VOLUNTEERING.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 3, 18 November 1862, Page 3

VOLUNTEERING.

(From tho Glasgow Daily Herald.')

The recommendations of ths Royal Commission on ihe Volunteer Army, and the formation of a Rifle Assocbiiinn lor the West of Scotland, will revive the hope of those who had begun to despair of the success of tiie Volunteer movi-mo'it. The Volunteer Army h>is not yet given evidence enough of the efficiency, sufficiency, and permanence which id pie-rf quUite to that sense of seeuri y which ihe- movement was meant to give. There "is scarcely a review, for instance. whii h does not supply evid-nce that, tho' tlit> volunteeis move well in separate comp,];,ii.'-, they a'o not ?o t fri lent when mased and put to battalion work. Then ;is to numbers, the returns for this ye-.ir ;ire a little discouraging. The number of enrolled V' luu.eers in England during the last thiee yi-ars respectively has bein as follows : — Iv June, 1830 71905 Joul OJif.iO 1.?G2 8-2850 In Wales. -1 3 i 0 stood enrol !od in '60 : there were 71 20 in 'O'l. and (5040 in '02. In Scotland the number on the -roll has stood as «'oi luvvo : — lysi'j 26,200 iriuL ... 27.5.5 iau2 ... 2:5,980 These figures show that from the year 'GO to '01 ihe Volunteer spirit was spicaling, j or il' not ao ualiy so, at iea<t overcoming diilicu'tits which ha 1 stood in the way of Lnr.-lncnt at iiivt. Tin se figures .-how also during the year following — that is liming Ihe last year— the volunteering spirit has i been on the wane. A glance at the tables ' above will show that this k is held as ihe ! general rule all over the country. But on conipruing the tables, it will become manifest that England and Wales advanced during the years 1800--6-I ma-ch moiv, in proportion, than in Scotland did ; while last year they receded iess. England rose^ (in rouivl •aumVet>) from 70.000 "to ~Stl,G 00 and hits fallen to 80,000. Wales rose fioni 4000 to 70'J0,and ft 11 back to 6000. While Sco'i'aml only rose from 2b',oiiO to 27.000, but has fallen back to 23,0(j0. The Scotch force is th< j only one whi-li is weaker than it was in 1860 The forces of Kn^linn and Wales, Umujjli weaker than they were la.-t \ eav, eoiitiii-ue stronger than they were the ve.ir btlore. This is f.ot vert t-rnJi table to Scotland. On examining the sl.ilistical returns from o;ir \acious counties we ! find that the general mit-s we have indi--1 cated hold jjuoii of n;ost of them. The 1 movement advanced between the summer of 1-3'iOand that of ißt> 1 in al! euv counties, 'except 15u'e, C ackmannan, Cromarty, 1 Kloin, File, llad'iington, Kiikcubright, i T.aunrk, Unlitli^ow, Orkney, Renfrew, Selkirk, hi thcrland, and Wiglon. where we regiet to say it retrograded. Bute and Cronip.rty have sii.ee then vindicated their patriotism and martial spirit by not nnlv advancing to but beyond their original I q.uola. Excepting these and Wigton,vt hich I has neither advanced nor fallen back since last year, and Inverness, vhich deserves most honorable msnlion as having adva.-ic.-d steadily year by year from the nist,we find thai the returns from ail our -comities show weaker forces (numerically) this year than they did in 186 1. . Glasgow, con>idevirvp; that it is the commeicial «auit-«l of Scotland-"— that, as o!d Dv Ritchie used to express il, if l-.din-burgh is tiie capital. Glasgow ka<s the cajjit l_t]ocs a m)t take the; pufcition it ought to do No doubt it turns out a very laige number of Volunteer.-, but not in proportion to its population. It stands third in the Empire in the numercial strength « f itb force ; as lor efficiency, we rank the men who fought the other day at Fereneze as second to none. Num. rciaily, London comes first, sending into the field 10,500 good men and true ; Liverpool, with her o.";00, comes second. This is not as itou.ilit to be. Glasgow should come second at any rate. We do not see why she &hould not r use herself— rai.-e from her 500,-iOO people, Volimieevs, and so lake the first place, and immorialise herself. Fancy how the Cockneys would stare! But that Gla-gow should let Liverpool outstrip her is scandalous. In 1860, the Liverpool Volunteers numbered only 3800 ; those of Glasgow 6900. The year. after Liverpool 5700 ; last year .Li^eßpo-ljh^cl'faHeia -, to aoOOi Wi Gli&gb'\v had ;, ftllen belaw her,-'

