The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-06-24 00:00:00

recommend it ; but if it steoldvat, he was then for personal service. WINS lin went to a Cum ammo, perhaps an. akeewloa, might be sue- Rested. that would obviate very di As the Bill now stood, the Rae w as equa l upon all men The fine was eOl. upon an who were ballotted for; but with regard to the higher classes, there were many who would rather pay 901. at once than take arty trouble to procure a substitute. He therefore thought the fine ought to inaseee in proportion to the rank of the person paying it If each a mode as this was adopted, perhaps a system of compul sion might not be necessary. It would have the effect of indacing every one to use his ut most to procure a substitute, and of render ing every individual a recruiting officer. He should repress for the present what other senti ?Tents and opinions he might entertain. What he wished to enforce was, what he trusted they all agreed in, that it was not necessary to e a considerable augmentation of our force. On this point there did not appear to be a trace of division or difference of sentiment in the House. He thought we ought to look to a defensive force first, and an offensive force when the other was sufficient to insure our safety. He wished the House to look to that which was first in order of time. This Bill. if properly modified. he was persuaded, would give the country a well-grounded hope of raising a much largerar e zr for our internal defence, and eventually for gen purposes, than could be done by any other system whatever. He knew that no man burnt with truer warmth and disinterested zeal and patri otism than his Hon. Friend, and well assured he was that no one would more readily promote any system that afforded a hope of providing for our defence at home, and relieving the desperate and degraded situation of Europe. If other nations were not wanting to thomselves ; if they were not lost to every tense of their enslaved state ; if they were not de termined to prostitute themselves before an ambi tions conqueror, but were resolved to make those exertions which might restore their former indepen dence, that his Hon. Friend would not punish their teal by opposing the only system which can place the chance of exerting themselves with success with in their reach. If he did oppose it, he was convinced it must be because he was really actuated by a contrary impression. In that case, he trusted, he would consent to the Bill going to a Committee, where his objeaions might possibly be obviated. The SECRETARY at WAR. stated, that he had prepared a clause for classing the lines upon pet sons declining personal service. Mr. WINDHANI said, that, considering the si. tuation in which the force intended to be raised was placed, he did not think it sufficient for the safety and defence of the country. He thought, that even a less force brought into the line gradually, com bined with other eirtumstanees, Into the detail of which be should not then eater, would place the country in a safer state than could be effeaed by the greater force now in contemplation. We had heard much of the-urgency of the danger, and of the ne cessity for expedition ; but what, li e asked, appeared eo be the idea's entertained of the nature of this ur gency and expedition ? It was proposed to meet them by means that were not of immediate opera. tion. With every regard for the constitution, be was not prepared to say that he would not peeler a compulsqty m thod of raising force adequate to the crisis, if it sh odd not interfere with the increase of the army of the line. The danger was said to be immediate ; but should it comer upon us even so late as a distance of two months, what. he would ask, i n the name of common sense, is to be our situation ? The Bill was not yet passed, and the House had not yet advanced beyond the theory. How long must it take before the machinery 'MUM be at work, before the force to be raised should be perfectly dis ciplined, and in an efficient state ? These were que* o-tiono the answer to which could afford little confi ilea.), or satisfaaion. In fag, the enemy might come upon us, not only , before the force to be raised should be in a state of discipline, but in the very middle of the first ballot for levying it. And what will be the nature of this force when raised ? It will be a discordant force, composed of men taken away from their business and their familizs, full of soreness and dissatisfection ; and yet such was the force that was to constitute our last hone, and to be called the Army of Reserve of England. This is the army that is to step in after every other shall be de feated, and upon which the fate of the country is ultimately to depend. A small regular force was better than a large irregular force, of the descrip tion now proposed, because the former might be used fir any service ; whereas the hitter was to be locked up for home defence : besides, should a re gular fore not prove victorious in an eng.igernent, less evil results from their defeat. They do not, there fore, become less qualified to renew the contest, when an opportunity offers. No great, or, at least, no deci sive impression could therefore be mind.: upon the country by one defeat of a regular force. He would now call the attention of the House to La Vendee, which was the scene of so much contest in the late ivar. What was the resistance made by the brave inhabitants of that country? While the arms of France were sweeping i all the world before them, /hey remained unsu ued from the commencement of the war.until the year 1796. Their rtrength was in their weakness; they beet beneath the