The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-10 00:00:00

Duty of Volunteers in Times of Riot.

The following memorandum, "in regard to the
employment of volunteers in aid of the civil
power," has just been issued from the War Office :

6‘ MEMORANDUM.

" 1. Questions having arisen as to the power of
the civil authority to call upon the volunteer force
to act in aid of the civil power in suppression of riot
or public commotion, and doubts having been ex-
pressed as to the duty of the members of the volun-
teer force, if so called upon, the following circular
is issued for the general information of the volun-
teer force, in accordance with the opinion of the
law officers of the Crown.
" 2. Her Majesty's subjects are bound, in case of
the existence of riots, to use all reasonable endea-
vours, according to the necessity of the occasion, to
suppress and quell such riots ; and members of the
volunteer force are not exempted from this general
obligation.

'3. The civil authority is not in any case en

titled to call upon or order volunteers to act as a
military body, with or without arms, in the preser-
vation of the peace.
"4. Members of the volunteer force may, in
common with all her Majesty's subjects, be called
upon and required by the civil authority to act as
special constables for the purpose of suppressing and
quelling riots.
-• n. in case or riots and disturbances not amount-

ing to insurrection, and not having for their object
the commission of felonious acts or the subversion
of the civil government, special constables, whether
volunteers or others, should not be armed with or
use any weapon other than the ordinary constable's
staff ; and in such cases no volunteer shauld, when
acting as a special constable, appear in his military
dress.

4, 6. In cases of serious and dangerous riots and
disturbances—for instance, in case of insurrection,
or of riot, having for their object the commission of
felonious acts or the subversion of the civil govern-
ment—the civil authorities may call upon and
require her Majesty's subjects generally, including
volunteers, to arm themselves with and use such
other weapons of defence or attack as may be in
their power, and may be suitable for the occasion,
and such other weapons may be used accordingly,
by her Majesty's subjects, including volunteers,
according to the necessity of the occasion.
4, 7. Firearms should be the last weapons so to be
called into action, and should be resorted to only in
cases when, without their use, it would be
practicallly impossible to quell the disturbances.
,4 All her Majesty's subjects, including volunteers,
in acting either as special constables or otherwise,
for suppressing and quelling riots, are entitled to
use and put in action such knowledge and practice
of military discipline and organisation as they may
possess, for the purpose of making 'their combined
strength and the use of such weapons as the occasion
may justify more effectual.
g. 4, Her Majesty's subjects, including volunteers,
in cases in which it is proper for them to act for
the suppression of riots, should act, if it be
practicable, under the direction of the civil
authority ; but they will not be released from the
obligation to use their reasonable endeavours for
the suppression of riots and disturbances according
to the neessities of the occasion, if magistrates
should not be present or not within reach of im-
mediate communication when any such occasion
arises.

" 10. In the event of au attack upon their store-
houses or armouries, members of the volunteer
force may combine and avail themselves of their
military discipline to repel such attack, and to
defend such storehouses and armouries, and for
such purposes may, if the necessity of the occasion
require it, use arms."

FULFILMENT OF A Vow.—A letter from Bel-
grade
says :—" A curious and somewhat ludicrous little in-
cident occurred here the other day which has been much
talked about, and is not without a certain significance. A
body of well-known Servians, all members of the extreme
patriotic party, marched through the streets with long
beards down to their knees, escorted by a number of
barbers, razors in hand, and, in this array, entered the
fortress, where the barbers proceeded at once to strip those
bearded pards of their hirsute adornments and send them
out clean shaved. The fact is, that at the bombardment
of Belgrade in 1852, these Servians had vowed never to
let a razor touch their faces until they could do so in the
fortress itself on the day in which the Turkish troops
abandoned it, and they have completed their vow in the
manner I have doseribed."

LIKE LIKES LIKE • —lf we are to accredit the
Examiner it is said that Mr. Swinburne's essay on the ar-
tist-poet Blake has been in the hands of a London corre-
spoutient of the Tribune, who writes that in it " there is a
chapter containfug an estimate of our American poet
Whitman, which will make some people open
their eyes. I have had the pleasure of reading this
particular chapter, but can only say of it that it re-
cognises Whitman as one of the foremost of living
poets." We hope this is a mistake. Walt Whitman
is ft monster of affectation, and only the grossness
with which ho obtrudes the sensual side of life can obscure
the fact that ho is as drearily commonplace as Mr. Tupper.
If Mr. Tupper were to become insane, and his insanity—
may be pardoned the suggestion—took a beastly form, the
result might bo such writing as Walt Whitman's.
FENIAN CONVICTS.—Oa Thursday evening six
of the Fenian convicts were brought to Exeter from Ports-
mouth, locked up in the cells at the Guildhall, and were
taken on to Dartmoor prison on Friday morning.—Exeter
Gazette.