The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1804-06-09 00:00:00

Le r - t *me re: C e, at this moment. 400.00. men is arms. who 1 entered for a bounty, p ro s hewed the facility which men could be . red, tinder a -erent system. But the praline of ballo h a d t roduued the ruinous prialtice of giving lama :intim for limited services : and that was the cause t he difficulty of getting recruits for the Army. new mode of recruiting was now adopted and WAS hoped that man could be got by giving a arty from Governme nt. Now, what he con. ;ded for was, that the public money ought to he out in the old way, through men who had been iployed in the recruiting service before; and who I °old recruit at once for the Regular Army, by .ms of limited bounties. But it was a very bad :In to get men to exchange fkont an Army em ioved h.: . home service, during a limited time, into s ervice that was unlimited. He had many other SjeCtions to this plan. Let Gentlemen see the effeet v....mid produce on the general military feelings of ' c country; if a country meant to have a high rr.ili. Tr feeling, the way to do it was to have none, or very eve military men,except those belonging to the army. t should have nothing, in FAR, but a real army, in hich alone should be centered all military honours, rivileges, and distinttions. It should not have the orrn of soldiers without the substance. It should .t have men wit, were not soldiers carrying about em the ponip, parade, forms, and distindieits, hich mai oed an army. 'Men who were net soldiers hetil.l :.ot be allowed to exhibit that splendour, nor oviut them those . titles which belonged only to hos: who had seen real service. It was a vanity, hich, in the one, produced great evil, and in e other was highy useful. These insignia and arks of distirsaion were, perhaps, the greatest centives to meritorious w9ions ; and they lost heir force by being made common It once e separated honour from danger, and gave to „en of no military charafter the appendages belun .d to soldiers of merit; we then re. ..runced"The Cheap Defence of nations." The sionce of a great home force was direCtly ad erse to the military feeling; and would produce he worst eifoAs an our army. His next objection to this plan was the concretion which was to exist v:een it and the Regular Army, by having the one r aoled to the other in the form of second batta- Los. The scene of recruiting, and the solicitation to men to quit their Corps, would produce the worst effca. on their discipline; and if the inferior batta lions were to be in a bad state of discipline. the ex ample would extend to the regular halal ons; and cause a relaxation of discipline among them also. He was ready to admit, that the men to be raised by this plan. would be ready to renew their ervices ; hit, if they did, it would be for. limited, and not for unlimited service. They would prefer the home battalion;. Wo had no right to pee:nine that they would enter into the fegular army. The limited ser vice was the false stomach in which they would ru minate, and become double-chewed. But, if this limited service did not indeed exist, then there certainly would be a vex y great chance that men would come into the army. He also had coo. siderable objeftions to the manner in which the Re gular Army was to be recruited. Th: only advan tage held out in that respett, was the activity and zeal of pariah officers ; and that was to be qui Pe ened by a fine. He would ask if there seas no pub lic evil in changing the charafters of men, and in converting them into crimps, who were held in ati. harrence The system at crimping was now to be established through the couuary, and parish officers would certainly make very bad crimps. They mos employ such persons; they will not be able .o do without them. Like all other kinds of busme.s, whet e agents or brokers were •fmployed by those oho had not time to trauma it themselves, the parish off.cers would be obliged in this military business to employ agents, and thoes ageots would be crimps Another objeCtion to the interferenceof piri‘h officers, was the oppression which they would exercise ove many unfortunate porsons. It would be very easy f th,on to compel men to enlist, by threatening to procoed agaius them as vagrants. Church-warde were in nature to have a military charactor, instead of the term 44 Church and State," we should by and by, perhaps, have to hear of tie church and the array as conneaed together. These men might give a larger bounty than was set tled by law. They might fill up the army with vo groos. The intere tof the army