Star. — London, England, 1805-06-29 00:00:00

in tedious lawfuits, lots, inconvenience, and vexation? Would it not amount to .a declaration of war upon all whofe vette!s might thusfall within the grafp of our cruisers for an extent of three hundred Leagues of coall ? If for no other reafon, then, than the risk to which it would expofe this country in quarrels, with other nations, be mould deprecate the Bill as it now Rood. The ATTORNEY GENERAL anfstier ed, that the defignation of Ibips fo feizable was not left to Incite in the Bill, as to give an opporrunityitir Leek Confequences as thofe Rated by the Learned Gentle man. l'he principle of the Bill was nothing nuke" ' than that of the Havering Ails, as old alum& as the Revenue itfelf—veffels having liquors on boatd,' in contraband packages, and found hovering or flea ine to and fro, and not proceeding on their voyages, wind and weather permitting. But with refpeiOt to the argnmept of the independence of thge Ulands upon the realm of England, upon the ground that;' they were annexed to the Crown of England 'by the Norman conqueß, as an inheritance of the Doke of Normandy, he begged to remind gentlemen how . that fag Rood: Robert, Duke of Normandy, quer. felled with his brother, Henry the Fira—they went to war—Robert was conquered ; and his dominions, by right of this new conqueß, annexed to the Britith Crown—fo that there was an end to any claim of in. dependence on that ground. Dr. LAURENCE explained. The Ciente was then brought up, read, commit ted, agreed to, reported, and added by way of rider to the Bin, which was read the third time, paired, and ordered to the Lords. COLONAL COCHRAN' JOHNSTON. GeneraITITZPATRICK role to give notice that ' be would, on a future opportunity, bring forward a 'notion refpeaing a grofs violation of the principles of the Military Law of the country. It related to the pra&ice which prevailed in the office of the Judgt Advocate General, in which there was an alfump tion of powers &realy contrary to the general prin ciples of the Law of England. It undoubtedly was the privilege of his Majefty to difinifs any Officer whole conduit he might not approve, without a Court Martial ; but it was underftood that this right &mid not be exercifed hut upon mature deliberation and fuf ficient cattle. His Majefly had the right of confirm. Ong or remitting the fentences of Courts Martial, but be believed it was never intended that in the exercife of it he should be folely gnidad by the advice of the Judge Advocate General ; that the refpeilable Baro net who filled that office for fo many years fhould be, as in fait he was, the foie advifer of his Majefty, in whatfoever related to the fentences of Courts Mar. tial. The proceedings of Courts Martial were for merly tranfmitted through the Secretary of War, and he could perceive no reafonable caufe for dircon. tinning a prattice which afforded to his Majefty's mi. litary fubjeEls the fame equal meafure of jullice that 4 /cry man in the country was entitled to. The cafes of all thole who were convi&ed before the other tri. bunals were fubnsitted to the confideration of the King in Council—an advantage which thofe perfons who incurred the cenfure of Courts Martial were de. ed of. The deviation from this falutary mode of determining produced great inconveniences, and a cafe had lately ?ccorregi which had filled the whole army with afionifitment and alarm. He alluded to that of Colonel Cochrane Phonon, who was lately tried by a fioort Martial ; and although he was ho. courably acquitted, had fill been fdbjeeled to all the feverities and penal confequences of a convietion.— He feared the Sefton war now too far advanced to do any thing in the buiineis, but he certainly would embrace the culla opportunity of bringing it for. ward in the nest Sefflon. His °lie& would be , not to interfere, in the (mallet degree, with his biajef ty's undoubted right, but to afcertain the powers and authority of an office, that of the Judge Advocate General, from the advice or recommendations of which decilions of extreme hattifhip and unmerited ieverity proceeded. STAY" OF THE MILITARY STRENGTH OF THE - COUNTRY. Colonel CRAUFURD role, purfuant to the no. Lice he had given, to fubmit to the Houfe a queftion of the greateft importance, involving no lefs than the defence and fecurity of the country, and the means of guarding it againft the difatters with which In it was menaced. propofing the Refolutions to the Houle which it was his intention to lay before them, he was confcious that he undertook a talc, to the due execution of which his poor abilities