storm; but, having force to bear it, they rose again after the blast had passed, and were not subdued, until most of the States of Europe had fallen. That is the sort of war which we should be able to carry on in ibis country. He did not, however, mean any reflec tion upon any description of force now existing. His opinion was, that we should have all the regular force we could possibly raise, but he condemned the principle of eking it out by means that were in sufficient. We ought to be able to carry on a Vende nn war in this country, for in our ability to do so were to be placed our surest hopes of ultimate success. lfuch had been said of our having an army ready to oppose the enemy at landing, at whatever spot they should make the attempt, and of an Army of Reserve, in case of defeat in the firs instance ; but with all these means, he was sure the country Was in great danger. In considering the nature of the war, he bad uniformly declared it to be his opi nion that there was no evil so great as that o f dissem bling the extent of the danger ; should a descent be made upon different points, and should we ha• • no thing to depend upon for our ultimate succe, but the Army of Reserve, our prospect was dr. .:: At should. be understood by she enemy that ewes Ito the event of a successful landing, whatever mischief thee- might effect, and whatever havoc and dev aste r Oion they might spread, their work was not y• aad their object was still far fTOZO being aecouytists. • ' --..~ ~•.;-- ed. In this view he thought one of out principal dock-yards was of more importance than the measure then under vonsideration. Vl'hije we pre served our naval arsenals, and our fleets rade trium phant upon the ocean, the c ountr y cou ld - not be con sidered us subdued. The country could not be sub dued until France should be able to pour her forces into it with limit or restraint. The present force Was not sufficient, because it tended to create a fdse confidence, and led to the ;adoption of mea sures in tdequate to their object. It tended to de feat the patriotic and manly spirit of the country, by teaching men. who would otherwise c ome f or w ar d themselves, to look to others for their defence. France, from its total disrveard for all feeling for the lives and persons of individuals, or their civil rights and liberties, might avail itself of the treat masses of its population, but from the nature o our habits and constitution, we could not avail ourselves of the population of the country to the same extent. Our chief reliance, therefore, could not be so much upon the present system of volunteers, as upon ano ther kind of voluntary exertion. The mode which he thought preferable would be for Government to put itself at the head of the spirit of the country, and to raise and extend it by every possible mode of en courageniela. The present mode would, on the contrary, check, blight, and refrigerate this spirit, and prevent more effeetual exertions. Ho should rather prefer a conscription for augmenting regi ments of the line, with a limitation not to serve abroad, and some other exceptions. But as defence seemed to absorb all other considerations, he would try the present measure by that rule, and even in that limited view, it would be found defedive. Supposing the men raised, how long must it take until they should be used to their cloaths, until you should have these young soldiers breeched ? (a last;h ) These were the reasons which induced him to condemn the present measure. There must be an eternal difference between this force and the re gular army. It was not in the nature of things that they could coalesce into one body, actuated by one spirit and feeling. The intended force, more over, could not be raised, and brought to perfec tion as a complete machine, in full activity, for ail its operations, within due time. If it should be said that these objetions would apply to the Militia, he should deny that he meant any reflection upon that body. He did not despair of seeing the Militia per form the most glorious and distinguished services, but his general opinion was against the present mea sure ; and therefore he felt it his duty thus openly to express his disapprobation. Mr. PITT, in explanation, said, that the Right Hon. Gentleman rho had just sat down, seemed to have misunderstood his argument. He seemed to think that the plan only laid a foundation for distant security, but was insufficient for present de fence. On the contrary, he contended, that it was a more immediate meats of security than any other that could be devised. Lord CAS *LE It EACH “ This discussion might perhaps been better deferred, but I, for one, feel that discussions upon this great and momentous question tan never come at an improper moment until it shall have been finally and completely set tled. I agree that the °bird of our most implacable enemy is Idle subjugatinn of the country, and that nothing less will satisfy its ambition ' • but I differ front the Bight Hon. Member as to the means of safety and resistance. Nothing but a pusillanimity, foreign from the nature of inglishmen t nothing but *sisal want of energy, patriotism, avid spirit ; no thing but she abseils* of a manly feeling, and a to. sal inditen nee to the blessings we enjoy; nothing, I sat, but the want of every virtue and quality of this description, a want of which I will not insult the country by supposing it could be guilty, could, even in the event of a successful landing, suffer the enemy to advance far from the shore, so as to ef fed any of the vital interests of the country, so as to induce the slightest apprehension for its ultimate safety. I cannot, therefore, but feel indignation at the colouring and tendency of the Right Hon. Gen tleman's spa:P.:h. He attempts to prove that the raising of the force proposed must produce discon tent and diss.;:asfaftion in the country, at the -very same moment that he recommends the raising of a greater force.