THE ENGLISH MILITIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XV, Issue 3795, 28 August 1882, Page 3

THE ENGLISH MILITIA.

" A vile encomium doubly ridicules. There's nothing blaofcens like the Ink of fools." Pope. (To the Bdltor). flm —In Friday's Issueot tha "Herald" appears an artlole entitled tha 'War Fever In 8 ngland" bo reDleta with joendaolouß calumnies against

• ibe'mllltia ot' KngUcd, that it can only be sur- ' i raised that it is written bF a foreignnr, or by Borne ronegade Kngilshman uuwortliy the name, whose orecd, Buroly, must ho—Pfltroloum and the ktlfe. Sir, is thlo scribbler the came, think yoa, wnoao fortllo imogiautloa conjured up tho bo CAlletl buasUng operations ax wlnlbto'jexecution? Tho writer of this shameful artlolo statea that tbo inilltlauiaa is "short in st&ture." Now this is a manifest falsehood; for . a man cannot be accepted la the militia under five feot four inohes. and this wo know is about I tho middle height ol tho Ungllah In tne southern counti-s. though, lndeod, very few men are to ' bo found In the ranks so Bhort as this. Be It understood thu is tha minimum. In tho North tho staudard ot tho agricultural labourer la greater than this, Tne standard of the Frenoh lino (i c , tha minimum) is about 1 flvo foot. Where can a liner body of men be found than the Marines, whoue r»nks are roorulted from exactly the same nlaas, in the ■ oountles of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, as tho militia reciaienta of those counties, vlr., tho agricultural olaas? Could a finer rody than too Ksaex Mtlitla be seen? Mow, inoomparatily i upunor in physique to Continental troopn, are all our rcglmentK, and It is a faot, andndmlttedby Imperial ofllcnn;, that the men In our militia regiments are taller and heavier- than thoso of tho lino. The same olass cf agricultural labourers In tha northern counties, as Yorkshire, Lanoushlro, Northumberland, and Cuinbarland, who form thonuoleus of all their respective mllltln niKluiontß aIBO contrlbuto the largedt quota to the household troops, both cavalry and Infantry; and whore—may I Darin tbo world will you find suon men] This literary patriot resumes, by eaylrjg "he is coone-featured and butlot-hoadod " I have seen many militia regiments, and I appeal to gentlemen—nnd thnro are several in this town, who have been officers in militia regiments—who will bear me out in stating that the intollootnal mien nnd taclnl lexpreaston of the English militiaman is superior to that of the Continental milil'or; and I have soon a regiment In Kent, not only romarkablo for their pnyslqno, but as ha< dßomo a set of inon as wore ovor soon, and whoso comeliness of (oaiurna was far greater than that oC ovon the educated officers of foreign armies. Again, as tor the assertion that hi) lv a "dealer In atraimo onths"—if this Grub-street penman means oaths. and biaspnomlus, whioh usually nroilio pabulum of forooioua rouKhH ana oostormonxers—with whoeo idlotvnoraolos the writer seems thoroughly a v fail,\ot mis toll him that ho I* ngaln ntlstakot, for Mudge, as a rulo, inilulKeii In mild anathoma, uiioh as "by Joioks," "byGolly," &o, and the fierco Unguago and voolferations that aro heard in the low praotnots and alleys of towns are never heard amongst a gathering of r;«tli) aKricuhural labourers—the class from whluh the yeomanry and militia o( theoouutry i aio really rooruttod. This slanderer thun goes on to state that his "morality is low, and his wont of ulco diaorlmlnatlou botweon what is and what is not his own Is a lamentablo defect In his charaotur." This latter phrasa Is I prosume.tho round-abouc way In whioh Soriblorus means to say the Mllltla are thlnvcs. And here let me sat our friend cannot dtaasnoolate from his mind his knowledge of thn manners and ODBtoms of his f rlendx tho roughs nnd costor? monnerrt ho bo glibly dilates upon, oonfoundlng thorn with tho country habits, simple careers, lives of labour (though xtruyglo) wuich agricultural labourorx lead. It Is probable that he has waßtod all this ink rut captandum vulgus— to wit, tho oostermougcr, &0.. aroruuuid. Again, who has evor heard of the English agricultural labourer habited this way ? "A oostormoiißor'scap, apiooo ot tag tlad round big throat, a chubby ooat of many colours, tigbtflttlng and well-patched tronaors, and dilapidated oIoks." This is what ho waars as a rule, a wlde-brlmmod hat like a wide awake,a smook frock, woU pleatet about the neck, shoulders, nnd BJoovoa, trousers made out of corduroy, not tight sometimes kneo-br«eohof>, and hardly over a ooat at all, Sir, I cannot recite -for absolute thamosake, as an XUKliahman—any more ot tho venomous untruths whioh this man (?) continuos to make, ad nauseam, against our really National foroe.cf more than a thousand years duration, but will prooood to shew what the militia of Kngland really Is. Tho militia are supposed to owe tholr origin to Alfred the Great, but long ere his tirao thoro was a loroa of soldiery oallud tho " Fyrd," nnd no doubi tbose formed the nucleus ot that force whioh Alfred only liroußht Into bottor cohesion, CltlßSiflOAtlOn, and looal adaptation. This r.nsleut, permanent, and national bodr of soldiory was originally formed for tho defence of the oonntry a hsartha and homes; but at tho same timo thoy have ovor volunteered in times of emergency to oross too seas, and nobly have they done their duty in othor lands than their own. The Lord Lieutenant in each county nominated the 'Officers. All above the rank et oiptaln must bo laud-owners in tho county, and

