The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1807-07-23 00:00:00

• /oneness ;n the peasantry of the country, to enter ate the lenient, than into the Regiments of the Line, even for limiied service, but were afterwards more likely to be induced to do so. Upon the whale, i: i-nald be found, that the average increase of bounty to ot.tkin men for the Militia would be less than this obtaining men for the army; and, besides. the enlitia was a species of force, to which the ::.obits and inclinations of the people had been long made up, and those who were subjeft to the ' ballot, suemitted to it with more willingness than to the payment of the pesielties to enforce it. while the elicit rif the other measure would furnish no less than ee,ooo men. The mere effeet of the penal ties, exaeled under the Army of Reserve Act, had made it degenerate, so that its supporters thought proper to suspend it, and must, in case of a recur rence to that m-esure,prove an obstacle to its success. Alt that the Ripen Hen. Gentleman had done to remedy the /Wefts in the Army of Reserve Ael was, to trentlir the penalties to what was called the AJditione: Force Aa, and had thus proposed a tenon of three fines, m defiance of every principle of justice and legislative honour. He was convinced that that nit st unwise measure of levying fines upon defaulting distriffs, was sufficient to render any Ail of that kind nugatory. Looking to the present circumstances of the country. the position of the enemy. end calculating for :mere events, the House woule naturally see the propriety of throwing thebur. den of any deficiency upon our Hem. Defence. ra ther than upon that sort of defence *both could be afforded by Regiments of the Line. Ls every point of l e e s, therefore, he thought there were advantages whi e man Iced the Militia System as the most prop er resettrce for supplying the Regular Army in a much ear re mode than could be effeaeJ by the Army tsf Reserve Aa. while it will impose no new or addi tional burden, the ballot to supply deficiencies in the being; only what the people were already accustomed to. In time of peace, it would even tend as a Mil' stiun of their burdens, and would in terfere in a nos deteres, while the war coennues, with the ordinary modes of Recruiting, and to re vive that monopoly. ie. that paaticuler, which was n..ces..ar yto our leg:ller establishment. The I louse shotile be aware, that by the Militia system, as last organient. all Enamel men, at the end of five ye es' se Nice, would Le entitled to their dis charge, ss iihout any qualification as to the deters .n of the war; so that there would be be..wr.in five and six thousand Men who woe el be so. entitled to withdrew, betwixt the inneern of December and May. and consequently the in addition to their growing waste. would be also subjefl to the default of all those bal- Inetesi men, between these periods Supposing that three-fifths of the Maki.' would thus be induced to transfer their services into the Liee, the number m „ht be calculated at 21,700 men in England, and a purportional number far Ireland and for Scotland, riseetiet the while inci ease to the regular force of t e e ~f it ot v, amount to nearly 38,000 men. leaving abler t eteno supernumeraries te cover the progres sive was. eof the litlina. and the deficiencies to be made up by bellct an I ordifeary inducements of seen.' • g ildr would Ire drawing to the army a gteat supply ef trained men. testead of taking them from that body who are terminating their services. fie had eilly stared the outline of this measure, but h- should he anxious to receive any sugeestiosis or devils from others, that might improve or ellatplify the subeeet, and make it more pelateldi, He sheuld propose. that some en couragement should be given to the Militia Offi nits, to carry :his measure ieto execution within the trace of thirty des I ; and th it it should be in the power of His felej y or his Repel Highness the Duke r f York to err them ciimmissions in the army, it they felt so i dined, and i/ they have induced their men to enter vi idiom any inn rference of the Officers of the Line. As to the term of enlistment, he should propose to leave that to the individual himself, as he was in no degree prepared to propose the te scinding the meantimes forme-14 adopted as to a limited term. This was only a part of tire general system which he anent to propese s as he meant to introduce separate Bills Inr tee regulation of the various classes of force. He should next allude to the measures which Government meant to take as to that sort of force which did not constitute the regular establishment of the virility ; hut which. in time of war, and in the eltrimity of iuvesion, were to at as an auxiliary to tile Regular Army. First, then. with respea to that measure called the Training Bill, which she Right Honourable Gen tleman had introduced in the last Parliament, but had afterwards enntrived to throw into the heck greund, so as to make it difficult to carry in to ere& even if it h..d been generally approv ed of. although he (Lord Castlereagh) was net an original admirer of that system any more than of the others, he begged to believe that he was not disposed to desttoy the Military tied of that B 11. but to ogitgato it as efftenially as he could. Ile Shaul! flifeefore state, that it was in contemplation of Goveurnent to is some provisions to enable tlie Ir:dint to take place; but he declared most solemnly, t' at he lied not been able to ascer tain how the Right Hon. Gentleman meant to carry the prnvisi ens of that Act into execution, by means of Pails!) Constable. This WAS (slily throw issg ridicule upon the manner of executing it, as the Constable of a Fetish wes the last person tli Government sl.ould apply to, if they wished to J : as palatine of the con-tty together.