The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-08 00:00:00

THE SITN,' r WNUON, WEDNESDA Y EVENING, MAY 8, 1867.

Volunteer Movement, it was the movement which
sold the book.

It must be remembered that this Rifleman's
Manual of 1858, which did not go off, was not even
an advocate of the present Volunteer Movement,
and that it coat ained the following passage :—.

" All those who duly weigh this matter must
consequently admit that volunteer regiments, if they
can but be obtained from the higher classes of the
community, would prove the very best adjunct to
the defence of the country that she could possess.
One regiment of such men would be worth half-a-
score composed of clodhoppers and counter-skippers."
On the contrary, what hail I then written ? I
may fairly say, that it is proved by a hundred pas-
sages from my writings, that I had prefigured the
volunteer movement as it exists in a remarkable
manner, numerically, politically, and socially. See
" Proofs," &c.
But let us see how I advertised Captain Hans
Busk's " Rifleman's Manual" better for him than he
managed to do for himself. One day in March,lBs9,
I called on him, and he lamented that his book did
not go off, and was a deadloss. I told him that if he
would help me to get up a public meeting to inaugu-
rate rifle volunteers throughout the country, that
would sell his book. He replied that he was sick
and tired of it, or to that effect, and asked me to
distribute some copies. When I determined, in
spite of every obstacle, to summon the meeting of
the. 16th April, 1859, at St. Martin's Hall, I urged
you suggest of attending
of us was. then a
him very earnestly to come. In a letter dated March
13, 1859, he says, " I am afraid I shan't be able to
spare
volunteer
Which
"in-
different" to the " inauguration of a volunteer
army ?"

