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EXAO T:!^fIO^S^^
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THE VOLUNTEERS LEARNING TO SHOOT.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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new expenditure , such as these modem subsidies to steam companies , that the greatest opportunities prevail for jobbery and corrup tion . . ¦ ¦ -
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W E know pretty well what would be the effect on the mmds of a set of bricklayers , carpenters , and builders-i n ¦ the habit of scamping their work , if they were told that every portion of it would be subjected to the inspection of an honest surveyor , and that the result of ' his survey would be made public ; the effect would be infinite cursing and reclamation on the part of the scampers , and a proportionate ¦ triumph amongst the honest workmen , ? Something of this kind has happened amongst the pedagogues , to many of whom the idea of the middle-class examinations has acted as a bombshell , to the damage of their profits , and consequent disturbance of their tranquillity . ' " As russct-pntctl choughs , many j n sort , ltishi « and oawiiiK at tlicgun ' a report , (> Sever themselves , and . inndiy sweep tlio sky ;
so the school-speculators—we should be wrong in calling- them school-masters—have been in extreme alarm at tho idea of having their work tested , which had so long boon taktm upon trust , and passed vulgar muster . It , was high time Jbr a change ; even lads sent , up to the universities were , in many cases , shamefully ill-prepnrod ; of this we have had personally ample opportunities of jndging . And if schoolmasters acquitted themselves hut indiu ' orently on those points ami > n those subjects which were likely to bo brought to a public test , wo may judge what must have been the istate of lower schools , with lower tests , or no tests at all . Sad exposures of specimens of spilling-, nnido b
geography , &o . have from time to time been public , y means of some of our recent examination tests . Besides indolence , ignorance , and want of principle amongst a great many of our professed instructorfl , there have been lnimy onuaes for this wretched state oi things . Quackery—the q . ua « Wy- of dabbling in " a . small way with three or four brandies at a time , of natural philosophy , n couple of modern languages , added to a couple of ancient ones—the soothing system of purmuwion and rewards , the dread <> r ollending parents bv refusing indulgences , such us the relaxation of discipline , extra holidays , &c , all theso ciiusus have brought us to tlio point at which these ' examinations have found us . " These remarks are intimately connected with tho ciiso ot oxtiomo punishment , recently made public . Tho question of what punwh-
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We are anxious to have the Volunteers in face of the target , not only because we wish them to learn their business , but because their adjournment to that position will probably get rid of some of the tomfoolery which has hung about them while their . achievements have been confined to parades and reviews . The , officers , who are entitled to the . ' credit of most of the " snobbism" which has attached to the movement , will then have less opportunity of exhibiting their ridiculous airs and strutting about in that little brief authority which influence with a Lord Lieutenant or Lord Mayor has given them , and must signalise themselves , if at all , by their ability as marksmen . The privates will get their uniforms a little tarnished , and care less to show tliem in the streets . An . vthi . na : which would remove , or
even reduce , the " snob " and haberdashery elements would be a great service to the movement ; and if we did not believe that some change of the kind would soon take place , we should expect to see it fall to the ground in a short time . At present , these follies make the Volunteers themselves a target for scofls and sneers . Such paltry pretentiousness as that which prompted the stuck-up gentility of the lawyer's office , the doctor's shop , and the counting-house in the north-west of London to refuse to admit some sixty linendrapers' assistants into its corps , almost justifies the absurd attacks upon the movement which have been made in some quarters . " We can , indeed , only laugh at the ridiculous discoveries of one or two sagacious journals , which ' have
WE are not disposed to underrate the importance of drill , even for Volunteers , and are far from considering the lime wliich city clerks and warehousemen have been devoting out of their scanty leisure to that purpose thrown away ; but after all , the speciality of a rifleman is not the ability to put himself through the postures of a soldier of the line , but to hit the bull ' s-eye at a distance of several hundred yards . ' This main part of his business , however , he has had little chance of learning . In some favoured localities , the corps have been at practice for some months , but the great bulk of the one hundred and
twenty thousand young men who have responded to the appeals made by the Press and the magnates of the land have never discharged the weapon upon their skill in the use of which their value depends . The want of this skill is not a fault , but a misfortune ; and we refer to it not to throw blame upon the managers of the different corps for the past , but to urge them to the utmost exertion for the future . Shooting grounds cannot be improvised . The great range of the rifle makes it rather difficult to procure one anywhere , and in the neighbourhood of large towns that difficulty becomes very great . ¦ Highly as the public may value the protection against foreign invasion which the Volunteers are
supposed to furnish , they would not be disposed to purchase immunity from a problematical risk at the expense of a daily and certain danger to life and limb .. It is absolutely necessary that the riflemen should learn to shoot , but absolutely essential , too , that -they should do so in a place where they can hurt nobody but themselves . Such places are very hard to find , and the Government lias even been asked to take powers for the compulsory purchase of spots upon wliich Volunteer corps may set their fancy . We are glad that it has refused , partly because the cost would have been enormous , the price of tkind , as Mr .
