A FRENCH OPINION OF THE VOLUNTEER REVIEW.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1350, 16 November 1860, Page 4

A FRENCH OPINION OF THE VOLUNTEER REVIEW.

The organ of the liberal Catholic party in France, the Ami de la Religion, publishes, from its own correspondent in London, the following account of the re view in Hyde Park, in which he renders full justice to the soldier-like appearance, the perfect discipline, and the other military qualities displayed by the volunteers at their review by Queen Victoria :—: — " I can assure you that the grand demonstration which all London went to see in Hyde Park on Saturday last surpassed by much in its simplicity all the reviews which I have seen. You will smile, no doubt, accustomed as you are to the enoimous masses and to the complicated evolutions of the camp of Chalons or of the Champ de Mars, at hearing me thus speak of some mmple manoeuvres executed by 20,000 young men who were never engaged in action and who have been drilled for scarcely a few months. Nevertheless, I maintain that it was a grand sight as regards everything which constitutes the real greatness of the soldier. In my opinion, it was a fine contrast to all ordinary reviews, because there was nothing prepared or nothing theatrical in it — because everything was real and. solid. The physical strength of these men — their instruction and general character — the variety of social position existing in their ranks, and which could be recognised at a. glance — the rapidity with which, thanks to their devotedness and their address, they ■were enabled to attain so high a degree of discipline : in fine, the absence of all ostentation — of all tinsel in their uniforms — all contributed to give this scene its true signification. In a word, the force composed of volunteers is a real army. You know the idea we form of the soldier citizen exemplified in John Gilpin. I went to the Park, therefore, convinced that I should »cc more than one of those corpulent individuals so common among a nation of shopkeepers. Well, no — these'2o,ooo volunteers, who represent truly, I believe, the 120,000 volunteers of England and Scotland, present physically as well as morally the finest specimens that can be imagined of the British race. With respect to size, muscular strength, and instruction, they have * far superior appearance to our regular army, and the reason i» very simple. Our army is formed rather of the scum than of the ilite of our society. In the volunteers, on the contrary, figure all the vigour, all the really virile force of Great Britain. Ido not believe that In any other country could be found such an assemblage of 20,000 men belonging to the rank, industry, and wealth of the country, and, above all, they are inspired by the fanaticism of liberty. You may well believe that I do not pretend to describe the sixty or seventy divisions which form this force, at the same 4>ime heterogeneous and homogeneous. They came there from every quarter of this immense city, or were brought from its environs by the thousand and and one railways. Thus there were the Scotchmen o£ London, the Irishmen of London, the Welshmen of London. The lawyers^ corps repreiented the Enfants dv Liable. Next came the corps of public functionaries, and the brigade of the city, composed of young merchant* and »tockbrokers. All these divisions had never previously manoeuvred together. You know the locality, and how difficult it is even for regular troop» to deboucher from Hyde Park ; well, all was accomplished with the most perfect regularity. 'It is the' opinion of more competent judges than myself that

one-third at least of these Volunteenh are. equal to the , beat troops. . The others could not compete in manoeuvres with our regulars, but they are efficient as light infantry. Some of these corps to 1 © unique in their kind, and among others the Duke of mounted riflemen. Figure to yourself 200 young Englishmen, mounted on hunters each of the value of from 2000 to 3000 francs, all accustomed to take at a gallop the highest hedges and widest ditches in Leicestershire. For my part I never saw such cavalry, Next came what are here called the Volunteers of the Guard — all noblemen, and every man six feet high. I Your Cent Gardes are decidedly fine men, but they are not to be compared with these giants. As to the City of London Artillery, nobody could distinguish them when m*nosuvreing from a regiment of artillery of the line. They have had time to form themselves, and to develop that energy and instruction which render them superior to the majority of soldiers. _ The young Englishman, whose greateit enjoyment is to hunt for the season at Melton — to stalk deer in Scotland — to walk tsn leagues a day in the South of France, or to sail in his yacht to encounter the stiff breezes in the Channel, embraces in himself the stuff for a good soldier. He is an excellent shot — his constitution i« of the strongest he loves order and cleanliness. Place a uniform on his back, and in a short time he will have been perfectly drilled. Such are the elements of which tho English Volunteers are composed, and when one recollects their signification one cannot be astonished that Queen Victoria felt proud in seeing them defile before her royal standard." The same writer^in a subsequent letter says :—": — " On his return from the review, General Sir do Lacy Evans observed, • Give me those men for] only ton days' service, and they shall be the .first troops in the world.' Why, I ask ? Supposing the assertion correct, there is but one explanation of it, — it is this ; because the Volunteers are first and foremost, and above all men, and that in this country the citizen is before the soldier. But, I repeat it, the opinion entertained of them as soldiers may be exaggerated or not, but this is not what interests me. What interests me, and what appears to me so strange, is the transformation, the supplenes3 of ruture which it proves. Nothing on earth can well be more opposed to every military notion than the idea of a clerk in the city, and yet here you have those city clerks become soldiers as if by magic. This really is, according to me, the great wonder of the whole affair ! Imagine, for instance, Dutchmen or Laplanders all of a sudden deciding to devote themselves to choreographic studies, and proposing to furnish dancers to all the theatres in Europe. Yet, believe me, this would not be a greater phenomenon than the metamorphosis which makes a true soldier out of a London cockney. As for the review itself it was, indeed, a magnificent sight ; because it will always be a magnificent sight to see a whole nation animated by the same breath, by the same thought, and pbeying the same impulse, draw up at a given moment before its Sovereign, and say to her, " Here I am — T am ready," &c.