The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-17 00:00:00

THE VOLUNTEERS.

On Saturday evening the members of the Floe'
Artillery Company gave a full dress regimental
dinner at Willis's Rooms, on the retirement of their
late Captain-General, Lord Colville of Culross, and
the assumption of the command by his successor,
Lieut.-Col. Loyd Lindsay, V.C. Close upon 200
members sat down to table. Major Robinson Pre"
sided, and among the more distinguished guests well
Lord Longford, Under Secretary for War, Lord Col-
ville, Col. Loyd Lindsay, Lord Bury, Major Sir r•
Hunter, Lieut.-Col. the Hon. Sir C. Colville, CaPt'
Seymour, R.N., &c. Major Robinson, in proposing
" The Health of Lord Colville," spoke in the highes",
terms of the services rendered by his lordship to the
corps, and deeply regretted that exertions made at
the Brighton review, when in command of the cool-
pany, had contributed to the retirement from COur
mand which Lord Colville felt to be indispensable'
Lord Colville returned his personal acknowledgments
to the corps, whose flattering reception he accepted
as a proof, to use a common phrase, that they bad
'"
pulled well together, and then proceeded to introduce
to the corps his successor. Col. Lindsay's gallant
career must be well known to them. He wore the
Crimean medal with four clasps, and had since dis-
tinguished himself as a most active volunteer officer:
Under his auspices he looked forward to a brilliant
future for the corps, of which, though no longer 6
commander, he should always continue a member;
Colonel Loyd Lindsay responded in suitable tern's
to the toast of his own health, which was drunk
with much enthusiasm.
The winter inspeCtion of the London Scottish Ride
Voluuteers by Lord Elcho, their Colonel, and t
distribution of prizes by Lady Elcho, took place °,O
Saturday evening in Westminster-hall, in reseoilve
T
of a large assembly of ladies and gentlemen.
Among
carps mustered 320 men, in six companies. Anlcir-
the visitors were the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, 14'
and Miss Kinnaird, Mr. Alderman Lusk. M.l'e Dirs
Lusk, Miss Davidson, Mrs. Page, Miss Macken'"
Lord
Capt. Horatio Ross, &c. After the inspection) Lr
Elcho, who was loudly cheered, read a report Inot
1866, compared with 1865. There was an aPParehi
reduction of the number of members ; but really t
was not so, for when they had got a certain noln
o-
n
of recruits, for every two recruits they struck off e,,
from the list of those who had not paid their 511'
scriptions, had not attended drill, and bad eithefft
changed their place of abode without notice, or leof
behind no sufficient address. They had pleutt,,
recruits—more than last year. The efficient frog
hers, the real test of a corps, had increased fro.,
315 to 338 ; the extra-efficient members had .„,
creased from 146 to 205—a very marked and gr3tlj_joi
ing increase ; and the marksmen had increased Were
36 to 57. His Lordship continued :—The or
th©
have lately been full of articles and letters :—Thu
,
reorganisation of our army and our means of.dileo
fence. Now, I have read a great many suggestioon,
with regard to the Volunteer force to which 1 et to
not subscribe—that in many respects they ougb e,
be Prussianised. But I think I may venture to P',oo
diet this—that in any scheme for the reorganisati ,
of the army to act as a defensive force the Ir°ll/11t
teer force will continue to occupy a very proolin
if
place. (Cheers.) Indeed, I cannot but think nlisv,
that the.existence of that force places in the 1361:41i
of the Government a means of addine. Rowena
to the strength of this country, by putting in fOre
the laws we now have for raising luelio
,
this country. So long as a volunteer force ;jog
not in existence, there might be hardship in ea° 0
fore
the Militia ballot ; but when the Volunteer ooli
does exist, when to escape the ballot a mau has eoesg.
to become a Volunteer, I maintain the hardship °foe ;
This question must be looked at fairly in the
000-
we must deal with it by having a sort of modified
scription by ballot for the Militia, with the Voth
ld,is
teer service—you can never otherwise establishuicia j
country on that firm defensive footing on dY
hope soon to have the satisfaction of seeing lb. tforol
Eleho then advanced to the front of the IN3 after
amid loud cheers, and presented the prizes' the
the
having, in an animated address, congratula! rizes
corps on its efficiency. The total number of Per
was 110 ; the total value of prizes, £2OB lr'aieei
cluaive of challenge cup's, value £250 total ~nipat
£458 10s. Lord Elcho, on the part of thee'et
a
Wimbledon, presented silver teapot to Per'n.ea
Nicholls, the best shot there.

Es OF

THE CIVIL SERVICE.—On FOOTBALL. •—E
TON V. GENTLt
En
13 31 bt
c' 1 is
Thursday this grea Di reA'
which a considerable *
amount of interest has lately be ° ,03.
nifested, came off on the Civil Service ground in Batten, i
park,o in the presence of a vast number of spectators, 01' a
exciting game. The Civil Service also mustered stroogi4)ol
and there was a fair sprinkling of ladies, who braved re s 0
sloppy ground for a couple hours in watching therm—sie
oc,-/
of the game. The ball was kicked shortly afteroloch'
and from that time till the close of the match, at 4 o'c ,i3O
the game was most spiritedly contested by the respecliii
sides, the members of which were evidently pretty ecli,u'iLvil
matched. The goal was, however, reached by the Li rs,
Service gentlemen, who, on being declared the illi.lcio:
were cheered by their friends. The following are the sicza,.
—Eton College :J. B. Sturgis, W. D. Benson, IV' C. p
vert, C. B. Alexander, F. M. C. Buubury, E. Warburt.°v.i
C. Tait, H. C. Bonser, B. J. Thornton, E. Lubbock. Civil
Service : A. Fairfield, J. IVearne, J. Kirkpatri Vcl;', °
,a.
Babington, E. Froeth, F. Deacon, J. Hogg, B. N. ia
U, ;i,
.I.fiag, rl. 1; Da t v 140 u , U, J. Wow.tqf