So-Li*er|iool t->ke3 (he precedence; -whitrh we trust Glasgow will no£ allow her to'<l«;

ion».

We have said that ihe fallirg off is mor«conspicuous in Scotland than even in England and Wales. But there is, an important circumstance that more- than covers this defect, viz., that Scotland still, musters nearly twice as many Volunteers (in proportion to her population) as England and Wales. -They. hate a Volunteer^ from every 230 of the population, we have 1 from every 133. If England and Wales, from- their 20,000,000 inhabitants, con tributed as many Voluntaeis in proportion as we have done, they would have a force of more than 150,000, instead of less than 90 000 as at present. The fact is, that we all' fall very far" short of what we might andouo-ht to do. In England and Wales there are about 850 OUO men " capable:of bearing arms" (that is, men between 18 and 28 years of .age) ; in Scotland there are ahout 150,000— giving a total of about, a million of men. With such a force in arms, with even a third of. such a force, as thoroughly acquainted with their drill and their arms as the best portion- of the Volunteers now are, we might laugh at invasion ; we might, in the language of our translantic friends " defy the world." We regret, however, to see that so small a proportion of the Volunteers are alive to the absolute necessity of altending drill regularly, and acquiring proficiency in the use of their weapons. The movement, of course, has lost its novelty-every movement mu:t do that ; it has lost the excitement it derived from apprehensions of a Gallic invasion ; but it has lost nothing of its true dignity and importance. Lei no one say that we have done enough l.y shewing what ' we can do if need be. What have we done ? the fact is. that even now, after several years of drills, reviews, and sham lights, not more than 60,000 Volunteers in the country are reckoned fit to go into action with regular troops. This is a very poor way of showing " what we can do." Now that steam has bridged over the Channel, Napoleon could probab'y in the course of a few hours pour one hundred thousand men into England. Mow we know very well how the English fight abroad, and we can guess with what indomitable and desperate courage they would %ivfc on British soil for their own hearths and homes He would, indeed.be a clarin"" man who wuuld attack the lion in his den. But we must not allow our safety to depend on the prudence and forbearance of an enemy. It is enough that Napoleon c uld do what we have said, and what his uncle threatened and longed to do. Those who know anything of war need not be told at what an enormous losof blood and treasure, at what a cost of wasted lands and pillaged cities we, with our half-dis<-lpli«ed forces, would in the end succeed in driving a powerful and reinforced enemy from our shv>res. Surely it were infinitely better ihat a force of say 300 000 Volunteers and Volunteer Militia should, even at the expense of a million or so of money, be kopt in a thoroughly efficient state, so as to make it absolute madness in any foreign Power to attemp invasion, and make sure that 'if invasion were attempted, it would be. summarily 1 checked on our very shore.*. r . , We are, therefore, glad that the Royal Commission-has recommended Government, by what would be equivalent to an annual grunt of 80s. P r man, to remove the o's'acle which has prevented many from continuing their connection with the Volunteer movement; and we are also glad that the a rant will be made con- ; diiional, so as to .-secure efii«:uncy on the part of iho*e whoreceivo it. There can I he no doubt, also, that the Ri : e Association "now formed will |.\ive a powerful I impulse to th<*. movement in this quai !er.