1860.] I 31 THE VOLUNTEER COURSE AT HYTHE SCHOOL OF By VISCOUNT BURY, Lieut.-Colonel, Civil Service Regiment. HAVE been requested to sign my name to this paper instead of following the more usual course of remaining concealed behind the editorial shield. I only hope that my brother volunteers will not think that I have been too liberal of good advice. My excuse, if it be an excuse, is, that I would have been more modest had I not thought that, like a good rifleman, I was shooting from behind cover. The object of these pages is to give an exact representation of the course of training pursued at Hythe during the fortnight that the last batch of volunteers remained there. Classes for the instruction of volunteers will be continued at regular intervals. It may be useful to those who are going to attend one of these classes to know exactly what goes on there. Our constitutional forms lead us to look with jealousy upon any large augmentation of our standing army. Even were that not the case, the income-tax and other imposts to which we reluctantly submit would make us unwilling to incur the expense of such an augmentation. The regular army is scattered, and required for the protection of British soil in every part of the globe. To afford protection at home as well as abroad, and still not to increase our military force, is a dilemma, the solution of which has been reserved for the volunteers. It cannot be a matter of indifference to Englishmen that we alone of all European nations can afford to arm our population, and trust the defence of our institutions to those who live under them. Nor can it be anything but a subject of congratulation that in less than a year a body of more than a hundred and twenty thousand men has been raised, equipped at their own expense, officered from amongst themselves, and, in the opinion of military men, has become fit to do good VOL. LXII. NO. CCCLXVII. service on an emergency, without claiming anything from the Government, save arms and acceptance of their services. Not a town or country district in England but has heard during the last twelve months the bugles and words of command of its volunteer corps, sedulously occupied in working up their drill. Knowledge of the new drill book' became a marketable commodity highly in demand: a retired non-commissioned officer or soldier was certain of employment as a drill sergeant for some corps or other in his immediate neighbourhood; and if we may judge by the paragraphs headed Testimonial to Drill-sergeant So-and-so,' which have appeared in almost every day's newspaper, enthusiastic companies usually gave a snuff-box or a walking-stick, with appropriate inscription, or at least a dinner, with speeches and three times three, to the instructor who had coached them through the goose-step. Military men, as might be expected, at first looked shyly at the volunteers. They thought the movement would not last. The novelty would wear off. They remembered the days when they themselves were drilled, and how they hated it, and said the men would never stick to the work. They remembered how easy it is to club a battalion, and asserted that volunteer officers would never learn the great mystery of battalion drill. Perhaps there was some little professional feeling that a civilian had no business to know how to march off a battalion or relieve a guard. This, however, was in the very infancy of the movement.Soldiers began to reflect that the volunteer force could never come in any way into rivalry with the regular army; that, in truth, the more we, the volunteers of England, knew of soldiering, the more ready should we be to yield an appreciative and entirely unselfish admiration to professional skill and efficiency; to speed them on their way to foreign service with a more hearty 'God bless you.' Perhaps, too, they began to think that they could obey when the route arrived with lighter hearts, when they remembered that there was still left in England a body of men of the same blood as themselves, and possessed of some military training, to look after the wives and children at home. It would indeed be ungrateful were the volunteers not to take every opportunity of acknowledging the graceful manner in which the regular army have encouraged their efforts and hailed their success. The volunteer service rapidly increased in the favour of all classes. The Commander-in-chief placed himself at its head. The Queen accorded a formal reception to its officers. The Duke of Cambridge, in a speech marked with great earnestness of thought, defined the position which they were to assume with regard to the regular forces of the country. A field-day or two convinced officers that the men they saw required only time to become really efficient. The grand question was, and is, as to the permanence of the force. The Queen has reviewed her volunteer forces; and the object for which during the last three weeks every corps which could possibly make arrangements to be present at the review, has been redoubling its exertions and its attention to drill, is now a matter of conversation, a thing of the past. Now will come out the answer to the question, is the movement a permanent one? As one who has worked at it from the beginning, I venture to express the opinion that it is so. Moments of depression must be expected. Among hundred and twenty thousand men, none of whom are bound to remain by any other tie than a feeling of duty, some will doubtless grow weary. Invasion may be-and I earnestly trust will be -long delayed. Some will no doubt think that the apprehension in which this movement originated was unfounded. A reaction is certain-all history is full of examples of it; after a panic will come a feeling of security, and there will be a tendency to relapse into the defenceless position from which we have so recently emerged. That this will not be the opinion of the majority of those who have taken up the subject, I am confident. The pervading feeling among those with whom I have conversed, is that volunteering is no particular fun, but that it must be carried out. To men of this temper the reflection that they have undertaken a duty will suffice to sustain them in its performance. But it is not the less necessary to examine with caution what are the elements of stability in the movement itself. The existence of the force adds very materially to the national feeling of security. That very feeling, strongly expressed, will react unfavourably