The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-25 00:00:00

TIIE VOLUNTEER REVIEW.

(From'the Times.)
Saturday was one of those surprises for which no
one can be prepared without a careful consideration
of the character and the history of this country.
Hyde-park saw an army such as it had not seen for
half a century ; an army such as any General would
be only too glad to find in his hands at the hour of
need, ready for action—we might say even anxious
for it—which has sprung into existence from the
mercantile, professional, and other civil classes
within the brief space of a twelvemonth. In num-
ber, upwards of 20,000 ; in stature and strength, in
bearing, in step, in order, and all that is supposed
to be difficult of acquisition even in the case of the
youngest recruits, there was little a General might
desire, had ho to ennounter an army of veterans.
Could Queen Victoria have stamped on the earth
with the significance of the old boast, she could not
have raised legions more prepared for the woak, or
more terrible to a foe. Our readers are aware that,
except in the case of the Volunteers in 1803, there
never was such an army assembled in this country
for several centuries. That former movement is not
to be disparaged, for it saved the country; but the
Volunteers of 1860 are a very different set of men
from the Volunteers of 1803. The soldiers, for soldiers
they are, we now possess are picked men in every
sense of the word. They are men who spend their OA n
money, and still more precious time. They come for-
ward with a free heart, with no inducement but love
of their country and their own sense that the lot has
fallen upon them, and that they are called upon to
be its'-defenders. As a rule, they are a finer
body of men than our Infantry of the Line. Their
drilli-nt has been done so quietly in out-of-the-way
places, and often under cover, that no one could
anticipate such perfection in so short a time, unless
he happened to be himself in the Victoria Rifles or
some other crack corps. Of course, there were dif-
ferences, which in this place it would be invidious
to name, but the best corps on the ground only
showed what the others might be in a few weeks if
they gave sufficient time to it. Fortunately, most
fortunately, this noble body of men and this high
personal discipline were not marred in the manage-
ment of Saturday, which had been left, we believe
entirely, to General M‘Murdo, Inspector of Volun-
teers. The troops kept the best time. The com-
panies followed at equal distances with the even
flow of a continuous stream. Had the operation
been rehearsed several times over, instead of the
fifty corps having never seen one another till that
hour, it could not have been better executed. It
must have been n matter of amazement to the spec-
tators, as they recognised their friends in the suc-
cessive corps, to reflect that out of such peaceable
materials so terrible a force had been composed.
No doubt, these twenty thousand men look very like
other people at home ; but on Saturday they made
an army that any Emperor might regard with con-
fidence or alarm.

If people will be so good as to remember the lan-
guage that has been used in Parliament and else-
where about volunteering and the rifle fever, about
fancy uniforms and sharpshooting, and other un-
English tastes, they must admit that this has been
a discovery and the demonstration of a new truth.
We who are thirty millions,--not so contempti-
' Me a population compared even with the largest
empires of the civilised world,—have been
called an unmilitary race; and on terra firma,
it has been said, we must acknowledge even our
next neighbour to have much the better of us.
Saturday gives the lie to this old vulgar error.
Give us time,—and it is impossible to wage war
without giving time,—and we shall prove that
we only want training to be as good soldiers as
any other people. We do not know ourselves
what there is in us, or the boundless versatility of
our race. Everything great in the country has
come out unexpectedly. We were the last nation
of Europe to have colonies or foreign dependencies.
Three hundred years ago Spain and Portugal had
immense foreign possessions and trade ; we had
none. Since then we have founded and thrown oft'
the United States, and we still possess India, British
America, Australia, and other populous colonies or
immense territories. Till about two hundred years
ago we had hardly a navy. A hundred and fifty
years ago, while France had splendid canals, and
the Low Countries a complete system of inland navi-
gation, there was hardly a canal in this country.
About the same date our roads were probably as
bad as the worst in Europe. Our school of land-
scape painting, now the first in the world, reckons
scarce a century. In mathematics and physical
science we were behind all nations till Sir Isaac
Newton and his contemporaries. We most of us
remember when there was not a mile of railway,
and many when there was not a steamship, in these
islands. We might add various manufactures that
have been imported or invented at no great distance
of time, and have attained a gigantic scale. On
these examples, and with the encouragement of
Saturday, we venture to assert that it is in our
power to become a great military nation, and that
we shall become one. France competes with our
navy, and we shall compete with her army. Our
Volunteers will bo much better soldiers than any
she can rely on from the spontaneous zeal of her
people, and the day will come when every man
capable of carrying a musket will be enrolled as a
Volunteer.

