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

LORD ST:4II7EY AND LORD ELMO ON
VOLUNTEERING.

The presentation of prizes to the successful
competitors at the great rifle and artillery contest
at Hightown, took place last evening, in S t.George's
Hall, Liverpool.
S. H. Graves, the mayor, came upon the dais
about a quarter after ten o'clo2k. He was accom-
panied by the Right Hon. Lord Stanley, M.P.,
Lord Elcho, who wore his own neat uniform of
grey, with brown leather accoutrements and
knickerbockers ; Lieutenant Colonel Wilbraham,
adjutant-general of the district ; Colonels Turner,
Gladstone, Bousfleld, and Brown ; Majors Bu-
chanan, Walter, Tinley, Gregg, and Halkett ;
Captains Melly Falkner, Hornby, &c.
After a few words from the MAYOR and Lieut.-
Colonel WILBRAHAM,
Lord STANLEY, who was received with hearty
cheers, said—l should not have thought it necessary
to trouble you but for the fact that I have been
called upon by the Mayor to move a resolution ;
and as obedience to constituted authorities is
equally a civil and military duty, I am prepared
to do so and will read the resolution, which is to
this effect:—

That in the opinion of this meeting it is desirable that a
County Association should be formed for the encourage-
ment of the Volunteer Movement, and the promotion of
rifle shooting by annual matches to be held within thf
county at a place or places to be hereafter decided upon.
There are few persons who are less entitled tie'dia
am to speak with authority upon this vo'l'unteer
movement, for my personal share in it has
'teen but
small. But I cannot look around this roona._indeed
not around this platform—without seeing some gen-
tlemen who have given to its promotion 'their time,
their energy, and their pecuniary mewto an ex-
tent that makes one proud of English perseverance
and of English patriotism. (Cheers.)
to exaggerate the importance of events that are
passing immediately before our ye
rences of the day look larger tr, us than
The occur-
n they will to
our successors, or even to oi'..rselves, some 15 or 20
years hence. But maki,4 all due allowances for
that liability to exagg, rate, I believe that when the
history of the pres'-generation is written, there
are few events in connection with it that will take
a more prominent 11 ILI this national
arming of the people that has
taken place in the last and present year. It has
been, as 'we all know, a popular and spontaneous
act. :no Government nor any individual can claim
moro than a limited share of credit for promoting
No one probably, in the first instance, dreamed
of the extent to which it would spread, and the
more numerous the points of view in which you
consider it, the more clearly you will see the ad-
vantage and the benefits which it has conferred
upon English society. (Cheers.) Financially,
although a Volunteer force can never be a substitute
for a regular army, yet it is impossible to doubt
that the extent to which the arming of the people
has been carried has to a great degree done away
with the necessity which public opinion would
otherwise have imposed upon the Government of the
day, of a large augmentation of the regular force.
Politically, it is equally impossible to doubt that
the Volunteer movement has greatly increased the
power and the influence of England in the councils
of Europe. It has done that far more than any
action on the part of the Government could have
done; because it has shown that in this country,
whatever it may be elsewhere, the Government and
the people are one in their determination to main-
tain inviolate the safety, the honour, and the influ-
ence of the nation. (Cheers) Socially, I believe
that the Volunteer movement has done more than
anything else which has taken place in our time to
bring together classes which are usually separated
by a difference of habits and difference of ideas ;
and if we are to look upon it in a point of
view to which some perhaps will attach less im-
portance-4f we are to look at it as it concerns
the individual units of which the Volun-
teer force is composed —we see many thou-
sands of young men brought up in the great
towns of this country leading a sedentary life,
leading a life which is often unhealthy, liv-
ing many of them without that amount of air
and exercise which is indispensable to a sound con-
dition of body, growing up therefore unhealthy,
and, because unhealthy, discontented and dissatis-
fied with themselves and with things around them
—we see, I say, thousands placed under these cir-
cumstances to whom this movement has furnished a
pursuit which combines, for them, with a sense of
public usefulness, all the advantages of health and
of strength which they could not have acquired but
for that peculiar attraction which military exercises
appear to possess for those who have once formed a
taste for them. And, lastly, I believe that this arm-
ing of the people is in itself essentially a movement
in favour of the continuance of an European peace.
It is so not merely in the sense in which that ex-
pression is often used—because it has a tendency to
deter other nations from attacking us—but it is so
like wise because it has a tendency to render us less
willing to engage in quarrels witb other countries.
That may appear at first sight a paradox, but I can
explain is a very few words what I mean.
I believe that whenever a cry for war spreads
through this country—we have known such before
and may possibly hear them again—one of the
motives which most powerfully influences the public
in favour of war is au uncomfortable suspicion that
people abroad believe that England is not prepared
to enter into a war, and a still more uncomfortable
suspicion that in that belief it is possible that the
people may right. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) It
is in the body corporate, as in the physical frame,
weakness and irritability go together. (Laughter.)
It is with nations as with individuals. Those who
are strong and know themselves to be so, can afford
to be good humoured and forbearing, and to pass
over petty annoyances and strife, and it is those
who are distrustful of their own position, who are