on the movement, if it be not perfectly understood that public opinion demands the continuance of the volunteers' exertions, and assures them that they will be sustained by the approval of their countrymen. We can never again afford to relapse into our former defenceless position. The volunteer force alone can prevent our doing so. I am convinced that the real leaders of public opinion, men who had too much confidence in the capacity of England for self-defence to fall into panic about our weakness, and who have too much knowledge of our real requirements to allow themselves hereafter to be lulled into fancied security,-will keep up a steady pressure of approval on the volunteers, and will not allow them to disappear. If this point be conceded, it only remains to inquire by what internal arrangements the stability of the institution can best be secured. It must rely on others for encouragement, it must rely on itself and the efficiency of its own organization for its smooth working and continuance. If I may venture an opinion, which I know is shared by many who take a warm 1860.] Prizes for good Shooting. interest in the question, I would say to every commander of a corps: -Organize thoroughly. Have your staff complete. Let the captain of each company know, through the sergeants of his different sections, where every man lives, so that you can find each individual when he is wanted without delay. Do not harass men with too much mere battalion or company drill after it is once learnt. Devote your whole and constant attention to making every man a good rifle shot and bayonet fencer. The object appears to be to get the work well and efficiently done with the least worry to the men. I should say, do not insist on men appearing in uniform except on general parade days, perhaps once a week; and do any other drills in plain clothes. Belts can be worn perfectly well in mufti, and the adoption of this plan saves trouble, and saves clothes. This last is no slight consideration, as we shall see when the evil day arrives when new uniforms are necessary. There are persons whom we all meet sometimes, who appear to consider that a volunteer corps should march out even though it is raining hard. 'Not to mind a wet jacket,' appears to be considered a very fine thing. To stay at home because of the wet seems to be thought the act of a set of milksops. Do the enlightened individuals who hold this language actually believe that it is the mark of an old soldier' to get wet, when he can help it? If so, they are quite mistaken. Commanding officers who keep their men at home, and so economize their clothing, which in many cases it will be a hard pull to replace, and their health, which ought to be a good officer's anxious care, prove themselves better soldiers than their critics suppose. But the most important thing of all is to make every man a good shot. In that, not only the efficiency of the men as soldiers, but the permanence of the volunteer movement, is concerned. Men must have an interest beyond the mere esprit de corps which will make 333 them march and wheel well at a field day. The interest in rifleshooting is a permanent and an absorbing one, especially if it be carried on in company. The National Rifle Association will contribute very greatly to achieve this good result. The prizes which it annually offers, besides the distinction of being one of the first rifle shots of England which it will confer on its prizemen, will make its rewards eagerly sought after and sedulously worked for. No doubt there will be prizes shot for in every corps-a very small subscription will get one. It need only be a pewter pot with a suitable inscription. It is not the intrinsic value of the thing that winners will care for. There will be county meetings-matches shot wherever there is a range. In short, the rifle will become a national weapon, and rifle meetings will be as common as archery-meetings were formerly, and much more amusing. What more exciting than to kneel in front of one's comrades, and fire down a nine-hundred yard range? What pleasure more delicious than to see, as you put down your sights, a white flag, or possibly a blue flag, waved at the marker's butt, whilst you try to look as if nothing particular had occurred, when your friends exclaim, 'Centre, by Jupiter! Well done, old fellow! and your rival, if you have one, says, 'Confound the fellow's luck!' and the men at the next range look to see who it is that has made a centre at nine hundred yards. This brings me to the subject of my paper. To hit a target at nine hundred yards means a very good shot indeed. The mark presents an appearance, not to describe it by a fraction, one-half the width and one-third of the height of a postage-stamp. Divide a postagestamp into six, take one part, and put a spot of ink three times the size of a pin's-head upon it, and you have a fair representation of a target, regulation size, at nine hundred yards. If the wind is blowing from the side, you must aim 2, 5, 10, or even 15 feet to the right or left of it. The mean deviation of an Enfield rifle is over six feet-that is, if a rifle were screwed into a rest, and accurately pointed at nine hundred yards, all the shots would strike within a circle of three feet from the point aimed at; but the imperfection of the material of the weapon would render it impossible to predict, nearer than that, where they would hit. It is evident, therefore, that to hit at nine hundred yards requires very accurate and careful training. Practice alone will not give it. Theory alone would be equally powerless. Everybody in England knows nowadays that a school of musketry has been for the last few years established at Hythe under the direction of Major-General Hay, and that extraordinary results have been obtained from the system there pursued. For the first time in our history, attention has been paid to the individual accuracy and skill in the use of the rifle, of every soldier throughout the army. From every regiment in the service a detachment of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men is sent to Hythe. They go through a prolonged course of instruction; those who qualify themselves for the honour receive the appointment of instructors of musketry, according to their several ranks. Proficiency in the theory and practice of musketry is rewarded in the soldier by increase of his daily pay, and permission to wear a distinctive badge on his arm. The best