were far from being adequate. No man in the Houfe could feel more diffident upon the occafinn than he did. He was not one of thofe felf-fufficient perfons, who fet liimfelf up as a great military authority ; who was to bring forward projects fur improving and per feeling the difcipline of the Army, which thould fu percede the neceffity of all further meafures. He felt very wrongly the difadvantage of bringing for ward his motion at fo late a period of the Seflion ; but Rill, with the permiffion of the Houfe, he would, in as few words as poffibly he could., fubmit it to the confideration of the Houfe. His motion was of the fame tenor as that moved by a Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Windhazd) at the beginning of the Seflion. He, of all the perfons he had ever con verted with on the military refources and fituation of the country, appeared to him to have the tacit, the moll profound and enlarged views of the fubjea. He was not very fanguine in his expeaations of being able to awake the country to a jui fenfe of its fitua tion. The country had gone on fo long without ex periencing any of thofe ditiflers he had apprehended, that he did not expect that what he had to fay would make that general impreflion he was himfell per fuadcd it wag, entitled to. This placed him under a further difadvantage, to enable him to contend with w hi c h h e wo uld have oec,ifion for all the indhlgence of the Houle. He would, relying upon that indul gence, proceed to the quetlico, in difcuffing which he would be obliged to review the whole military ad. minittration of the Right Honourable Gentleman on the floor. That adminifiration he would divide into two branches ; one of which related to the addition which he had made to the military flrc'gth of the enemy, the other relating to the addition made to our own. In doing that the Houfe would naturally expect he thould allude to the war with Spain, upon the policy of which be would fay but a very few words. It was not his intention to difcufs whether the war with Spain might have been ultimately avoided, tut certainly it might have butt deferred and, inflead vlng an inveterate enemy to con. tend with, v2tttld only bare had an unwilling navy to oppofe. France might poGibly have had the Ihips and arfenals, but the would not have attached to her caufe the hearts of the Spaniards, burning with indignation at the infults offered to them at the commencement of honilitiet. The queftion was, _nhether we fhould have flood in a more advantaeous pofition with refpeet to Spain by atual or de ferred 'solidity.? His Majetiy's Mini(lers had declared in fa vour of the former ; they had recorded their opinion, afted upon it, that France would gain greater and more effeflual offiftence from the regular payment .of the Ripulated fubfidy, than flu could from the efatitre 'co-operation of all the naval and military re* Tources of Spain. The events, however, which had .fence taken place, demonftrated that France fuffered no inconvenience from the. withdrawing of the fub fidy ; for her fleets had gone forth with an aftivity that allonithed all Europe, and the exertions of Spain *knoll kept pace with there of France. What was the fituation of the Englifh Navy, on the other hand ? What were the efforts which had been.employed to enable it to rneetahat of the enemy ? It appeared by the returns which had been laid before the Honfe, that a large addition had been made to its numerical force ; but was it, he would alk, of that defcription called for by a Spanifb war? It certainly was ade quate to contend with the flotillas of France ;• but, however %Ireful and netefrary it might be in the nar row feas t would any one fay that it was fit to all upon the coati of Spain ? The inereafe in (hips of the line was only fix in the courfe of the tall twelve months ; while the diminution in the clafs of fifty gun (hips, by Tome reckoned fhips of the line, =mon ied to five, leaving, upon a fair balance, only a gene ral increafe of one (hip of the line. In the interim, what was the acceGion to the naval tlrength of the enemy ? why, no lefs than as fail of the line, being the whole of the Spanith navy. Such were our naval exertions ; let us now look to the increafe of our mi litary means. Let us confider the increafe of it both at home and abroad; and firft he would call the at• tention to the force employed on foreign fervice.— The returns which had been laid on the table, in con. fequence of his motion, were imperfee ; but in order to give the Right Hon. Gentleman the full benefit of that imperfeflion, he would take one of the petiads, upon which ha propofcd to found his comparative elli mate from the Ern of January, 1804. being . a few months prior to his entering into Adminiftration.