OUR RESERVE FORCE.
(TO TER EDITOR OF THE SPEOTATOILI
Sirt,—Your article of last Saturday on the "Reserve Forces' contains some remarks on the Volunteers so just and apposite thab I venture to hope you may grant me space in your columns to offer one or two suggestions on points which I believe materially affect the well-being of that branch of the service. The very first thing required by the Volunteer regiments is unity of system ; at; present it is as difficult to find two regiments governed on the same principles as it is to meet with identity of uniform.
The Regular Army and the Militia, when embodied, are subject to the elaborate provisions of the Mutiny Act and Queen's Regtr- lotions. By the provisions of Mr. Cardwell's Bill the Volunteers are to be made subject to military law when brigaded with regular troops ; so far so good, but a Volunteer regiment is a force per- manently embodied, entrusted with arms, and yet the only provision for its government and discipline is contained in a para- graph of the Volunteer Regulations, stating that when not enrolled, for actual service the commanding officer is responsible for the discipline of the regiment. Power of punishment he has none„ except dismissal of the offender from the ranks of his regiment- Take the following case Volunteer is insubordinate or muti- nous, and is dismissed by his commanding officer. The State is the loser to the extent of the value of the time expended on his military education by the adjutants and aerjeant-instructors of the regi- ment, and by the proportion of the capitation-grant paid for his equipment. The offender, except in so far as he may be annoyed at his dismissal from the ranks, goes scot-free, and has the laugh at his superior, whose authority he at once eludes and defies. 1 do not ask for martial law in its full extent for the Volum-.
tears, but I do most earnestly contend that a modified Mutiny Act with power for military punishment of military offences is abso- lutely essential to the discipline of the force. Given a body of men armed, drilled, and equipped and assembled for military training under their own officers, they become for the time being an essen- tially military body, and offences then and there committed ought to be amenable to a military code. Every Volunteer ought to be made to understand that the assumption of arms and uniform entails obligations which will be enforced,—not, as now, that he may when he pleases snap his fingers at his officers, and on dis- missal put on plain clothes and put off his military character. An old soldier, and now a Volunteer officer, I regret to confess my conviction that the whole constitution and establishment of the force have been radically mismanaged from the beginning. The originators of the movement dreamed of rifle clubs, and the War Office patted them on the back. Then came the concession of the capitation-grant, and as you have so truly pointed out, from that moment the Volunteers became a paid force, and the War Office ought to have made harder terms with them. Unhappily the War Office was at once too timid and too economical ; a little more money properly expended would have sufficed fully to equip the Volunteers, which, coupled with a little timely firmness as to the conditions of service, would have made them a really valuable force. At present the miserable old rifle-club ideas, the pernicious action of committees, and the extreme scarcity of experienced officers in their ranks, combine to render them, I fear, but a broken reed for the country to lean on in time of danger.
We require, then, a complete code of laws and government appli- cable to Volunteers when not brigaded with regular troops ; also the abolition of all committees, they usually do more harm than good, and are often a focus of discontent and insubordination. The finances should invariably be administered by the commanding officer and the adjutant alone, and the accounts rendered to the War Office and to the regiment every half-year. It may, however, possibly be advisable to let a committee manage the band. The Clothing Department should undertake the equipment of all Volun- teers corps in one uniform and completely in all respects. The sums now expended in capitation-grants will be found, I believe, if properly administered, nearly sufficient for the purpose, if not, let the necessary increase be made.
The possession of great-coats, valises, water-bottles, and haver-
sulks, is absolutely as essential to the Volunteer as to the Regular, and under proper supervision he may be as safely entrusted with the care of these articles as with that of his rifle. The War Office will exercise a wise economy that day when, revoking the present capitation-grants, it undertakes the clothing and equipment of efficient Volunteers, and advances to the colonel only such sums as may be necessary to pay for the rest of his orderly-room and rifle ranges. It is too late now to talk of the Volunteers as a self- supporting force. The idea was chimerical from the first ; let it be enough that we give our, time and devote our energies to the service of the State, and let the State equip, arm, and organize us in the full sense of the word. At present, neither the country nor the Volunteer gets a quid pro quo. I would urge an increase of the permanent staff to the extent of one serjeant per 100 men in all ; this is most essential when the individuals composing a bat- talion are scattered about in different directions, as in London, and occasional domiciliary visits are necessary, to see that the men have not changed their quarters and have their rifles and accoutrements in good order.
Every Taall should be compelled to attend a battalion parade in heavy-marching order once a month, and be punished for absence without leave.
When their services are not otherwise required, half-pay officers in:sslit, in certain proportions, be attached to Volunteer battalions. Theft' snresence would be most valuable, and tend to inspire that military s,mtiment of duty which it is so difficult to inculcate among irregulars. No excuse but sickness should be held valid for a Volunteer declining to attend a camp of instruction for ODO week in the autumn ; a man who cannot do this is best out of the ranks.
If these or analogous provisions were carried out, they would prove a tolerably severe test of the staying powers of this force. For my part, I have no doubt that it would stand the ordeal, and become a reality, instead of a sham.—I am, Sir, Ste., A COMMANDING OFFICER O' VOLUNTEERS.
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