was to be pro r.Y.cd, by dewing into it a set of the most WO!thltSi wretches, emptied net of po sr-Muses, wnrkl:, and house; of mdest:y. Then let Gentlemen talk ci; bolding up the honour of the army ! iie pertealy a c Treed with the observation, m itie on a forme night by a Right Honourable% Gel-Amman (Mr. Addington) on the subje Ft of the quota bill; thet it produced nothing but the vary scum of the earth, and we should look at the renewal of such rn,asure with dread. The gre..test part of the men furnished by parishes on that occ isi..n were rejefied. Now it WAS& ttint the House should look to the glum tity oflitigation, which this business wouldproduce in parishes ; and that the might form some estimate ; when it was seen, by a printed paper en the table of that House, that in one year, through England And Wales, Cie sum of 200,0001. was spent in Law-suits re it:lye to parish paupers. Would not the questions, whether the pi open number of men had beer. raised— who Were to be fined, &c.—produce no litigation ? T:.e ;:arish officers would cour.teratt the recruiting fir the Regular Army. It the House wished to 'hive an army at all, let that be raised and establish ei in a proper way ; let there be bat one army ; and let it not be tilled with rabble, hut held high in its own and public estimation; give the mum belonging to it a bettor provision than if they entered for a 'limited service Put it into a situation of respeEt, o: honour, ar.d of glory; so that every besly shall have reason to say 44 It is a good thing." Mr. Fettle explained. General Noarox and Mr. Wilt° supported the BPI -: The question vras loudly called for. and rio Mem ber presenting himself, the Gallery mason% the point of Ining cleared, when Mr. PITT rose, and spoke to the following eft ea : --" I beg pardon for delaying the House, but it !‘.) my in:cntion not to me until all those wh.) are 1) the habit of making objellions, and were likely to 4 the measure winch I have the honour to bring fisrward, had stAtei their sentiments ln the observe t ,ns which I mean to submit to the H,use, I shall Endtly confute =yea to etlbat illialedietely relates NI Has merits of the measure; bin, before I enter upon that field, I flatter myself I shall be forgiven, if I betray a wish to answer some objeEtions which have been urged personally against me; and if I advert particularly to those which are made upon the alleged ground of want of vigour and efficacy, as if I had forfeited some pledge or broken some promise which I had given before I came into office. Now, Sir, upon the whole of this case, in all its bearings and relations, the question is admitted by all to be founded upon the same grounds. I soy upon the same grounds precisely as that which I brought forward when I was out of office ; so pre cisely, I state, that many of those, who are now my most powerful and inveterate enemies, concurred with me in all its leading features; and, from a seise of its superiority, agreed that the only mea sure of the Govreninent upon that subject which it proposed to cuffed, should not be proceeded upon until full time was allowed to consider my measure, to which they thus appeared to have given the pre ference. It is, therefore, I confess, some disap pointment to me, to find that when that measure comes forward, the same precisely in its fundamen tal principle, and differing in no respell in all the material parts of its construdion from that which I originally proposed; it i•, I say, some disappoint. meat to me to find that those very persons, who approved that measure, now not only withdraw their support, but also ditt they should turn round upon me, and say that the precise mea sure, which they formerly stationed, is one so defe(tive, so bad and incorrigible, that it is not even fit to be examined in a Committee of the House. I admit, that the Light Hon. Gentleman opposite to me (tile. Windham) did not concur in every put of my plan. I own, certainly, that there were many points of i' of which be disapproved; but even with this aloe. .roe, I think it strange, that new, when it comes iorw od, strips of its most objeftiouble point, I should find, that, instead of conciliating his favour, it has, on .he contrary, inflamed his oppo siti )1, and that the removal of a grand cause of his disapprobation should have only increased his dis- P • ' dis pleasure. But 'lir, if I lied myself so opposed, if captious oOjed ons are talc= to my conduit, and Gentlemen wit) involve themselves in inconsistency, is order to attack my consistency, I have a fixed and incontrovertible argni nt in my favour. I