The tholights of many a spectator on Saturday
were carried back to the days of his youth, when he
saw a similar scene on the same ground, under
somewhat different circumstances. An invasion was
thenstictually threatened and prepared. We were.
not Successful abroad, aid we hastily enlisted the
whole defensive strength of the country, and made
a great show both in London and the provinces.
Every country town had its Volunteers, who were
paraded in the market-place, and burnt plenty of
powder on the 4th of June and other grand, occa-
sions. That bad the desired effect of demonstrating
9.7 strength to ourselves and to our neighhours.
Whit strange rgcollections must have, presented

themselves to those who had witnessed the Review
of 1803, and what a waste of years must have
vanished as they gazed! There ras Pr;nte cif
Wales then, as nowt though his Royal Highness
needs not our assurances that he made a better figure
than his august predecessor of the. Georgian age.
There was one present on this occasion, splendid in
the uniform of the Life Guards, whose life spans
the long war and the long peace. Lord Combermere
was present at the outbreak of the -War in 1793.
Another familiar to all Londoners, marched past as
a private volunteer on Saturday, who had done the
same before George 111. in 1803. But we doubt
whether an experienced foreign critic who expressed
unbounded admiration on Saturday, and said he
would never desire to command a finer corps d'armee
than he then saw pass before him, would have said
the same on the former occasion. The Volunteers of
the last age had no such weapon as our rifle, nor had
they the opportunities of practice which the better
class of men reviewed on Saturday will probably
enjoy. Every one of these, it must be considered, is
a Volunteer in every sense of the word, in circum-
stances to avail himself of all the training that is
offered. In every one of them, too, we seethe leader
and earnest of a dozen other men as good as himself
who would tender their services on any emergency
sufficient to justify in their eyes the temporary
usurpation of military functions.
For picturesque beauty the scene could hardly
be mended. There was, indeed, an utter want of
that campagne surface, or that amphitheatre, which
has usually been selected for reviews. London has
no Campus Martius or Champ de Mars. The surface
at Hyde Park is, in fact, an elevated plateau, sink-
ing at the extremities into low wood and water.
The spectators being arranged along one side of
this plateau and the troops on the other, the
latter showed only their front rank, the rest of
the mass receding down the slope. Accordingly,
the great force in the field was only perceptible
when, as it were, it melted into motion, and flowed
round the field past the spectators and the Royal.
stand. All the adjuncts of the scene were as pic-
turesque as could be desired. The troops of the
Line who kept the ground afforded a pleasing con-
trast to the uniformly dark or neutral tints of the
Volunteers. The trees were crowded with spec-
tators, and we fear that many will never recover
the ruthless damage done to their branches through
the aspiring tendencies of the populace. The most
striking moment was when the Volunteers, having
formed again in their original position, first saluted
the Queen, and then raised a cheer which, if it slid
not rend the sky, certainly returned some of
its thunders. The cheers were responded to from
every side and corner of the Park, and we are sure
there was not a man between the Kensington and
the Bayswater roads who did not feel within him-
self the making of a soldier. Whatever the worth
of such emotions, of the demonstration itself there
can be no doubt, for it proves England to be at
heart a military nation.

(From the Daily Netes.)

