The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-29 00:00:00

ciseg. The few bad characters who were in the I
corps have alniost etitirely disappeared, and for se-
veral weeks past there has not been a single case of
desertion—a fact unprecedented in the daps for se-
veral years past. The punishment of the lash is now
almost unknown at Brompton Barracks, it being a
Onsidetable time since the last case of corporal
punishment was Inflicted. This good result has
been brought about chiefly by, the interest the ME-
I dets take in the men under their command. The

library protftlecl for the men is well supplied with
newspapers, periodicals, and books, and is well fre-
quented each evening. Classes for acquiring a
knowledge of military drawing have also been estab-
lished, and these are- well attended. The same
benefits have attended the efforts made for the com-
fort and amusement of the corps of Royal Marines,
the Commandant of which, Col. Rea, some time since
conceived, among other improvements, the idea of
establishing a coffee and smoking-room in the bar-
racks for his men ; and the result has exceeded the
most sanguine expectations, as many of the worst
characters in the battalion have steaiily improved.
The Major-General has also given permission for
lectures, and amusing and instructive exhibitions,
to take place for the benefit of the troops of the
garrison during the winter months; and these are
delivered in the large garrison chapel at intervals,
by officers and other gentlemen connected with the
garrison.
A number of discharged artillerymen from the
lat.:: East India Company's service, who arrived at
Gravesend last week on board the ship Hope, have
re-enlisted into the Royal Artillery.

CAVALRY-VOLUNTEERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—lf in multitude of counsel there be wisdom,
the above axiom may furnish me with an apology
for intruding on your columns. I have read with
attention the letter of your correspondent who
writes on the subject of gentlemen sportsmen turn-
ing their attention to converting themseties and
hunters into Volunteer Cavalry, and expresses an
opinion that a few honrs devoted to drill would be
all that would be necessary to accomplish that ob-
ject. I doubt the feasibility of the proposition.
Very few Men fond of hunting would take a good
hunter out of his regular work and subject him to
the fidget and vexation of a trooper's drill. I doubt
likewise that fine rough horsemen, however good
across the country, where they have been accus-
tomed (to use a sporting phrase) "to catch a horse
fast by the head, hold him together, and make him
go," are very well calculated to sabre expert skir-
mishers in a country where every hedge and tree is
the infantry soldier's certain safeguard. I believe
that any advantage to be derived from the services
of gentlemen in that way is a subject of very strong
doubt.

Let us leave our foxhunters, then, to the quiet
enjoyment of Ashby Pastures, or any other favourite
" meet " in all and sundry counties, and confine our
attention to our volunteer force, horse and foot, for
in that service there can be no doubt that the elite
of our country gentlemen are or will be enrolled in
either the one or the other branch.
I will then assume that the volunteer force as at
present constituted is the best nucleus from which
an increase of our armaments ought to take place.
The volunteer rifles taking their cue from the
Hythe authorities seem to me to be progressing in
the best manner possible. I only hope that they
will steadily increase their numbers. It might
have been desirable that throughout they should
have adopted a gray uniform. The continental
armies have no change to make in that respect as
they campaign universally in the, gray capote,
whatever they may wear on state occasions. The
Yeomanry Cavalry are certainly on no sort of
equality with .their infantry brothers of
,the rifle.
The whole formula of their drill and discipline is
wrong. Up to the present moment the Yeomanry
Cavalry have never seriously turned their attention
to the duties of a soldier. A meeting once a year,
fine uniform (in some corps carried to a pitch of
ridiculous extravagance), a band, a week's sojourn
in some given county town—all this will not pro
duce more than 48 hours' drill; consequently Yeo-
manry Cavalry have 48 hours' annual military
exercise, and then wonder at the audacity of those
who disbelieve in their utility as troopers. There
are said to be, if I recollect right, nearly 30,000
Yeomanry Cavalry, 17 of these corps are commanded
by noblemen, and the force has been not improperly
termed a toy of the nobility. The Yeomanry are
generally armed with the smooth bore old cavalry
carbine, a decrepit daughter of blown Bess. Some
have the horse-pistol, tut as their horses are com-
pletely unbroken and will not stand fire,their firearms
are useless. The men are generally fine specimens
of the Saxon race, sturdy bold fellows, who, if they
were properly disciplined as irregular troops, would
be of infinite service ; many of their horses can jump
extremely well ; many, however, of the volunteer
colonels hire horses to mount their men for the oc-
casion of their annual holiday, which fact alone
turns the whole thing into ridicule.
There are some corps, however, where the attempt
to convert the men into regular cavalry has been
dropped, and a most useful drill has been substi-
tuted. I would instance the case of Mr, Deedes,
member for one of the divisions of Kent, who com-
man ds•a corps of yeomanry; they have a separate
drill on horseback and. on foot, and arc riflemen on
the model of the Cape Mounted Rifles. I must be-
lieve that mounted riflemen present vast advant-
ages for the protection of our country. It is a body
of men which may be thrown on any point with
celerity, and there picketing their horses and leaV-
ing them in the charge of a competent guard, they
can act as infantry skirmishers, falling back on their
horses if pressed, and retreating, if necessary, upon
their supports, or if the enemy retreat, harassing
him every yard of ground with their rifles, and
charging him if in disorder. I have never heard an
officer of the army speak on the subject who did not
give a ready. assent to the undoubted advantage of
thus converting the Yeomanry Cavalry into an ir-
regular body of horse, aria the necessity of calling
upon Government to set about it. The first step,
and it is the opinion of military men which I now
quote, to achieve this object is to lay down rules
for the proper government of the force, and
then appoint a general off:c3r who should be an-
sNs erable for carrying them out, and to whom the
yeomanry officers may refer on all points of service.
Let who will agree or disagree with this opinion,
of one thing, I am very sure—that no man of com-
mon understanding can undertake to defend the
expenditure of £BO,OOO upon a body of men who
are to be trained annually with their horses for 48,
hours and no more. Either the whole of the dis-
cipline of our army is a farce or the yeomanry under
such treatment are a gross caricature of regular
troops. Cavalry officers tell you no recruit is fit to
be put om a saddle for three months, nor to appear in
a public field day under six months, and cannot be
considered a soldier under ayear. This may be true
with regular troops. I believe that irregular
troops may be taught the art of destruction in a
much shorter time. The horses, however, of irregu-
lar troops require a certain amount of discipline as
well as the men, without a touch of which neither
man nor horse can be serviceable. An able writer
in your paper, under the signature of " Snapshot,"
h s called attention to breechloaders as the weapoa
which must supersede all others. I believe this to
be the case, more particularly are they adapted to
the use of cavalry, the difficulties attendant upon
using the ramrod on horseback being done away
with. It seems to be the very general opinion that
our Yeomanry Cavalry should be armed with the
breech loading rifled carbine, with will make good
practice at 1,000 yards ; that they should meet for
drill once a month, not as a regiment, but by com-,
panics; that they should be exercised at a target,
on foot and on horseback ; and that every man
should bo expected to bring his horse perfectly
steady to stand fire, and that regiments should
meet for field practice for one week twice in the
year. By an attention to the foregoing rules, the
Yeomanry would soon secure the confidence of the
country, and share popularity with our infantry
volunteers, which is not the case at present.----Yours
obediently, MELTON MOWISRAT.