The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-23 00:00:00

'ew years.

sary extent of its adoption will be the necessity of
long training. A good shot is not made in a day.
As the rule, indeed, in this matter, " the boy is
father to the man." The acquisition of a steady
hand, and a correct, unblenching eye, is best begun
in youth ; at least the attempt to master the rifle
should be made as early as poz ible. For, while
some have an almost intuitive skill in the use of a
gun, with the majority accuracy of aim is matter of
careful and long practice.

What we want, then, is a good supply of men
who at any moment possess that first requisite of
a modern soldier—that he shall be able to kill his
enemy five hundred or a thousand yards off. The
soldier generally, the rifleman esp.cially, is a
killing machine, but a machine whose efficacy
depends on something which mechanism cannot
give. The efficient marksman is the unit of the
force—and it will be destructive in proportion to

the perfection of each individual unit. No ability in
command, no personal courage, will, in the private,
compensate for the want of power to kill at long
distances, should the enemybut possess it in tolerable
perfection. A band of brave men may otherwise
fall before a few first-rate riflem en, just as the heavy-
armed Spartans fell before the light-armed troops
at Corinth, while utterly unable to help themselves

against adversaries too nimble or too distant for
them to reach. The drill of an ordinary soldier is,
we are told, a matter soon acquired ; if, therefore,
he have acquired previously the skill with his wea-
pon which would. at once make him formidable
anywhere, it is plain that it might expedite pro-
digiously our means for calling forth an army on
an emergency.
Now, what hinders our young men from being
drilled, we might say throughout the kingdom, in the
use of the rifle ? Voluntary rifle corps we cordially
approve of, but they involve too much expense to
the individual. We want some method by which
our youth, all over the country, shall be taught the
manly amusement of rifle shooting. We should
think it would be very popular, and we are only
suggesting it as a perfectly voluntary thing. Our
manufacturing youth would surely delight in sum-
mer time to withdraw to the suburbs of their
smoky towns, and spend an hour or two in such an
exercise. Our agricultural lads would, we imagine,
relish it equally. They covet the gun from child-
hood-r--they frequently, much to the squire's an-
noyance, use a fowling-piece for such ignoble game
as game-laws do leave them ; and generally
they acquire, from their practice in ploughing,
great correctness of sight. The man who will take
a furrow across a field for half a mile if need were,
and hardly deviate an inch from the straight line,
must have already one important element of a first-
rate marksman.

Would it not then be possible to furnish to a large
number of towns and villages in the kingdom some
few dozen rifles each, and the requisite ammunition,
with a soldier also, to start the lads at least, and,
where the thing was popular, to remain and become
a regular trainer for that neighbourhood ? The
beginning might perhaps be made with towns and
villages near the coast. The parish authorities
could be interested, and sometimes a half holiday
asked of their masters for the volunteers to
practise on a winter's afternoon. The expense
would be inconsiderable. The rifles and equipments
could remain in custody of some one, perhaps a
superannuated soldier, paid to take charge of them
and keep them clean. Those which were
not the newest and best pattern would serve
equally well for this purpose ; they would at any
rate be better thus used than sold for an "old song"
as "old stores," and it would be eaTy, at no great
cost, to stimulate emulation by small prizes. Even
five shillings and a medal would go some way in
districts where thirty shillings is considered an
enviable prize for many years' service.

over

If it be thought worth while to train mercantile
sailors to naval gunnery, who merely learn it and
leave, in the hope that they may be found of
greater service, and more ready to join a man-of.war
if wanted, will not the same principle apply to rifle
practice ? Will not the young man who believes
that he can already beat half the redcoats, or
greencoats, in the most important point of all, be
more ready to enlist into a regiment? He will
feel that the great difficulty has been overcome, and
that if he can touch the bull's eye pretty frequently
he is pretty sure to take a creditable position at
once with his new comrades. It would, indeed, be
quite practicable for an old sergeant to teach the
young fellows the elements of drill, and all the arts
of the deer stalker, when a sufficient number were
collected to make it worth while. In olden times
our renowned archers, we are told, acquired their
skill by local practice as civilians ; and that the ".•
were thus found ready with the grand essential in
the hour of need. Why cannot the same principle
be applied now ?
It is obvious, besides, that a peasantry and a
body of operatives, masters of the rifle practice,
would, with hardly any drilling, be a most
formidable annoyance to an invading army. In a
country like ours, abounding with hedges and
ditches, no sentinel, no officer, hardly any small
advanced bodies, would be safe at all. If the pea-
santry's blood were stirred by, as it would be, the
mere fact of an invasion by Frenchmen and Rus-
sians, woe to the man who ventured far from the
main body and the artillery; woe to those who
marched, and to those who were even encamping
at the hour of twilight ; woe to those who stirred
at moonlight, and woe to those who were ill
acquainted with the country, at the hands of those
who knew every hill and dale of it, if a thick fog
came on. In the revolution of 1848 the marksmen
among the workmen were most dangerous of all to
the regular soldiers whenever they came in contact
with them ; they would not be less formidable, if
Englishmen fighting against wanton invaders, than
were Frenchmen and Prussians when fighting
against domestic despotism. Were England a land
of practised riflemen we believe the HYENES and
MARICOURTS, who are so valiant against editors,
would think twice before they asked again to be
led to the sack of London.

We understand that the Channel Fleet has been
ordered to Lisbon.