After the meeting I went to Ripon as a candidate
for Parliament, and spoke then on the hustings as
an advocate of a volunteer rifle army. Within a
month after the meeting of April 16, the Govern-
ment circular was issued and a War Office copy
addressed personally to Sir Duncan APDougall,
who came to the meeting, and who has since
declared publicly that but for me the move-
ment would not have taken place. See Army
and Navy Gazette, October 27, 1860, and the
Times, Telegraph, and Star of August, 1861. Then
Captain Busk advertised his book anew, having
first altered it to suit the occasion, and soon after
he began to lecture and utilise the movement. It
has been asserted, if not by Captain Busk yet with
his sanction, that this was all for love. Let me
quote another letter, July 2, 1860 :—" I told Lever-
son a few days ago that if the Garibaldi Testi-
monial Committee liked to take a suitable room,
and announce that I would lecture there on the rifle
corps and rifle shooting, I would do so, and would
consent to hand over half the net proceeds to the
fund. I have not had a reply, but if they are in-
clined to the proposal, I should like to know."
The generous offer was not accepted. I think it
sufficient to prove that Captain Busk did not, as
has been pretentiously asserted, decline any emolu-
ment from the volunteers, but that, on the contrary,
he sought it, and in very bad taste.
Emboldened by his reception as a lecturer in the
provinces, Captain Busk then conceived the idea of
advertising himself as the " Originator of the
Volunteers," and accordingly he had his portrait
taken in that' capacity, and advertised it and him-
self freely in the newspapers. I was naturally much
surprised when I saw in the Volunteer Service
Gazette a letter from him stating that he had never
in his life heard me :speak on the subject of the
inauguration of a volunteer army. This drew me
out, and I replied to him in that journal. Subse-
quently a paragraph and a letter from him were
inserted in the Times. To the letter I replied,
Nov. 3, 1860, but it was not inserted by the editor,
although it appeared in several other papers.
With regard to the paragraph 1 have now to record that
which gives me much pain. Captain Hans Busk issued it
very extensively, but in an altered form. I have a printed
Concerning this, Mr. P. Miles, the correspondent of the
t"bSoylalaltbeures,,i"
it,t,srahgeracpas
hlliint, iassumed ostbycolniismp,ieNlTlioluiesh
poCOsnittloils
u.
l
New York Herald (who was present and spoke at the meet-
ing at St. Martin's Hall, and who recorded it in his letter
to that journal as a great event, and subsequently chroui-
cled its results). sent me the following pointed compari-
son of the paragraph as it appeared in the Times and the
paragraph as it appeared after undergoing the process of
manipulation to support Capt. Busk's "theory."
"Mr. Hans Busk has and given a wide circula-
tion to the following, quoting it as an extract (an original
article) from the Times newspaper. Certain words and
vehemently
phrases are here given incoitnatleienfdoiog for reasons
the honouronsthatn-ill
ofap appear:
ca TILE ORIGIN OF TICE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT.—SeveraI
s
oaccount.placed asi7rggmy
rnstaoalnoksafi
nasglruesctoch,e sOO as to have produced a costless, disciplined
omarksmen. We have been appealed to,
ant
names e
initiative n a movement which has had so
neveri
publicgratitude
heard
n beenthis
be-
fore
us w ehavedeserving
of "
Of course this great work arose mainly out of the circum-
stances and exigencies of the day,
and it sprang from an
unanimous feeling of the noceseity of preparing for de-
fence.
The earliest and most strenuous advocate, however,
a
of the Volunteer system was,as we know, Captain Hans
Busk, who has
continued lecturing, and writing, and coun-
selling
are upon this subject up to the present hour. He was,
well aware, for some time quite alone in pressing
this y subject upon the public notice ; to him, therefore, if to
b
a
the credit is undoubtedly duo of having leboriously
aided at the birth of this institution."—Times.
Now the actual statement of the Times, instead of the
anod3,,
last paragraph of the above (as may be seen in the copy of
that journal for Sept. 15, page 9), is verbatim as follows--
the portions altered and omitted by Mr. Busk being shown
in italics:—
" Of course no individual can have any claim to the merit
of having originated thie great work. It arose out of the cir-
cumstances and exigencies of the day, and it sprang from
an unanimous feeling of the necessity of preparing for de-
fence. The earliest and most strenuous advocate, however,
of the volunteer system when in its infancy Was,
so far as we
know, Mr. 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 duo for having laboriously aided at the birth of
this institution. The volunteer army, however, is not an in-
vention, and no one has a right to patent
Mr. Miles advised me to send the above to all the news-
papers. I did not, but I do now, because I am compelled in
my own defence; for, if the pamphlet now issued by Cap-
tain Busk is correct, as I read it throughLkyrsNewspaper,
I am a pretender. If Capt. Busk's assertions regarding me
are correct, I have tacitly allowed a number of gentlemen
to put forth on my behalf claims to the gratitude' of the
nation, whereas I ought to be dubbed a charlatan and an
impostor. Let me continue the story.
In the latter part of 1860alocaltestimonial was bestowed
upon Col. Bousfield forhaving sent the earliest offer of ser-
vice to the Government afterthe meeting of April 16, 1859,
just before the Government circular came out. Upon this
Capt. Busk wrote to me (of whom he " had not tho remotest
recollection," &c. &c.) Nov. 24, 1860, asking me how I came
to allow myself to be "out-jockeyed" by Bousfield, who
had got all the substantial benefit "we ought to have
shared?" I replied to that letter, saying that I for one did
not grudge Col. Bousfield the honour that had been given
to him, but applauded it, and I answered as to the "part-
nership" as I thought its suggestion deserved.
On the Ist December, 1860, Capt. Busk again wrote, and
apologised for having attacked me in the Volunteer Service
Gazette. He stated it was "more in a spirit of badinage
than anything else that he dashed off a reply" to a letter
in that journal.." As for the much-mooted originatorship':
he adds, " I do not look upon it as a question on which it
is worth while for
us to dispute. lam qUite willing to
concede that you have done quite enough to have earned
a statue and a snug resting-place in Westminster Abbey."
He then goes on to
say that neither he nor I will ever be
rewarded, for that
"souls lucky charlatan" will obtain
" the fruit of our arduous toil," and he finally recurs in a
bitter spirit to the recognition of Col. Bousfield.
And yet he would now ignore me altogether, after I re-
pudiated the "partnership" which he offered ! The Daily
Telegraph recommended Captain Busk to take an adver-
tising panel in the Crystal Palace ! The Standard also in
an exhaustive leading article on the subject, Nov. 2d,
1860, utterly
disposing of Captain Busk's pretensions, and
at the same tine gave rue the chief credit as promoter of
the Volunteer movement of 1859. Colonel Sir Duncan
M‘Dougall, a hero of the Peninsula, and the American war,
in his "History of the Volunteer Movainent," certainly
accords Captain Luck a distingtli,hed place, attaching
full credence to all that Captain Busk could urge on his
own account. But Sir Duncan undoubtedly gave me the
principal honour, as he subsequently again recorded and
said. But what did Sir Duncan say about Captain Busk's
claims as "",:91,1a10r ?” Ile wrote to me Nov. 17th, 1860,
" It would be difficult to find any 0130
who gave more
proofs of patriotism and foresight than you have done
The Man iu the Moon has as much claim to be considered
the originator of the Volunteer Movement as a great
national defensive measure as Captain Busk has. The
proofs are unquestionable of
your prominence as a promoter
of the great defensive movement."
All the letters and papers from which I have quoted
I am ready to show, and it is my intention to get them at-
tested.

I think that I have stuloiehtly answered Captain Busk.