The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-04 00:00:00

scribed, Captain Busk has most spontaneously and
disinterestedly proposed that the fund should be
devoted to the establishment of a lifeboat on the
South Coast, instead of being presented, as in-
tended, to himself.

As for Captain Busk " putting himself forward'
in the matter, Lord Ranelagh is evidently ignorant
of the fact that Captain Busk was known and ac-
knowledged from one end of the kingdom to the
other as the " originator of the movement" years
before any coadjutor in his great and important
work had appeared upon the scene. In corrobora-
tion of this I might adduce overwhelming and con-
clusive evidence. I will, however, content myself
with the following selections from an immense mass
of similar testimony.
Some six or seven years ago the Times, alluding
to the origin of the Volunteer movement, stated :
Several persons are vehemently contending for
the honour of having taken the initiative in a move-
ment which has had so signal a success as to have
produced a costless disciplined army of 150,000
marksmen. We have been appealed to, and names
we have never heard of have been paced before us
as deserving of public gratitude on this account.
Of course no individual can have any claim to the
merit of having originated this great work. It arose
out of the circumstances and exigencies of the day,
and it sprang from a unanimous feeling of the ne-
cessity of preparing for defence. The earliest and
most strenuous advocate, however, of the Volunteer
system, when in its infancy, was, so far as we know,
Hans Busk, who has continued lecturing and
writing and counselling upon this subject up to the
present hour. He was, as we know, for some time
alone in pressing the subject upon the public notice,
and to him, if to anybody, credit is due for having
laboriously aided at the birth of this institution.
The Volunteer army, however, is not an invention,
and no one has a right to patent it."
The Law 7imes affirmed—

" We can vouch for it that long before the subject
had been mooted in the newspapers, or even whis-
pered in the columns of the Times, Captain Busk
was actively recruiting in the hall of the Middle
Temple, and successful in persuading a large num-
ber of its learned members to enlist, and that his
exhortations were precisely those which the Times
long afterwards urged so powerfully and with such
excellent effect. That was undoubtedly the begin-
ning of the movement, and Captain Busk was as
undoubtedly its author, and to him should the credit
be given."

We think the Government will do well to con.
sider whether, while rewarding every bringer of a
recruit to the regular army, while offering fees to
recruiting sergeants, and commissions to gentlemen
who induce 100 men to join the ranks, it might not
advantageously confer some honourable mark Of
distinction on the man who has brought to its sup-
port the services of 150,000 volunteers.—lllanchester
Express.

Captain Hans Busk, so well known as the suc-
cessful originator of thatgreat movement which has
resulted in the establishment of an army numbering
upwards of 130,000 men, delivered on Tuesday one
of his popular lectures on "The Rifle, and How to
Use it," at the Eastbourne Assembly Room.—East-
bourne Chronicle.

Captain Busk is fairly entitled to the honour of
having placed at her Majesty's disposal the most
magnificent army which the world has ever seen,
with the formation of which his name must conse-
quently ever be proudly associated. —Northern Ex-
press.

Captain Bask was the advocate of this Volunteer
movement before a ripple was discernible on the
face of that ocean of opinion which is now moving
onward in an irresistible tide, at a time, too, when
the timid predicted failure and the witling ventured
to sneer. Nobody sneers now.—Newcastle Express.
At the close of an address at Leicester, the Mayor,
proposing the best thanks of the meeting to Captain
Busk for his interesting and most eloquent address,
said Captain Busk was a national benefactor. They
should recollect that he was the very earliest origi
nator of this movement. They must aslo remem-
ber that he had consistently pursued his noble
efforts in its behalf for many years at very consi-
derable personal inconvenience and expense to him-
se' f. —.Leicester Chronicle.

Captain Hans Busk, not content with having
converted us into a nation of soldiers through his
unwearied advocacy of the Volunteer movement, the
importance of which he was the first to point out,
has been lecturing lately in various parts of the
country on " Rifle Corps and Rifle Shooting" to
very crowded audiences.—Brighton Herald.
Captain Hans Busk,. who is incontestably the
originator of the rifle movement in England, lately
delivered a most admirable, instructive, and deeply
interesting lecture on the above subject at Shrews-
bury.—Shrewsbury Journal.
Yesterday evening Captain Hans Busk, THE
ORIGINATOR OF THE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT, gave
a lecture on the above subject in the Exchange
Hall.--Nottingham Express.
"Is there one," says John Hunter, " whom diffi-
culties dishearten, who bends to the storm ? He
will do little. Is there one who will conquer?
That kind of man never fails. " Such a man
apparently is Hans Busk. Once convinced of the
importance and necessity of the movement he was
,4 unceasing," to use the language of the Times, "in
lecturing, writing and counselling on this subject.
lie was, .s we know, for some time alone in press-
ing the subject upon the public notice ; and to him,
if to anybody, credit is due for having laboriously
aided at the birth of this institution."—The Volun-
teers' F acts.
Book

Having availed ourselves of the greatest national
benefit that has been conferred on England for
years, we may well look round inquiringly to find
out on whose brows the reward for so unprecedented
a boon shoull be placed. Captain Hans Busk has,
in purity of idea, iu expenditure of time, money,
and interest, in single-hearted labour to further the
good cause, indisputably won the distinction of
distinction of being the "Father of the Volunteer
Movement." It is disheartening enough that after
the sacrifice of so much to such an end the hero of
our system of " Defence, not Defiance" should see
his well-earned honours questioned: it is hardly less
so, it seems to us, that his services should still be
without a due meed of recognition from his country.
" Captain Busk, as is well known, declines any
pecuniary recompense for his praiseworthy efforts.
Can nothing else be suggested that should mark
our sense of an achievement at /east as honourable
as laying the foundation-stone of an asylum for
idiots, or opening the City gates on the occasion of
a Royal entry?"—Court Journal.

A contributor to the Sporting Gazette, speaking
of the formation of our Volunteer army, writes :
" It seems to me one of the greatest and noblest
services that a subject has ever rendered to the
Crown—and for such a piece of work it is sought
not to confer any substantial mark of gratitude on
a national benefactor, but absolutely to wrest
from him the ' barren honour' he has acquired
with so much toil. The claims of other aspirants
to the distinction of having originated the Volun-
teer movement may be easily disposed of, but the
absence of a fitting testimonial (I hate the word,
but what can one say ?) to the man who conceived
and helped:to carry it out is not so easily accounted
for, and I do trust that in the fulness of time the
reproach may be taken away from the nation. ')

I could without difficulty have filled many
columns with additional proofs. I will conclude
with the observations of Sir Duncan MacDougall
and of Lord Mount-Edgcuinbc—" Sir I)uucan
MacDougall, in March, 1861, wrote to Captain
Busk, as follows—' It would indeed be the greatest
gratification to me if national as well as Ministerial
gratitude led to your being rewarded in the manner
I think you deserve.' fhe Right Hon. Lord
Mount-Edgcumbe (then Lord Valletort, M.P.) on
introducing Captain Maus Busk to a public
audience at Plymouth, October, 1860, observed—
` fhe Volunteer movement had extended from
John o'Groat's to the Land's End, and if asked who
was the initiator and promoter of the movement,
he felt certain the would all reply, Captain Hans
Busk."

I ihink I have said enough fully to vindicate
Captain Busk's claim to his honourable and hard-
earned title of " Founder
_of our noble Volunteer
Arrny.”.-4—Yours, &c., " F. G.
Loyal inditutiop, Uay 23 1667.