—(Near, hear.) It is curious enough that he should so highly extol the force of La Ven dee, which no one can pretend to be equal to ours, and at the same moment assert, that the force of this country, as proposed, could not elk& much for its security. These are statements in extreme, and do not lead to any rational conclusion. I am satisfied that I speak the feeling of the country at large, when I say that the people will not grudge any expence or exertion until the country is placed in a state of peered security against the greatest possible attempts of the enemy, and far beyond any effort on the part of France, that could promise any prospect of success. This, I am convinced, is the sense of the nation. Ttuy people feel that they enjoy the blessings of a free constitution—that they are enabled to accumu late riches and appiness to a degree, that has made them the envy of the world ; and feeling themselves rich and happy, they will make adequate exertions to maintain the inestimable advantages they enjoy. In the uncertain and unsettled times of our consti. tutior., prejudices were entertained against a stand ing army, but these prejudices are now worn away. The people feel their liberties perfeAly secure, un der the august Family now seated upon the throne, and that they have no danger to apprehend but from without. lam alway happy to hear the Right Hon. Gentlemen, but in the present instance I must confess, the leaning of their principle is to constitute a force too strong for a time of peace, and too weak for the commencement cf a war. Iftwi looking to the interests of the country, I think it indispeasible that our force should, at the commencement of a war, be of two descriptions. There should be a regular standing force, and there should be another in a train or organization, to Le called gradually into action.---Ono of the Right Honourable Gentlemen to whom I allude, vrisbee to uphold the Militia, but he would not have it exceed 30,000, an anrountevidently inadequate to our safety. Dif fering then from him only in the degree, I do am coneeivetiat the principle is pushed too far b ! ad ding 50,000 to the 90,000 already in being. If this be not too much, I contend that every other oh je6tion made by the Right Hoe. Centimes. (Mr. Windburn,) falls to the grossnd. He wiesibiwish to have a new force, which should be so $r le, thatevery part of it should serve in Great or Ireland-at crosser may mtuirel eimelhal aided for by the present. NIL kariabt• be desirable Cor this purpose to have two desoripdeas °tit hsemprg CG'llaty j. out officered by the native gestry.- mulahor utiw orlisep wjaa mast jai At *alb. id !AD; -• -_.~* I ..~ MPV%.' mem might not feel any inconvenience to extend their services to any part of the Linked Kingdom. I ad mit, locking up the spirit of the country in the Mi litia was matter of regret, as much of it must be wanting to enter the line. The new description of force is, however, exempt from that objeaion, be cause the men are at liberty to go into the , regular Army. So fax then from injuring the recruiting for the line, the present measure proposes to recruit for it, and its whole tendency is that way. I think this tendency is of such importance, that it is worth purchasing at a heavy expellee. But the passion of the Right Him. Gentleman (Mr. Windham) is so great, it carries him to the other extreme ; for after recommending a regular force, he proceeds to extol the exertions made by the people of La Vendee. Another objedion was made to the new force upon the ground of incapacity of its officers. This is equal ly void of foundation. The Bill is not mandatory upon Goveriini an to employ unfit persons ; it only empowers his Majesty to employ officers of the line and other part of our forces who maybe qualified by service. I therefore think there is every reason to presume that the regiments will be as good, and will be disciplined in as short a time as if the Right Hon. Gentleman's prescription for making an army was adopted. Feeling, then, the necessity of a great effort that should place the country in a state of per feel sec u . icy, without interfering with our regular force ; feeling that no measure is more fit than the present oae, and that the mode recommended in its stead would expose the country to peril, I must ap prove of the present plan. The plan of the Right Hon Gentleman would expose sthe country to peril while it was going on, and, therefore, I disapprove of it. Ido not thiak, moreover, that giving a mo nopoly in the market to recruiting for the line has answered the general expeCtation. On the Contrary, while that was the case, recruiting for the line was less successful, and while recruiting fur the Militia was carrying on, more recruits for the line were raised, than when the whole recruiting markets was open to he regulars. There is another circum stance, the moment a man becomes a part of any description of military force, he acquires habits and taste for a higher class of it, and thus by entering the present force his-passage to the line is facilitated. Thinking, therefore, that every channel should be opened, and that the country should never sleep, but sift every means of defence to the bottom, and bring forward all the energy of the country, I must approve of the present measure." Mr. WINDHAM, in explanation, said, " If we cannot have a sufficient force completely