movement along those heights, and I might set anything at defiance." These are palpably principles of the first importance, and they obviate the necessity of attempting to render our arsenals and dockyards absolutely impregnable. Everything is at this moment in such a state of transition in the art of warfare, that to erect formidable fortifications which may next year be superseded, is a ruinous procedure ; while, on the other hand, these works must be manned with a greater number of troops than we are able to spare. Everything points to the desirableness of making available our natural resources, instead of relying on extremely artificial obstructions; and of aiming at the success which is to be obtained from rapidity of movement, rather than from solidity of resistance. Perhaps never more than at the present moment have we had more need of singing with the poet

"Britannia needs no bulwarks

No towers along the steep."

But the reason is not because her march is on the mountain wave, and her home is on the deep, but because she has a very fine way of marching on the land, and she is quite at home in a railway carriage. The fact is, we must look more to the men than either to the stone walls or the wooden walls, and this brings us to the subject of the volunteering which is now going on so briskly. Such a spirit has been roused in the country, that probably we shall never again hear of a panic rising from the state of our preparations. There is not a county, there is scarcely a large town in Great Britain, which has not gone vigorously to work, and a movement which at first was languid, has gathered force by time, and now moves on with daily accelerated momentum. Volunteers were not much liked in this country, and perhaps but for that 10th of April, 1848, which showed how well our people had learned the maxims of the constitution, and how implicitly they trusted in the force of truth rather than in brute force for the victory of their opinions and the redress of their grievances, the government would have refused to arm a whole population. A population, indeed, armed with the old Brown Bess, would have been of little use, but it so happened that, by one of those coincidences which the historic muse loves to bring about, that just as our people had been so schooled in a wise political philosophy that they could be entrusted with fire-arms, an arm was invented which could be useful in their hands against any attempt at aggression. Drill is dreary work, but shooting is interesting enough, and there seems to be every prospect that the Enfield rifle will become what the old English bow was, when every village had its butts, and the yeomen practised there until their skill enabled them to perform feats, which were they not matters of history, might be ranked among the fables of romance. An association has been formed for the encouragement of these rifle clubs, and it is proposed to establish an annual tournament, at which prizes of not a little value will be distributed. Lord Elcho talks of £10,000, and there can be no doubt that such an inducement would set every young

iman in the kingdom practising at the target, and collect as great and as brilliant an assemblage of persons as meets at Epsom on a Derbyday. The shooting may be left to take care of itself-we are certain to produce the best shots in Europe. But two other objects are not so easily procured-and these are acquaintance with drill, and the training necessary for pretty long marches. Without the latter, our volunteers will, when brought into a campaign, be physically of little avail; and without the former, they will lose their heads, and be incapable of obeying the word of command. Some of our writers, indeed, appear to have but little faith in the steadiness of volunteers, and are disposed to echo Sydney Smith's description of the panic that would follow-"old wheat and beans blazing for twenty miles round, cartmares shot, sows of Lord Somerville's breed running wild over the country, and the minister of the parish sorely wounded in his hinder parts.' We do not think so poorly of our countrymen, but it is undeniable that they require the most careful generalship, and that it would be madness to bring them into action except as a support for regular troops. Mr. Russell's remarks on this subject, coinciding as they do with those of Sir John Burgoyne, and almost every officer of experience, deserve especial attention:

