The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-03 00:00:00

ARMS FOR OUR VOLUNTEER
RIFLEMEN.

(From the Mechanics' Magazine.)
As the gentlemen of England have made a sudden
resolution to become riflemen, the lord-lieutenants

and deputy-lieutenants of counties have to perform
a very important duty in making choice of the
arms which shall be put into the hands of their
respective corps ; and as they run some risk of
being misled in this matter, we will make reference

to a -fact or two for their guidance.
In the first place it is evident that, notwithstand-
ing the many and great improvements which
breech-loading rifles have lately undergone, their
immediate adoption cannot be recommended. Five
or six years hence, perhaps before, we shall doubt-
less have tested and modified them sufficiently,

and have so far adapted the cartridge to them,
as to enable us to substitute them on all desirable
occasions for the muzzle-loading arm. But mean-
while we must content ourselves with the latter
for general service. Turning, then, to the rifles
already in use, from which alone we can prudently
select a weapon for our volunteers, we find our
choice limited to two—the Enfield and the Lancas-
ter rifles—the comparative merits of which have
been put beyond all question by actual service in
the field of battle, as well as by the severest tests
of target practice. Under many circumstances the
Enfield arm fails utterly, often in the midst of the
fight; under all circumstances it is liable to refuse
the cartridge after a few rounds. The cause, or vie
may say the causes, of this are now well under-
stood, and are known to be such as we have no
present hope of remedying. On the other hand,
the oval-bore Lancaster is entirely free from such
defects. In the hands of our artillerymen it has
repeatedly demonstrated its superiority to the
Enfield in point of accuracy, and in late campaigns
in India it has in no instance failed, although it
has been put to the severest duties. We need not
insist further upon this, because the oval-bore Lan-
caster is recognised as the one and only unfailing
weapon with which the ordinary service ammuni-
tion can be used. This being the case, and it being
manifestly desirable that the volunteer rifle corps
should be so armed that they may use the service
ammunition if called upon to act, it becomes evi-
dent that the Lancaster rifle is the best weapon
which such corps can adopt.
With these facts before us, we have to account
for the circumstances that in the circulars on
volunteer rifle corps, issued from the War Depart-
ment, the Enfield, and not the Lancaster, is the.rifle
recommended. Why is this ? The reason appears
to us to be sufficiently plain. It must be evident
from what we have already said that General Peel
and his colleagues, would gladly replace the En-
field by the Lancaster weapon throughout the
regular service. But then they have an im-
mense stock of Enfields on hand; so many
that, notwithstanding the disparity between the
number of our troops and those of France, we pro-
bably have eight or ten rifles for every one possessed
by the French—a fact which has to a certain extent
resulted from the incapacity of French mandox"
turers to co-npete with our own in the art and mys-
tery of gun making. Under these circumstances,
what is to be expected but that an ingenious attempt
should be made by the War Department to dispose
of their present Aock of Enfields to volunteer corps,
whose mere establishment will be a guarantee
against invasion, and therefore a security against
their arms ever being brought to the test of battle.
In all this the officials of the War Department
are doubtless acting wisely for their own interest.
And if it should happen that the volunteer move-
mcnt•should be so far extended as to include those
classes who cannot afford to buy their own arms, a
legitimate means of disposing of the Enfield rifles
will be provided. That it will be so extended, if
the Government can manage the matter, we do not
doubt. But those volunteer corps who are about
to purchase their own arms may surely refuse to
buy up the Enfield rifles, when the Lancaster arm,
which is in reality the only model used in the
Queen's service. with complete satisfaction, is
equally accessible to them. A word to the wise is
enough.