The Grand Review on Saturday was -in all
respects a triumph, such as those who witnessed it
are not likely to forget. No such sight has been
seen in our days. We have had indeed military
displays that have been on various accounts bril-
liant and impressive, but none so perfectly national,
none that combined elements of such peculiar
and stirring interest as this great pacific demon-
stration. The moral significance of the whole is
summed up in the one fact of being a Volunteer
movement. Those fine bodies of trained men
that marched to the ground on Saturday with a
precision that delighted professional critics
knew nothing whatever of military discipline a
year ago. At most twelve short months, and
in many cases little more than half that number,
have sufficed to convert a hundred thousand
busy citizens into effective soldiers. No busi-
ness or professional occupations have been sacri-
ficed to produce this result. It is the rich fruit
of scanty leisure freely dedicated to a noble pur-
pose. Under these conditions the change appears
little short of miraculous, and we cannot wonder
at the exclamations of surprise, admiration, and
delight which greeted the Volunteers on Saturday.
'But the explanation is simple enough. The perfect
discipline of the men represents the energy and
determination that has been thrown into the move-
ment. The sudden creation of this great national
army is a miracle which the love of " England,
home, and duty," easily works amongst a brave and
patriotic people. It expresses the stern but en-
thusiastic attachment which true liberty inspires.
The mere whisper of danger to the land that en-
joys it, and the institutions in which it is embodied
has profoundly moved the whole nation. It has
summoned bands of volunteers in every part of the
country to the unaccustomed discipline of arms,
and, were danger imminent and threatening, the
same impulse would multiply their number tenfold.
This is the meaning of the demonstration of Satur-
day. It was the fete-day of constitutional freedom ;
and everything conspired to render its proceedings
worthy of the occasion. As a mere spectacle no-
thing could be finer than the appearance of the '
Park at the mustering of the Volunteers. The day
was of the best possible kind for out-door activity
and enjoyment, bright and cheerful, but not too
brilliant, bits of blue sky chequering the masses of
cool grey clouds that moved slowly across the sky,
and a pleasant breeze tempering the heat and giv-
ing freshness and elasticity to the air throughout
the day. Then the arrangements on the ground
were most picturesque. The actors and spectators
enclosed the open spaces of the Park so as to turn
its beauty to the best accouut. They were arranged
in a vast amphitheatre, or long ellipse, lying north
and south, the eastern line being a crescent of
gaily-dressed spectators, and the longer western
line covered with masses of the volunteer troops
in position, each line having as a background a
noble screen of wood. The intervening space was
brightened with moving uniforms, and animated
with martial music ; while all round surged the
great tide of the many-voiced and ever-moving
multitude. Such a crowd of excited holiday-keepers
has not filled the metropolitan Park for many a day.
No praise, however high, could well be deemed
excessive for the Volunteers themselves. In their
discipline and soldier-like bearing they exceeded
the expectations of the most sanguine. If there
were any who doubted either of the reality or na-
tional value of the movement, those doubts must
have been set at rest. No proof could well be
stronger of the deep hold it has taken of the na-
tional mind than was given on Saturday. Apart
from the time devoted to the arduous work of drill-
ing, these Volunteers have spontaneously taxed
themselves to what is in the aggregate an enormous
amount. Taking:eight or nine pounds as a mode-
rate average for the outlay of each in dress and
accoutrements, the various corps throughout the
kingdom, consisting for the most part of men be-
longing to the middle and mercantile classes, and
necessarily of moderate means, have contributed
nearly a million towards promoting the most vital
and effective part of our national defences. This
pecuniary contribution is no slight sacrifice, but the
time and energy given to the work of training is a
still stronger proof of earnest and devoted pa-
triotism. But the sacrifice has not been in vain.
We may see already how much good the Movement
his effected at home in the altered tone of public
feeling. It has steadied the more excitable portion
both of the press and of the people, and prevented
them from running, as heretofore, into the discredit-
able extremes of offensive bravado or senseless
panic. We have happily lost the old tone of inso-
lent swagger in referring to other countries or
speaking of ourselves, once too prevalent, but which
is only a sign of conscious weakness. The country,
is no longer distracted with alarm by doubtful tele-
grams, by excited appeals from home agitators, or
false rumours in foreign journals. Our dangers,
whatever they may be, are certainly not less now
than they were twelve months ago. But the tone of
public feeling is very different. There is a calm-
ness and quiet confidence springing up in the pub-
lic mind, which. blended with increasing vigilance
and determination is the happiest sign of conscious
strength. The demonstration of Saturday will
deepen and intensify these feelings throughout the
country.
There is another important aspect of the arand
Review which ought not to be overlooked. It goes
far towards settling the vexed question of our
c othat
u n t r l
y )
liational defences. Every one must have felt,
in looking at the almost endless succession of fine
corpsny
taicsioesuierdl thedibmepufoorssrseeosfsleis
. Queen on Saturday,that
such a force was after all about the best protection
aliu'orle to militaryunteertroop drill,
s that
consecrate
until they have acquired the knowledge and skill of
tried soldiers, will prove, we may be certain, a most
effective defensive force. If they have done so much
in comparatively quiet times, they would do ten
times more in seasons of octual alarm. There is, in
fact, nothing that men of this stamp would shrink
from in a crisis of national danger. Prevention is
better than cure ; and the possession of such a force
is undoubtedly the best security against their active
services in the field ever being required. While
this is amongst the most effectual, it is at the same
time the most economical of all national defences.
Military men are just now debating whether various
schemes of stone fortifications would be useful and
effectual or not; but no man doubts the use and
value of the massesofliving fortificat ionsthat paraded
in the Park on Saturday. If an invasion ever were
to take place, the business would in the end be
settled not by stone walls, but by the masses of men
that could be brought to oppose the foe. We need
scarcely waste time in discussing, or money in expe-
riments as to the best protection against invasion,
when we have before us the simple maxim—
" Multiply the volunteers and we are safe." That,
3we believe, is the actual truth. Two hundred and