The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-15 00:00:00

WVHITECHAPEL•

The supplies of meat are moderate, and the demand
: rules inactive, as follows :
Beef, from 3s Od to 48 4d; mutton, 3s 4d. to 4s Gd.;
lamb, 4s Gd to 5s Gd ; veal, 3s 10d to 4s 6d ; and pork, 38
'1 2d to 4s 2d per 81',., by the carcase.
t, -

[; THE CROPS.—The heavy storm of Sunday after-
, ;: noon has, we regret to hear, knocked down the growing corn.
1./ in many places, although this effect is stated to have been.
1;1" very partial. It has also much flattened the crops of grass,
which are generally very heavy through the county.—South
IT Eastern Gazette.

RIFLE CORPS.

A movement has been set on foot by the Right
Hon. Sir J. Coleridge, the Hon. W. W. Addington,
and other influential gentlemen, with a view of
inducing the agriculturists and labourers to join in
the formation of rifle corps in the towns and vil-
lages of 'the district where the above gentlemen
reside. A public meeting for that purpose was
held at Honiton (Devonshire) on Saturday.
Sir J. COLERIDGE presided, and in opening the
proceedings said—Gentlemen, I have no doubt you
are sufficiently aware of the general objects of
our meeting together to-day. I, for one, having
only heard of it last night, certainly felt that,
although an old man, and having been a judge, I
should not at all be out of my place in coming
here for the purpose of advancing the objects of
the meeting. (Hear, hear.) lam as fond of peace,
and God knows that I am as anxious that peace
should be preserved, as any man can possibly be.
(Hear, hear.) If I thought that I should be assist-
ing to disturb the peace of Europe, or to bring upon
us the horrors of war, or, what is still worse, an
invasion of our peaceful shores, instead of being
here I should have come forward and have lifted
my feeble voice, as loudly and energetically as I
could, for the purpose of preventing anything of
the kind being done. (Hear, hear.) It is because
I believe in the truth of the maxim—" to be fore.
warned is to be forearmed"—and that if we are
prepared for the horrors of war we are the less
likely to encounter them, that I am here to
advance the objects of the meeting. (Hear,
hear.) I see ministers of the Gospel here, and I
believe they are equally in their place, and I could
only wish that more were present. (Hear, hear.)
You are aware, gentlemen, that although we have
a very powerful army and navy, and not only
powerful, but as brave an army and navy as can be,
and I trust and believe as well governed and com-
manded as any army and navy can be, yet that the
population of this country has, from various cir-
cumstances, been a singularly unarmed population.
(Hear, hear.) It is a population less familir pro-
bably with the use of offensive weapons than any
other population in Europe. (Hear hear.) I
think this has indirectly been the consequence of
several things which have grown out of the con-
stitution of the country. Perhaps the game laws
have contributed in some measure to the less
familiar use of the gun by the peasantry of the
country. It is also owing partly to our insular posi-
tion, partly to the smallness of our army as com-
pared with the armies on the Continent, and partly,
blessed be God, to the little use we have had for
our army in a defensive way for centuries and
centuries. (Hear, hear.) But, gentlemen, in
consequence of these things, the population of
the country is essentially an unarmed popula-
tion, and a population little acquainted with the
use of offensive weapons. (Hear.) Now, if the
time should ever come when the people of this
country should be exposed to the horrors of an in-
vasion by a large hostile force, I put it to you what
would be the difference in the situation of England,
with a population unused to arms, and the situa.
tion of any other country where there is an 'armed
population ? I will illustrate this by reference
to a country on the other side of the Atlantic, the
institutions of which are more congenial with our
own than those of many European nations—
I speak of the United States. There the people are
proverbially hostile to anything like a standing
army; indeed, they have the smallest standing
army of any nation in the world, in proportion to
the population and size of the country. (Hear,
hear.) The American army is something so small
that it would sound in the ears of European poten-
tates. almost ridiculous when we talk of an
army of 9,000 or 10,000 men ; but, gentlemen, they
had-in that country, until within a few years, a
large militia force, and they came to a resolution
some time ago to discontinue that force, and
that the male population generally should become
accustomed to the use of the rifle. The conse-
quence is this—that, although their standing army
is small, it is commanded by a remarkably well-
trained corps of officers. I have had it, I believe;
on the best authority, that the military training of
the United States is as severe, as scientific, and as
careful as that of any nation in the world. They
have therefore the nucleus of a large defensive
force, and, if necessary, they can turn out at the
shortest possible notice, I believe, from what
I have heard, I may say without exaggeration a
half million of men ; of course not ,all assembled
together in one place, but all of them accustomed
to the use of the rifle. (Hear, hear.) Consider,
gentlemen, what the effect of that must' be
in defending their country in case of aggression ?
