THE VOLUNTEERS' EXPENSES.

Press, Volume II, Issue 50, 26 April 1862, Page 2

THE VOLUNTEERS' EXPENSES.

More than two years havo passed since the organiza i our Volunteer army was commenced, and it may unreasonable to take account of our resources-the iniore a cry has recently been raised, ou very slight f the ckthusiasm which so quickly filled up the n,UB^ shown some signs of abatement- A a applied, to the « » _ themselves, we believe that the alarm is without foun but it is true, and not very surprising, that the pub c the ranks do not show the same amount of m ere , 1' 1i wis so I* i - c •/ furnish the same measure of support, whicn < tendered at the outset of the movement. The result of two years' work has been this: the created an army of nearly 150,000 men. The seco^ brought the standard efficiency to a very big l irregular troop*, but artdoil nothing to the imnicr.ca

.. - s sa ;d that the number of resignations rather more j °' ! la , fc i! , m the supply "f "<-'«' ivoriiit.s. which, however, is, than ba f'? nt ; i)in(T on with vigour enough to show that the ! constant J I-. * tr j ot j c ar ,lour which created the force is i military ' to ni; intain it at something like its most, suf s C «' I le strength. Still, in a matter in which the credit of creaitan p( >rsistent determination is so deeply pledged, the coU 'rJJ toin deserves to be anxiously watched, and there vverv 8 > 1 wis(lom ni shutting our eyes to the fact that ■ tions from the Volunteer ranks have been more resign" 11 oou](1 fair]y } iave LH>]l expected from the numeroi cir^nmstauoeg which may incapacitate this or that accident- coutin „ insr t ], e service which be has undertaken. "T see why this is. It does not, to any considerable "t arise from instability of purpose—from the weariness c r 6l Vi prevents some men for ever sticking long to a single vlncn 1 i. v 8 taint of this disposition (and no large V T f men was ever wholly free from it) is utterly lost in rfodv heartiness of the large mass who have from the * h farmed the real pith and substance of their various first m sma \i extent, the attractions of drill may cm?* st sonie thing of their charm as soon as a certain I,ftVe tof proficiency was acquired; but as we always pre-1 : rT!l\vould be the case, there is a set-off against this in j , of practice which makes the great distinction | Volunteers of 1806 and 1861. Men may tire of 11 11 but no man who has once made a pastime of shooting is ■ vinduced to give it up. Accordingly, the experience of most will we believe, confirm the statement that, as a rule, I T l "shooting men" do not resign, ami that such defections rur are more frequently from among the officers than Crank and file. If this is the real state of the case, it may ir'tefl what mnr- can be desired? In a corps the object f hich is to supply a body of trained riflemen, how can ?w be such anomaly as a " non-shooting volunteer " ? A ml I fallvouv real proficients with the nte are stanch /as they Lupdlv are.) what matters it a font the few who have ;;Shad tie energy to mast,, their first duty ? to be a satisfactory answer to all complaints of 1 L of zeal but in the present state of the \ oluntoer Force Vis very far from being so. Few persons who have looked t the Volunteer movement only from without have any idea ftheiMct that more than half the volunteers in London h never tired a shot, and that, out of an average battalion fIOOO volunteers, there are seldom 200 who, by any stretch f mrtesy, can be called riflemen. It is this nucleus alone h°ch forms the real permanent element of the force, and the Inl-ininc four-fifths (or whatever the exact pro]x.rtion may Tare liable to fall off at any tune when a lull m foreign >l tics may seem to render a volunteer force less absolutely EJJLsnry'for our own defence. The one class has found a 'Unit which continues to attract, whether the necessity for cmitiiuiiu" it is for a moment greater fir less. The other rloss depends for its zeal and assiduity almost entirely upon the activity of the chief volunteer recruiting sergeant-the Emperor o f the French. Just now a new year has been ushered in without any fresh alarm fcfrom that source; and oven while the American diifieulty lasted, it was not one that threatened immediately to increase the chance of an invasion, vhatever its indirect consequences might ultimately liave If our view is the right one, that every real rifleman may be safely reckoned as an element of national defence as long as h ■ has youth, health, and strength for military duties, it may ha asked, why not make riflemen of all volunteers ? Have net all corns their apparatus of musketry instruction, position dril'' and the rest-their butts and targets, their contests and roves? And why is it that they fail to_ enlist the zeal of their members in'the most exciting part Of their duties—the only part, in fact, into which the spirit of competition enters, arid in which continuous improvement is possible? Why are the riflemen so small a proportion of the whole body of Volunteers? The true answer to this question happens also to he the true answer to the first question which we suggested, "What is it that induces volunteers to "resign?" For though we have pointed out that the service has a feeble hold of the non-shooting element which makes up so large a proportion of its numerical strength, we should be very far from the truth if we ascribed to this cause any considerable infiuonce up to the present time. The mischief is rather a thing to be guarded against in future than a matter of actual experience. 0 Such resignations as have taken place—-and their number has been greatly exaggerated—are mainly due to a very different cause! Those who have given up Volunteering have almost always done so because they found they could not afford it. A large proportion of most corps neglect rifle shooting for the same reason ; for it must be remembeied that the majority are men who cannot squander shillings very freely on railway-tickets and ball-cartridges. Even with those who are not in a position to feel the loss of a few shillings when they are disposed to practice, the hindrance is still of the same kind. To save expenses, butts are set up in places practic: My inaccessible to busy men, and not a single London corps has been able to provide itself with the full accommodation required for the regulation practice. The consequence of these defective arrangements is, that either the. immediate expenses, or the most serious cost in time, deters the majority of volunteers from taking up the pursuit which alone will make the permanence of the organization a thing to be depended on. It is not only in discouraging practice that the expense of Volunteering is felt as a serious drawback. Even such butt accommodation as is provided has cost a vast amount of money, and what with Band Funds, IVize Funds, and a host of other incidental demands on the picket, the volunteer finds that the purchase of his uniform mid the payment of a small annual subscription by no means exhaust his liabilities. In many corps the officers have to a great extent relieved the less Avealthy rank and tile of all or a ~ieat part of their expenses ; but this practice again accumulates a heavier burden on the commissioned officers than they *' ! 'ii fairly be expected to bear. They, like the rest, begin to ,-ioau under the cost of Volunteering; and the one element "■ l*eaini;ny difficulty is really, directly or indirectly, the '■i'we of all the apparent weariness which is said in some quarters to have been creeping over the Volunteer corps. It will be remembered that at the first outset almost as iM'ch eageniesss was shown to join the honorary as the '■nktive muster-roll. Those who could not serve in person '•■mipet.-,! for the honour of maintaining the movement by th ir contributions. The actual volunteers were led to expect th't their own individual expenses and loss of time would be th- whole sacrifice required from them. The zeal of the e «'ft.ve.s has not slackened, but tle-v soon found that the prinle«eof paving was added to that of serving, and that we expense of"kcq.ing up their corps in a state of efficiency with Ml the needful appliances would fall in great part upon themselves. To some the outlay is impossible, to many "then inconvenient; and hence the resignations of which so nwjchhau been said. The fort of tacit bargain that was made at first-that volunteers, however humble in station, should heenahl«i to join, and that if they gave their time ami trouble the ounht to be found by the wealthy supporters of the movement--has been kept on one side only. inefciithiiMa.i.i for service lias survived, but the enthusiasm '* ,r payin ■ has b.-en fast dying out. Even the National llirlo Association has the utmost difficulty in raising two thousand

