Algar, 2d Devon Rifles, made the highest
scores, but there were four ties, and the prizes were
awarded to Collard, Algar, and Rossiter. There
were several other minor prizes awarded. On Fri-
day there was a grand banquet in the Globe Assem-
bly Rooms, at which the Earl of Devon presided.
Among those present were Sir .1. Duckworth, Mr.
T. D. Acland, Brigade-Major Kirk (who was de-
puted to the command of the Volunteers assembled
at Newton by Major-Gen. Hutchinson, commander
of the western district), Capt. Hawley and Capt.
Richards, Royal Marines ; Rev. H. Huleatt, chap-
lain to the forces at Plymouth, &c.
A grand rifle fete of the 3d Cinque Ports Rifles is
to come off at Rye on the 29th inst., when prizes
will be offered to all Volunteers of the 4th, 10th,
26, and 35th Regiments.
The review of the Dorsetshire Rifles will take
place on the 24th inst. The Yeomanry Cavalry, Ar-
tillery, and Rifles (about 1,100 of all ranks) will
attend. The Lord-Lieutenant (Lord Shaftesbury)
will review the force.
The Wilton (14th Wilts) Corps of Rifle Volunteer
were inspected by Major Hume on Friday after-
noon last in Compton-park, the residence of the
commanding officer, Captain Penruddocke. At
the conclusion of the various movements
the inspecting officer expressed his satisfaction
at what he had witnessed, and the members of the
company afterwards sat down to a handsome col'
tion provided by the captain.
A project is on foot for the establishment of a
volunteer artillery company at Etruria, Stafford-
shire Potteries. The scheme, which was started
about a fortnight since, has received the approval
of the inhabitants generally of this village, and as
the result of by no means a complete canvass 65
young men enrolled themselves as members of the
proposed company. A deputation from the projec-
tors waited upon Mr. W. S. Roden, of Etruria-hall,
and solicited that gentleman to accept the captaincy,
to which after some hesitation Mr. Roden consented.
A grand review of the volunteers of North Staf-
fordshire and neighbouring towns will take place
at Leek next Monday. More than 1,000 rifle volun-
teers, besides a number of yeomanry cavalry, are
expected to be present.
An interesting ceremony, in connection with the
Queen's Cadet Rifle Corps was witnessed at Carlton
Ride on Saturday evening by a numerous assem-
blage, when prizes to the value of £2O were distri-
buted. The winners were the successful competi-
tors in various athletic games, instituted to promote
the health, strength, and enjoyment of the juveniles.
The contests took place in the Crystal Palace some
weeks since. Mrs. Cross, of New-street, Spring-
gardens, who has taken the greatest- interest in the
formation of this corps, now numbering nearly 90
effective members, gave out the prizes with a short
address to each lad.
of

TEE BRIGADE REQUIEM SPEECTI OF

DR. CULLEN.

Something was to be done, and Dr. Cullen has
done it. It is not a time for the Catholic Cht”-ch
to show herself ungrateful even for very small ser-
vices. The most awful fiasco, the most bitter and
biting satire upon the Papal Church militant, has
just passed before the eyes of the world. Arch-
bishops ard Bishops whose titles are a sham have
been recruiting warriors whose courage has turned
out a hoax. At vast expense they have sent out
to the Holy Father troops of defenders who were
more like locusts than lions so long as there was no
enemy near, and more like hares than lions as soon
as an enemy appeared. They were not even an ob-
stacle to the liberating army of Italy. They had
not even the pluck to run away. Other bodies
of troops have retreated in the face of an advancing
foe when outnumbered, or have even cut their way
through their lines and concentrated their little
bands until they could form a respectable force for
further resistance. Garibaldi did this with signal
heroism when Rome became untenable, and with
still greater success in Lombardy when followed by
Uriban and his flying columns. Even the much-
contemned Neapolitans have fought a good fight
when hemmed in by two armies. But Dr. Cullen's
Irish Brigade stood still, and cowered and surren-
dered. The shameful hare-heartedness of this
brawling band is only equalled by their impudence
in boasting. Falstaff ceases to be humorous in
comparison with these braggarts, and Parolles is a
modest man beside Dr. Cullen's mercenaries. The
disgust of all Europe was patent, Spoleto was get-
ting to be a word of shame, it might become a new
watchword for the Orangemen. Something must
be done. It was a case for a miracle. Dr. Cullen
has the intrepidity which his levies lacked. He
was equal to the occasion, and has wrought that
miracle. _ _ _

