The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-13 00:00:00

(Hear, hear.) What I say does not at all exclude
the possibili'y of matches being held from time to
time in different parts of the county. Personally,
I t:iink it better that they should, be so held, and
the County Association should be to them what a
County Agricultural Association is to local ones of
that nature. I think that ou:r county associations
ought to be placed under thy.: authority of the Lord
Lieutenant, and that there ought to be carefully
trained and experienced officers to act as judges,
and inspect the proceed;_ngs so as to give them as
much as possible a really military character.
There is another question upon which I think it is
possible that, in the future, great discussion may
arise—l mean as t.o how far membership of the
Association or athr,ission to compete for the prizes
should be limitCa to Volunteers. I don't want to
see that lirnita#,,ion made absolute. It will be well
but
tuags ah that 'a few prizes are open to all comers;
general rule, I think it desirable to connect
the rifle match of the county with its *Volunteer
force, 'and chiefly for this reason, that rifle contests
are Ts opular and interesting, while drill is not to all
nt4.sons very interesting, and is not always consi-
dr2red agreeable. It may, therefore, be well to hold
'ut tine privilege of competing in these county
matches as a sort of reward to those who have gone
th.rough the labour and trouble of training them-
'selves to act in a regular Volunteer corps.
(Applause.) Lastly, I think it will be well to
secure that the regulations shall be so framed as
to prevent all the prizes falling into a few hands.
(Hear, hear.) There are many ways in which
that may be done, bid it is essential for us to re-
member that our object is not to show in Lanca-
shire merely the half dozen best shots in England,
but to produce a high average of good shooting—.
(applause)—that we want not only the six but, if it
be possible, the 600 best shots in England.,
(Cheers.) I believe that we may look forward
confidently to an association such as I have de-
scribed being formed at no distant date.
. ourselves
We have every reason to congratulate
upon the manner in which the Hightown contest
was conducted. I am told that out of the 21,000
shots fired without accident, taking the average of
all the ranges, one in three would have killefl its
man if the target had been a human figure ; and
that as to the artillery practice at the range of a
mile, every single shot would have hit any vessel
of an ordinary size that might have been
attempting to enter the Mersey for a hos-
tile purpose. (Cheers.) Let us hops
that no local jealousy, and that no rivalry
(always the greater the more zealous men
are in any object they pursue), may interfere with
the progress of a movement upon which, in no
common degree, the honour and safety of thiscoun-
try depends. (Loud cheers.)
Lord ELcuo, who was received with much ap-
plause, said it was with heartfelt satisfaction that
he seconded the motion proposed by Lord Stanley
—a motion w hich he hoped would have a most.
material and beneficial effect upon the volunteer
movement in the county of Lancaster. (Applause.)
Occupying as he did a certain official position as
Chairman of the National Rifle Association, he did
not hesitate to accept the invitation to aid in the
foundation of a similar association in Lancashire.
The objects of the National Rifle Association were
well known, but, perhaps all did not know that one
of the founders of the association (which he hoped
would have a long career of prosperity before it)
was Col. Gladstone—(applause); and with reference
to t his point he might say that the National Rifle As-
sociation was about to publish a little pamphlet—.
it was only a shilling, and he hoped all present
would invest that amount in the purchase of the
work, giving a clear and succinct account of the
origin of the Volunteer movement. The object of
the National Rifle Association was to give perma-
nence to the Volunteer movement ; and the forma-
tion of the Association naturally arose from seeing
in other countries—Switzerland, for example—the
benefit consequent upon every man being trained to
the use of the rifle, The National Rifle Association
had not got that number of members from Liver-
pool which it ought to have; and though the people
of Liverpool took great interest in their local asso-
ciation, yet they should recollect that, like the
Royal Agricultural Society, they wanted a cul-
minating society, which would be the means of
finding out the crack shot of England—(ap-
plausej—and which could bestow some honour
which no local association could. (Applause.)
That was the system which prevailed in Switzer-
land, where each canton had its local association,
and the different cantons met together once in two
years to compete for prizes. With reference to
prizes, he knew that all the Volunteers would agree
with him when he said that they ought not to look
too much to their money value. It seemed to him
that the Hightown prizes were rather too large ;
and he would remind them that they must not only
look to the permanence of the Volunteer movement,
but to the permanence of the means by which they
could make that movement permanent. (Hear.)
They should get the Volunteers not to look so
much to the prizes as to the position they gained in
the contest. In our army the highest honour a
soldier could gain was a bit of bronze ; and the
National Rifle Association wished their bronze
medal to be considered the highest honour
open to the competitors. (Applause.) Nothing
had given him greater pleasure than to see that the
gentlemen who had conducted the Hightown con-
test abstained from offering medals. The army
won their medals at the risk of their lives, and he
should not like to feel that he was going about with
medals which had been won only in peaceful con-
tests with the rifle. (Applause.) It was on that
account that he would restrict the prizes to money
or plate; and there was no better means of hus-
banding their resources than by offering challenge
cups. In the formation of their County Asso,
elation, he should wish them to connect it with
the National Association, simply because it was
desirable to have a culminating point. If anyone
said that the Volunteers had any hostile intention,
he would refer them to the speech of Lord Stanley ;
and if another proof was wanted he would point
to the Commander of the Ist Lancashire Artillery
—Colonel William Brown. (Applause.) The
recent speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
was also an important feature in the volunteer
movement, because at first the Chancellor was not
very favourable to the movement, but now he gave
it the benefit of his eloquence. He (Lord Mello)
was quite sure he gave utterance to the sentiments
of every volunteer when he said that in taking
up the volunteer cause as they had done, it was
with a determination that our country should be
strong and secure, and that England's voice should be
heard, without fear of the consequences, in the cause
of of liberty and civilisation. He had always wished
were
feel that the hands of our Foreign Secretadryao.e.y
untied, and that his despatches were dictatte
fear of
by a feeling of right and justice withouf
asr
consequences. (Hear, bear.) In concluding,
their work like
wordswa s his
o c.
adviceusto m , eLwe
to
nothingn l would g ive
itolideoVee ltrihnetme e
tros a
relaxfew
their efforts, but let them stick tot
shown
nthseu saw any symptoms
men. And
haollhhaed hopedsho was, that
andatee tph e ladiesinterest
in
the movement, would, if
make them stick to it, for not of
woman's
.1
on the part of the volunteers tmyoarnelka)onaxeawtnhbeseitrstmeerffitoehrtaosnr,
an
1"j:010nel WILLIAM BROWN then proposed a vote
a volun,tseefrretwhen.marAilcueeffheacpspi
applause.)
of thanks to the Mayor for presiding. The motion
was seconded by Major Tinley ; and the Mayor
having returned thanks announced that the
remainder of the evening (it being then ten o'clock)
would be devoted to a soiree dansante.