Star. — London, England, 1803-07-19 00:00:00

,~ i~ I I _r - T r . . . , • ms prem,.• , and even the Trench theinfehres are i . n many T i rtitnittn. arid in this too, worthy ofhimita lion. I nuld• Sherefote propofe, that his Malay fbould be,empowered to call for retu rns of all pi ovate arms, in the fame manner as he is aheady empowered to •10't ot , e u:e of' all horfes, ra et ;ages, waggens,B:c. Having faid this mut 4 i. Ai , . 411..1) die general outline of my plan, I may dole the me-native he mnkint a few general obfervations. It appears to me, that this plan is fimple, efficacious, and entirely confiftent with tbi ancient law and glorious conititution of our counuy. lam fully convinced that it will be carried into execution with The utmoil zeal and animation by the whole body of the people, who will not confl ate it as a burden; an& I truft that it will ultimate ly tentrto fecure the fafety of his Najeoly's domini. cm% and pmve the mi.ft certain and efedual means of dircomtiting our molt implacable enemy. I am not without hopes, Sir, that when this meafure is adopted by Parliament in addition to our late ext./. tionsio behalf of our King and Country, that we will be fully able to prove to France and the whale world, that we are perfectly capable of defending ourfclres I and, by convincing our enemy of that tingle fad, they *will foon fee the neceffity of laying a fide thoft infolcnt , land audacious plant of invafion which they have at various dmes concerted, but at no time with more ferious appearances than at the prefent moment.-- s When our enemy finds us thus prepared, I mull fay that in my opinion he will be a very hardy man in deed, who will venture to run the gauntlet of the o ft , in the midft of our navy, and afterwards en counter t'.l:ti dangers attending . fuch a numerous, and , l'lvay venters to add, an invincible army. I cannot bit p expreffing my o pi e ,,:m, that the military Rulers f France are n ow to all app. orance, elevated to Each oldie% the.t the w ill ies w ill nt .;•er be fati,fied t till • ley baits , : s idaajouT ed to put their grand (chose of I?taguy.s . ' intb execution. They are, I mull fay. a 1 ceriritf s People. They appehr to be curious, in tk, fita kin:lime, to know whether or not this country eh •'‘iffitalty produce men ? and they further (rem alto& to know whether any of the men they ts. elkan4 to find in thin Country ear, really gb.od %Mien ? I ihauld have thought 'chat they 'hfilivelmen toile to fatitly ' thesofelves in thefe illpTiedlars hi confulting hiaory; and that too abt Ma very ancient date. They might thus have learnt that bath the Mends of Great Britain and X re l a nd k•pithic, Mtn who require but little traio ; ,ng to fi t at r the exertions of the field to makr, them good Fiezr. I believe, however, that the 'treat Chief at ;fie {lead of t . h cu at ia na rs tion or tas h a a r d e v r e . r d lr m i e i ro ttle os ex i p n Lie n n c c c e , Viti our of Britifh foldiers., which the Chief Con. *IBM In the page of Litton , . and even at fo late a period as in the Lift war. Can the French have *heady forgotten the gallant defence of a certain re. doubt. near Toulon, by a (mall party of Britillt war - tires, reader the command of Colonel Duncan, of 1 the artillery, who is now ner more? The next inft-uace t non mention is the liege was fo gallantly defended by a mere handful of Eng- Rib sailors and marines. Has the French General for ten the gallantry difplayed by an Englilh ()r who occupying a fituation, defended only tnchanOld garden wail, impeded the progrcfs of the wily fir fixty days? Such fpecimens as ..ftainight, I think, already convince the French what we can do bylaw!. As to What we can LlTfea, Do teltinioniale, I prefnme um be neat tory i for many of the French Genera ls an. I believe, *very young, and have not had opportunities of wh eal% the valour of Britilli troops. The thine of Cateaux is another remarkable inftanee of Bata intrepidity, for there Bridal foldiere attached and 'overthrew the whole loe4 wing of the French, far itperior in point of numbers, and took the greatelk Pert of the - Trench army prifoners. What will our y r alrud to e to thl e a i lTa a r of tba L t i w n a ce s l es ' hinted at e la m tely y this Houk in which the yyd Regiment of the Line, Rini af not more than Soo men, under the corn. IrGeneral Fox, attacked a village during the . Tourney, and completely expelled the 4 1:ho were fat fupaior in point of numbers) . ' . elethially gained the day. Bat. Sir, it is ' - Mirth Winces alone that we mull look for in vestments to fi milar exertions of our countrymen in tot e day of battle. It is to the heart and fpirit of the