The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 128, 4 June 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1867.

) I I II We fear that it is very much the fashion amongst certain cynical members of the community to disparage the Volunteer movement, and to institute invidious comparisons between our amateur soldiers and the regular troops, some even going the length of questioning whether, if our citizen soldiery were indeed fighting pro aris et focis, they would exhibit the same amount of pluck and prowess in the presence of the enemy as they do upon the mimic field of battle. Such persons altogether ignore the fact that throughout the war which bas been carried on against the Maoris, where peril was to be encountered, where death was to be risked, and where distinction was to be won, the Volunteers were ever in the thick of the fight, and the achievements of the men of Taranaki alone ought to carry encouragement to Volunteers in every part of the colony, as an earnest of what may be expected from this veritable Natioual Guard, whenever it is called upon to vindicate its prowess against an enemy. They seem to forget that some of the noblest victories won by Wellington were achieved by the instrumentality of raw levies — by men as new to military duties aud military discipline as the majority of those v. ho constitute the various Volunteer Corps embodied in this province., A recruiting sergeant picks up a batch of not very brilliant rustics at a country fair. He enlists them, sends them to the nearest depot, and after a few weeks' drilling, they are shipped to the Peninsula, commence campaigning in real earnest, march calmly up to almost inevitable death upon the fatal but glorious hill at Albuera, or execute prodigies of audacious valor in the breaches of Badajos, or storm the ramparts of San Sebastian iu the face a very feu d'enfer. Many of the men who assisted the great DuVe to sweep the '' Spanish Peninsula of its French invaders, were mere novices in the trade of war. There was no special virtue in their stiff stocks, scarlet coats, and cumbrous knapsacks ; and their knowledge of military science was as slight as their martial experience. But they measured their streugth with one of the finest armies, commauded by the ablest generals in Europe, and ihey carried the Britisii flag in triumph from Lisbon to the Pyrenees. Woui'! a well-trained body of citizen I soldiers do less, if ever called upon, to / repel — not the subjugators of an apathetic ally — but the invaders, whether Maori or foreign, of their hearths and homes ? Is ,- it to be supposed that men, belonging for the most part to the educated classes of society, with whom patriotism is something more than an instinct, and the honor and independence of the British Empire something more than fine souuding words, will be less capable of acts of heroism aud endurance than the brave fellows — agricultural laborers, city operatives, and others — whose insensibility to j fear and whose indomitable courage called forth the admiration of Napoleon himself ? Let the past conduct of the Volunteers of this colony attest their equality with the troops of the line, whether in precision of movement, steadiness under fire, or hardihood in attack ; and if any disparagement be thrown upon the youth of some of our Volunteers, let it be remembered, that as not a few of the Great Captain's victories were won by mere boys, so it is no less worthy of record, that two of the bravest of the citizen soldiers of Taranaki, who sealed their devotion with their lives, were mere lads, the youngest being no more than fifteen years of a«-e. If our own Volunteers should ever be called upon to perform something more arduous than their present duties, and to signalise in the field their discipline and

prowess, there is every reason to believe that they will not fall below their comrades in other parts of the colony in either regard. The strength of tLe muster the other day at the Review, which will, in all probability be largely increased 'ere many months have elapsed, and the steadiuess of the evolutions, afforded ample proof of the strong hold which the Volunteer movement has taken upon the public miud, and the hearty interest that is felt it its progress by those who have enrolled themselves among the defenders of their countiy. Nor is it the least satisfactory of the results of this movement, that it tends to t' e promotion of social feeling, gives cohesion to the scattered elements of colonial society, accustoms men to habits of discipline and punctuality, and contributes materially to the physical education of those whose avocations preclude them, under ordinary circumstances, from auy kind of gymnastic training. Aud as there is, generally, something dignified in the carriage and methodical in the habits of men who have received a military training, so, among the minor advantages to be derived from the drill and practice of our Volunteers, are to be included the acquisition of some habits, aud the development of some facilities, which mere civilians do not ordinarily acquire, aud the acquisition of which will be found to be no less beneficial to their mental than to their bodily health.