Current:

Tomahawk (1867-1870), 3rd April 1869, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag, No. ioo.] LONDON, APRIL 3, 186 9. [Price...

Page unpag
Page 1
1 of 12

On this page

  • Departments (1)
    • OUR WOUNDED VOLUNTEERS.
  • Text (4)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Tu E T O Ma Hawk: A Saturday Journal Of ...

      TU E T O MA HAWK : A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . ! firittit frg & tt \ n * a'gufcttt "INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "

      No. Ioo.] London, April 3, 186 9. [Price...

      No . ioo . ] LONDON , APRIL 3 , 186 9 . [ Price Twopence .

      Our Wounded Volunteers.

      OUR WOUNDED VOLUNTEERS .

      Let Nobody Think From The Above Heading ...

      Let nobody think from the above heading that we are describing any casualties that may have resulted from Monday ' s Review ; we write this while that Review is in . the womb of the great To Be . It is to the wounded feelings , to the crippled resources , and to the mutilated prospects of our Volunteers , that we refer . The history of the Volunteer movement in England is a very curious one . We suppose that even in this , the great empire of Humbug and Pretence , there never has been , any body of men sa bespattered with fulsome praise , so deluged with flattery , so smothered with compliments , and all to so little practical advantage , as the Volunteers . As for the real and useful aid which they have received from either the G 3 vernment or the public , it has been very little indeed ; and now that a Government is in power , whose liberal ideas of economy are carried into effect by robbing everybody in their employ of a psnny who has only got twopence-half-penny , we may be pretty sure that the capitation grant , small enough before , will soon disappear altogether . We venture to say that it is much easier to raise twenty thousand pounds by public subscription towards the erection of some idiotic caricature in marble of Albert the Good , or some other unfortunate individual whom we have abused whilst alive , but when dead have agreed to persecute with panegyrics , than to scrape together two hundred pounds towards the support of any regiment of Volunteers . Of course we will not for one moment dispute that the statue is the more useful and more ornamental thing of the two , but still we do not know what the Volunteers have done that they should bs lauded up to the skies in words , which cost nothing , but when they appeal for hard cash to their enthusiastic encomiasts , should be met with the chilled shot

      01 refusal . Have the Volunteers failed to answer the purpose for which they were established ? We say , certainly not . If they were intended solely to repulse an apprehended invasion , the apprehension having proved a vain one , they have not had an opportunity of proving their usefulness , or the reverse . Some persons may think that , as the probability of an invasion of England is further off than ever , therefore , the Volunteers are of no use at all . But these persons balong to thit class , unfortunately a very large one , which never can see the use or advantage of any precautionary measures . These are the sort of people who are always sorry that they have not insured their house , after it has been burnt down j who spend a hundred pounds readily enough in doctor's bills for one of their children whose health , and , too often , life might have been saved by the

      precautionary expenditure of a hundred shillings . These people are frantic with rage at the notion of building fortifications , and ships , or of organizing troops , till war has begun , and then they are for lavishing millions when hundreds would have sufficed two years ago . Nothing equals the extravagance of these -economists except their niggardliness ; the triumphant air in which they point to the sixpence struck off the Estimates in answer to their persistent clamour , is only surpassed by the impetuous fury with which they add thousands to them , when the danger , not so much unforeseen as unprepared for , really arrives . As part of the wise policy of precaution , the Volunteer movement has certainly succeeded . The different corps have proved , year after year , that they are well trained , capable of bearing fatigue , and of submitting to camp discipline ; that they can move rapidly , and answer readily to the word of command ; in fact , that they are fit to take the place of the regular troops as a home garrison in the event of war , or any other cause , necessitating the despatch of all our troops on some foreign service . This is what Volunteers are intended for ; nor can we see why they should not be employed in the quelling of any civil tumult , as they must , from the nature of the elements which constitute them , be much less inimical to a mob than the regular forces ; and their very presence would be a declaration of all the respectable classes in favour of law and order . What then is'the reason that our Volunteer Force threatens to fall into decay if not to collapse altogether ? It is not because the enthusiasm which was the immediate cause of its creation , has subsided ; for there is quite enough zeal and earnestness in favour of its existence to give it vitality . It seems to us that the fault lies with the military authorities , who have never taken any hearty interest in its equipment , and in its proper organization . Parliament too is much to blame for the

      coldness which its members have always evinced on the subject . As it is , the Volunteer Corps have been nearly entirely supported by the men themselves , and by the liberality of private individuals ; there has been no disposition on the part of the officers to spare time , labour , or expense j but being essentially derived from the ranks of the people , however ready the will may be , the means , in the cases of many excellent regiments , are not forthcoming , and unless they get some aid from the State , all the labour and money already spent will have been spent in vain . The Volunteers are badly officered , badly equipped , and badly organized ; whatever aid they have received from the Treasury has always been grudgingly given , and unless the Government and Parliament are prepared to deal with the Volunteers in a more liberal spirit , we doubt very much if private enterprise will be able to bear the burden .

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), April 3, 1869, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_03041869/page/1/