whole inhabitants of the country—a fpirit which I troll we continue to inherit from our ancellors ; and op that fpirit and true courage we molt rely for our defence *gainit every enemy. To conclude, Sir, I Gall now again only exprefs my hope, that if this *Mature be carried (peedily and properly into exe cution, it will be found to be a plan calculated (in addition to all cur other efforts) to command an fore: in the country fufficient to refill and to wi elFetkually our inveterate enemy, however der iajg he may be in regard to his menaced invafum. Raving thus pretty fully fabmitted to the Houk the whole outline of this intended fyftem of de fence ; I have only to more for leave to being in a Bill, .4 To amend and render more effectual the late Additional Army AR, and to enable his Majelly more effectually and fpeedily to exercife his peerage tiv_ t e in cafe of the afloat insalion of the Realm." Mr. Wi laid, he would beg leave. in the fact of that Houfe and of the country, to re-afert what be had Rated before, that Minifters had brought the country into great and imminent danger by their delays and their nested. This was the charge be had againft them, and he was ready to enter into the proof of it. He underftood, on the authority of the Right Hon. Gentleman who bad jug fat down, that the country was threatened with an invation, and that alone was, under every eliding circurnflance, a fir& Cent ground of charge. He was not fo abfurd or prejodiced as to fay, that becaufe a great danger was impending over a country. the rulers were in fault. The ground of his accufation at prefent war, that proper means of defence had not been taken before this time The danger that was laid to exill Mould have been known long ago, and it was evident the danger 'l in e d nowt for if it did not, what occafion VMS there for all theft preparations? The danger, therefore, would continue until there meafures now propofed would have effeet, and place the country in a proper Sate of kcorit y. Thefe meaftnes might bane the proper tree,. but until they did, there would be danger. As to the attempt of invading this country, it wgs generally admitted that loch a thing was in ogitatioo. Bot the thing itfelf was very far from be ii.,.; Adequately felt throughout the country; and a great number of people would not believe that the enemy feeitnelly meditated fuch a defign. It was fre quently afked, if any reafonable man could fupssafe that an invafion'tiasuld be attempted .> Would thAt be done without fume degr ee of probability of its being fuectfblid: He would ak, whether It was for Faurope, which was already fubjetled to the power of /lance I was it Great Britain, tthich had throwr, itfelf at the foot of that country by the p: ace of .A.toien., to realon in that way? If the Fit:ltch entertained any reafonuble prefumption in favour of the prthicability .of their plan, what reafon was there to fuppofe they would not attempt to put it in 4 1 1cciptifile "What did we know of the difficulty of that cuterprize which salts act known ro them. The Fretabb did not want to be told, that naval operations were uncertain, that their troops might be cut off in their pa 'rage, or de nroyed after they landed. They knew a'il thefe things, as well as we did. We might know I,ur own means of defence better than they did ; and on the fame principle, they were better acquainted with their means of attack than we could be. There was no reafon for of erting the attack v,ould not be made, becaufe it was likely to be unfirixelsful. But it was carious to enquire who chore per dons were, whole con fidence led them to tuppofetba.t no fuch thing would be done ? There were many eminent lawyers, many grave divines, many refpell:abk merchants, a great n umber of &Ulu) agricultural ifts,andfeveral handfome women : all thefe appeared co be perfectly acquainted with the fribjeCt they fpoke upon, and delivered their opinion with the tonna co ufidenct, as to the imprac ticability of an invafiou. 'But let nay Member of that Houfc talk with tailors ae foldiers on the fobjee, and he would bear a very dittierent opinion. The opinions might be given in various ways; but they would all exprels doubts upon t'oe fubjeft. A Naval Officer. Waked his opinion, •aiould oVerve, that it was a bti. f.nefs of great uncertainty; that these was an im. mcnfe coaft on hod s fides, and boats of various fixes and in various we.