Friedrich Engels 

Nr.5994, 11 Juli 1860 

The British Volunteer Force. 

The great review of volunteers which took place in London a few weeks ago 
has attracted attention to the citizen soldiers of Great Britain. The volunteers 
must not be confounded with the militia, which is a separate arm of her 
Majesty's service. On the Ist of April, the mihtia numbered, according to 
Government statistics, 50,000. Of these, 23,735 were embodied, England 
contributing 13,580, Ireland 7,471, and Scotland 2,684. The mihtia represents 
the lower classes; the volunteers the middle class. The assertion of The 
London Times that in the ranks of the troops reviewed on the 23d "all classes 
were represented" is merely a way of giving things a popular coloring. It is 
not quite three months since a deputation of respectable mechanics waited 
on the authorities for the purpose of being supplied with arms, to "defend 
their country," in case of invasion. Their application was refused. The only 
working men admitted into the volunteer corps are those whose outfit and 
expenses their employers provide, and whose services are understood to be 
permanently at the command of those employers. 

The total strength of the British volunteer force, notwithstanding the larger 
figures of many recent statistical tables, is short of 90,000. It is true that 
Col.Macmurdo declared, at a dinner given some time since to the 
St. George's Rifle Corps, that there were 124,000 registered for voluntary 
service; but when pushed for particulars he included half the militia in his 
estimate. The newspapers count every regiment at the nominal strength of 
800 or 1,000 men, when in reality few ever muster on parade more than 500 
or 600. Mr. Sidney Herbert, whose position at the Horse Guards entitles him 
to be an authority on the subject, stated in Parliament a day or two before 
the great turnout in London, that "on paper, the force has maintained con- 
siderable numbers, who, however, cannot be accounted for, and never 
answer at roll-call." The speech in which this passage occurs appears in the 

same number of The Times that chronicles "the magnificent success" of the 
national volunteer review. Even the Hyde Park parade itself furnishes a 
striking illustration of the exaggerated manner in which the London Press 
speak of such matters. The Times of the 20th anticipated that "no less than 
35,000 men would appear before her Majesty." Tom Taylor, writing to The 
Manchester Guardian from London on the 21st, says that there were over 
46,000 in the Metropolis. Yet the whole number of soldiers who passed before 
the Queen, according to Col. Macmurdo, who would hardly underestimate 
them, was 18,300. Certainly, this is not a very extraordinary army to be 
over-jubilant about. In October, 1803, nearly 13,000 native Londoners were 
inspected in the garb of volunteers ; and, by way of comparing British military 
valor of those days with that of the present time, we subjoin abrief statement 
of the volunteer force, registered in Jan., 1804: 

Total of effective rank and file. ........ 341,687 
Field-officers =. 2.22.20. 1246 
Captains . 2.22 a oo 4412 
Subalterns. . aa 9918 
Staff-officers. = 2.2.2... 1,100 
DEIBEANIS N, m Logue os Sek are ee 14,787 
Drummers........ 2... d 6,733 
Grand:tötal: seess hss, 2h 4300 Wits ain LS 379943 

Even the 124,000, to which England hopes to raise her present voluntary 
army, would not figure creditably beside this table. One man in every ten 
of the present able-bodied of Great Britain's male population would amount 
to 500,000 men. It does not appear from these facts that Englishmen are 
becoming more desirous to take up arms in defense of their native land than 
they ever were before, the statements of London journals to the contrary 
notwithstanding. According to the careful statistics of a writer in The Army 
and Navy Gazette, we find the total militia and volunteer force of England 
to be, of militia 50,160, and of volunteers 88,400, making 138,560 in all. Of 
these, the writer of The Gazette states that at least 20,000 would, from various 
causes, prove unavailable in case of need, so that 118,560 men constitute the 
grand total of England's militia and volunteers.