— At that period, the amount of the foreign force, in that portion of the army employed abroad, was 46,698 ; on the Sidi of June, 1805, it amounted to 68,358. Two thoufand of tilde were recruits or de tachments, at the depot in the Ifle of Wight. There were other circumllances which reduced the number to 16,360, which might be fairly ellitnated as the increafe on one fide. Now let us fee what the enemy had done. They had detached 18 fail of the line, and frigates in proportion, from Cadiz, carrying at leall, 9000 troops. A detachment of fix fail of the line had previoufly failed from Rochefort, carrying, ac cording to the fame principle of computation, 3000 ' troops; and the fecond expedition which failed from the fame port might have carried out isoo troops. So that the enemy, in the courfe of the prefent year, had detached t 3.500 troops, while the whole of the addition to the force for the proteflion of our foreign poffeifion , amounted only to 16,360. C - old any one, therefore, fay, that our colonies were in greater fecurity now than at the commencement of lan year ? Let the Houfe look to the difiribution of that force. Seventeen hundred and ninety-two of them were na tive troops employed at Ceylon. Upon the policy of keeping up that force, he would fay nothing, but every one would allow they were not competent to oppofe European troops. Our force was thus re. duced, that is, the increafe of it to 14,568, of which he Mould point out to the Houfe the ditpolition. The Houfe would fee where our force was employed, where that of the enemy was gone to, GOD alone knew ; for Minifters to this hour appeared and were, for aught he knew, es ignorant as any others, of the remainder of the force. A confiderable portion of it,' 1639 was locked up at Gibraltar, where it had no chance of being oppofed to an enemy. Would any one fay that fortrefs was more or lefs fecure than it was before ? Some of it was alfo employed at Bermu das, Nova Scotia, and other petty Rations not worth the attention of the enemy. Between 4 and 5000 men had alfo gone up the Mediterranean under General Craig—for what objelft Hsavtat know;. He fuppofed it was to take Minorca, an acquifition of little ati thy, except for the purpofe of blockading Toulon— That would be now of little fervice ; it would be, in the words of the old adage " to shut the Sable door after the horfe had been flolen." He would no longer trefpafs upon the indulgence of the Houfe upon that part of the rubjelt, than merely to give the general 'craft of his Itatement, which was , that the enemy had added 13,5 00 to his military ftrength abroad, and that the increafe to our's only amounted to 'about 7000 men. He would next entreat the atten tion of the Houfe to the Rate of our force at home ; and here he would take an opportunity of declaring it to be his opinion, that the danger of invafion was not in the lean diminifhed !ince he had laft propelled to inflitute fuch an enquiry as he fhould propofe this night. Although the country did not Teem to entertain any apprehenfion of the fort, he felt the danger to be no lefa imminent. He then thought, that the enemy, with fuch an army col leeted upon the oppofite coed, with fuch means of embarkation, would have (truck a blow before our navy was re equipped, and the country placed in a futlicient degree of military preparation ; in that,. however, lie was millaken. But lu ll he was not without his apprehenfions, although the cha,aeler of the war was laid by a Noble Lord, who had a feat in the Cabinet, to have been changed; and that the views of the enemy were rather ditched againit our fo reign poircilions th3n there iflands. He trufled, that in proteding the Colonies, fufficient care had been taken to proteet us at home. Suppoling, after hay ing a nquered Jamaica, where there were only about 50co regular troops (a whyper from the 7 reafury Leneb, between 3 and 4000), the enemy's fleet fhould return to Europe. acquire a temporary fuperioriry in confequence of the abfence of our fleets, (weep the Channel, take polreffion of the anchorage in the Downs, and with that advantage bring over their flotillas, and land the myriads arrayed in the neigh bourhood of Boulogne. Gentlemen might. (mile, but what he had raid may come to pate. The whole force, cavalry and infantry, as it &God on the ia of Jannary,.lBo4, was 220,40, an& on the ill of the prefent month, it was 232,642, giving a trifling in creafe, as