- ys might pats from one coati to the I other, In that m o naval fuperiority on the part of Great Britain c null prevent that from being done. Military Offiet_rs, if afked their opinions, would fpeak in terms of equal doubt and hefitation. And both naval and w.ilitary men would do to, becaufe they knew fonsching of the fobjea they fpoke upon. But ak the tedinion of thole perfons whofe knowledge of the fee. coati never extended beyond Margate or Brighura, and who had never been to fee in any other veffel except a bathing machine; alit them what they thonent of invafion, and they would fay it was all a farce . " The wooden walls of England would prot.eit the country :" or be would rather fey, their own wooden heads. Talk to men like thefe, v.lio h'.3ew nothing of the fubjea, anti they would, like !captain Bobadil, difpatch hole armies with their fifties. In fad, thefe perfons thought an invafion was not predicable by any of the means they were acquainted with, they did not think that othert could do more than they foppored they themfelves would have done in the fame fituation. He thought it ne celery to fay a few words as to the charge made againfl him. of his producing defpondency in the country. Gentlemen teemed to have a very odd no tion of defpondency : and, probably, becaufe they conceived others were producing it, they thought it proper to adopt a mode of producing encourage ment. The language they held out, was likely to produce the mon raitchievous trees in the country, and on the councils of that Houk. A gallant officer (Colonel Cranford)) bad, on a former night, whets (peaking on this fubjeft, given an opinion highly bo nourabk to hiinfelf. He did, in a moll able and elo quent manner difcharge his duty to himfelf and the public, in a way which nobody elfe had done : and Purely, that could not fubjeld him to the imputation of producing defpondency ? As loch an imputation had been thrown out agaion himfelf. he thought it neceffary to Fay fomething that might do it away, as he could not be without tome feeling on the fubje&. —Had he lived in the days of chivalry, perhaps he might fuller the puninsment that sued to be inffieed on defponding perfons--nansely, that of having their fpurs cut off by the King's cook. Perhaps be and his friends might now be fervid in the fame way, by the makers of the peace of Amiens. The Right Hos. Gentleman sifted in making that peace with all his I contempt for invafion. The Right Hon. Gentleman feemed to think that the fear which led to refinance could only rank with the musky that led to fubmillion. He was afraid 's : a / I :l: l ineation, although the Miniliers teemed to defpffe it. He found as much fault with them for doing fo, as they did with his for expreffing his fears. There were cafes in which the concealment of lamer might be highly horst and mifehievons ; and in certain cafes it mi ght he concealed without producing any mifchief; filch for linftance as in the cafe of malady,• which no know. ledge of the danger could cure; and in cafes when all had been already done which was neceffary to be done. But if he few a both on fire and nobody precut to extingnifh the flames, how was he to ap prise the people infide of their danger ? Was lie to knock I mdly at the doors, or to call to the people in a whifper ? How could he be confidered asmagni. tying the danger, or creating delpondency when he (poke of a danger. againft which no adequate remedy I had been provided ! Why had not Miniders estop ted, months ago, the meafure they were then pro pofmg ? They were, indeed, very fond of talking of their exploits: They had Diked, with a kind of tri umph. whether they bad not, in time of peace, en created the naval and military enabliflunent of the country. In Come months afterwards, like vigi lent watchmen, they heard an alarm, they fprung their rattles, they told the Honk there was danger, and they called out the Militia. Three months after wards, an Army of Referee was agreed to be raifed ; and he could fay. that there was as yet very little pro pels made in the bufinefa. At length they came for ward with the prefent many', and keened to elk if they had not done every thing that was tweeter, ? —He would tell them, that four months ago they ought to have adopted the prefent plan ; inflead of which, they had by their negligence produced all the danger they now held forth. The invafion that threatened us was the confequence of that conduit; which conceived, became pregnant with and in due time was delivered of the two huge animals—war and it:mallets. They were now come into the world, and appeared to be defpikd by thole who had begot them. It was an old laying-46 he is a cunning lid who knows his own father." He would apply the eniteside of that to his Maiely's Miniaer h for they teemed POW not to know their own offspring. In flaw of all the deer whirls they owed to themfelves eat she they Moo drives on at that kitut state. tint they, nettiAbought