h a ve the s.. i,f o dion to say, • oat I have aground upon which to term an unerring judgment ; I will refer to what I have already dew if it appears that the . • .sure which I now bring iorward is the cause I r rigi ;lolly proposed, I flatter myself I shall sufficiently vindicate my consistency, and answer every objection mode against it. I admit, as I have already stated, that it dare; s so far from my original idea, as it is divest ed of the osjoStion o: the billet. The Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Windham), alluding to my origi nal plan, rays, " BA lot was formerly the order of tile day ; ballot was the burthen of the song ; we heard only of ballot, but now ballot is gives up as good for nothing." Sir, noon this part of the =h ied, I must inform him that a ballot, in the general exercise and meaning of the phrase, was no part of my original pion. A ballot that brought h .me ini . .; l l. a compulsion to the cottage of the poor, 41.4 forced him into the service under an irresistible pressure, I disclaimed. What I proposed was a limited ballot ; a ballot which, by reducing the fioe, and holding out the tempta tioo of a moderate bounty, might remove the in cor venie 'cies resaltng from hioh bounties, and put winos in the very !rain in which f now propose. The idea of using ballot as an engine us force a man ir.to :he •ervice, under the pressure of a heavy fine, I crigirothy guarded against; and I only proposed a small fi..e, toe operation of which might have some eff Et, though far short of compulsion. At that time, however, I had not all the sources of Wino motion which I have since possessed; but now, that I have learned the operation of such a fine would oe organ;, instead of modifying to I am inclined to give up tne ballot altogether. So far I have tra velled out of my original way, and so far I thought I was avoiding instead of meeting objection. And nosy, Sir, I to , I have a right to ask whether I have fallen short of any promise I have made, or disap pointed any ezpateion too my condud has encou raged? B t, Sir, I air. told t'Os noosureisnotofthemag nitutie at.d otent to woicli thL p.; .lie looker forward, and that it furnishes a prow 0 the country is not in as great danger as I have repro ei.;ed it. It might be suificient to say, that this charge (Imes with a bad grace frott those who opposed net may this, but ever! other measure for the defence of the country, aid the general safety. I do not mean to dispose of the objation in this way ; but really, Sir, with out del) the House by any retrospedive view of measures already adopted, or a pompous display of what shall be my future conduit, I will say, that, in reapen of consistency, shore is not the slightest ground for any charge in that particular. I never said that this measure was all that could be neces sary. I alinit that elite' means may be also neces s try ; and I admit that among those means, the limitatiou of service, in time and place, to that part of onrforce which at present enjoys no limita oinn in respedt of either, is now under cgusidere. Lion; at the same tame admit I do not feel yet competent to make such a proposition, or to say, that if it were 1 reposed I should feel myself pre pared to agree t i it. I never said, as has been in,. puted to me, that the amount of the force now raised and subsoong is not equal to the defence of the country and to tee insurance of its perfed safety; on the conuarv, I raid it was ample I only found found fault wi Ili its distribution; that, raking iroo consideration the places more immediately ex posed to danger; the force was nct so judiciously disposed of as it might be, but I never complained that, with respeft to amount, it was insufficient. I also said that all was not done to improve the qua lity of that force ; and the House will recoiled that I seggested many other particulars which were in corporated in the former Bill. I also recommended that the Volunteers shoutl be invited to go upon permanent duty, and I have the satisfaltion that, be- Ikea the Bill was passed, tloz patriotic zeal and ardour of the people canoht the idea, and,anticipating aii kgisletive compulsion or controul,so many came forward of their own Accord to embrace that courae so necessary to discipline. that we have now the Vo lunteer force in a very different state from what it then was. There are other subjects which I urged as r.eceuary before I came into office, and which, I admit, are not to be found in the present Bill.. I mean sone alterations in our Naval force, and I also advised fortifications to be ereacd, where in certain &burins, flom the peculiar circumstances of locality, they might, if judiciously contrived, sun only tend much to our security, but leave a great number of men disposeable fur service in other quar ters. The Hbuse, however, will see, that neither of these could be introduced into the present Bill, but f hope the House will not therefore conclude, that they have been neglelled, and are no more though of. 