ABSTRACT
The Volunteers were capable themselves of moulding opinion and of acting as a pressure group. Volunteer corps frequently came into being at formally requisitioned public meetings. In so far as such meetings were unopposed, and this was normally the case, the citizen-soldier started out with the backing and often the enthusiasm of the local community. The only occasion on which Volunteers might be called upon to act differently from other citizens was when their armouries were attacked. Even so, as practice was to show, Volunteers were too useful a body not to be employed in the control of disturbances. In 1859 and 1860 few of those who hailed the formation of the Volunteer Force with such enthusiasm gave much thought to the military role which the citizen-soldiers might perform. The Volunteers were aware of the ambiguity of their status, but they could not escape it. It derived from their dual role as both citizens and soldiers.