proper .to come to the meafure they posy propofed, until foot or ire months had elapfed I from the &ft appearance of danger. After having liOne on at (rich a rate **ibis. he would elk if it was not - high time for the vigour of the Country to inter pofe and flop it ? It might be alked whatinducement. Could tlfofe men whoinanaged the affairs of the EXte4l. live Government have for acing in this manner i t . It might be faid, they could have no inte reit in balloting' the defirudion of the country ; and that they had not gone oul of the ordinary court of proceeding . which had hithertobeenobferved. Whatever excufe ought be made for them, they could•never efcape the charge of havingputthecountry inatituationufgreat danger; for no man could fay but that we fhould be later now, if thofe meafures had been propofed at the proper time; and inafmuch as they had been delayed fo long, there was great danger. But after having Rated this charge againit Minified, let it not be frippored he had come to the end of his charge ; for there were many other parts of the condua of Minitlers eqtrally rep benfible. They had (hewn themfelves deficient in all. the neceffary modes of preparation. They had not taken the coward of any great military man. They had no military council to direct the operations o( our armies, or devife the bell plans of defence or at tack. .t.ord Grcy and every General Officer not in aerial ferrice,fitould be appointed to form a council of that kind. Their built:els fhould be to confider and form the plap of every military operation to be undertaken. Each individual in it ihould ad fo as to be able to fay--essia perflai, art anima fops provi.— Ever y thing fhould be minutely weighed, and nothing be left undone. There was nothing more rentarkable in the enemies, whole condua the Right Hon. Gentle man recommended it to the Hoofs to imitate, than the extraordinary attention and minutenefa with which they examined every fubjed and poirlt before them; and a great deal of their fuccefs, in the late war, was' owing to the plans which had been previoully deviled, of every operation that had been performed. Was there not a great variety of fuhjefts with regard to our operations that required a degree of confederation which it was impoffible, either for the Commander in Chief, or for the Generals, to bellow upon them? One great advantage of a military council in this country would be, that of its implying no kinJ of difparage ment to any individual. No one perfon could un dertake to fay, that he could confider and determine upon everything. The multiplicity of things chich i a per fon at the bead of the military force of the coun try had to confider, rendered fuch a thing impoftible. A military council, therefore, could imply no difpa. ragement to the illultrious Commander in Chief ; — nor would it take away from his difcretionary power ; for every thing refolved on by the Council, fhould be fubmitted to him before it could be adopted, and mull receive the approbation of his Majefty. It would, therefore, be a Council of Difeuftion, and not of decifion. A meafure like that now propoled, could never be carried into effect, if the Councils of the country were not properly exercifed. The whole would be a fcene like that of men being trampled on by their own bullocks. With regard to the meafure itfelf, it was one which he lhould not object to; and he thought it very-proper that a power fhould l,e jelled in die King to call his fub jeas out in cafe kf invafion but he had confiderable doubts how far the meafure would enable the Govern went to make great exertioes. He had a general objection to the compulfory (Oda, which formed the priniiple of this meafure. Although he thought it very right to have that ass referve.yet it wouldhave been much better at ErR to have recourfe to the vex' looted fyitens. That experiment fhould have been tried before ever the prefent had been propefed ; but inilead of that.they took an oppofite and a dangerous cones : they never told the danger, until they came with their compulfory fyßem. Under the impreffins of danger, the voluntary fyhem flsould have firit been had recourfe to. Never was there filch a libel on the country as to (limn& that it could rot be moved un til it was compelled to do fo. It was in the very na ture of a compulfory ferrite that men were difinclined 'to the performance of it. There was nothing in it to hatter men's vanity, or excite their zeal. He was, therefore. afraid that this ferrite would be fluggiffily, carelefsly, and reluctantly executed. Men would be difinclined to it, not only from their natural impa tience of reftraiat. but from their modefty, and that