'I he fa& is, the one must be the suhith of a distina and separate Bill in itself, and the prteo gatives of the Crown may he competent to car -1 iiu the other in:o elfeet without any legi•shstivc in terference. Here then I shall close this part or tile case, and I trust the House will parden me fur in troducing so much matter extraneous to the real subjea, and applying personally to myself, -ellen they consider the charge of inconsistency that has been brought against me, and how anxious I must feelto vindicaternyselfagainstthe imputation. (4 /6,4 r/ cry ft' Hear! Help!) And now, Sir, when I come to consider the merits of the Bill, I cannot forget that the time is not far distant when we were told from all sides of the necessity of vigorous measures to meet the public danger. The Right Honourable Gentleman, among others, assured us it was greater than at any former period. It was recommended to recruit our Regular Army, and to increase and improve every means of defence. The propriety of this advice I never heard disputed ; all agreed that it was a most sacred duty to keep alive the flaind which their own good sense and patriotism had kindled in the breasts of the people of England. They were not referred to maxims borrowed from quiet times. They were not to confine their exer tions to the limits of parishes, and to submit only to trifling privations, but to raise their exertions to the extraordinary level, which the new And extraordi nary order of things had created. It was urged, that things which, in ordinary times, would be op pressive, ought not to be looked to or regarded; and yet the very men who held this language, would now repress those exertions by refined arguments upon the poor laws and the fears of a dispute between a co lonel and a parish officer (load cheering) ; I did not expert to hear the Right Honourable Gentleman's tone sunk so low (hear, hear); to hear him who had laboured so much to animate and rouse the nation, and impress it with a just sense of its dangers, now come forward and advise the people, for petty parochial considerations, to risk the best hopes of Eu rope, of oumelves, and of our posterity. Such are the considerations which, we are now should sway us ; but I trust they will have no weight, and that we shall never forget the sacred duty imposed upon ' us. If the measure be not likely to be attended with efficacy, I admit, in that case, every burden which it brings is an objeaion to it ; but, if that is not the case, If it promises any util ity, there should be no appeal to minor considerations, we should hear of no such objea.uns as that it converts parish officers into recruiting =joints, and puts magistrates out of their usual course, or such like. If a will produce a large force, all objeaions of this kind ought 'to have no weight. Any difficulties or embarrass ments which k induces will he amply compere. sated by the progress which we shall have made towards the attainment of our great °Nett. But, Sir, is all this novel ? I am told that it is wild, complicated, and novel. to have recourse to such a measure. What, Sir, will these Gentlemen think. when I inform them, that this measure, which I noev use, bas, with all its machinery, stood the test of life? years, during which time it has beer. extended and improved by different Afts of Parliament, and lately applied to the Army of Reserve ? Such, Sir, is the fanciful, novel, and wild system to which I have bad recourse; a system which is long known and fa miliar to every Gentleman in the House. I come now to that which I onceive to ne the great ques tion for the consideration of the House, and the great ground upon which they are to give their vote this night, namely, whether the establi , er.ent of an intermediate force raised. for a limited service, with a view to be itself a part of a permanent force, a source for the supply of the Regular A i my, be a more likely mode of providing a kite adequate to the neces sary purposes than the present simple mode of re cruiting? I take to be a fair statement of the question, and I shall consider it in all its relations. I have heard it said, that this inter mediate force can never be a