an army made up of fragments instead of one
large whole. Surely the initials and number of
the corps might be worn on the shoulder-strap,
as is the case in the English line regiments?
It is now eight years since the volunteer
movement commenced, and we ought to be more
advanced than we are in these small matters of
details.

But as I stand watching the several corps as
the volunteers finish their breakfasts and come
together at their various rendezvous, I think to
myself how infinitely more soldier-like they are
in every respect than the old garde national of
France. Very many men now barely of middle
age must remember those wonderful citizen
soldiers that used to mount guard at the
Tuileries in the days of Louis Philippe. They
were, of a truth, a sight and "a caution."
Above the waist they were tolerably uniform in
their dress, except that as often as not their
pouch-belts were slung over the wrong shoulders.
But in trousers and boots they wore what they
liked, and wore it how they liked. Some had
black cloth evening "pants," with their
varnished boots and tight straps. Others wore
white trousers cut as wide as a seaman's, with
gaiters to match. Many adhered to the blue
regulation trousers with red stripes, whilst
their companions revelled in the same coloured
garment, but plain and without stripes. Now our
volunteers have none of these most unsoldier-
like ways. With very few exceptions, they are all
dressed in a workman-like fashion, and, although
the different corps vary too much one from
another in their uniforms, every member of each
corps is accurately dressed in his proper
uniform, and nearly every uniform looks as if
meant for use and not for show.

There was certainly not much time lost on
Easter Monday before the work of the day
began. It was ten o'clock before the last
trains had arrived from London, and by eleven
the marching past had commenced with one
half of the force, whilst the other half—
very much to their disgust—were altogether
cut out of this show part of the review, and
were sent off post haste to Fareham, Havant,
and Cosham, there to take up their several
positions for the attack in the forthcoming
sham fight, the defending corps being detained
to march past on Southsea-common. Here,
again, the volunteer band nuisance showed in
full force. The marching past of some of the
regiments was entirely spoilt by the band which
had played before the preceding corps being
changed just as they came opposite the
saluting-point. Thus the step was lost, and the
whole corps thrown into confusion just at the
most critical moment.

And here, as an old soldier who worked at
the business more than a dozen years, I would
say a word or two about this part of the day's
programme. With even ordinary good arrangement,
there ought to have been plenty of time
for a march past of the whole volunteer army as
well as the sham fight. "Our special
correspondents," and the other amateur writers upon
the volunteer review, seem to take great pains
to run down as utterly useless the usual marching
past at these reviews. But I would ask
how, in the name of common sense, are the
general commanding and the other military
authorities to see what the troops are like in
their appearance unless they march past? And
with proper arrangements this part of the review
need not last very long. Twenty-five years
ago, when the armies under Generals Nott,
Pollock, and Sale returned to British India
from Affghanistan. I saw a hundred and fifty
thousand men march past Lord Ellenborough
at Ferozepore in one hour and forty minutes.
Surely our thirty thousand volunteers would
not have taken so long to defile before General
Buller at Southsea last Easter Monday? Say
that the march past had commenced an hour
earlier, there would have been plenty of time
between eleven A.M. and three P.M. for the
sham fight.

But the fact is, we are not fair to our volunteers;
we expect them to run before they can
walk. We give them every Easter Monday far
too much of this sham fighting, and look—that
is, the authorities look—too little at the
improved or decreased steadiness in their parade
movements. What inducement have either
corps or individuals to pay attention to their
drill, and to improve in their general steadiness,
when they are not so much as looked at on the
only day on which they appear in public? The
march past at Portsmouth was a success, and
a very great one—of that there can be no doubt.
What it suffered from, was too much band and
too little knowledge on the part of company
officers, the latter being a complaint to which
every volunteer corps is very liable. As a
general rule, the mounted officers know their
work well, being for the most part old line or
old Indian officers. But not so the captains
and subalterns. And if we really want our
volunteers to be what they ought, an examination,
or some other positive test of military
knowledge, ought to be insisted upon for every
person who aspires to a commission in the
citizen army. This should be exacted not only
before an officer is gazetted to an ensigncy,
but also when he obtains every subsequent
step.

Some military men believe, or make people
think that they believe, that our volunteers would
only be of use in the event of an invasion, if
placed behind stone walls. I am not one who
holds this opinion. I feel quite certain that if
we gave them fair play, and only allowed them
to be commanded by men who knew their duty
well, the volunteer army would fight as well in
the field, would be quite as easy to handle, as
our regular troops, and would be able by their
superior education and intelligence to take
even better care of themselves. All soldiers are
more or less unsteady when brought first under
the fire of an enemy. This has been proved
over and over again in every army. But why
should our volunteers not do as well in a
campaign as did the many hundred thousand