Brighton And Wimbledon

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The Volunteer Journal gives the following editorial footnote to the heading: “By the Author of ‘Essays Addressed to Volunteers’, whose contributions to the Journal in future will be distinguished by the initials placed at the end of the present article.” p. 484

The performances of the volunteer forces of London and neighbourhood on Easter Monday appear to have fully borne out our anticipations expressed in the article on “Volunteer Generals.” ‘ The attempt of Lord Ranelagh to gather for a day, under his own command, all the volunteers of his district at once created a split among the different corps. An opposition candidate for the commandership-in-chief started up in the person of Lord Bury; to the sham fight at Brighton he opposed a field day at Wimbledon. Great was the division among the various corps; and the consequence was, that some went to Brighton under Lord Ranelagh, some to Wimbledon under Lord Bury, some to the same place, but independently, some to Richmond, and some to Wanstead.

There would be no harm in this dispersion alone. Every corps is quite independent of the other, and has a right to enjoy its holiday after its own fashion. But there must arise, and has arisen, a great deal of harm from the acrimonious debates, the personal bickerings, and animosities which have preceded this split, and which are sure to continue for some time. Commanding officers have taken their post for one side or the other; their men have equally taken part, and not always with their commanders; so that the majority of the London volunteers are broken up into two great parties—the Ranelagh and the Bury faction. At Brighton, a great many men of the corps which had been ordered to Wimbledon appeared without arms, but in uniform, to protest against the decision and order of their own immediate superiors; and Lord Ranelagh, enjoying this mark of sympathy amazingly, had them even formed into a provisional battalion, and, with an exquisite military taste not hitherto met with in any army, allowed them to march past with his own men. So, at least, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Now, we ask, what right have either Lord Ranelagh or Lord Bury to put themselves forward as candidates for volunteer generals, and thereby to cause dissensions among bodies hitherto acting harmoniously together? Both these officers have served in the regulars; if they had the ambition to become generals, there was for them, as for others, the usual way of aspiring to that position; and, from their social position, they stood a chance ten times better than the great bulk of their other comrades. They knew very well, when entering the volunteers, that the highest active rank compatible with that service is that of lieutenantcolonel; that in case the volunteers were ever called out to act, they would be brigaded together with the line and militia, and placed under the command of brigadiers from the line; that the very nature of the British military organisation renders it impossible to appoint general officers from any other branch of the forces than the line. In aspiring to the position of temporary volunteer generals, they aspire to places which neither they nor any other volunteer officer will ever be called on to fill, and which they, from want of experience in the handling of masses of troops, must be incapable of filling. But if, in order to play the general for a day, they disturb the harmony between the various corps of their district, and risk to do the movement serious harm, they deserve even stronger and more unequivocal condemnation.

In all large gatherings of volunteers, hitherto, it has been the usage of offering the command in chief and the appointment of brigadiers and divisionary generals, to the military commander of the district. We have said in our previous article that we fully approve of this proceeding, because it is in accordance with military etiquette and subordination, and because it ensures efficient commanders. Now we see that it does more. Had the command of the Easter performance been entrusted to the proper authorities, there would have been no split, and all this bickering would have been saved. But the London commanders appear to have imbued their men with a highly ludicrous fear of the Horse Guards. “For God’s sake, keep the Horse Guards out!” is their cry. We in the north have not been so particular. We have always been on capital terms with our natural military superiors, and have found the benefit of it; we hope, too, that the old system may be continued, and save us from those ridiculous quarrels now dividing the London force.

How jealous the Londoners were of the Horse Guards is shown by the uproar created by the presence at Brighton of General Scarlett, who was deputed by the Horse Guards to report upon the proceedings. The wise men of the different corps shook their heads in the most serious manner. To send that general here was an attempt on the part of the Horse Guards to put in the thin end of the wedge. The most fearful consequences were predicted if this were allowed to pass as a matter of course. The volunteers ought to protest; and, indeed, it was proposed that General Scarlett was not entitled to the salute which was due to the lord-lieutenant of the county only. The matter was finally settled by both coming up and receiving the salute in common. But that such questions could be discussed, shows how much some volunteers do mistake their position.

Thus we see, that neither as regards discipline within the corps, nor subordination or even deference to superior officers, has this Easter affair been of any benefit to the London volunteers. In turning to the various field days, we must premise that we can only go by the reports of the London press, which are exceedingly incomplete and obscure as to military features; and if we should make mistakes in facts, it cannot, therefore, be laid to our charge.

Lord Ranelagh’s five brigades took up a position east of Brighton, facing the town, after having marched past. They were very small, each numbering three battalions of 400 men on an average. With this force a ridge of hills was to be occupied, which was far too extensive for such a small number. Now, in this case, if 7,000 men accept a combat, the supposition is, that the enemy is not of a very great superiority in numbers, as otherwise they would retire on their reserves. Consequently, the commander would form his troops in a first and second line, and a reserve, as usual; supporting his flank as best he could, and trusting to his reserves and to the main body (supposed to be in his rear) for the repulse of any outflanking movements on the part of the enemy.

But as it would appear by almost all reports, Lord Ranelagh extended the whole of his 7,000 men in one single line! He had a programme made out for three times that number, and as only 7,000 had come instead of 20,000, he made the small number occupy the whole extent of ground marked out for the expected larger number. If this has been actually done, it would settle at once and for ever Lord Ranelagh’s claims to generalship, volunteer or other. We are most unwilling to believe that he should have committed such an absurdity, but we have never seen the almost unanimous statement of the press contradicted, and, therefore, must believe it to be the case. We are even told that there was a small reserve of a few companies, but that two-thirds of it were at once called into the first line, so that scarcely the ghost of a second line, or reserve, was on the field.