measure of utility, and that it consequently ought not to be re sorted to. Now, I would ask the Gentlemen who hold this language, first, whether there are any persons who would not enlist for a limited service, and who would enlist for a general service ? Se cendly, whether, if they enlisted for limited ser vice, they would not be more likely to elitist for ge neral service, than if they had never served at a ; and, thirdly, whether men so enlisting, for a general service, will net be better soldiers than if they were taken at once from the plough, or any other occu pation unconnetted with the army like ordinary re cruits. Now, Sir, in arguing this proposition under these three distina heads, I would ask, whether ex perience has not proved, that more men can be pro. cured for limited than general service? In the short space, since spring twelvemonth, no less than 100,099 men have been raised for the militia and other lin.it d force; a number that no man will pretend to say could be raised for general service. This indeed is so plain, it would be a waste of time to argue the question. But is this unnatural ? What can be more natural than that a man should engage in a state li mited in respea of time and place, and from which, if he should dislike it, he weuld have the prospea of withdrawing, than that he should engage to Cele climates is well as enemies ; and however getet . t.is hardships or his dislike to his situation, that he should net be able to entertain an expeaation of ever obtaining a release ? Even where a servi;e, if voluntary, would be a man's pride and glory, it often becomes a pain and a punishment, when a man has no choice ; but whatever might be the individual feeling of the party himself. admitting that be should be equaily disposed for either service, surely young men, at the time of life, when they generally enter the army, are liable to he influenced by their parents and friends; and what friend, or what parent %%mild not use their influence in ferret/ of that service which least exposed the °Ned of their regard to danger? So far then for the first point. I now come to the second; namely, that many men, who have enlisted fur limited service, will afterwards engage is gene ral service. In arguing this point, I shall not state theory against theory. Here I have exis , - ramp to appeal to. It is a known fast, that is taa levies. tl:e Militia famished 91,000 mitten the ogulir Army. I may al ro refer to the Army of Reserver for an argument upon this head : 1t her. . gin to be car led into effea oily la-t kagnst.-1 mean that was the date Of the commencement of the system, fur its prarllical execution must of ne cessity be later, and consequ. otly it must be later still heir .! the i !id i eiditals eniis.ing into it could bare foi Med military lithits to attach them to a military life ; and vet .rut of from between thirty and forty .. thousand meat, :. u sed at diffitrent times. within that spice, mire tin n 13,000 have enlisted into the regu lar army. Now, Sir, need I detain the Hpuse by any o`.3servatiolis upon the third proposition, ii3mely whether such men are not better than raw recruits The question answers itself ; and could not be ren dered more clear by any force of argument.— It then ilia country can be thus supplied with fusee sufficient to every purpose, and without adding to the pressure which it already feels; I say . the measure is a measure of utility, and don not deserve the censure that has been cast upon it. . Having thus, I flatter myself, substantiated my proposition in the three parts. into which, frit eh:ar m-ors and preelriOn, 1 have thought tit to divide it, I shall now ap, , ly myself to the remainin&objetti , ns. Ii has been cer.sured upon the ground clanmplctity, a; dire tour, in one case, recruits to use obtained in t' e or;iitary way by military recruiting, avid in an tir :r c Ise, hy parish officers. Sir, I contend drat thi: plan n ill carry recruiting home to every man's ..sea door It will not only'multiply . the ch +oriels (..f recruiting, hut it will impose a duty u.,on all pep; sons of influence in their respenive neighbourhoods to bring recruits. These are ways and means rf secru iting not possessed by persons ensaged r in recruiting fir the Regular Army. This is not a mere comparison between parish ofri:ers and re cruiting serjeants, hut whether you will empby the parish afi:ers in the place of t e person who has. not the F Ante means, or chance of success But then we are told of the abuses to whicjr it is itable; that the parish officers will entice and 'kidnap their neighbours, and