The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-10 00:00:00

acting in concert with her Majesty's navy, gained
the marked approval of the late Admiral Lyons for
the services they rendered, and the intrepidity with
which they voluntarily undertook the most dan-
gerous duties.
The mercantile service is admittedly the element
from which in the time of need her Majesty's navy
must be recruited. In the event of war its active co-
operation will always be required. It is important
that its services should be under the direction of
officers of intellegence and education. Such a class
of officers will, it is trusted, be produced from the
Conway. But, although that institution is primarily
intended for the improvement of the mercantile
service, it seems also to afford to her Majesty's Go-
vernment a fitting opportunity of recognising the
services of the mercantile navy, of fixing a higher
standard of attainments for its future officers, and
of uniting the Royal and mercantile navies in the
bonds of reciprocal good feeling and common inte-
rest by the the grant of the direct encouragement
to the latter which was embraced in the application
of the committee.
I have the honour tc be, my Lord Duke,
Your Grace's most obedient servant,
JAMES BEAZLEY, Chairman.
To his Grace the Duke of Somerset, First Lord
of the Admiralty, Whitehall, London.

VOLUNTEER CORP'.

SOUTH MIDDLESEX.

Last night a very crowded meeting of the in
habitants of the district of North Kensington was
held in Pearce's Riding-school, Westbourne-grove,
with the view to fill up the first Kensington Com-
pany of the South Middlesex Rifle Volunteers, and
to form a company for North Kensington. Among
the noblemen and gentlemen present were—Lord
Ranelagh, Lord Radstock, Lieut.-Gen. Tulloch, the
Hon. E. C. Curzon, Mr. H. J. Neild, Col. Evelyn,
the Rev. J. P. Gell, Mr. T. J. Serle, Dr. Burke
Ryan, Dr. Tulloch, Captain Godbold, Mr. Ham-
mersley, and Mr. J. Connall.
The chair was taken by the Hon. E. C. Curzon,
a deputy-lieutenant of the county, who stated that
the object of the meeting was to increase the num-
ber and efficiency of the corps which had been
already formed at Beaufort-house, Kensington. He
briefly supported the policy of the volunteer move-
ment, and adverted in congratulatory terms to the
proportions it was assuming throughout the coun-
try, adding, amid cheers, that every man who had
the heart of an Englishman, and common respect
for his home and friends, ought to identify himself
with it. Being challenged by a person in the meet-
ing as to whether he was a resident in Kensing-
ton, he stated he owned considerable property
there, and his family had held estates there for 200
or 300 years.
A resolution was moved by Mr. H. J. NEILD,
approving the present movement for forming volun-
teer rifle corps. Differing in opinion from Sir John
Burgoyne as to the possible efficiency of a volun-
teer iorce such as was now being raised, Mr. Neild
contended that the best bred men had always been
found the most effective, and that men well nur-
tured and brought up were the most enduring.
Tie Rev. J. P. GELL, in seconding the motion,
stated incidentally that a French gentleman, while
in conversation with his (Mr. Gell's) wife on the
volunteer movement, actually told her that the
French would be in England in May next. The
statement elicited some laughter.
Colonel EVELYN, in speaking to the resolution,
said, the principle now being adopted in South
Middlesex, and of which he heartily approved, was
to form a company in each district, as a nucleus
around which any number of men might rally in
case of an emergency. He dwelt upon the benefi-
cial effects already apparent from the measures taken
to augment the national defences, as indicated by
our increased commerce and the confidence imparted
to mercantile operations in general. The volunteer
movement was no longer limited to a few isolated
corps, but there was now a talk of applying the
principle to artillery and cavalry, as well as in-
fantry. In the event of the movement assuming
that character they would have to change their drill
tactics and study to attain a practical knowledge
of how vast bodies of men could be brought to act
in unison with the greatest effect. They would
have to drill in companies and in battalions, to
study, in fact, the art of war. He reminded the
meeting, who cheered the statement, that all mili-
tary reforms carried out in the army during the
last 20 years had originated with civilians, includ-
ing the reduction of corporal punishment and the
establishment of army saving banks and regimental
schools, together with a better treatment of the
soldier. He expected the greatest possible benefit
to accrue to the military profession from the volun-
tary movement. He hoped especially to see that
canker-worm of the British army abolished—the
system of purchase, and its attendant system of
bounties, or bribes, as he would call them, to good
mtn to enter a bad service. The number of volun-
teers now enrolled was estimated at, he believed,
about 80,000 ; but we ought not to be content with
that, seeing that in Paris alone there were 200,000
National Guards, of whom very few indeed were
soldiers by profession. While studying to attain
excellence in rifle practice, they ought not to ne-
glect learning the use of the bayonet, which was
the only effective weapon when fighting in masses,
in close contact hand to hand.
After a few remarks from a gentleman in the
body of the meeting, whose name did not transpire,
suggesting a mode of meeting some of the objections
of Sir John Burgoyne, the resolution was carried
with acclamation.
It was moved by Lieut.-General TULLOCH, and
seconded by Dr. BURKE RYAN, that steps be taken
to fill up the First Kensington Company, and to
form a company for North Kensington;
Lord RADSTOCK (who was loudly cheered) re-
minded the meeting that they were there, not to
favour any one particular corps, but to aid in pro-
moting the general volunteer movement. He was
glad that Lord Ranelagh's efforts io raise a
corps for South Middlesex had been attended with
so much success ; but he imagined a great number
of people in the meeting residd, not in North Ken-
sington, but in Paddington, which had star.te.l a
rifle corps of its own, and he cautioned them against
rushing to join the South Middlesex. To a volun-
teer on the platform in the uniform of the South
Middlesex, who said that the movement in the in-
terest of that corps was first begun in the parish of
Kensington, Lord Radstock said he was not the
beadle, and therefore did not exactly know the
limits of the parish. He wished to be understood
as not . speaking in any unfriendly spirit of the
South
i Middlesex he oily cautioned the
m
away by their enthusiasm
eetngnot
tobehcuorrrpies hurried away
to join it, when there were others more in their im-
mediate neighbourhood to which they could more
conveniently attach themselves.
Lord RANELAGH, in a good-natured speech,
stated that he was in the field volunteering as early
as Juno last in that and other parts of South Mid-
dlesex. He advised the meeting to join whatever
corps was most convenient and accessible to them,
and spoke of the pains he had been at to establish
the South Middlesex as a permanent system, by,
amongst other arrangements, renting Beaufort-
house as a club for the corps, at £3OO a year, for
which he and another gentleman had made them-
selves personally liable for 21 years. lie added that
the present number of the corps was 1,200, of whom
about 800 or 900 were effective members, and the
subscriptions amounted to about £1,40q.
The resolution was put, and after some altercation
declared to be carried; and on the motion of Mr.
SEitLE, seconded by Mr. DUNFORD, a committee
was appointed to give practical effect to it.
Other gentlemen also addressed the meeting,
and the proceedings, of which the above is but a
summary, and which were protracted to a late hour,
terminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman,
on the motion of Dr. Trevetham Spicer.