— Altse was rot to pledge hi m self t o g i ve t h e same form to that Bill wh i ch the Right Hon. Gen tleman had dnrr, yet Ise begged to be understood es nor turnirg eis back upon it, or aeandoning all hopes of it. as well as the Defence Bill, which it was intended to supersede, but not to render more elreeb:4l, The original Bill was better calculated for traininig, under prefticable advantages, than the Bill which We Re Hon. (lent. had introduced to improve it. He did not approve of the Rt. Hon. Gentleman's term nt service, for any man who knew the nature of military decipline, mist be convinced, that are , man %shose term of service must terminate in a lew years, might retire alter he was completely trained. Arad ieeve Government to return to the b.eilest ; arid iterefote it us impossible to suppose that we could h ave a pi Terence , establishment in the country. As to the ruereiag Dill. he should propose, that in stead or baliOn.l.V fur n.cu to serve one year, he 'timed reverie e min piers, as it world be the means Of devising a tyttt m of more general discipline, which would ripen the individual to a knowledge of arms, I and matt him better adapted frie the regular army, an4Or tlfe defence of the century. Eve,' the Vrtlea tear force should he supported, soas to lay the foun* dation of a force, to give a permanent defence to tr.e country, so as to prevent tt in future from being exposed to danger. Under this Ttaining Bill. His Majesty should as it were be diretted to establish a local militia of some considerable duration, only liable to one ballot of men. trained together at the most convenient season of the year. and rot to be ordered out of their counties, except in ease of canal invasion or rebelli-n. The volunteer force having, however, many advantages over any other species of force, having more immediately a sense of duty and the interest of their county at heart, should be set upon their original establishment, so as to uphold the military charaCter of that force. fie approved much of appointing InspeCtors. and of sending them upon permanent duty. The Noble Lord then concluded with moving for leave to bring in a Bill to allow a certain proportion of the Militia of Great Britain to enter into His Ma. • jesty's Regular Army. SirGEORGE WARRENDER remarked, that the Noble Lord's plan seemed to have for its main object, the securing of a disposable force for foreign service, but in the present state of the world he did not think that was so necessary, as the formation r) an efficient plan for domestic defence, and he owned he felt surprised, that as the Noble Lord had'so long seen the nece.sity of the measure he bad now brought forward, he had not brought it forward sooner. He was not, however, prepared to object to the plan of volunteering from the Militia into the Line, but only so far as he feared it Might be the forerunner of other measures which would prove injurious to the country. The coun try would require to be satisfied, that the sa ctifices and exertions they were called unon to make, were lot the public good and security, and that the resources entrusted into the hands of tlis Majesty's Ministers were prudently adminisiered, He had listened to the propositions and reason ings of the Noble Lord, but he must 'say, he did not like such a shaking of the Militia and Mili tary System as he had jest heard advaucei. Ile did not believe it was possible to call oat a greater number -of supplementary militia than what was now serving ; he was also afraid. that the execution of the measure proposed by the Noble Lord, would destoy the recruiting of the army. It also went to increase the army by a circuitous, ra ther than by a dire mode I and would have the age of raising an unequal tax upon those whip were balloted for, and might be obliged to provide sub sautes. In the county for which he served, he did not believe that twcuty of the ballotted men would atually serve the remainder would set ape tn. gether all the money they could to provide substi tutes. He should, notwithstanding his o! jadions to the plan, agree to support the measures of G vernment for our better nation aldetence, previ.sid the plan of the Noble Lord underwent wort as - difiestions. Mr. YORKE said. that the exigency of the times Wl6 such, that it became every man's duty to state his opinion fairly, and without regarding which political party, in or out of the House, his sem imtnts might agree with or differ from. With regard to the plan proposed by the Noble Lord. he considered it more calculated to meet particular exigencies, than the exigency of the present nr-- went. He approved of that part of it which went to take from the Militia as many as willingly vo lunteered into the Regular Army, more particularly as such a measure would tend 'to the defence of Ireland, for at present the Militia did not volunteer their services to Ireland, so as to prove any efficient proteaion to that country. But as to the Nable Lord's plan of