shot of a battalion has twopence a day extra pay, and cross muskets and crown worked in gold upon his sleeve. The best shots of each company, and a certain number of men called marksmen-men who in the yearly course of shooting have exhibited great proficiency in judging distance, as well as in the theory of musketry and firing-are also selected for rewards of various amount, as well as the privilege before alluded to of wearing the distinguishing badge of a marksman, the cross muskets. To obtain the distinction of wearing the cross muskets is of course an object of much emula tion, and the excitement is very great during the time of the annual course. The firing is in all instances conducted strictly in accordance with the rules of the School of Musketry at Hythe. The school has become the centre of instruction for the British army, and an uniform system has been thus established. It was obviously desirable to assimilate the musketry instruction of the volunteers to that of the regular army. Each corps has therefore been allowed to send one or more members down to Hythe to undergo a careful course of training, which on his return he is expected to communicate to his corps. The importance to officers in command of volunteer corps, of attending the course at Hythe can hardly be overrated. Independently of the knowledge they individually acquire, they are enabled to superintend, with an accurate acquaintance with the subject, the drill of the sergeants who may be employed as instructors by their corps, and thereby to contribute to the attainment of that uniformity which is so absolutely necessary. It was with great satisfaction that I received from the War-office an order to proceed to Hythe and report myself to the General commanding on Monday, the 21st of May last, at half-past nine o'clock in the forenoon. Attached to the order was an intimation that, in acknowledging its receipt, each man appointed was expected to promise that he would place himself under the orders of the General, and not absent himself from Hythe without leave till the conclusion of the course. The limited accommodation of Hythe had all been taken up before my arrival, and it was with rather a forlorn feeling that I sallied forth in the gathering twilight on a dogcart from the 'Swan' to hunt up an abode fitted to receive two small families--that of Lord Suffield and my own, both of which were to arrive next day. House-hunting in the dark may not in all cases succeed, but fortune guided me to one that suited exactly. It fronted the sea at Sandgate, with a capital beach for the children to play about on-rocks bare, with mussels and polypi at low water; everything in fact, in their opinion, complete, We were distant about two miles and a half from our work, to which we drove every morning. Hythe itself was, if I may be allowed the expression, redolent of rifle shooting. All day long either big guns or little guns were thundering or rattling on the shingles. Coles Musketry Catechism, Field Exercise, Musketry Instruction, Hans Busk's Handbook of Hythe, The Rifle Lock Dissected-such were the titles of the works in the booksellers' shops; cross muskets for lucky first-class shots, belts and cartridge pouches, were in the tailors' windows; shingle boots at the bootmakers'; heel-pads for those too stiff to sit in the Hythe position,' in the harness-shop. The tradesmen who could not sell anything to do with rifle shooting-you cannot have rifle crockery, for instance-sold photographs of former distinguished pupils of the school. Colonel Luard, Colonel Jones, and Major Nelson, inspectors of volunteers, appeared convivially seated at a table with one glass (empty) between them, in Mr. Cobb, the chemist's, best style. Five men of one of the West India regiments exhibited the different motions of the platoon,' &c. &c. If one's thoughts had been for a moment inclined to stray from the all-pervading topic, they would have been recalled by the sight of volunteers in uniform walking about. The streets must have presented a sombre, not to say dull appearance when all were on parade; but as at those times I was on parade too, I never saw the village under any light but one suggestive of musketry and nothing else. Next morning as I walked down to the shore for a swim, I passed more than one enthusiast hard at work at position drill, though it was only just half-past five o'clock. The old boatman who rowed me out was misanthropical, and a disbeliever in rifle-shooting. He looked with much bitterness on the enthusiasts 35 who were practising their drill. He 'knowed it would not last,' but they was always sweetish on it at first. After breakfast I went with Colonel Lindsay, the commander of the St. George's regiment, to report ourselves. We were passed on to the adjutant, who took down our names and volunteer rank, and sent us on to the armoury to receive a rifle, knee-pad, and other matters appertaining thereto. After a short interview with the General we accompanied him to the parade, where men in every variety of volunteer uniform were standing in groups waiting for the bugle to fall in. At five minutes to the half hour the non-commissioned officers' call was sounded, the sergeants were inspected by the adjutant, and the various groups began to assemble in the places which had already been assigned to them. The clock struck-seven or eight gentlemen and myself had gone to the place where we were told our section was to stand, and were watching the scene with much curiosity, when a deep voice, with which we afterwards became very well acquainted, thundered forth, 'squad! 't'ntion!' and startled us all into attitudes which, according to our various ideas, best represented intense obedience to the order. The sergeant who uttered this command, was at this moment called away to receive some instructions from one of the officers, and we had a minute to note the scene. Under the trees which face the barracks, some ninety volunteers, divided into sections of eight or ten each, were standing. Opposite each group a sergeant instructor of musketry examined with critical eyes the raw material which he was to work up into first-rate rifle shots in fourteen days. Two or three officers of the staff, in undress uniform, were dividing their attention between the groups. One of them was engaged in conversation with a tall soldier-like man in plain clothes, with a heavy moustache, and an eye the brightness of which gave promise of the ex |