This first line, with its supposed second line and supposed reserve, was attacked by a supposed enemy who was received by skirmishers, and after these had been thrown back, by file-firing from the right of companies. Why the volunteers are taught file-firing in sham-fights is more than we can tell. We believe that all soldiers who have seen service will agree with us that file-firing, of some use at the time when the lines advanced at the goose-step, is now completely antiquated, that it never can be of any good in front of the enemy, and that there is no useful intermediate link between the fire of skirmishers and the volley.

The imaginary enemy repulsed the defensive line. How the action of the second line and reserves (which must, after all, have been supposed to support the first line) was represented, we are at a loss to understand. The battalions had to suppose, not only that they were repulsed, but also that they were relieved. A second line of hills to the rear was then occupied and lost, but at a third accident of ground matters took a turn, and imaginary reinforcements coming up, the enemy was beaten back but not seriously pursued.

We are told by the Times that the movements gone through were of the simplest nature. The following is a summary which the correspondent of the Telegraph got from an officer, as a report of the movements of his battalion: —

“Having arrived in fours, the ranks formed quarter-distance column in front of No. 1; column wheeled to the left and deployed again on No. 1, advanced in line, covered by No. 1, halted, the assembly was sounded and the skirmishers came in; firing from the right of companies; line retired, and from the proper right of companies passed by fours to the rear; front turn into column; formed quarter-distance column in rear of No. 1; marched by sub-divisions round the centre; opened out to wheeling distance from the rear; left wheeled into line and fired a volley; moved in column of companies from the right along the rear; lined to the front on No. 1 ; formed quarter-distance column in front of No. 1 ; deployed on No. 2; then No. 1 advanced to the front, and the remainder right wheeled; formed quarter-distance column in rear of No. 1; fours left, and so left the hill.”

Of the way in which these movements were carried out, we only know that, as usual with volunteers, distances very often were lost, and companies got asunder when forming line.

At Wimbledon, Lord Grosvenor manoeuvred his battalion early in the morning, and marched off when Lord Bury’s two brigades (under 4,000) arrived. These went through a very simple performance, but very well adapted to give the men an idea of events and evolutions such as will occur in actual war. The whole is so well described in Colonel M’Murdo’s address that we have merely to add that here, too, we find file-firing used to fill up the interval between the retreat of the skirmishers and the opening of volley firing—a thing we most decidedly consider faulty in every respect. The Duke of Wellington rather let his men lie flat down in such moments than stand up to be shot at by artillery and return a weak, ineffectual, and, to themselves, demoralising file-fire.

For the remainder, we concur entirely with Colonel M’Murdo’s admirable address, with which we conclude these remarks. We hope all volunteers will note and bear in mind what he says on company drill. The elementary instruction of volunteers must necessarily be less perfect than that of the regular soldier, but it is nevertheless of the highest importance in giving solidity to battalions. The greatest attention to company drill alone can make up in some degree for this unavoidable defect.

Colonel M’Murdo says: —

Volunteers, to men of understanding it is not necessary that the movements which you have gone through to-day should be fully explained, but I think it necessary to call your attention to the nature of the two positions which you have taken up in the course of the field movements through which you have gone. The first position which you took up was naturally one of very great strength—so great that two-thirds of the enemy would have been non-effective. His cavalry could not have acted with effect, nor could his artillery have injured you except by a vertical fire. It was supposed that the enemy, finding that too strong a position, endeavoured to reach the plateau on which we now stand by turning our flank up one of those long valleys in the direction of Wimbledon. It was necessary, therefore, that you should quit the strong position which you formerly held by changing your front to the left. The enemy had a double object in view. He desired to come upon plain level ground, by which means he could bring both his artillery and his cavalry to bear in the action, as well as his infantry; he also desired, by turning your left flank, to reach the Wimbledon Road, by which he could march through you on London. It is my desire to point out to you the difference in the two positions which you held. It was a very different thing when you were along that rugged crest of a hill, where neither cavalry nor artillery could reach you. You checked the enemy there, and any number of bold men could have checked an enemy there; but here you are brought, as it were, on a sort of billiard table, where you might be exposed to the operations of, perhaps, the best troops in Europe. I observed, in forming the line here, that some battalions were a little unsteady. I do not blame them for it, because they have as yet had very little practice. Still they were unsteady; and if they were unsteady in coming into line to-day, what would be the case if this plain were swept by the artillery of an enemy, if you were choking with thirst, many of your comrades falling around you, and suddenly, through the dust and smoke, you felt the very ground shake under you by a heavy charge of the enemy’s cavalry. Consider how liable young troops would be to be unsteady under such circumstances. What is it that overcomes all this? It is discipline, and discipline alone. By the term discipline I do not mean the correction of bad conduct—I mean that habitual union, that combination of mind and body brought to bear upon a certain object; that combination of mind and body that sets the whole in action, and makes a company, a battalion, or a brigade, act like a machine. Now this can only be acquired by company drill; it can only be acquired by paying great attention to individual drill, because I consider a company to be the unit of an army, and when individuals are well drilled and steady the company is steady, and the whole army will be steady. All that you have learned in the way of shooting, all your zeal, all your patriotism, will be of no avail in the day of battle without a thorough knowledge of your company drill. Company drill and nothing but company drill will do, and therefore I beg you to consider that excellence in shooting is not everything, because nothing will do unless you have perfect steadiness of formation under fire. Gentlemen, you have had a hard day’s work on the wet ground, and therefore I will no longer detain you, but leave you to return to those homes which you are so well able to protect.