The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-22 00:00:00

. -
Some 2,000 persons assembled yesterday in the
large hall, Guildhall, to consider the propriety of
forming a rifle brigade for the City of London.
The Lord Mayor presided.; and on the platform
were Lord Elcho, Sir Charles Napier, Capt Hicks,
Aldermen Rose and Carter, &c. The"meeting was
opened in the Council-chamber, but in consequence
of the noise and uproar on the part of those who
could not hear, the Lord Mayor consented to ad-
journ to the large hall.
The LORD MAYOR said he had been induced to
call the meeting in consequence of a very numer-
ously signed requisition which he had received,
bearing the names of Jones Loyd and Co., Hoare
and Co., Hankey and Co., Prescott, Robarts, &c.
This corps, when formed, would be assisted in its
drill by the staff the Hon. Artillery Company and
the City of London Militia. There was need of
such a corps as the City of London Company in
addition, to those two regiments, and now that the
Saturday half-holiday was so general, it would be
easy for young men to attend drill, at least once a
week. His lordship concluded by moving the first
resolution in favour of the formation of a volunteer
rifle corps, to be called the London Rifle Brigade.
Lord ELCHO, in seconding the motion, said no
class knew better than the citizens of London what
would be the fall in the public funds if 50,000
French were to land in Kent and 50,000 Russians
in Essex. Englishmen should not be dependent
upon the will of any foreign potentate, but on their
own strong arms. (Cheers.) It was said that a Na-
tional Guard was about to be established, but he
(Lord Elcho) did not look upon that as a social evil,
but as a social good. The volunteer rifle corps
would bring together in friendship classes who
otherwise would never meet. Referring to the
state'of the militia, the noble lord said he had been
down to Brentford, and found that the regiment
assembled there was co nposed to a great extent of
boys, from 14 to 16 years of age. We were surely
trusting to a broken reed in leaving our defences to
such regiments The volunteer corps made amends,
and he trusted that the meeting would give a sti-
mulus to the cause. The drill would not be found
irksome. A few weeks would enable a man to get
through it, and present a good front to an enemy.
The resolution was carried.
Sir C. NAPIER, in moving the second resolution
in reference to the mode in which the brigade
should be governed, said he knew he was called an
alarmist, bat there was dariger abroad, which would
make a stronger man and a stronger mind than his
an alarmist. He had no great faith in the alliance,
nor in 650,000 bayonets. Although 50,000 men
had fallen in the late war, still there were 50,000
men left to fill up the loss. The gallant admiral
then entered into a review of the state of the navies
of France and Russia as compared with that of
England. France could at any time put 90.000
men afloat, whilst it was with the greatest difficulty
we could get men at all. With reference to the
volunteer corps, he said it was required that the
members should be good shots and pay attention to
drill, though of course not such as was required of
a regular soldier. He concluded by saying bow
easy a thing it was for a man like the Emperor
Napoleon to embark and land an army on these
shores when he could do such things as he had
lately done at Genoa.
The motion was seconded by Alderman CARTER,
and carried.

Other resolutions were passed, appointing Alder-
man Carter as colonel, and Capt. Hicks lieutenant-
colonel; and a subscription was opened for defray-
ing the necessary expenses.