he had before ftated, of foreign force, and an actual diminution of 4436 men in our borne force. We had at that time 88 fail of the line, and the ene my had only 59 ; whereas the enemy have now 8,4. fail of the line, and we have only 94. The Army Eftimates were two millions more than lag year: and the deficiency in the army, for he fuppofed it was meant to complete it to the extent of the ruins voted for that purpofe, was nearly go,coo men ; being. _45,134 in the home fervice, and 4,212 in the foreign. The whole of the regular force, on the t ft of January, was 132.700 ; on the ift of June 137,34.5. giving an increafe of 14,645, of which about 9000 were taken from the Militia ; fo that if the army was to have been fupplied by the common mode of recruiting, it would have taken eleven years to complete it to its proper eftablithment. He fhould fubmit his propofitions to the Houfe in the fhape of refedutions, which, if not found afterwards to be accurate, might, following the precedent of the other night', be refcinded. His fird &wild be to de clare the number of recruits railed in the courfe of the lag twelve months : the next was expreffive of the neceffity of employing a more efficacious fyftem for recruiting the army. And as Minifters did not in tend to bring forward any thing, he would propofe that the Houfe fhould refolve itrelf into a Committee of the whole Houfe to deliberate upon thofe impor tant objets. Surely, if this was oeceffary laft when our navy wasto that of France as three to two. it was more neceflary now, when it was only as 90 to 80. He was at a lots to conceive upon what grounds his Majelly's Minifters would refill a motion of the fame nature with the one bionght forward by himfclf in the adminiftration of his predecelfor. now his colleague in office, except that oar &nation was much worfe, and that another was Minifter then, and he is fo now. If the Committee were granted to him, it may, then, be atked, what have you to propofe ? He did not know that he was obliged to prnpofe any thing ; but if he did, it would be to undo every thing that had been done, and having dialed that, he would think that be had done a great deal. What will they fay, do you come to deftroy the whole of this beautiful fyttem, which has been defcribed in fuch glowing and eloquent language ? To that be would anfwer, Yes, the whole fabric mutt come down, and the fonner the better. That was his nof trum, to ufe the pbrafe attributed to him by a Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Canning) for remedying the defeas of the Military fyftern. When the Right Hon. Gentleman. now at the head of the Adniiniftra Lion, attacked the military arrangements IA year, he raid, his objeCtions went not fo much to the amount of the force as to its not being difpofable ; and how did he propofe to remedy it ? Why by making it lets difpofable Dill. Had it not been for that unfortu nate pad th bill, it was his firm conviction that the army would have been recruited by this lime. and that by the common modes of recruiting. How was an army to he created ? Let Gentlemen look to the feelings and conditions of men. Some entitled be. caufe they difliked labour. and loved idlenefs, others were driven into the army by the preffure of diftrefs ; but infinitely the greater number enrolled themfelves from vanity, and becaufe they were enamoured of that military pride and pomp which formerly be longed exclutivety to the Army, but which was now no longer fo. Limited fervice was alto a powerful incentive; young men had no oblation to a military life for a fpurt. although they recoiled from it when it became a confederation of no lefs than bondage for life, when,-like death, it was converted into " a bourne from whence they were never to return."— The effeft of the parifh bill was to. increafe the refer. voir for the indifpofable force. How could parifh of ficers be expelled to get recruits ? was it by drink ing in public houfes, extolling the pleafures of a military life, into which themfelves were not to en gage, and cajoling the men ? All thofe brilliant de- Icriptions cf the glories aad plcafures of a campaign in a foreign-country, would come with a poor effzdt from the mouth of a parifh officer, although they might produce fome advantage when uttered by a clothing and zealous recruiting ferjeant. Indeed it was well known, although it appeared otherwite from the returns, that not a fingle recruit had been railed by the parilh officers ; they were all obtained from contrafts made by the parifh officers with pro felled recruiter!. The enormous expence attend ing