Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1859-06-01
RICHMOND wHIG
From hs London Times, Nav a.
THE ENGLISH VOLUNTEERS AND TiIE AurRIc \
A

- From the London Times Nav IL
ihh hN"Lish VOLUNTEERS AND TILE AMERICAN
MILITIA SYSTEM
Al last and after long stage of doubt ENGLAND |. In
reahty gong to The process of urcparation Ia.
been tedious one. IL commenced 10 or NJ wears ago
when our Artillery received its first 4,
was advanced a step in 1852 when the Mli,s az ,b.
country once more appeared in uniform was
CD 10y our experience In the Crimcan War and Il l. now
eonsnmmated by an appeal to Volunteers The peopIe
v' 'hs hitherto pacific generation introduced To
me ways OF their forelathers The Act of Al Ceorye
III. Is officially reced, aud applied to present times
uat Il TO saw invited to do "a We lila 1, snl
when within few miles Of these shore. Law hos,;ie a.
my watching the first chance OF invading US with fire
aud sword But there two remarkable points OF
anerenee between these In 1904 the services of
volunteers were bespokcn not only against invasion but
against rebelon-a contingency which we may now hap.
ply discard from our thoughts Come who NAV, they
VIII hnd but one heart and spirit in these ISLANDS
spirit which had better not be meddled with
The other point is more distinctive still In the form
erpsrod oiuneer oorPs simply encouraged "a
many formations OF adults With few military leasn
act very lew indeed Eight days' drill In four months
would teach men, il wss presumed to march in liue
shoulder arms and perhaps load and fire so that the
"hoe male population, Were might turn out against
an invader with something like organization nd ne,ho1
Very different however is the case now The great OBJ
Ject at this moment Is not to make amateur soldiers but
RHsd r,He"e"; not To produce few hundred
oaaos but thousands upon thousands of trained and
uniailing slarpshOoters Once more in the history OF
hts nation We are To adopt national arm 10 take il nm
with WILL to teach Ourselves and our children i, @
ahd to make IT our trsty and FAMILIAR weapon until the
British rifle shall become renowned and as Formidable
aS the English longbow That is the great object of the
present movement.
IL Is easy enough form 'yolunteer Corns IN 80.
iect uniform TO enjoy pleasant field day and TO in
duge that military spirit which, after all Is npraiped in
the very nature OF Englshmcn. All this can do a.
our ancestors did, with much alacTity as hearty
VIII, but We must now do something more We must 90
seriously To work till We really call ourselves rifle
shots aud when that Is done Volunteer Corps will be
as good As the best regiments in the world A few of
the simple movements which enable men TO act In large
bodies and obey orders in the field may learnt without
difficulty That kind of practice is mastered-eyen
the eigt days drill would pretty nearly serve the pur-
pose, but the real drill bc drill of another Kind :
Every man OF every corps ought perfectly certain
that within certain distance of his rifle no enemy could
stand alive That i the true test of effective Of.
unteer When once the population of these islands ha,
learnt to use the rifle the ride ought to he used the
mere organization OF these millions marksmen will be.
work of
We have b,en told of late to look to the United States
Tor examples OF good administration aud We NAV now
do so after fashion somewhat nexpeced The Amer
leans are "N ounteers almost to "A man Their Nit,
Is an aggregate of Volunteer Corp. and consider,h
aggregate it Is. We have table now beror. us com.
piled in 1883 at time when the population of the State
was considerably less than that of Great Britain and We
md that the military force OF te Republic comprised
Independently of the regular Army and the Marine ors
no lever than 113S2 officers aud - 300 men enrolled
as Volunteers. Conceive force like this in which
man was dead shot with rifle, and then say If all Fn
rope together would venture attack il on its own soil
Nor Is there anything chmcrca in the notion of such
armament.
Statesmen and conquercrs have calculated with r,,b
less eNactude the utmost percentage of soldiers which
can be raised from given community aud very small
comparatively speaking, the proportion is found TO be-
but in the of the British Volunteers there arc no
such limits To be applied. No in learning the s of
the rifle need orsake his business his home nor Wopd
he become chargcable 20 the industry of others The
practice would be simple recreation and oropnd
would be as wholesome adjunct town or hamlet
as an arboretum park, cricketfed. IL exhaust.
the iehest States TO maintain inordinate armies but
/ Nhafzf fir4an fuf
untetrs We see H. indeed actually in Gocraton on The
other side of the Atlantic and when a. occasionar ,,
Pens battalion OF Militia Is called out it i found per
fectly ic'ent force
One again, however, let remind our countrymen
that their true aim at this should be the know
edge and mastery of the rifle. OF course there will he
volunteering enough 1t needed but one note of rn,n
ct To call every of these islands the field There
- not and never nation the face of this earth
more metteSome or pugnacous than are That roint
needs no thought at all In six months time We shall be
soldiers every man of u but let il never be forgotten
that true soldering means discipline aud chat ,iscpline
above all, now rifle shooting. Volunteers need
not give themselves much trouble about tactics still less
about that mechanical precision which drill is some
times addressed. Agility. quickness endurance of 4,
ugue sei-reancc, sure eye and steady hand-these
are the qualifications for our national romen If man
carry his rifle over many miles of ground and send hi
bullet with deadly certainty into any mark within 500
yards he will be trstate soldier whatever be his car
rage or department. Marching aud manuuvrinc are
mere secondary matters The crack corps of British
Volunteers will be that which puts the greatest number
oi shots into the bulseye The target and the target
only will be the measure of efficiency, usefulness and
distinction.
Hitherto the greatest characteristic of all military
iOrceat least since the use Of rearmshas been waste
of power. IN old times kulw that English arclars
would shoot 50 wholly together" that no body of men
could, or did, stand before their shafts but with the
musket' It was computed reasonable grounds that
29 shots of $50 might well never have been fired
When Is recoeced further that troops rarely crossed
bayouet and that such execution was done was done
mostly hy muske balls, it will be seen how many
soldiers stood useessy IN rank to swell the mortality Of
the fortress or the hospital IL Is hardly possible 10 cal
cnaic the effect of force in which every musket would
tell aud tell It should, If our Volunteers do their
Nothing ought o live within range Of their pieces IL n
beyond all doubt question that rifles can be made
which, with proper handling, will deal certain death AT
0Ho yards OF more Ii 70 equally beyond question that
We people sre naturally apt in such exercises and
at We are letter qualified % attain something like uni
yerSa proficiency IN them than almost 80 other naen
Here, then, are hrstrac weapons aud rsrite hands
We hope the next few months will zee the two nut to-
gehcr, and then we may snap fingers At Invasion