Preface To The Collection Essays Addressed To Volunteers

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The initiative of publishing Engels’ articles from The Volunteer Journal as a separate book belongs to the editors of that periodical. On December 20, 1860 Nodal wrote to Engels: “Has Mr. Hall informed you of our intention of republishing 4 of your essays, contributed to V. Journal? I send you the proofs of all but the German Zeitung article, which I will forward hereafter. If there is any alteration you would wish making, please mark, and return proofs at convenience. I propose altering the title page to Essays Addressed to Volunteers, etc. Would you like your name attached or any nom de plume, or will you give the credit entirely to the Journal, and publish anonymously? The Essays will be sold throughout England. Of course we will append an advertisement of the V. Journal, so as to make our little paper more widely known.”

Engels accepted the proposal and included five of his articles in the Essays Addressed to Volunteers. But he did not arrange them in chronological order. The collection contained “The History of the Rifle”, “The French Light Infantry”, “Volunteer Artillery”, “Volunteer Engineers: Their Value and Sphere of Action” and “A Review of English Volunteer Riflemen”. Some editorial alterations were made in the text. The short preface was signed “F. E.” The collection was published in March 1861.

On March 23, 1861, the London United Service Gazette carried a review of the Essays. Having examined the contents of some of the articles and emphasised in particular the merits of such works as “The History of the Rifle” and “Volunteer Artillery”, the reviewer concluded: “We may say of the whole brochure that it is modestly and carefully written, with evident zeal and interest in the subject matter, and will be a most acceptable offering to every intelligent and thinking Volunteer.” p. 476

The following articles were originally written for The Volunteer Journal for Lancashire and Cheshire, and are now republished, in their present shape, at the desire of the Proprietors of that paper, who seem to consider them worthy of a larger circulation among the Volunteers, than could be given to them in a periodical of a more or less local character. Whether this opinion be correct, remains for the public to decide.

It will hardly be necessary to premise that the facts contained in articles such as those on the Rifle, on French Light Infantry, &c, are neither new nor original; on the contrary, such articles are necessarily, to a great extent, compilations from other sources, which it will, however, not be necessary to enumerate; the only portion of these papers which may be considered original, are the conclusions at which the author arrives and the opinions he expresses.

F. E.

Manchester, March 9th, 1861