CITIZEN SOLDIERS. ESSAYS TOWARDS THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE VOLUNTEER FORCE. BY H. SPENSER WILKINSON, M.A., CAPTAIN 20TH LANCASHIRE R. V. LONDON: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1884. 33172. e. PREFACE. Many years ago the writer, then an undergraduate at Oxford, was attracted by the spectacle of a continent in arms to seek some explanation of so strange a phenomenon and some insight into the workings of a system perfected with so much energy. To become a volunteer was the necessary complement of the studies thus begun, and the practical experience of Volunteering obtained in conjunction with a diligent reading of modern writers on war, has led to the formation of the views which are now not hastily, and it is hoped, not inopportunely put forward. There is hardly a fact asserted or an opinion expressed in the following pages which has not formed the subject of repeated discussions with volunteer officers of zeal and experience, and the present publication would not have been ventured upon were it not for the general agreement which exists between the author and many of his brother officers, and, he may perhaps be allowed to add, the success which has attended his first step in the direction of reform, the suggestion of a voluntary examination in tactics.* At the risk of wearying the general reader, and perhaps of offending the professional soldier, to whom such matters will be familiar, a few suggestions have been made with regard to a mode of study, which may be of use to volunteer officers. They embody lessons learned by the writer from his own reading, and experience gained from the work of the Oxford Kriegsspiel Club during its early years (1876-7), and of the Manchester Tactical Society since its foundation three years ago. *See Appendix II. |