THE MILITARY AND GARIBALDI ON VOLUNTEERS.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 272, 29 May 1860, Page 4

THE MILITARY AND GARIBALDI ON VOLUNTEERS.

To the Editor.—Severe censures on the military authorities have recently appeared in one of your New Zealand contemporaries. It -is to be regretted that when such strictures are in • dulged in, their authors do-not go to the root of the matter—" lay the axe to the root of the tree." What I ask but incapacity and blundering can be expected, of a military force officered by mqn whose commissions and subsequent promotions are procured by purchase or A aristocratic influence or an admixture of both. Few but idle and infatuated dandies, who if they could ever hope for consideration, would lie obliged to purchased it, would make the money bargain for rank and finery. War makes an army for Britain, but her admitted misfortune is, that it never found her ready with one. The incompetent and pussillanimous officers have to be killed off, and their places supplied with men of ability and spirits. When this takes place ; but not till then, the British army becomes cceteris paribus the first in the world. I fear that the military force at Taranaki must undergo a similar ordeal, ere. it vindicates fer itself the much vaunted prestige of British troops. Having ventured thus far on military matters, I will prosecute my remarks a little farther, indifferent whether they prove offensive or otherwise, provided they subserve the interest of truth, and of New Zealand. I may at the outset reiterate what I have stated in a pre- j vious communication, that in the present state of European complications, and remembering the extent and disjointed nature of the British Empire, it is highly impolitic for the colonists to be dependent on British soldiery for protection from Maori or other agression, because England might suddenly be placed in that position, that she could not spare a man for the defence or maintenance of so distant, arid comparatively poor dependency as New Zealand,— or could not send troops in time to avert the most fearful disasters. . I conceive that for the assured safety of New Zealand, whether against extern or intern danger, it is absolutely necessary that every able bodied man should as far as possible be made a soldier, and that to this end the .two first objects to be aimed at, are the supplying them with the best firearms, and rendering them fjXpert marksmen. la this couuexion, I may

with propriety quote the following passage from an English journal. The modern science of warfare with arms of precision, making each soldier an individual combatant, instead of a mere unit in a mass to be shot down, tells us that thirty-five thousand picked men" (in other words good shots supplied with arms of precision) .might well bo trusted to drive back a hundred thousand." ; ;

I should like to be informed are the. authorities acting up to the spirit of the . truth just enunciated, in furnishing the militia with the obsolete musket, a weapon which might indeed be of some avail against an undisciplined peasantry unfamiliar with firearms, but which to my mind is worse than useless against a foe armed with fowling pieces and rifles, and who notoriously are capital shots.

Of what avail is our superior knowledge over the barbarian, if in a matter of life and death we do not press it into our service, but recklessly discard it in a struggle, in which our enemies have certain natural and acquired advantages over us. To my mind it is only by the employment of the most approved firearms, that Europeans can be a match for an equal number of Maories. To send us to • the conflict armed with the musket, is to send us to the shambles.!

If these observations are not deemed inopportune, I will add an extract from Garibaldi's letter on the British Volunteers, which may prove suggestive to those of this is* land.

He says—" the retreat of the most disciplined troops of Austria before the less disciplined Zouaves proves that a nian may be a soldier without wearing a tight tunic or a light cravat. The shepherds of Paulus JEmilius armed only with daggers, rushing ,on the Macedonian phalanx,—those terrible conquerors of Asia—• the clouds of French"Voltigeurs of the army of the Republic, and lastly the Bersaglieri and Zouaves of St. Martinu, Magenta, Solferiuo and Palestro prove that masses are not alone useful in battle-fields, and that Volunteers, Bersaglieri and Zouaves need not learn how to fight in close order, like troops of the line. Discipline is no doubt the basis of the organization of all armaments, and without^ it war cannot be correctly carried on ; but why should not Volunteers who have sworn not to abandon their standards during the danger of their country, have the same discipline as regular corps ? Are patriotism and enthusiasm such despicable and heterogeneous sentiments as to destroy regularity in national troops ?" After some more in the same strain, Garibaldi expresses his dissent from the dictum of Sir John Burgoyne, that 50,000 veterans will defeat 100,000 volunteers, he says—" I do not agree with him that 50,000 veterans will defeat 100,000 volunteers, if the latter have the diacipline that all troops ought to have; and that they are as may be imagined animated by the love of their country."

He further remarks— " I believe that the theory of great regularity of masses and lines is generally carried too far and that the open order of battle is too much neglected—as it has become necessary through the perfection of fire arms, and through the obstacles that cultivation has accumulated at every step. The following are his concluding observations, " I do not yet know the way in which tha English Volnnfceore : are organized; but I believe however, that for volunteers in alb countries, the train of tbe Bersaglieri is the best. The lightness of their uniform, the open order that forms the basis of their mancevouring ivithout hindering them from acting in masses when the occasion presents. itself — an( J above all the swiftness of their movements* make them the most perfect soldiers I have known. I wish that all the Italian army was composed of Bersaglieri." "And Ido not doubt that such an organization would be also easily attainable by English' volunteers, English soldiers having obtained the reputation of intrepidity and coolness under fire."-— Philalethbs. (From the Exeter Times.)