fpirit of depreciation which would prevail in flow and appearance, and which generally difinclines the peo ple of England to things of this fort. They were not like the people of France, attached to military (bow and parade. If a great number of men, with habits and fentiments (itch as he had jug alluded to, were brought out to exereife, they might become the (port oldie mob that furrounded them, and that might pro duce a very bad circa. As a proof of the evifariling from a compulfory fyllem, he would jolt notice the Provilional Cavalry that had been railed in the late war, and which had always (hewn a great difinclina tion to the ferrite. There was a mow material di( ferenee between the two fervices. l'he volunteer was satiated by good will, and by a defire of ctiftinaion. Of there compelled men, many would be good for nothing, and mull be thrown away. Very littlegond could be expelled from men esercifed in a church yard, and exercifed fo feldom as they mull be. The Government would thus have an immesh body with• out power t it would be like the man who thought the merit of the book he was writing confined in its free and therefore thought it enough for him tomake it very large. There was a great Ink, that before the machine could be put in motion, the enemy would come and fpoil the whole of the work. The meafure that had been agreed upon fome days before, was not yet carried into ace ; and it appeared. that ail thofe things which had been done by means of parliamentary meafures, were like great guns. which made a great noife,but feldom with the greateß aired. The country did not want all this apparatus. Ac cording to the volunteer fyllem, there might be a number of men much more applicable to the public knice, although a fewer number. A living dog was better than a dead lion. But by this measure 00. thing would be done in time. He did not look cm this marline as use that was improper to be adopted. bur as one on which no reliance watt to be placed. The voluatary seal of the country could afoot be re lied mu There never was a country in which Is meek wealth was combioed with loch greatnefs. power.' and intelligence; in which the people were booed' together by fo many list. and became the happie* ea eat*. If, therefore, the fate of that country thistaii unfortunately beetstne &Ames. ;f de %wed be conquered by a vioket enemy, the would es. hibit loch an example as never did evil in the Stolid befirre. Let no Eugliffiman fuppofe that he could dirvive the irate of his country. Even the tnikrable date of esidence enjoyed by the people SiSiserland Would then be denied us. It was the de. drofffrin i the pestphi of this count 17, and not the crentry arid(, that the Ureatch fought after. What would they do with an @and- bit this? Poliefed as whey were of the Rhine and other great rivers, what did they want with our River Thames ? They would, is callthefe.away as *Clefs. things, but anail• hilate the people, as was Carnet-1y done at Carthsigo It was hardly neceffary to btingline troth home to the bre of every piaci, that he• could never cape& again to enjoy his wealth, his luxury, his.soinforts, or any one privilege, if a Fiends invadon Bloch' be ruccel,fni. The lii It thing, 111er/fore, to be done was, to tell men, and convince them of theirdangew with which they were not fufficiently impreffed. It mull be an up. 110.1 work to do this. They have never had experience of Inch a thing ,befofre. An Hon. 80. ronet (Sit W. Erfkine) had one former night fpolm. of the advantage the 131i:ilia potrelreitiO Point offiiritt courage, bodily Ili ength, &c. smer slitter troops, pat. titularly the Aullrians, whim he &fasted as mere machines: he mod fay, that without Comething of the machinery of difcipline, little esp,dati n could be formed of the efficacy of con poops. This was, there. fore, an additional reafoo for paying , awe attention to the voluntary efforts of the people. He then um ticed the power given to certain Vdtanuier Corps us chufe their owe ()dicers ; a power which ass highly difapproved of, as being likely to produce the trod mirchievous confeguences. The objea now was, to call forth the valour and energies. of the Country, but that could not be done, if men were to be put is trammels. Let fkilful officers be appointed ; and. its. dead of any thing compulfory, let the energies oft people go on. If that was done, the bed hopes won't be railed in the country. He would not oppofe the prefent meafure, but he thought incouvenseaci4 would reit& from it in various ways. Lord Haweesatiar then role, and with peculiar and fpecial energy obferved, that the Right Honour able Gentleman, notwitialanuing all he Rated, had yet laid