WHEN INVASION THREAIENED

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13973, 6 August 1909, Page 3

WHEN INVASION THREAIENED

THE WAR SCARE OF IUO YEAPS AGO.

(By Harold V. B. Wheeler. F.R. Hist. S.)

Ju these days when patriotism is a mere shibboleth in certain quarters, one is apt to forget that a little over a century ago territorialism was practically universal. .Men whose nanus are writ large in modern school histories drilled shoulder to shoulder with the merchant, the clerk, the ploughman, and the sweep. George 111. "declared his intention of leading his troops to battle in person if necessary. Addiugton, when Prime Minister, appeared ia the. House of Commons m uniform, Charles James Fox became a private in the Chertscy Corps, and the " irreproachable Air Pitt" as colonel of the Cinque Ports Volunteers. I worked with the ardour of a drill sergeant. Lady Hester Stanhope tells us that ;, it is parade afteV parade at lo Or 20 '. miles distant from each other. . . . Mr Pitt is determined to remain actingcoionel when his regiment is called into the held. 1 should not be in the .least surprised any night to hear, of the French attempting to laud. Indeed, i expect it. But I feel equally certain that those who do succeed will neither proceed nor return." The last days of Robert Burns were embittered by thoughts of an unpaid bill of, £7 -in for bis uniform. Scott and Wordsworth wrote battle cries, and the poet laureate sang of "031110 Pund'rers." The dominating figure of .Napoleon east a shadow over the whole of Western Europe, but the subjugation of England was the object of his groat ambition. He made no secret of his formidable preparations for the allsufficient reason that a flotilla of several thousands of vessels could not be bu:k in private dockyards. Eventually over 1)0.000 troops. many of them veterans.' were fully equipped and arrayed for the invasion of "perfidious Album/"' France is no longer the menacing Power, but the Emperor's words to Admiral Villeneuvc, " Your presence in the Channel for 21 hours will suffice,'" 1 have not lost their ! ominous significance. DILATORY I'A ULIAAIENT. England and Scotland became one vast camp. The national spirit was aroused us never before, and Parliament failed to keep up with it. Military measures were passed with bewildering frequency, so much so that they overlapped and caused considerable confusion. By the Defence Actof 1803 tho King was enabled "to accept the voluntary services of his Majestv's loyal subjects for the defence of the" United Kingdom." This was succeeded by the Levy En Mass.; Act, for which a census of youths and men between 17 and 5-3 years of age. capable of bearing arms., was taken. A certain number of those making the returns wen: drawn out and embodied

to defend hearth and liomc. Parishes were also called upon to pro ride the male inhabitants with weapons, llatoon exercises took precedence of all other fashionable pastimes. An appeal to the manhood of the counlrv having been made,-it was responded to iu no niggardly way. The .supplv of firearms not being equal to the* demand, many of the volunteers were iorced to accept pikes, which the Irish rebellion of 1708 had proved to no or some service.

Hie instruments of war "ere kept in the parish church or town hall. The men drilled for two hours.(it every Sunday, either before or after divine service. Scottish Sabbatarian views were respected, and ««a„ v con™ont. d »>- » l tl.o" obtained f ,ile ?* Vf T";° cd ' ]f :l ' volunteer tailed to attend was lined unless illness had pre.v ou t e d him. and a recalcitrant Member of a corps paid ,7s lor cacn offence or was sent to siaol. A P'-.ineienfc volunteer was "ranted -a certificate at the end. of his iirst vear's mining, and further drills were excused hmi, but he was liable for seiv>cc at any moment. The commanders or the corps were appointed bv the l>«-utenants and deputy-lieutenants •of their respective counties. Hamlets and villages unable t<> provide a sufficient number of volunteers joined forces with a larger parish. Intense •rivalry existed, hut ifc was a health v rivalry.

u :}^ rding to the oiiicial returns, 403,001 men had enrolled themselves iu the United iivngdom for internal defence up to December 9th, LSVd. Unfortunately, Government saw lit to discourage further eli'orts to increase the numbers, and this fact did muoh to loosen Addington's feeble grip of the country. Pits took occasion to remark a little later that Ministers "had rather retarded and enfeebled the volunteer system than contributed anything to its force and efficiency." Nor had the Navy received the attention which our first line of defence should ! always warrant. There was a lack of workmen and materials. Not a few of the ships which hemmed in Napoleon's ever-increasing fleet were patched and leaky. NEARLY A MILLION TROOPS. When Pitt again came into power his immediate thoughts were lor the improvement of both services. In March, iSOo, no fewer than 810,000 troops—militia, volunteers, and fencibles —were ready to defy Napoleon. "That is not in tno proportion of ono man in fourteen," said Lord Hawkosbury, "not in the proportion of one man in ten, but in tno proportion of ono man in live of our active male population at this hour in arms." Tlie Royal Military Canal froiii Hythc to Rye was begun, and within a. short time seventy-lour 'martollo towers were under construction on the. low-lying east and south coasts of England, where an incursion was most to be feared. The sluggish waters .of the former still liow, and many of the mammoth inverted ilowerpots stand as memorials to an energetic Administration. Although hopelessly out or oate ni tuesc uays or quicji-hriug guns anu lieavy artillery, tno fortincations would nave kiviceable m resisting the landing of the invaders. A swivel-gun and two howitzers were mounted, on tlio Hat bombproof rools, screened by a. breastworK lour feet high. Surrounded by a moat and upproacned by moans ot a drawbridge, with walls varying from lime tos six leet tluck, starvation was tlio only means of making their defenders surrender, unless a stray bullet liit them while they, were woruing tho guns. Everybody at this epoch worked in the common cause. The facile and none too gentle pencils of Gilray, Isaac Cruickshank, Rowlandson, "Woodward, and others helped to mako the populace enthusiastic by pourtraying Napaleon in unfavourable pose. Pulpit orators thundered. invectives against the political Jack Sheppard, and pamphleteers and poetasters had a busy time. Thousands of broadsides vilified the Man of Destiny as the Corsica)! Demon, Jaffa Buonaparte, the Grand Subjugator of the French nation, and so on., while nursemaids frightened their charges into obedience by assuring them that "Boney" was on their track. No insinuation was too base to level at" the head of Napoleon.

The crushing • defeat in Trafalgar Hay vetoed the modern Caesar's hopes for the invasion of England. Our forefathers laid aside their accoutrements, but their sons served with the colours in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. Without conscription the men of Britain have shown* what they can do when put to the test, and the present generation would not he ill-advised if they followed in the footsteps of the territorials of a, century ago. —Daily 31a il.