Though for some cause which we have never heard properly explained, there are no ‘colours’ or ‘standards’ in our Volunteer corps, each regiment has a motto, the favourite ones being _Defence, not Defiance_ (which is the motto of the National Rifle Association), _Pro Aris et Focis_ (For our Hearths and Firesides), and _Pro Rege et Patria_ (For King and Country). If ever our Volunteers are used at all it will be in battalion formation, like the regular army, for an army of two hundred thousand men cannot all act as skirmishers, and their colours would be to them as much the embodiment of their country’s honour as those of the line are to the regiments of the regular army. The Volunteers of 1804 possessed honourable emblems in the shape of banners or standards, many of which still adorn the walls of London’s historic fortress—the Tower. In the year 1860 the Volunteer movement received the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen, in a manner as practical as it was generous and graceful. The National Rifle Association, which may be said to be the mainspring of the whole affair, and which has since become one of our most popular institutions, had decided to hold the first annual contest in rifle-shooting at Wimbledon Common, and the great ‘Tir National’ of England was successfully inaugurated by the Queen firing the first shot. The rifle was laid for her, and Her Majesty pulled the trigger. By the aid of the ‘mechanical rest’ the bullet struck the bull’s-eye, and thus with an omen of happy import was commenced the series of contests which to-day has given us an army of sharpshooters ready to ‘do or die’ for Britain. The Queen then announced that she would give a prize of two hundred and fifty pounds to be shot for annually, the winner having the choice of receiving it either in money or in a souvenir of the same value. This prize, which is called the ‘blue-ribbon’ of Wimbledon, can only be shot for by Volunteers; and to it are also attached the gold medal and badge of the National Rifle Association. The Prince Consort also gave an annual prize to be shot for, and this has been continued to the meeting by the Prince of Wales.