ballotting for the purpose of re placing the Maidt that might be so drafted off into the Regulars, sad to enable the army to re cruit, he did not think that the most advantageous way of applying the ballot; not but that he ap proved n( the system of Wadding, for it was in YAM to expert! to maintain a force adequate to the proteaion of this country. without some mode of compulsions when a force of 2 or 300,000 men was wanted to defend i.ee of the most valuable empires, sorra system of compulsion was necessary. Tree mode of enlisting which had formerly been pre posed by • night Honourable Gentleman (11r. Windham) he believed to be both inefficient arid dangerous; inefficient, as it was not even sufficient to fit up the chums in the army. which, in the spice of eighteen months, amounted in about 33,000. It was, besides, impossible, that under that system of limited service the wisher could have the same char after as had hitherto been the slistinguiel - Mg trait of the Uritish Soldier. British nrmies were generally stilton exrefitions against sup-rior farces, and under the various hiconveniencies of disem barkations and distant counuies. Under such cir cumstances, could men, looking fore aril to the near expiration of their term of seven years' service, aft as thorough-bred soldiers, who made the military profession their choice for hie ? So far then he certainly did not objet to the measure of the Noble Lord, because it interfered with and suspended the Right Hon. Gentleman's plan of recruiting. He had no obi:aim to ti.e ball I. It wee true we could not apply the plan of conscription, as adopted in France, but only in a limited way, and so as had been nailorade adopted by our ancestors. But he could not entirely approve of the means which the Noble Lord proposed. in order to gain an increase to our army ; he was afraid the means pro posed would occasion the distribution, or rather the scattering of the regular force of this army. On this part of the subject, however, some farther explana lion would be found to be requisite. Nor could he approve of the distribution of our army in foreign parts. A large force had been sent to South America; the expedition under General Craufurd had been eight or nine months at sea, in a state of inattivity ; and, after the battle of Jena, another expedition had been sent to Alexandria ; a force in itself inadequate to answer the purposes t - the expedition. He could not but express his surprise at such a distribution of unr forces, more especially when viewing the stare of the continent of Europe. lie calculated that there were now not less than twenty-fiveithousand 03C11 short of what there were in May leo4, and twelve or fifteen thousand I •ss than what there were this time last year.— Ik thought a greater concentration of ore. ho;Ges was desirable, under present circumstances ; bat. as • that could not be promptly done, it WA% necessity to have recourse to balloting. .To the p - esent plan, however, he alma( prefer the former sine of the Army of Reserve, because that body of men can he applied to Ireland, which could not be dome by the other mnde. Althcagh himself a Militia Officer, and with all the partiality which he felt for that valuable part of tour national defence, still he must say, speaking of the subjea with a view to the great scale of national defence, that the present militia system was in a great measure worn cut; nor was it sufficiently numerous to answer the threatening dangers to which we may be exposed, for. if we were to have the Powers of the Baltic, and perhaps also of the Western Continent turned against us, how was it possible that, with such a limited Militia, wecould be defended at every point I Our opposing enemy, France. was now. in beter relative circumstances, than when she threatete•cl to invade us under Marshal Sate; our means, th re. fore. require proportionate augmentations He felt objeaioos to the Noble Lord's plan. because. even if it were necessary to the service of the Stat , , it tended to disgust the Officers of the Militia, to withdraw so many of their men, to add to the troops of the line Militia Officers had, for fourteen years put, given up their time and attention to their Corps, wiliout having bad any apportunity of acquiring military glory. Now, supposing we were to have footmen years more war, how could it be reasonably eipea ed to find the same sort of Officers as had already been • formed for - this sort of service i On thew accounts, he preferred raising an At my of Res rye to the increase of the Militia. The Honourable Gentleman then went into a eerie, y of statement. and cslculations relative to the second battalions, which he considered in a very deficient state, and suggested that twenty of these battalions should he allotted to receive all the men raised by ballot. for the Army of Reserve,. within the space of three months, and which would give an augmentation to the army of WOO men. As mirth difficulty had been found in raising' re emits for the Militia, as had been for the Army of Reserve, he would propose to raise this Army of Reserve to 39.000. and unite them to the garrison or second battalions; or, if the House were to rout to the Training Bill, he. calculated that we should thereby get an increase of 4d,000 men to the army. But sums amendment should be mid* to the Traioing Bill. in order to accomplish this effea. When the Defence As