§ LORD VIVIANrose to ask a question as to the intention of the Government with respect to the farther encouragement of Rifle and Artillery Volunteer corps. The noble Lord accompanied his question with certain remarks, which, from his Lordship speaking with his back to the gallery, were totally inaudible, though their purport may be gathered from the reply.
EARL DE GREY AND RIPONsaid, Her Majesty's Government fully concurred with his noble Friend in the high appreciation he entertained of the loyal and patriotic spirit which had prompted such large numbers of the community voluntarily to come forward and offer their services to Her Majesty in Rifle and Artillery corps. Those offers had been made under very remarkable circumstances. They had not been made, as in the time of the old Volunteers, under the immediate apprehension of war or invasion. They had been made calmly and deliberately, with the view to supplement the defences of the country, the necessity of which had been pressed on the public mind; and they had been made, too, in a manner which, so far, he thought, encouraged the hope that the Volunteer force would become in the course of time to a great extent a permanent institution of the country. But, in reference to the Question put by his noble Friend, it must be borne in mind that the nature of Volunteer corps, as they were now being raised, was essentially that they came forward and offered their unpaid, voluntary services to the country; and it would be inconsistent with their present character to become a charge on the public revenue. That, he believed, was the principle on which it was 554 originally intended by the late Government that these corps should be established, and it was also the view of Her Majesty's present Government. Her Majesty's present Government, indeed, had gone beyond what was originally intended by the late Government with regard to the assistance to be rendered to those corps. At an early period after the present Government came into office, his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for War intimated an intention on the part of the Government to supply rifles to 25 per cent of the effective volunteers. Since then the percentage had been gradually raised, until at the present time the possession of a rifle had been guaranteed to every effective member of a Volunteer corps. But when his noble Friend went further than that, and suggested that the Government should supply the volunteers with uniforms, his noble Friend asked the Government to do that which was inconsistent with the character of this force, which was a force that came forward offering voluntary services to the Crown, and to which the Government had thought it right to supply the arms necessary for its efficiency. He was unable to assure his noble Friend that Her Majesty's Government intended to supply clothing to the volunteers. It had appeared to his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for War that a more material service would be rendered to the volunteers, and one more consistent with the origin of the force, if the Government were to assist them in making themselves efficient in their drill and military instruction. He was therefore authorized to state that the Government have it in contemplation to afford assistance in the way of obtaining the services of paid and efficient adjutants, which would be more valuable assistance than that of clothing the volunteers; because they will be then enabled to secure the services of military officers well and thoroughly instructed, and who will be able to conduct their drill on sound principles. Having regard to the position which this Volunteer movement had now assumed-embracing as it did, he was happy to be able to state, between 60,000 and 70,000 men at this time, and the number was increasing every day—the question now was, how such a force could be properly organized and instructed. For that purpose an Inspector of Volunteers, Colonel M'Murdo, an officer of experience, had already been appointed, who was to be assisted by six Assistant Inspectors, who 555 would take different districts of the country, and visit the various corps, and superintend their organization from time to time. A plan was also now in contemplation for arranging the corps throughout the country into battalions—interfering, however, as little as possible with their special arrangements and local organizations,—each of which battalions would be provided with a military officer as adjutant. With regard to the Artillery Volunteers, his noble Friend advanced a further claim than he urged in the case of the Rifle Volunteers. For the Rifles his noble Friend was content to ask for clothing, targets, and ammunition; but for the Artillery Volunteers he claimed, in addition, that they should be paid for each day's drill. That certainly appeared to be inconsistent with the principles on which those corps were being raised, besides instituting a distinction of an individous character between Artillery and Rifle Volunteers. The Government already afforded valuable assistance to the Artillery Volunteers; they supplied them with guns complete, with instruction, and with ammunition; but to go beyond that, and pay them, seemed to him (Earl de Grey and Ripon) to be wholly inconsistent with the character of the force. Did his noble Friend suppose the Government would pay those men for their day's drill under the existing Act of Parliament, according to which any one of them might withdraw from the service after giving fourteen days' notice? Surely it was impossible to do that, seeing that such corps might at any time be dissolved after fourteen days' notice. He (Earl De Grey and Ripon) earnestly trusted that the measures which had been taken and were in contemplation by the Government were such as would give to this force a permanent character. It was highly desirable that these corps should become part of the military institutions of the country. Besides the interest which attached to the service of the Artillery and Rifle Volunteers, if they who joined these corps attended as far as might be to their military duties and training, he believed, from what he had seen and heard, that their efficiency might be raised to a very high pitch indeed under the voluntary system. Very many of the regiments formed within the last few months, by constant attention to drill had attained such a state of efficiency and aptitude as to excite the surprise and admiration of military men of 556 high rank and experience who had seen them. He believed the same patriotic spirit in which the Volunteer Movement had originated would continue to maintain it and lead to its being eventually made a permanent institution of the country. He believed the measures taken, and to be taken, by the Government in aid of that result would be sufficient for the purpose, and were the only measures to which recourse could be had, consistently with the character of the force and the principle on which it had been formed. He trusted the large force which had been raised, and which was receiving fresh augmentation daily, would be found of the greatest utility, and go far to induce the feeling that we had a reserve in this country on which we might to a great extent rely for the protection of our shores in the event of their being threatened with danger, and which, in such times, might occupy our garrisons and enable us to set free our regular troops for service in the field.
§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHremarked, that no reply had been given with reference to the Government finding drill sergeants.
§ LORD WENSLEYDALEsaid, he had served in the Volunteers fifty years ago, and he was promoting the formation of a corps in his neighbourhood; but it was a great tax on them to pay the drill sergeants.
EARL DE GREY AND RIPONsaid, it was not at present the intention of the Government to pay drill sergeants for every company of Volunteers. There was a very large number of companies throughout the country. The Government hoped, however, that when the Adjutants were generally appointed they would themselves be able to superintend the drill of each corps. It was intended that sergeants of the line, discharged with the consent of their commanding officers, should be allowed to reckon their time of service with Volunteer corps for pension at the rate of one month for every two months' service with the Volunteer corps.