thU la a band of sympathy botwoan theoommandorß and their mon. for In m*ny oases it 14 the ofllcar oorninandlng men working on his own estate, aa hi' forefathers hnvo dono for generations before. Tho Militia of Hngland are the aotuai lineal descendants of tho mon who stood around Harold at Sonlao, of tho horoes of Crottsy. of Foltlers, of Aglncourt, of Blunho'.m, luunllios. Alalplaquot, andla.it aid not least, Waterloo, where a large proportion ot tho Kngllnh army was composed of Militia Volnntoors, hnrrlodly massod togethor. eont off andinoornoratod with tho ttegulara Jn tho Crimean War In 1855. over 111,003 of tho English militia volunteered into thn lino; and now nowa oomes from homo that 35 000 have volunteered to loavo their homo* and go abroad—as their foro-fathors have -dono bofore-to light tbo battles of their omntrs". Is this, then, tho timn for an Influential journal likn the " Uorald "- though at tho Antipodes—to oast a Blur upon and publlah a Burluß of lies defamatory of our national foron ( What will ihoy say In England! The " Uorald" is road thero by the relntlonß and friends of many tt us In this Province Hithorto we have boon couHirtercd a patriotic and loyal body of oolonists.and ■ slnooroly hope that our rolaiives n<- Homo will Ptlil oontlnua to think co; but do think that the proprietors of the "lluraln" ought, in justlco to the public to make an apology to satisfy the amor patria Of the Eng-

llsh people out here, and mine especially to eaivo the harts that thy many mi'ltln offioera and mon have received to their eni>rit <tc corps, and to prove tbelr non-oonourr«nco In the malioloai acoutatlons written by the author or the artiole In question, If any of your readers want to read a trim and authentic history of what a mllltl* regiment 1b capiblo of, I refer them to vol X .or ' Household « ords." and to an artiole entitled "The Hampshire Mhltia," and though this la pnt as a suppositions case, and tho roal namoa not mentioned. It had lta prototype la actual f aot. (jharlea Dlokeus, the editor o( " Household Words," than whom a more genial companion and inoro umlnblo man nuvor etiated, wou'd never have allowed snoh a loarrllons artlclo as tho'• Herald'h," of Friday to apiiour In any nowapiuor, magazine, or periodical ot which he had the munuKemunt, I'hiß letter, air, has extended Itaelf to greater length than I thought It wou'd when I llrst took pen in hand; but my oxouso for takirg up bo muoh of your valuable epaoe mast be. the natural Indignation that all English* mon iihonld {eel—and which I feel—at the unfounded assertions which a reoreant liku the writer abovo referred to mattes against hln own country mon, and 1 cannot do better In concluding thaa by quoting sqme linos—wonderlully applicable to the author of iheneoaromnieg —written by ono of our greatest poets, at a time when ho thought (and when he wan, no doubt) moat undeservedly treated and Hnfalrly uaed :— " With whato'er crall thon set'at thyself to wrlto, Thy inolFenslvo satires never bi<o ; In thy felonlons heart tho' vonom lies, IC does bat touch thy Irish pen and diet." -I am, Sec, ■ Albert Wiikbr, y.R.G.B.