You have thus a body of men, knowing the country,
knowing those with whom they act, famfliar with
the use of the rifle, employed in the way for' which
they are most fitted, and calculated to do the
greatest possible It irm to an aggressive force.
(Hear.) It seems to nib to be a worthy example
for a country like this to follow: (Hear, hear.) Let
us arm ourselves in the same way ; let us be effec-
tive as a defensive force, and yet not capable of
being used by an ambitious Minister, or a strong
warlike party, for the purpose of foreign aggression.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, it is in that view of the case
that I think we are called upon to view the resolu-
tion which wink proposed to you to-day. And let it
not be supposed that in doing this we ought to give
offence to any of our neighbours. (Hear, hear.)
For their purposes they have thought it right to
do what they have. They have set on foot enor-
mous military forces, and who can tell, if these
forces are in the hands of an irresponsible power,
considering the nearness of this country to France,
considering the altered state of the passage between
the two countries—the introduction of steam, and
the immense advancement of the French navy--
who can say that out of mere caprice, or for the in-
dulgence of a mad unreasoning prejudice or passion
on the part of the army, some attempt may not be
made on this country ? (Hear, hear.) As long as
we limit ourselves to the rifle corps, as it is in-
tended, we are best enabling ourselves to meet an
attack of that kind ; we are doing no damage to
our neighbours, or in any way giving offence to
them. (Hear, hear.) I trust that this movement,
which is spreading through the country, will con-
tinue to spread ; and I hope that in this my native
county it will be received with corresponding en-
thusiasm and spirit. (Cheers.) lam afraid I have
trespassed on your time. (" No, no.") Forgive me,
then, for one moment longer. lam much the oldest
man in this room, and I am old enough to remember
how, when an invasion was contemplated in this coun-
try as a probable event, it was met by the people
of the country. We had an enormous volunteer
force. There was not a town in this county that
in one
did not produce companies of from 70 to 80:men,
and in some cases there were two companies
town. (Hear, hear.) They were regimentally
trained ; they went out and acted with the
militia
and the regular troops of the country in learning
their duty in a very serviceable way, and so they
continued up to the close of the war. I know it
was the opinion of at least one very considerable
authority—the commander-in-chief of this district
—that he had under his command a force which
could oppose a very serious resistance to any
invasion which might have been attempted at
that time. I possess, I think, among my papers a
letter in which General Simcoe, when he acted as
commander of the district, addressed the volunteers
under his command ; and as it is so much to the
purpose, it might not be inconvenient at the present
time to make a republication of it, with a view of
Winging people's minds back to that which existed
among us in times gone by. (Hear.) I trust we shall
show' ourselves not to have degenerated in point of
patriotism and courage, and that we shall show that
although we have gradually extended our power
and empiYe—that although we have certainly in-
creased in wealth, and I am afraid also in luxury
and indulgence, yet that this has not been followed
by that which might have been apprehended—by a
degeneracy in the sentiments, the wills, and the
hearts of the English people. The late wars in
which our army and navy were engaged have shown
that our soldiers and sailors are not deficient in
skill, courage, and patient endurance, but are
capable of sustaining, and did sustain incredible
hardships. (Hear, hear.) I hope we shall not allow
it to be said that we suffered the whole burden to
fall upon them, but that we shall be ready to take
our part, both by personal and pecuniary assistance,
in doing all that is necessary for the salvation of
our dear
DD
an.
d beloved country. (Loud cheers.)
W. A_INGTON moved the first reso-
e i
"That thisn follows
u tTi ohne il
,
asq:
takine, into consideration the danger
to which this country niay become exposed from?. sudden
act of hostile aggression, approves the general principle op t
o
Imeeting,
establishing volunteer rifle corps throughout the county.
While be did not apprehend any
danger of invasion, he strongly u
of being prepared for any emergency,for the
engenderedfeel-
was by
rged the necessity,
immediate
ing of bitterness that v
the reverses which the FrenchNas metwith in the
Peninsula and elsewhere had not yet expired.
(Hear, hear.)
CoLERIDGE seconded the motion,
The Rev. J. -r-
-and it was carried.
Other resolutions of a practical character fol-
in a patriotic
lowed, and the meeting was addressed
spirit by several other gentlemen.
Before tho meeting was concluded, Sir J. COLE-
RIDGE asked permission to make a few additional
observations respecting the real danger of an inva-
sion. He ardently honed that England would not
be exposed to that which some people verily be-
lieved it would be exposed to—viz., the horrors of
an invasion, to which it had for centuries. been un-
used. They must consider that, however efficient
their navy might be—and it was efficient—yet that
I science had introduced a great change therein. He

