The St. Johns herald., 1900-03-17
LOTS OF VOLUNTEERS
The British Corps Numbers 7so, COG
 unseasoned Men.
They Have Never Seen Service, But They Are Eager to Go to the Front -The Henorsble Artillery
 and YeOmanry.

The British volunteer corps as 1t ex
 ists to-day is the result of an enlist.
 ment act of 1860, the act, in turn, being
 the fruit of fear of invasion in that
 year. The volunteers number roughly
 250,000 men. cost the government g
 tritie over S3,0Oe,000 year, and none
 of them ever has seen service. That is
 to say, the volunteers as a body have
 existed only since 1860, but there are
 two or three regiments which date
 back far, indeed, notably the Victoria
 rifles and the duke of Cumberland's s
 sharpshooters, which were in being
 when William ". was prince of Wales
 Older by far. however, is the Honorable
 Artillery company, which received a
 visit from its American offspring, the
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery com pany, of Boston, last year, and which
 will repay the compliment by making a
 trip to the Unatssisss stss this year.
 As he will be afet1xsfaF when in the
 field, the British volunteer will be treat
 ed as one. He will receive ''Tommy's''
 pay, which is about "30 cents day and
 found" He will eat MT. Atkins ra- tions-a pound of timed meat and
 half pound of fresh meat, when it can
 be had, fresh bread or crackers-he will call them biscuits sugar, tea and coffee, when possible. His kit, blankets and great coat he will furnish himself, but the government will trans port him to the scene of action.
 Friends and advocates of the volun- teers and yeomanry say that those branches of the service have been dis couraged, sneered at and generally sat on by the war office ever since their es- iablishment, and that their acceptance for service now may be regarded as a great victory, giving ts Lord Lands downe the credit for the new order of things. An officer connected with the war office told me, however, that the hubbub was entirely without reason, that all the noise was made by few malcontents, and that no change what ever had taken place under Lord Lands downe's administration so far as the volunteers were concerned. On the other hand, people who have no par ticulaF interest in the volunteers say that their being permitted to take part in the war at this time is direct insult to the militia.
 At any rate, it can never be said that the volunteers, to whom was given that chance, were slow to accept it, as score or more of commanding officers throughout London and the provinces, who are being harassed to desperation by every individual member of their can testify. Men have al- most taken to figuring on their chances for going with paper and pencil. For instance, I have heard volunteers say: ''There are 1000 men in my battalion, and there will be 110 chosen; that gives me about one chance in ten. Then my record for craftsmanship is so many points, and craftsmanship is going to be the deciding test, and the general average is about so much" etc. When the fortunate 110-"fortunate" is the volunteers word-are told off there is going to be actual bitterness.
 The venerable organization of hon. orable artillery and yeomanry was formed by Henry VIII., in 1907 for, as the king quaintly put it, "the bettere encrease of the defense of this our realm" This company, then, was formed more than full century before any other existing corps; it was in gar rison at Tilbury when Drake met Phil ip's Armada; it fought under Crom- we'll in the civil wars and was almost wiped out by the great plague. Later, half of its barracks was destroyed in the London fire. Since it's beginnfng it has taken part in all public ceremonials and all erownings of sovereigns of England.
 The 1eomanry, 10000 of whom will beeselected for service in South Africa. dates back as a force much further than the volunteers or. militia. The Yeo- manry consists entirely of cavalry, and it's members are mostly country gentle men who are in the saddle much of the time. They are obliged to furnish their own mounts and equipment, and are drilled much more severely and ire 4 luently than either of the other two branches of volunteers. Their total is I1,900, and they cost the government s375,O00 annually. The first detach- ment of 1000 sailed on January 15.- Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.