first passed, it was a great trial what the country could bear. The men raised under that system were not pat under the Mutiny Bill. But now, if the Defence dtet should be revived, be thought the men should be put under martial law. He would also propose. that the men should be embnJied in their own coun ties. and that the old Militiamen should exercise and train them. He thought the same energy would be r.oriv.d.tiow.ass.when that as first- passed ;as if the enemy should have the temerity to attack us, couto.elso—iintr when it would, they would be warmly received. Upon the whole, he should. feel inclined to leave the Militia undisturbed, and os the same' footing as when the volun teering system first took place; not, that he thougat our Military system had arrived.t4 a state of per feaiun ; but such as it was, with the mai. tary prowess of our Regular Yoeces and the %Glum. tech:, these defenders of ewe tountry, he united, that, let the enemy come tihen they would, every sp• cies of military force in these countries would unite, and that most success/n:ly, against the un mist-opted adversary whom we were now called to resist, after the gigantic strides be had made to acquire universal - empire . BRAtiGE BATHURST said, he did not think it necessary to say much on the plan of re cruiting, whi.h, he believed, had proved eilicacioue, in a great degree. for the purposes for which it was formed, yet it could not be to such measures alone that the country looked for that relief which the present exigencies of the country required. The present situ..tiqn of the country demanded extraor dinary ezettions. He therefore did out think that the Noble Lord needed to hate suds any apology for bringing forward a great measure of military defence, except that he had not brought it forward sooner. The Rig la Hon. Geut.'s (Mr. Yorke) views, very much coincided with his own, that it a ballot were necessary, it should be for calling nut the Army of R , serve, rather than for the Milli ia. The Noble Lord seemed to have ditedted his attention more to a system for foreign relations. than our internal defence; and a measure which looked prospedtively to a state of peace, rather than to the present ex:- genc:es of the C:iuntry. But these were not views of the subjeii to which they were n,w called to &it et their attention; the fundamental objeft was, our internal defence ; and tois was an objed, which, in his opinion, would best ne promoted by the Army of Reserve. With regard to the Militia, its officers already laboured under great discourageraeors, and the plan of the Noble Lord would, be was afraid, tend to injure the Militia service still more & sod even to endsnger its existence. If the Militia slody were not competent to defend their country. in case of invasion, as at present .constituted, the plan of the Noble Lord caused a great risk of injuring that (Neff snore wean/illy. Is the Militia were to be reduced, and sent into their own counties, and tun ed into a sort of recruiting serjeants for the new levies. they would thereby be rendered almost use less as to immediate service. He therefore disap proved of discouraging and unhinging the Militia service, as he feared would be the effedt of the measure introduced by the Noble Lord. With regard to the Army of Reserve. he did not see why that was more eligible in 11105 than it was now. The present point now was domestic defence, and the ballot ad was peculiarly adapted to the present times, for producing such a force, more than the plan proposed of drafting from the Militia into the Army. fur the purpose of General Service abroad. He also defended the Additional Force Adl by ballot. He wars afraid the present plan would tend to disquiet the Militia system, and that the difference proposed to be gained was n it such as was sufScient to run any risk. By the one mode men might be got for foreign service, but by the other plan. a force would be obtained for home defence. Mr. WINDHAM next role, anJ stooks to the following '&3 Mr. Speaker, Sir, I cannot anger dal 0CC4.1u3 to Lbcipe, WithOit taking the „ pportu Locg,:d a( e n n i : t sn y ti:, o re f ; . a c g fs o n it I;otihitrenigioo, boraavtaptilyeistos ;of:ft:lnt:7. d m u e c a e s d ute to ot d . o ou s r 4 fMilitar y tirecallpartlye by another eons;d , ii i namely, a the attrntinn of she lir,r„ t to the trey competitor sit'ahteto since the Noble Lord has elem.,' hi s before us a new corn improvement, a new question Las antes, egn z topics, and placing principle het beet recommended, involvi ng the prilfey pripos-d by that Noble Lord. been r:coniin -tided by the two Hanoorable G t er. ll4 men who spoke last, as the moo proper ni-i' t s 6 of meeting this alleged emergency, to here re; • "ei to the formation of an Army of Reserve. R ( 7,7,. 1 if it became a question, whether it was more c';' We to have sue • an Army, or to break in t” upon 4 Militia, I. for one. w o uld g i ve a preference to t ' fist measure, merely because i t was l ess circul. " Io ot,sig ..o the Militia es ta bli sment, you p l , obtemed a supply, pee Impose; and at the fa '• moment that you relaxed its seal, and oomph', to its olt.itiate destrudion, there was nu ' pee • force produced io lieu nt it. No man who ha d ., pie occasion to lion a cot red judgment ari l comparative value ut the Regular told 1• . I 4:IA .t• I t could deny that the one had a superiority over ' o ; other, arising from the inherent principlesof bur, .