.1 a

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remembered many years agb travelling from Turin
of which they now heard so much, in a French dili-
gence, and among the company was a French colonel'
upon half-pay. They entered into conversation ;,
he (Sir J. Coleridge) being John Bull in his notions
and the gallant colonel being Napoleonic. It was
at the time when Napoleon was at Elba. The
colonel said—" It is all very well for you to talk,
but it is nothing but the Channel that has saved
you. We should have been upon you but for that,
and then all resistance would have been at an end."
He (Sir J. Coleridge) said in reply,—" Well, but
you know the Channel is just as open to you as it is
to us. It is just like a turnpike-gate. Why don't-
you cross the Channel ?" The answer was, " Your.
navy prevents us." (Hear.) They could then, in
the absence of steam, and with an enormously
superior navy, depend upon the " wooden walls of
old England." (Hear, hear.) Now, the "wooden
walls of old England" had as fine hearts in
them and as much skill as in those days, and
they were as good wooden walls as they could be ;
but steam had come in, and it had been the policy
of the French Emperor to raise his navy ship for
ship with this country, and rather indeed to increase
it. (Hear, hear.) As had been well said, he might
direct his navy (and by an accident against which
no mortal skill could provide) bring, over an in-
vading army to that part of the coast where there
were very little means of resisting an enemy.
(Hear, hear.) He only wished to say, without
raising any unnecessary alarm, that they must
bear that in mind. (Hear, hear.) There was
another thing to which Mr. Addington had alluded,
which was this—what was it that enabled this '
country, when it was not in its present prosperous
state, when it had not its colonies and its great
wealth—what was it that enabled this little coun-
try (exclusive, be it remembered, of Scotland and
Ireland) to maintain its position against the House
of Austria and the kingdom of France ? Why,
mainly the hearts of English people, and their
constant and familiar practice with the bow.
It was part of ' the law of the land that
in every parish two butts should be set up,
and the population were obliged to turn out and
practise the use of the long bow. It was this that
made the English the most effective force with the
bow in the world, and the English yeomen and
archers to be respected all over the world. (Cheers.)
What then was true of the bowmen of the olden
time let it be true of the riflemen now. (Cheers.)
Let them be familiar with the use of the rifle, and
then there could be no reason why they should not
stand in the same situation as in the days long
past. (Cheers.) •