It must not be supposed for a moment that riflemen, however excellent as marksmen, steady in drill, and perfect in discipline, could hold possession of ordinary country unaided by regular troops, and other branches of the usual mililitary organization. I have seen the best and steadiest riflemen pounded out of a trench by a few well-directed shrapnel and shell from a howitzer enfilading them a little by its fire; and in open country, without cover, riflemen would hav very hard times of it, with vigorous, well-led, and experienced cavalry. If a regular army, provided fully with all branches of its equipments, were to find itself in a close country, cut up by hedgerows, studded with covers, and intersected by narrow paths, its commander would, under any circumstances, feel himself constrained to act with the utmost caution; if he were informed that masses of the enemy's riflemen were in his front, he would probably cast about to see if, by some flank movement, he could not get round the dangerous district, and resume his direct march under more favourable circumstances. But should he come to the conclusion that for any strategical reason it was necessary to clear the ground right in front, he would not for a moment hesitate in his plan of attack. The very hedges, and covers, and paths which give confidence to his enemy would not be without advantage to him. His disciplined and experienced riflemen, handled by skilful officers, would search their way 'carefully from bush to bush. Should there be a check, up come the field-guns, which in the country of the kind I am alluding to possess an advantage which is not at first sight very obvious. It is simply this, that they can be worked in positions well-sheltered from the fire of the opposing riflemen, so that the artillerymen cannot be seen. But "they cannot see either," it will be said. True; neither is it necessary they should, provided they know the general direction of their enemy. Along the hedgerows, through the copses, into the thick long grass, fly flights of deadly grape, shrapnels burst and hurl their iron showers in fast extending columns, shells burst above, below, and all around the isolated riflemen, and the round shot roar through the trees, and shiver their trunks, or bring down the forest tops on the men beneath. Now, I think officers of experience will corroborate me in stating that under such circumstances riflemen attacked by men of their own arm and a powerful artillery must rapidly give way, and can only be saved from destruction by great steadiness, by eventual support, and by their capacity to act in all respects like regular

infantry. Against any number of cavalry, and against a strong artillery, a close country might be held by a very inferior force of skilful and audacious riflemen-the essence of such a corps is well expressed in the motto of the 60th, "Celer et audax."

But the conditions of success are well determined, and I have but limited confidence in the efforts of irregular rifle corps directed to stop the march of a regular army. Their peculiar uses are of immense advantage, and their impeding power, if properly directed, is enormous. Very recently I saw on the banks of the Raptee, or close to them, an advance of our cavalry and artillery checked by some Sepoys, who threw themselves into a jungle in our front with two ninepounders, and opened a fire which obliged a splendid regiment of British cavalry and a troop of our artillery to retire, principally on account of the musketry. Should it happen, by any unfortunate complication, that an enemy ever lands on our shores, I trust we may never permit our rifle volunteers to engage them till they are properly supported by artillery, horse and regulars; for I know that the consequence of a severe punishment inflicted upon one of those admirable gentlemen guerilla bands would be the loss of that prestige which is worth thousands of bayonets in a newly organized force.

One man can handle a rifle, it is his own weapon, he knows perfectly all that he has done or may do with it; but the same interest is not felt in a gun which has to be worked by several men. In the case of a field-piece, each man has but a share of the honour, and he cannot, at his sovereign will and pleasure, say, Now I will shoot, because I am in the humour for that exercise; now I will put the gun aside, for I have had enough of it. And so it has happened that, while the rifle movement has flourished, the attempt to establish corps of volunteer artillery has been languishing. And yet for the defence of our coasts, the artillery is even more important than the rifles. The rifles may prevent the landing, or at least seriously embarrass it; but artillery might prevent even the attempt to land, and it is to be hoped that this arm of the service will not be neglected as heretofore. There is, we have said, a natural reason to account for this neglec; but all the greater efforts should be made to compensate for the loss which ensues to the service.

Brief Notices.

THE EVANGELISTS AND THE MISHNA;
OR, ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FOUR
GOSPELS, DRAWN FROM JEWISH TRA-
DITION. By the Rev. Thomas Robin-
son. Nisbet. 1859.

THE labours of Lightfoot and Schvet-
gen bestowed upon illustrating the
writings of the New Testament from
Talmud and other Jewish works of
antiquity, have by no means
hausted the subject. Mr. Robinson,

ex

therefore, has rendered excellent service in this beautifully-written work, going over the fields not gleaned by others. One or two quotations will show in some manner the nature of the work.

"Behold, the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are