The miracles recorded in the Sacred Volume are
all of a beneficent kind. The Prophets and the
Apostles—we do not dare be so profane as to cite
a nolier name—when they worked miracles re-
stored the sick to health and the dead to life.
The modern Catholic miracle is of an easier and
a less healing character. It consists only of
counting live men as corpses and in making hale
men limp with wounds. It does not make
the dead alive, but it makes those alive dead. Dr.
Cullen argues that if the Irish Brigade had been
heroes there would have been a great many dead
out of them, and there would also be a great many
wounded among them. He assumes that what ought
to be has been, and prepares to put in action all the
sensual magnificence of his Church in honour of
the great dead who never died and the heroic lame
whose skins are quite unbroken. He does not
even hesitate to pray for souls who, as far as we can
learn, have never been disembodied, and to call out
of purgatory those who are suffering no other pur-
gatory than the scorn of this world. He clothes
his church ani his newspapers in mourning for
fictitious victims, and he makes a speech in which
he has the audacity to declare that the " men in
buckram" for whom he vou3hes have "purpled the
fields of Italy with their blood." No metropolitan
theatre could produce a finer spectacle to do honour
to a beautifully-conceived fiction. We are told that
the Cathedral had been specially decorated with
gauze and draperies, with antependia of rich black

silk, bearing a white cross ; and the altar candle-
sticks were wreathed with mourning emblems ; that
the whole Catholic hierarchy of Ireland knelt
around; that the sarcophagus, lit up %with tapers,
was adorned with inscriptions in the Latin language,
from which "Relleta non bene parmula" seems by
mischance to have been omitted ; that military
insignia were ostentatiously displayed on the lid ;
and that a great inscription invited the faithful of
their charity to pray for the souls of their brave
countrymen, who are discreetly left unnamed, (tad
of a French General who alone is mentioned. In

the midst of all this magnificent counterfeit of grief
Dr. Cullen rises and makes such a eulogy aver
the imagined dead as an actor in a great theatre
might make over the prostrate comedians who play
the part of dead men after a scenic battle. He
has the face to tell the assembly around him that
the men for whom they had come together to offer
their prayers and their sacrifices had " written
in their blood a noble page in the annals of
Christian warfare which shall never be oblite-
rated." He lavished such encomiums upon

the valour of these Christian warriors that the
world must stand eager to know the names of
these Irish heroes whose fame is to be so deathless.
Here, however, we are doomed to remain unsatis-
fied. Not a Murphy, nor an O'Shaughnessy, not
even an O'Brien, can make any portion of this eulo-
gium his own, or is written in that " noble page in
the annals of Christian warfare." When he seeks
a name he can find no other than that of General
Pimodan, a Frenchman, whose fate deserves all

sympathy, and whose conduct was that of a soldier,
but whom we never heard of as having anything
to do with the Irish Brigade. " Who,, asks Dr.
Cullen, " can describe the valorous exploits that
were performed on the side of justice and truth ?"
By "justice and- truth" the speaker, of course,
meant the Pope, and echo seems to have answered,
" Who ?" Some poet or novelist might have done
it, but Dr. Cullen's miraculous gifts seem to be con-
fined to the upholstery and scene-shifting depart-
ment. He paused before the tremendous effort of
imagination required for such a description. With
a modest but rather general declamation that " the
heroic struggle was a spectacle rather worthy of
God, men, and angels," he passes on to the easier
task of recounting the deeds of Garibaldi and Vic-
tor Emmanuel, and abusing them with a good hearty
malediction worthy of the Pope himself. A scolding
priest is too trite and vulgar an exhibition to de-
serve attention, unless indeed he should happen to
be a Pope. What Dr. Cullen may choose to say of
those men of his own faith who hold the heretical
dogma that civil freedom is not incompatible with the
faith of Rome, will not much disturb our English
minds, but there is something which even to our
Protestant sensibilities is almost awful in this pro-
stitution of a high ceremonial of an ancient Church
to a political falsehood and gigantic farce.
If we had any right to speak in the name of the
scandalised Catholics of Europe, we would ask this
bold burlesquer of his Church's holiest rites to men-
tion the names of those Irishmen who " purpled
the fields of Italy with their blood," and for whose
souls' sake he has sung this requiem. Aro there
hundreds of these victims—are there scores of
these heroes, can he count them by tens, can he
even name them by units, can he produce any
credible account whatever that the struggles he
talks of ever really took place? We published
some days ago a letter written in mock heroics,
which talked of some fierce struggle in Spoleto,
and how the Irish there had declared that they were
there to die, and not to surrender. But this men-
dacious stuff could not deceive a child ; for every
one knows the fact to be that the Irishmen at
Spoleto did not dye, and did surrender. Moreover,
we have Colonel O'Reilly's own report, in which
that officer only claims his loss to have been three
dead and sixteen hors de combat. Whether Colonel
O'Reilly followed the example of a shrewd post-
captain, who, after a naval battle in which he was
not able to take the part he could have wished, is
said to have obtained some share of the credit of
the victory by the returning his dead and sick from
natural causes as killed and wounded in the action,
we will not inquire. We will make Dr. Cullen a
present of these three dead men as actual killed
Irishmen, slain in battle. We now ask him whether
he means that this great religious ceremony was
held for the repose of these three men ? We ask
him, moreover, whether he intended that the world
should know this, and, if so, why did he not pub-
licly proclaim it 9—whether, when he speaks of
those whose courage and devotedness have added
lustre to Ireland, he means only those three name-
less men ? If he had said this openly we could
have no fault to find with any amount of ceremonial
with -which it might have pleased the Roman
Catholic Church to reward the devotion of three, or
even of one mercenary. But no such number as
this would satisfy the language used by Dr. Cullen,
and we shall wait to see what the Catholic world
will think of what appears to Protestant eyes as
something very like a profanation of holy things.
a- —Times.