nothing, or at lead little to bear on the point in queilion ; it therefore farmed that the general aad dire purport of his obfervatinns went wholly to e o n . vert the opportunity which debate afforded him, of • ufing it as - an attack upon what he was pleated to term the tardiners.of Minitters in arranging a plan of de fence. His Lordlhip conferred that the medium was certainly very regular, if reafouab'e ; but it bad hap. ; pened in this cafe, as in a framer inflame, that it was merely intcnd:d as a fide wind, to blame and ma into difrepute all their meafures, without letting theist have a fair opportunity of refuting them. The Right Hon. Gentleman let out with Rating, that hit Majefty's Government had accofed them ; among the reft, he himfeli was Paid to be honoured tab 4 foremott rank : that was certainly no more an objza with the perfons to whom the Right H Gentkonai alluded than it was their detire, as he would infinuate, to endeavour to make the people believe that no des . ger did eailt ; both accufations were equally unfounded. • In thort, the language of the Right Hon. Gentleman,. went the length of atferting, that the fy deru, thong; up • agreat meafure fought by himfelf, was badin principle. and worfe in praaice. He mulled however, that would • not appear. It is the duty of Miniaers to apprit the people of their danger; but in doing that, be was at the fame time convinced that there were modes of . making the communicat ionwhichdifferedeonfiderably from the manner the Right Hon. Gentleman Would have it conveyed; and as there were modes of com municating it, Co alfo there were modes of doing mi chief, the conveyance of the intelligence, that maid more than counteract all the efficacy of ir. The bm guage of the Right Honourable Gentleman was the language of one who would fay, oDo all you cm, but with all you may do, you will Ilia leave ire little to hope in the refult." When this is hated. and (late it he would, yet, Paid his Lortifhip, he was far. very far from imputing improper, indite& or dd. honourable motives in his Right ki , .nourable nor did he charge him with not poffelling the feelings of an Englilhman ; yet with all this his language has the effect of defpondency. The fame edict:bout, and almna the fame obfervations, were made to the Militia by that Gentleman, and therefore there was nothing new in all he raid; but the unpleafant cir ! cumftance was, that in fah it had the effea already of making many of the Militia diflike their fituation. With refpee to the meafures politic(' by Miniaers, it was an cagy matter for fume to find fault, being lb difpofed, whatever might be their meafures; and alfra to date Come ground of diflike or of apprehenfion for their 'droll, more efpecially in (Leh a crifis as the prefent, when the public mind Iland.fo high on the tiptoe of ansiety, curiofity, and apprehenfion; and in reality it would teem that thole Gentlemen fought pretests to make things appear in every way worh than they anotally wetc ye , , in all the theory which that Right Hon. Gentleman, or ye: aitr his friends have propofed, he had hi. doubts, firß of their el& racy, if they were praCticable, and then even admit, pradicability. Whether efficacious nr not, by , ineafutos too complicated, too large, or too “tearive, yeti probab:y other little or no good would be derived; tt was, therefore, the beg waidom, and the founded policy to proceed by gradations,till a final and finithed fyllem litould be completed, that wmild turnifh ado. quate means to terse and fare the country. Had any indifferent perfon heard the obfervations of the itigha Hos. Gentleman, it trailat have been fuppofed that the efforts of the country had been more oegleBed, and were more remits than at any former period dim hillory, or at any former sera of its Monarchy. ma that a general sea cimilar:e pre vade d all the =arum of its Government. But he would appeal to the impar tial candour of the lioufi:. whether in the interim be• tureen the eonclution of the tacaty of Amienh and the rupture of the peace, a greater army was not kept up and provided than ever was known in any period of our hiflory, at a time tco when forne Honourable Gentlemen were in the habit of qtaehioning the pro. piety of keeping up fo great a force, both mili tary and naval. Dining that Nom peace, not a ye term was difcharged who had not entitled to terse during the war. And, at the prefent moment, he mould take upon him to fay, that we had a greater force on foot than ever was known in England or Ire land at the beginning of a war, and nuked at alniod soy period ut one. Re derived it might be curopased . 1 t 5 al 'fp It r.1,j 4 the late ^ai 1 4 4 , if