Page:The organisation of the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers explained.djvu/25

Rh The Corinthian yacht clubs on the Thames are equally a leable [sic] to render assistance, and are indeed capable of raising, if they think fit, an entire brigade for the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteer Corps.

The resources of the clubs located on the banks of the Thames have been particularly specified; because the present writer, in his connection with the movement under consideration, is more immediately identified with that river. Readers of these pages, residing in the vicinity of any of our great ports, will doubtless be able to discover equally ample materials for the foundation of a sufficient force, for the purposes of co-operation in the defence of the coast, in their own neighbourhood. A corps, though it may be raised at some distance from the sphere of its intended operations, in the event of threatened invasion, will not be the less valuable for the defence of a great port.

The railway and the telegraph afford the means of concentrating large bodies of men in a few hours at any port on the shores of the United Kingdom. Wherever the coast-guard are stationed, the means exist of giving instruction to the Naval Volunteers. All the out-ports, at which men have been enrolled, can be visited by a gunboat at frequent intervals, to embark the Volunteers for target practice afloat; while those who wish to go to sea for an eight days' cruise, will have, every year, the opportunity of doing so.

In conclusion, it may not be superfluous to offer a few observations on the Volunteer movement generally. The most cogent inducements to Volunteer activity may