• nature. It we, the characteristic of the re, • fo••ce to have an ado•e and unrernittirg iirdnoi a taltilg it, the tired of that feeling watch grou' . i amongst men inured to comm on dangers and-re— lated by an uniformi•y of i nterests . I t was a fer'; which in no roosibility could hot.; a p, v d.,„,;„,:; Influence with the Militia, inesmoch as the re %.;4 few necasiOns for calling it hive operaion, see which never could be felt by them, unkos in tro aitual occurrences of ehellion or inviumn, 10 the -zeal and patriotism of the Militia, and of the cha. renders who compose its high en Akers, i am and ever was ready to pay the warmest, begat!' a me rited emogium ; but, upon the plain princip.e• 04 : Al• man nature, Lcontend that the bulk el Militia u. ficcrs have not the same motives, bvceuse 1:!:f have not the same oppoltuuitim, with those e:•J have pattitipeted in the common dangers or tie profession and of thoir country. But how cis 're Nobleleird reconcile his proposed measure the 'Acted regard, which; cos so many former oc:e. slant. he professed for the Militia establishment?-- Was it to be expeaed that the blow was to be K ing by his hand ; It was an old but not less true adore, Cuard me from the mactsinati , tns of my ft icon. and I will take care of myself against mine err. snits." What reason for apprehensions did the con. duet of the Noble Lord warrant in the minds of the friends of the Militia establishment ? In what way did hit exhibit himself th:s night to them He lied proved that his alfedion for the Militia was that of the hutcher for the lamb. He wished to rear them fur the purpose of being himself t h e slaughterer. (.1 lasts4.l He preserved 'hem, as we coetatry gentlemen do the game, for our own killing. It was technically a preserve. (Lord letti4l , l, *ad great oproisiirral. -But lee the Noble Lord allow me to advise him of the necessity ot caution. Let me advise him to pause before he attempts to break dawn all those feelings which hove such a powerful influence over human anions. Let him recoiled. that be now proposes to withdraw from the service of the country, a branch of its military strength, at a moment when the exigency is of such a nature as it is fully in the power of th vt establishment pro. ponionaoly to meet. The Noble Lord tells the Militia, we break in upon your establishment, ant from any exigency, ari.ing from objects of foreign policy, not from any objellion which the nature of that establishment, and the limitation of it* services, must nocersarily create. In fad, the Noble Lord's measure went to deprive the Mi• litia of being able to do that service to their country, which, under the circumstances of its organisation. they were fully and constitutionally empowered to render. Indeed, I recommend to the Noble Lout, that if the exigency be loch, or if it has impressed him so forcibly with the oecesiity of interfering with the Militia. let him, as the moo preferable mode, adopt the alternative either of dis banding it altogether, or preserving it unimpaired. ( Herr I lien It is not in human nature to suf fer a violation of a system, so unnecessarily and al Unjustifiably. to escape without animadversion. It was an astral indignity to,such a respeaable bradtt of our force, to tell them, Ain at a moment her abo greatest danger was the dreaded of invasion. that then it was judged advisable not to depeal upon their satins as disciplined troops. sec impwa tioo than which nothing tan be mote untrue. Bat the objettion went further. It tended to dissolve a great and powerful branch of your defence ari national security, when, perhaps, in the interval. the very exigency against which you wished to pre pare, would probably oesur, and the dangen you apprehend would be realised. If the Noble Lord can beep the invasion, if he can be eeovinced o f the parti cular moment when Bowan, will put his threat in execution, then, indeed, the N ,ble Lord might with some ground tof confidence assume c.e.: do for the stability and convenes. of his proposei plan. Of taesh ). But under the circumstance with which we ere aU acquainted, I pronounce it, prima foci,. one of the worst Ads. It goes to deor , v a systems of your defence, which we know within it .•-e few years has arrived to such a state of per t• et as to make the comparative superiority ot Of. • gular service much less; and it is not a little . • tonishing to find suds a system of anion from so a quarter, to see such a departure from mirc.e • to which the Noble Lord bad for so many yeas. whimsically paid homage. It was idle to c olisi..: it as an augmentation of force, it cou ld only tie considered as a transfer ; it was true that it dissolved a great portion of your Maio, but there was no security in the present measure tor an increase, there was nothing to guarantee ' addition even of a single man to your dispoo force. It neither possessed the benefits of aci pulsory, er the inducements of a voluntary meant In convent% the merits of every +itch system, titularly as contra-distinguished to any other _ ceived and sassdioneJ measure, we should vino both what it does, and what it undoes, as what it substitutes as what it disp'aces. who' creates an what it destroys. And, upon the lance of such consideration, the judgmeie is :notated, and phi true conclusion drawn. . i e f n?rt, th; ;able :oat' hre. P It It bA- bloc flat