regular, it may be useful to have a sufficient force complete ly irregular. This is the position which I illustrated by reference to I.a Vendee.'' Sir EYRE COOTE hoped, that the present mea sure would lead to the produaion of a disposable force. Dodor LAWRENCE said, that the fate of the country depended upon raising its spirit, and calling forth its energies, and that such an effet was only to be produced by discussions in that House. The spirit that such discussions might excite, would be more effedual than any measure. The system now pursued, was the same that had led us into our late situation, and it was only by the country exerting all its energies that its objet could be effeaed. Nothing had been said by his Right Hon Friend (Mr. Windham) that looked like co louring, or an extreme case. His Right Hon. Friend had advised that we should fire upon the enemy from every house and castle, and that the fate of the country should not depend upon the issue of a single battle with the Army of Reserve. Should this be the case, his Right Hon. Friend had said, a battle lost would not amount to a conquest of the country ; and as this was the meaning of his reference to La Vendee, he could not see any colouring or despondency in that allusion.—The people of England were capable of any energy. God forbid that, in the moral order of things, vir tue should not he able to bear as much for the noblest end, as vice for the vilest purpose of am bition. Still, however, exertions must be made to raise the spirit of the country, and that could only be affeaed by making a force for effedive operations. —He begged the House would indulge him by hearing a few words which he had to state further, respeaing Militias; he was convinced, that 50,000 men, raised as a Militia, would not do to go upon regular service; he thought it possible to obtain a regular force by other means than those which had been already adopted. An illustrious Friend of his (who was a soldier, a hero, a philosopher, and a politician) had sent him a lttter, and shortly after the arrival of the same, that illustrious Friend died ; in that letter was described the total change which had taken place with resped to the manners of per sons employed in providing for the defence of the country, which, he said, might have no weight ; but looking back on the past, he could perceive his con dua in public had not been irregular; and the duty he owed his country ought not to be extinguished by private concerns; his country was dear to him, and would ever remain so. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that he must be supposed naturally to feel the highest degree of respea to the person who wrote the letter which had just been read by the Honoura ble Gentleman. But he wished both him and the House to remember what happened after those cir cumstances to which the writer had referred. Let them call total:id, that soon after the glorious death of the illustrious personage alluded to, the situation of affairs was most materially changed, and in conse quence of the events which gave rse to it, the state, not ally of this country but of Europe in general, was materially improved. The name and mi- Stary reputation of England received additional glory, and Egypt was wrested from the enemy the vsloar of his Majesty's arms. Were he asked what were the means by which Egypt bad been conquered ? He would readily an lerq by means of that Supplementary Militia, welsh seemed now, as well as on former occasions, .to be the objet of complaint. In the present in stance seemed that the Right Hon. Gentleman, . ) would be not only willing, but even prefer the cbance of an Increase in the regu lars to all the advantages to be derived from the powerful fem. It sots not the preference which he would' give a similar addition of numbers to the line that merits qmstion, but merely the chance of greater "ambers of regular troops, and fhr this mere chance the Right Host. Gentlemen would , heersetirMsefin adds:ion* hfilitia intended' at an tamp of Reserve. Fen himself; the Meister said, that !uremia not set so high a. %%lineal& a chance, a, chance also which vroplcclie the less. vislosshass as the meawealsaiwooldAmalihattl ta esdistinta.the .77 4 _ regulars. The opinions delivered en rather of a novel nature; for ogre Hon. dared that, sooner than interfere with t. .fin. the Regulars, be should lie contented for the defence of this country great error to suppose that the two - so materially with 'each other, or portion to what they had been re facts would be far from bearing out don; for, within the last three many men had enlisted, both into regular service, as at any period whatsoever. In con. sidering the relations between the recruiting for the two services, and the effeas which it was contended they must have on each other, it so happened that we were not left to vague cnnje!Lural calculations, but had the advantage of positive experience. The result ef this experience was, that at that period of the last war, when the Militia was most augmented, this country bad the greatest army of regulars that ever it possessed, in so disposable a manner as to he sent abroad to ad without the co-operation of other troops. Let my reasonable man then, judging from these faits, decide, whether the recruiting for the Militia interferes, in any material degree, with that . of the Regulars. Yet under all these circumstances the House had been adviied to resort to compulsory measures for the recruiting of the regular army. He assured the House that he should be as ready as any man to employ any means, however violent or strong they might at other times justly be considered, for the defence of the