the fyttem of railing men by the parifhes, was a powerful oblation to it. Taking all the articles of expence together, there was not a man raifed in that way who did not coil the country, .one way or ono ther, at leaft 901. In the returns of the men railed by the operation of that bill, upwards of zOOO ap peared to have been railed in Ireland. In a conver fation which he had with a Member of that Houfe, who reprefented an frith county. he remarked to him that the Parith Officers and Churchwardens were more fuccefsful in railing men in Ireland than in this part of the kingdom. The Hon. Member Allred him, that he bad exerted all the influence he poffeffed to promote the objects of the Bill in the part of the country he refided in, and that, with all his exertions, he had not been able to procure a tingle man. The pariffies, in the very teeth of all the provilions of the Aft, were at tall obliged to have recourfe to the very means of procuring men that it was intended to dif countenance. When it was found to produce fo little advantage, and fo much inconvenience, it was a'aco nithing to him how the Right Hon. Gentleman could perfevere in fo abfiird and mifehievolis a fyttem for one week. He next adverted to the Volunteers, and to the practice of giving them local and temporary rank. What could have given rife to a prallice fo abfurd and giievous. re pregnant with hardfhip and injuftice to all thofe honourable men who had fought the battles of their country, and exalted its glory in every clime, he could form no conception. There was not an officer in the army who did not cry out againft this monftrous infult and injury. He dif claimed the illiberality of treating any Rate or condi tion in this country with the lealt degree of flight or difdain. But was it to be endurcd, or could it be believed, that an Officer, who pet haps had been for- ty years in the fervice, fhould , when he appeared in the field, be fo far degraded as to be obliged to obey the orders of a Fairy Cook, a man who fells tart: and cbrefteakes. What could hare induced the Government to confer the title and rank of Colonel upon filch a man he could not conceiv e ; but Co it was; and were a Lieutenant Colonel in his Majefty's army to go into the field to-morrow, he would be fuperfeded in the commandbyth iifs ptiaineyryc-cooainek.l;e tn u . s retailer of tarts and cheefecakes. Are, Sfr, who have ferved with didinguidted honour in sa ,„ o the world, to ,orld' would , be commanded by a pal- m p o a rr r o ts w, of be the world, would , if they clme tn.morrnw, be l cook. lie did not, in making thole obferv a ti mean to threw the fliglated imputation upon !Sikh, whom he underdood to be a fenlb'c and at . fpeanble man, and a very good paltry-cook. It e a , not with the man he found fault for accepting ti rank, it was with the Government who ciii.f.rred 4 on him. Nothing had occurred for many y ears to excite fo much dilgull and diffatisfaaion aw e! the O ffi cers of the Regular Army, as that pr..f e k dithibution of In flours which they had long cop, fidered as etcliefavely their own, and utt often the only rewards which they either looked', or obtained for all the toils and perils they enroes tered in the fervice of that country. Cr.uid it be es , peered that when they law thofe indifcriminately, when they found the value 4 1 1,, t : dinrinifhed, as they were by being rendered conm e ; that they would preferve the fame ardour ft. r tart' life? Among all the abfurditicb which th Go. vernment had given into, in the arrangement of the Volunteer Force of the Empire, there was not nee more ablurd, and tnifchievons and tifelers, than that of conferring rank upon Officers commandin g that force. Then the Volunteers were fent to what vas ftrangely mifnamed permanent fervice ; and it a ll laid, thefe men, after this fort of pantomimic ex! 4 . bider's, were fitted to difcharge the military e h ! es . Having thtis cleared away this path (he did n .ap. ply the term to the individuals, or to the c-lich‘ e body, but to the fyllem), he would advert ba- a few moments to the means of improvement. The firt objeift was to introduce into the army limited le. vice. The Houle was told, that Adminiltrationh a d applied its attention to this fubjea ; and next info. oration was given, that high military anthotities eta againd it. It was not quite refpeaful to the Hu;,le to have merely a communication of the refult, with. out any of the motives being affigned on which that conclufion was founded. He thought the Member of that Houk were more competent judges on a quedion of this kind, becaufe they were not military men. The latter, from having been introduced into the army from infancys had not that fentiment of regard, perhaps, towards the peafantry, which was felt by perfons in the ordinary Rations in fociety.