There is evidence that, in the very old days of China, there was a variety of conscription in force which made every able-bodied man a soldier and one can assume that in those times the country had very fine army, for its drill book contained many rules which are now embodied in the training courses of all Wester armies. There was, for instance, a regular establishment of officers and non - commissioned officers, the purpose of whose appointment was explained somewhat as follows: "One man cannot by himself control a million, but one man can control 10; 10 can control 160; and so on, so that in the end, through other one man does actually control'a million."
The Manchus, however, when they got possession of the country, broke up the army drilled on such sound reasoning. Frightened at the possibilities of China's military might, they craftily established the dictum that "no good man can be 2 soldier." In course of time most people believed this, so that, when this Chinese Volunteer crisis was reached, many of their own people said: "As you want to go soldiering you cannot be good men and, furthermore, you are offering to ye slaves to the foreigner. On the other hand, many foreigners said: "They will be no better than the Boxers and we are playing into their hands if we arm them." So truly the enthusiasts for public duty were twixt the devil and the deep sea, but they were determined and, so urgently did they plead their case, that eventually the Municipal council approved the idea, though Chinese and foreign interests in cannily.
4 times of commotion. The idea was To ensure proper control, it was enthusiastically received and the|directed that the Company should Chinese Physical Recreation Associ-be not less than 50, nor more than ation was brought into being, witn!1o0 strong, that its officers should 'a gymnasium, a drill hall and an be foreigners only, that the fullest ample parade ground, off North guarantees should be given for every Chekiang Road. Chinese merchants (tian joining that he was of respect: put up an ample subscription for! able character and engaged only in arms and equipment and a mixed some commercial occupation. with-battalion of one Company of light i out. any connexion with official or cavally and four Companies of infantry was raised, armed with rifles, be kept in the armoury and A draw political life, and that arms must Att Picxep Mey.
However, the wisdom of the restrictions was obvious and. they have meant the recruitment of none bat {the better class of young Chinese. 3 jIn 1909 members were allowed to retain their bayonets. Then, some lyeers later, an emergency mobiliza-; tion was ordered whilst a meeting was in progress at the Town Hall—{We believe it was a Ratepayers' Meeti and the people there were {vastly impressed by the: sight of 100 or so eager young Chinese silently and swiftly tip-toeing in single file round the walls to the armoury and floating out as quietly with their rifles, without any fuss. "They {could be trusted," was the general impression and they have since 1913 been allowed to retain their rifles. Yet, so anxious are they not to be even thought guilty of abusing any privilege, that they are content with the knowledge of having the same rights as other units and they all keep their rifles in the armoury still.
The Company made a start as a unit of the S. V. C. on March 18, 1907, When 83 recruits paraded at the Town Hall for registration. They were placed under the command of Capt. L. J. Cubitt, who, even at that time, was a veteran of 17 years' service. At the same time he retained command of the Customs Company, but the dual office was too much for any one man and so, the same year, he handed the Customs Company over to another officer and, with Lieuts. G. Grayrigge and R. M. Suker, set about giving the Chinese Company the first lessons of the course on which it has advanced so far.
Capt. Cubitt proved an admirable man for the initial spade work, but, without any disparagement of his services, the Company owes more to its present O. C. than to any other man. Capt. Grayrigge has maintained an unbroken connexion with it since the very start and has always taken the greatest interest in it: in fact, Volunteering must be pretty well level with unting in his affections. He gained military experience with the Bombay Rifles, in which he was a Captain when he left India in 1906 to come to Shanghai. He started right in with the S. V. C., first lending a hand on the Staff' and then being attached to "A" Company, pending the formation of the Chinese Company. He took temporary com: mand of the Company when Capt. Cubitt went Home on leave in 1909.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.