Sidney Herbert savs " , rising / wonderfully when a Government surveyor looks at it , and partly because any further resort to ¦ G overnment , aid would deprive the movement of its great strength and chief recommendation . With- a certain exertion , fitting spots dan be found , and all the corps ought by this time to be blazing away . Unless they can shoot , the Volunteers are fit for nothing but special constables . They won ' t be called upon to manoeuvre some hundred thousand strong on Salisbury Plain against as many Frenchmen , but to scatter bullets with their billets clearl y marked , from behind trees and hedgerows , or
perhaps brick walls and earthworks . The National Rifle Association is therefore doing ' a good work in offering ' every encouragement by its prizes for the attainment <>^ - ^ . i . )] -Ji ^ ii ^ iur _^ . hp . rifle ,, as well as by the appeals it makes to the spirit of the nation . The annual meetings in different parts of this country to test the ability of the riflemen will supply a greater stimulus than the . mere'desire of men to do their work properly , or the . applause of their own locality would afford , to saV uotliinsr of the advantages likelv to be derived from the
meeting of Volunteers from different parts ' of the country upon such occasions , although those cannot fail to be considerable . 15 ut , good as is-the idea of the society , and excellent as are the intentions of its managers , we cannot say that they go the best way to work to promote the result they have-at heart . They know well enough tluit the Volunteers have hardly begun to shoot , and that the only men in many corps who can aim at the target with any chance ' of going near it arc an officer or two who have availed themselves of the Government permission to practise at Ilythe ; yet they have fixed the 2 nd July for the commencement of the meeting . Their reason is , that the Queen nuiy attend it . Now ,
we an ; not in the least disposed to underrate the value of Her Majesty ' s presence upon any occasion ; and if it were a mere fancy fair to raise ' money for a band , the' nrgiimcnt would be overwhelming . But the llifle movement is a much more serious and important business . The object of tho Association is to stimulate the skill of the Volunteers , and that end will not be attained by fixing the time for the competition nt a date which precludes the possibility of most of the corps taking part in the contest . The Volunteers don't require- to be assured of Heh M AJWfy's patronngoj that has been sufficiently manifested , and we don't sec how the most ambitious of them can "' hope : to
signnliso himself in the Royal presence , when that" presence can only lnat for an hour or two out of u contest extending over a week . However , no such objection can be ra ised another year ; and , strong ns We ricom it this year , we yet recognise the good elfect which the action of tho Association is likely to have in quickening the efforts of the corps to provide themselves with practising grounds , and in stimulating their attompts to master their weapons .
detected in the " Volunteer fever" a dire conspiracy to defeat the Kefonn Bill , and stifle the liberties of the people ; but it is certainly most objectionable that any man or class of men shouhl be rejected on account of a presumed , social inferiority . Of the linendrapers of St . Pancras we say nothing more ; they are , we have no doubt , quite as respectable on every ground as the snobs who objected to their society ; and no class exclusion proper appears in their rejection . But if working men are willing to volunteer , to give up their time to drill , and if they can themselves find the equipment , or any person is ^ disposed to provide Jt for them , they ought to be cordially received . Nay , the . subscriptions which have been raised ought to be specially applied to -equijTany such men who may ' offer themselves . ' . ;
We are glad to say that tliis-liberal feeling has been evinced in at least one corps . The Scottish , regiment which Lord E _ lcho—who if a little bit too fussy is yet thoroughly enthusiastic in the work—commands , lias admitted one or two companies of working men , and , best of all , in their working men ' s dress . We commend this example— -given by a corps which numbers in its ranks ( and we who write this have no Scotch blood in our veins to make us vaunt compatriot worth ) gentlemen whose birth , talent , and position raise them far above the mock gentility of St . Pancras—to the imitation of the whole kingdom .
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June 9 ,, 186 . 0 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst 539
Exao T:!^Fio^S^^
inrrtTCTTT «* rT * rW ? s- ^^ —
The Volunteers Learning To Shoot.
TTTTC VOLUNTEERS LEARNING TO SHOOT .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 9, 1860, page 539, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2351/page/7/
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