— He then infilled upon the preference to math% lot a limited term of years, indeed of enlidiag for lite, and inftanced the cafe of the forces railed in India upon a limited term, very few of whom ever return. ed to this country, although they had it in their op. tiers fo to do. It was highly dikomaging to the re- Crafting for the army, when people law only ince lids or cripples return home to their friends. Were men allowed to return among their friends and-tele. tires, after a certain period of fervice, it would is fide a military ardour in the country ; and Rout/ even the Levy en Metre be called out, they wonted prove highly beneficial.. There was one delicate rub- Jed, which, as it had been formerly touched on in the Houfe, he fhould venture to hate his fentiments upon, though not with the intention of haling upon it during this Seffion, as he intended to bring the matter more formally before thetn during the nest one. He meant an increafe to the pay of the arms. He had heard of a pi-vocal for increafing his Majef. ty's Civil Lift, on account of the increated expellee of every article of life. How was it pnffible for Of- Seers to exid as Gentlemen in fociety with Inch fcanty allowance ? At prefent a Captain only re. ceived from 1701 to ISal. per annum, and a Lieu tenant only ^Ol. or 801. (urns which were totally in adequate to the expence they were necelfarily put to. When he was in Pruffia about 25, years ago, the pay of a Captain jn that country was equal to 3001. al though every article was much cheaper than here.— He ovifhed the fcrvice fhould be opened more corn• plceely to the Catholics in Ireland; and he exptael his difapprobation of the feverity of punithments military offences. There were many other points which be would prorofe to the Committee, were his motion agreed to. The Honourable Officer that concluded a fpeech of two hours and a half by male. in g the motions already dated. Lord CASTLEREAGH laid, he did not rite with a view of following the Honourable Officer who had jolt fat down through the long detail and various topics to which he called the attention of the Houfe. 'The Honourable Officer Paid, that the fith remedy which he meant to propofe was to undo all that had been done by Parliament for the lath two years. This indeed would be a ferious undertaking, efpecially when he acknowledged that little could In done this year in the way of improving the date rl the army, taking it for *ranted that the parent fyi. tem were abolithed. 'I he effea, therefore, of this motion, if agreed to, would be to dedro7 eve y thing calculated at prefent to increafe the army, and tub !Butte little or nothing. In February lath a Italie was brought before the Houk , purporting to effen what the Honourable Officer moved that night, bet neither his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Pitt) nor Parlia ment thought it at all neceffary to agree to the me. tion made on that occafion. Tile Honourable OS cer would perceive, therefore, that he did aot pre p& what could be very inviting to the Houle, re confident for his Right Honourable Friend to adopt' He did not think it in the leaft neceffary for the Ha. nourable Officer, on a fubjea of this kind, to en et fo much at large into the confederation of the n.rf with Spain. He fhould not follow the Honoural::: Gentleman in his obtervations on that political par', which he conceived to be irrelevant to the ()Vie cf the motion. Confining himfelf therefore to tile litary part, he bad to congratulate the Houle assd the Cotton y en the fuccefs which attended the ordinary recruiting fcrvice, He felt great fatisfaainn in being able to itate,that it was producing a greater number of men to the army now than at any period oldie la war, cr at any time thrice that to the prefent, compared to itfelf. He did not mean to trouble the lia.fe entering into detail ; he should therefore only fel:, that though. the new fyflem had been tried nil.. great fuccefs, yet the new allotment was not core plete ; and the Honourable Officer would not Cur , rend that there were not from nine to ten thoufand men railed under the operation of the new f7llem.• This was a aloft encouraging profpeti of future ill eels and great augmentation. In the courfe of months the army received an increale trim it 7500 men ; acccrding to that fcale of calculauo tihtat was a fair one, the whole increare this 7C