Aldershot And The Volunteers

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The Duke of Cambridge, in his speech at the London Rifle Brigade dinner, said he should be very glad to see the volunteers at Aldershot. The only difficulty, to him, appeared to be, how to get them there. We propose to venture a few suggestions how to overcome this difficulty.

It is, undoubtedly, quite out of the question to send to Aldershot, or any other camp, whole corps of volunteers. The elements of which they are composed preclude every chance of it. There is no company, much less a battalion, a majority of whose members could spare as much as a fortnight, at one and the same time, for such a purpose.

But if we cannot get the volunteers to Aldershot in bodies, could they not go there singly, and yet learn a great deal? We think they could, if the thing was arranged so as to offer every facility to volunteers to avail themselves of the opportunity.

We believe the great majority of the volunteers to be composed of men who can, now and then, get relieved from their usual avocations for a fortnight in a year. A great many take a regular holiday of that duration, and even longer. Among these there are certainly a considerable number who would not at all object—on the contrary—to spend, for once, their time and their money at Aldershot, if they were received there. Thus, there would be no difficulty whatever, between May and the end of September, to keep at Aldershot a floating population of volunteers amounting, at all times, to the strength of a decent battalion at least. If we can, then, get this floating population to the camp, how can this be utilised?

We propose that a range of huts or tents be set apart for say 600 volunteers, and that a captain, or, better still, a major, from the line be appointed to the command of this volunteer camp, with an adjutant and sergeant-major to assist him. The camp to be opened say in May, as soon as a sufficient number of volunteers have given in their names; if the camp is full, further applicants to be admitted as there may be room for them, the whole of such volunteers to be formed into a battalion; a blouse of a prescribed cut and colour to be worn over the tunics, so as to give the whole a uniform look. As there is sure to be an excess of officers, there will be no other chance but to make officers do duty, for the time being, as sergeants and even privates. Far from considering this a drawback, we should consider it an advantage. No volunteer officer is so well grounded in his personal drill that such a momentary relapse into the ranks would be useless to him; let him recollect that every line officer has to shoulder the rifle for a certain period year after year. The distribution of the temporary officers’ posts in the battalion might be easily regulated: the senior captains present might begin, and afterwards others might take their posts by rotation. The major in command could perhaps be intrusted with a deal of discretionary power in nominating to these appointments, in order to ensure a lively emulation among the officers present. These, however, are matters of detail, the arrangement of which would cause but little trouble if the idea was once taken up in good earnest.

Such a battalion, with its floating population, would never attain any very great efficiency, and the major in command, as well as his assistants, would have no easy post of it. But it would ensure one object: that among the volunteer army generally, and among the officers and sergeants specially, a nucleus would be formed of men who have at all events really been soldiers, if only for a fortnight. This may look a contemptibly short period; yet we have no doubt that every man would feel immensely different on leaving, to what he did on reaching Aldershot. There is an immense difference between drilling once or twice a week after the whole day has been spent on business and other matters, and drilling, even for a fortnight only, morning, noon, and night in a camp. During that fortnight, every volunteer present will have no other business to look after but his military education; he will be confirmed in his drill to a degree which no length of the present volunteer drill can raise him up to; and, besides, he will see a great deal more of soldiering than he ever could expect to see in his own corps, unless it encamped on purpose. On leaving Aldershot, every man will think that he has learned during that fortnight at least as much as during the whole of his preceding volunteer service. In due time there will be scarcely a company of volunteers in which one or more members have not been down to Aldershot; and everybody must see to what an extent such an infusion of better educated elements will improve the steadiness and the military manners, too, of the various corps.

We have supposed that the course of instruction for every man is to be a fortnight, merely because almost everybody might find means to spare that short time. But there could be nothing to prevent allowing such volunteers as can afford it, to stop at the camp for a full month.

As a matter of course, the volunteers in camp would have to keep themselves. The Government ought to find tents and camping utensils, and might, perhaps, make arrangements for the delivery of rations, to be paid for by the men. In this way, without costing the country anything to speak of, the affair would be cheap for the volunteers, and everything put upon a regular camp footing.

We have no doubt that, were the experiment once made, the volunteers would at once cordially respond to it; the batallion would be kept up always to its full complement, and, perhaps, the necessity for similar battalions, at other camps, or at Aldershot, would soon arise. If the excess of officers became very considerable, a special “officers’ battalion” might be formed at one of the camps, with a somewhat longer period of attendance, and we believe such a battalion would answer well for at least one season.

There is, however, another mode of making the camps, and the line generally, useful for volunteer officers: by attaching, temporarily, such officers to battalions of the regulars. This might be done without taking the officers too far from their homes; during the period of such attachment (say a month) the volunteer officer to do duty as if actually serving in the regiment. No doubt means might be found to allow at least one volunteer officer at a time to be thus attached to a battalion, without in any way infringing upon the habits and position of the line officers, who have always shown the best possible spirit towards the volunteers. If this point was taken up, we should consider it advisable to allow no volunteer officer to be attached to the line who had not shown, in some manner or other, that he was fit to profit by it; for he would go there, not to be taught the rudiments, but to be confirmed and perfected in what he knows already, and to learn matters which he cannot learn in his corps.

Both our suggestions—the formation of floating battalions at the camps, and the permission for duly qualified volunteer officers to be attached to the line for a month—have in view the education of the officers chiefly. We repeat, again and again, that the officers form the weak points of the volunteer army; we add, that it now must be evident to all that the present system of volunteer education cannot make the officers, as a body, efficient, and that, therefore, new means of instruction must be found if the force is, not only not to retrograde, but to improve.

We throw out these suggestions for no other purpose but to invite attention to the question. We have no wish to lay before the public a fixed plan, with all details worked out, all eventualities provided for, ready to be put into practice at once. That would be the business of others, if the matter was taken up seriously. But we mean to say, the whole volunteer movement was an experiment, and unless people are prepared to experimentalise a little more in order to find out the proper way to improve the new army which has resulted from that experiment, the movement must ultimately come to a dead lock.