country, should circumstances arise which could make it necessary to recur to them. But before the necessity ar rived we must not proceed to that extreme point at the present moment. Our situation, however Jan. gerous it may be represented, was by no means such as to warrant such an extremity as to force the people of the country to join the regular troops, to leave their homes, their occupations, and connec tions, and embark for military service in all quarters of the world. There never was,a time when the people of this country could better be relied upon) there never was a period when they displayed a higher spirit. They looked to that Rinse for wis. dam and sound judgment, and the House mighe depend upon the people for s upport an d lib ele d exertion ; aird thus circiimoanced, the subjeas of this country had no right to expea that the House of Commons would, before the last ne cessity, overstrain their means. Between them and the House confidence should be mutual, and our situ ation must be infinitely worse before he could think to give his consent to a measure so • harsh and constitutional, and so utterly repugnant to their ha bits and their feelings. The danger to which we were exposed, however serious, was by no means so greet and alarming as it had been magnified into. This would be manifest, in considering that we had now, or at least should, in addition to our present force, have fifty thousand Militia, thirty thou sand Feacibles, besides Yeomanry, Volunteers, &c. the Right Hen. Gentleman next ado erted to what he called the groundless charge of Ministers being criminal in giving false representations, tending to lead the nation into a confidence in the duration of peace, instead of having sooner apprized it of it; danger. Little, however, was this charge of crimi nality supported by the fads. Notwithstanding the exultation manifested at the conclusion of thel-eece, the Ministers were very far from expressing, either by words or aaions, any great confieence in its per manency. So far were they from lulling the nation into a false security, that not more than a very few; days chipsed - after the exultation alluded to, beford his Right Hon. Friend (the Secretary alVit:r) sufft. . ciently indicated the sense of his Majesty's Ministers, by proposing to the House an establishment of 90,000 men for the subsequent year, which was in the proportion of two to one, or more, to any former peace establishment. The same spirit and vigilance had, down to the breaking oat of the preseet war, pervaded all the departments ; and since the time first alluded to, not a sinele regiment or single com pany had been disbanded which could pos,i:dy be avoided. In allusion to a former argument, of the Militia service interfering with the recruiting for the line, he would take this opportunity to observe, that though et one time 9.0,()00 Militia had been disbanded in Ireland, the recruiting for the Regis. lays, derived no benefit from them. So likewise in the other great War department, a Naval establish ment was kept up, three times as , great as had ever before been done in a time of Peace. lie would not, after this, detain the House with any argument upon a charge which had already been before so often brought forward, and as frequently refuted. Such were the means by 'which he r.ow met that charge, and the minutes and journals of the House, which might be referred ere would be found to curtain the vindication of his Majesty's Ministers. Reierting once more te what had fallen from the R:glit Hon. Gentleman opposite to him (Mr. Wind- Lan) lie declared that he never heard a speech in his life with so great a degree of astonish. mere. He w.ts ready to allow what he was very fully coevinced of, the ardent and patriotic feelings of the Right Hoaciarible Member, but to this he must adl, that if any man was ace tuated by the most opposite motives, he could not take- a course better calculated to unnerve and deaden the spirit of this country, or to rouse and animate the hopes and-confidence of the enemy.— As to our comparative means and lingers, his Ma jesty's Ministers never wished to overcharge or to conceal any thing; but the people were too sensible to be affeaed by language tending to magnify their dangers. The people of Eugland loved truth, and the truth they were acquainted with. They knew very well, for they had too much confidence in their courage, their means, and the strength of their own arms not to know that there could be no danger to their capital. There were means sufficient to render this country impregnable, and these means would be made use of. It was said, that a wiser and patriotic man never despaired of his country ; and it was astonishio fi nd, from the speech of li the Right on. Ge ntleman, wise and patriotic as he was known to be, had reversed this maxim, and seemed to despair of the safety of his c'ountxv.— From the language held by that Might Hon. Gentleman and his friends for the last twelve months, it was surprising that, instead of calling upon this House to disapprove, they had not come forward to hail the present measure. For his own part, he felt confident, that till the enemy meditate and prosecute any projeas he may thick proper against the credit or the cossets of this country, . they would all prove equally fruitless, and be at , tended with nothing butter than shame, agrace, ind ruin. , F.Dlista 934 ielanp • : i • • • , R 1 4 41 11 1 4, I 11 11 ii 1 la 4 • i t. o n n th bjc . is su n in et were de- with the recruiting 111 ttented with 30,000 country. It was a f wo services classed or in any near pro. represented.. The out Any such asset- months, nearly as to the Militia and ~