2d, The corps should be raised by counties, hundreds, and parishes,
and should be under the colonelcies of the Lords-Lieutenants or
their deputies. To keep up the _esprit de corps_ conjointly with the
spirit of local association and public patriotism, it is essential
that friends and neighbours, lords and tenants, should stand side by
side, fight in the same ranks, witness each other's brave deeds, and,
in every sense of the word, "put shoulder to shoulder." The several
counties might each furnish a regiment, and these regiments should then
be brigaded under the command of a general officer, appointed by the
commander-in-chief of her Majesty's forces. In the first instance, at
least, it would be desirable that a certain proportion of the officers
should be drawn from the half-pay list of the army, both for the sake
of instruction and example. Afterwards they should be taken _from the
ranks_, for the ranks in this corps would be, by the mere fact of
their organisation, composed of gentlemen and the best description
of yeomen--the latter, be it ever remembered, not unworthy to lead
their friends and neighbours; and the mode of so doing might be easily
arranged by the military authorities, on the combined footing of local
influence and personal merit.
3d, These corps, when organised, should be primarily intended for the
local defence of their several counties, or of any adjacent military
districts, into which the country might, from time to time, be divided.
But they should also be liable to serve, to the same extent as the
militia, anywhere within the European dominions of Her Majesty. We
do not contemplate the eventuality of their being ordered on foreign
service, though we strongly suspect that it would be very difficult to
keep such a corps always at home, when stirring scenes of national arms
and glory were to be met with away from their own shores. If, however,
the corps should be called on to do duty away from their own military
districts, then they should draw rations, clothes, equipments, and
ammunition, but _not pay_, the same as the regular troops.
4th, As it should be esteemed an honour to belong to such a corps,
so the members of it should not only be exempt from being drawn
for the militia, but they should also be free from paying for a
license to carry firearms and to shoot as sportsmen; and the cost
of their equipment should be such as to insure a certain degree of
respectability on the part of the volunteer. This preliminary expense,
added to that of maintaining himself on duty at his own cost, would
prevent any one but a man of a certain degree of substance from seeking
admission into the corps.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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