exercise every species of tyranny over them. Gentlemen seem to forget that these are laws and magistrates in the country who are securities against the practice of each abuses. Is it to be supposed that the lord lieutenants,/ who have merited the thanks of the couutrye and raised themselves by their exertions to the keel of the danger that threatens the empire, will sleep over their duty, and suffer parish officers to ere& themselies into petty tyrants over the people; and if they were capable of such negle&, why should parish officers, who have *hewn no disposition to aft vexatiously in cases where they now have an opportunity, aft oppressively under the present Bill ? The Right Hon. Gentleman talks TIMC . I GI the temptation held out to parish officers to refuse wrier • to paupers. What is this temp.ation ? rams* relief to the lame and blind, to induce them t 3 bobble or grope their way to the Army of Re. save? or to the father of ten childr n, that I e may leave his family charleab.e to the parish f Another objeetion is, that the measure will s: zracts the military charaCter. Whether the Volunteers. . and all that immer.se force r iised beyond thn Re. guiar Army, have loweree. :ire military chareiSv the nation, is what I leave to my Right lilors. Friend to determine. He called it, I think, a force ihsesieciered from danger. But he fr.rgets thiwe *lc e quent representations of the danger of having ail enemy to combat cn our shore*, to encounter even before the capital, by which he jestlyustailirisupd to elevate the temper and tone of the walla. fitt he mcolleasd what he then so justly word on thp • country, he would not have thus di-severed danger and ti.e volunteer force. My Right Hon. messedhas paid great attention to a ll th a t concerns mffim tary all'airr. He well knows that offi;rers are if more consequence than men; and that it is At difficult to form an army in a very short time, able tc face veteran troops, if they are officered from the Regulars. He has argued this measure. as it was intended to produce a regular army ; Ihst he be, ci2c lined to examine its influence on our per national defence. It has be e n ac k now ledpsi r t a 2 shies, that the whale cannot be effetied by our re gular force. This Bill looks not only towards pre sent defence, but provides a new and military system, made necessary by the P ::gr n of affairs in Europe. Every year 12,000 men sisal be furnished by this measure for the Regulars ; and when the Regular Army, i n all itsoches, is brought up to its full complement, we shall act have less than 140,000 Regulars, addled to 140,000, troops of the various limited services." The Ri g : 111 Hon. Ger.tleman now entered into a variety of argu ments, to prove that his plan Id be effedtual, to raise the necessary number its; one of wl irk was, that the influx of your ionvroildss• fill up the gap in th e recrui so f equendy Li melted. Apprentices, be said, were daily out of their time ; and. at that youthful season, massy might be induced to niter into a limited service, that would not at once enter into the Regular Araty. He concioded by saying. if the Bill was committed; he would readily listen to any suggestion thrill zt..gLt make it more competent to provide for the/ present wants. and the future safety of the country. fh a no p aeu r td 7ln nod _ h r gi a . thyser°ibirnneflruhf GisStaluoniGibrdntle:teedebbolnhiiytnetihtgonchehaslathlditid.;:deaoluottf"ptseesto:nentlNtrhbbefainreioenorenbuvotibhelwi.:silsroitz:lr.::4; login 1: ening. a the arguments, Hun. Friend (Mr. Windham) h c a i t z l e kioken, is superiority wa s s o d ec id e d aga i nst the, that 11. had nut th ou g ht it necessary to is opinion But he felt himself so diredtly called upon by Right Hon. Gentleman, that he would say a fey words. The Right Hon. Gauntness had complain ed, that he voted against the suspension of the A.-m -ot Reserve, for the purpose of hearing the R. Hos Gentleman's proposition, and now refused Hs us; port. tie thought his proposition dowryej to b beard ; and he was the last person whom he e: sPe%Eledrnedtocticihpaahteclebieein hi m on o p n ro th pos at ing "bi" sens a resea s u lie himself. He did so ; he moved foe the House ; most itselfstysalutar into y a Committee, measures; andh w inquire intohadthe the Right Honourable Gentleman ire that neotiry H e was willing to pmpose that course now; be to willing the House sls..uld ;Orm that ('ommittee t morrow (e hxd cry of Apar! hoer!) ; but the Pig H , n. kaew that tee :tad nit to t= eta the sv; pert of hi, Right Hon. Friend and Maisel*: on to i ~, i , 11.-