distrustful of the opinion formed of them by others;
who, in order to vindicate that doubtful position,
are always ready to rush into a quarrel at a moment's
notice. (Hear, hear.) If you think thus, as I be-
lieve you do, of the Volunteer movement, let us
consider what it is that we can do to keep up
and even to increase its efficiency. I think that
there was great truth and sense in the warning ad-
dressed lately by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
to his audience at Chester, when he told them that
in taking up this movement in so signal and con-
spicuous a manner before the eyes, as it were, of all
Europe, the people of England had involved them-
selves in a great responsibility, for that, although
the thing might, at first, have been let alone witlt
out any reasonable cause for reproaches, yet still,
having been once taken up in so signal and public
a manner, it could not be let drop without national
discredit and even national disgrace. (Hear,
hear.) What, then, can we do to keep up the effi-
ciency of the force ? There are two things, I pre-
sume, without which no force, and especially no
Volunteer force, can be efficient. One is the collec •
tive efficiency of the corps that compose it, and the
other is the individual skill of the men in tree use
of the weapon which they handle. Those who
know more of military matters than I pretend to
know tell us that in war nothing, or next to no-
thing, can be done by the isolated efforts of mere
marksmen, if they are not able to combine for pur-
poses of joint attack and mutual defence—(hear,
hear)—and, on the other hand, it is quite plain that,
however well you may drill and discipline men,
however steadily you may get them to stand in a
line, however firmly they may resist attack, still
they will be of comparatively little value in the field
unless every man can so use his weapon as to bring
down the enemy at whom he aims. Of these two
requisites, one—l mean discipline—ought tohbelphroo--
vided for by those frequent drillings.l h
lieve no well-organised corps will ndeghewcitor b
speyctions
occa-
sional reviews on a larger scale, an
by experienced and competent offitcetrism, synch as every
e to undergo.
Volunteer corps ought from time.
The other requisite—that of
The best means
.111nudividual skill, is
necessarily more difficult to.
of securing it, I believe,. will be found in bringing
competition which is
into play that principle
rmanyrine i
pother
f
found to be so greatly.
branches of human attai.nninal
instance has lately
oeffeeuntti—v et
htLiit
competition of
.which.
baothood. As to the desira-
been given in this neigala
as that at Hightown we
bility of such matchesbt
then the question arises i
should all agree ; . .
under what condistitouons and on what principles,' I
be conducted ? I shall not
ought such matches
but there are one or two prin-
ciplesto be regarded when it is
enter into details,eht
which ouffn
association by which rifle
sought to form
con-
tests are to be made a permanent part of our in-
stitutions. In the first place they must be local,
b the area should not be too limited. (Hear,
hear.) There is d.anger both ways
If the area
is too large, you will get none to compete for the
prizes except a few crack shots—there would be
no feeling of general interest or of general emula-
tion. On the other hand, if an association limits
itself to a single town or neighbourhood, you will
not attract sufficient public attention. The prizes
which are offered will not be sufficiently valuable ;
the distinction of gaining them will not be
equally great. In the agricultural districts,
therefore, it might be wise for two or three
counties to unite in a single association ; but here
in Lancashire, with our extensive area, our
vast population, and our unlimited command
both of capital and of labour, I confess that I should
be sorry if we had not a County Rifle Association
of our own—(cheers)—and I should be equally sorryl
if, from local jealousy or any other cause, tlhehsrionuggiel
association which we project were to fatlhrtee
mall
t.iad its place were to be taken by twos rthey
I
laaa2 associations, not occupying a
warily rind not? the .1144 S liyace!! neces-
tl i e public eye.