a year from subscriptions ; and all the enthusiasm of London has not sufficed to provide the metropolitan corps with a single long-range butt County associations were projected, but came to nothing. Government aid was solicited, and refused. A company backed by the leading names among the Volunteer commanders, was formed to "build a common proctiee-ground for all the corps of London; and it is said now that it is about to be given up for lack of adequate support, unless the effectives of a few leading corps, who have interested themselves warmly in the matter, should succeed in an effort to complete the undertaking. In this, as in everything else, the task undertaken by the honorary members! is being shifted to the effective volunteers; and though they, being in earnest, nniy possibly succeed, it is not quite fair that the whole burden of Volunteering expenses should thus be thrown on the working men. Approach it from what side you wilL the aspect of Volunteering presents I the same features. There is abundance of genuine heart) zeal, and every unsatisfactory symptom resolves itself at once into the ugly shape of pecuniary difficulty. There is a plain remedy for this. The volunteers ought not to be called upon for more than their personal expenses; and if the hope that was at once held out, that all necessary funds would be raised with ease by voluntary subscription, is, as seems too probable, a pleasant delusion, it will be for the Government to consider—and that promptly—whether it is worth while to keep up the splendid force which has been raised by furnishing the corps with all the appliances they need at the public expense. The rich have not done their duty, but there is no reason why the Government should neglect theirs. An Adjutant and a drill-sergeant represent the contributions of the Government to each battillion, the really heavy cost of providing butts for practice having been wholly borne by the corps themselves. If this kind of economy is continued, the whole organization will gradually dwindle away under the influence of a pressure which is just beginning to produce perceptible effects. In the first instance, Ministers were perhaps justified in resuming that the patriotism which made the artisan take up his rifle and devote his time to drill, would stimulate private to supply the requisite means. But this has not proved to be the case, and the time has come when the responsibility of sustaining or sapping the grandest modern effort of patriotism must either be resinned by those >vho promised to bear it, and are well able to do so, or else must be frankly accepted by the Government itself.