The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1806-05-31 00:00:00

w . tlett the Austrian army did not maintain a high mi litias, Ow ee....r . !'ne..• zw o, Le mentioeed, as betng the gri nten military natOns of the Con tsent ; but he would a k, did the opposers of this measure never hoar of such a people as the Swiss? D.l they never .ea., 01 hear, of their renown it, war? 1' e Cantons of that country hired. their troops. and placed them in the pay of foreign countries i yet i.e enuld confidently assert, that Clem we, net a single regiment raised by that Re- Po- hlie % which was not engaged for a very sh o rt , time only, and korai iehly disch aged. though in the midst of war, at the expiration of their term. The Gentlemen on the opposite side might, however, take an exception to these examples, and all. that the charafter of Swiss, Austrian, or French I poops, was different from that of the English. They called him and his ci .leagues a set of theorises, and so indeed they re - .st be, .t ne part of mod. in Europe was allowed t. ) be given as an es astele. The argnment. perhaps, miga stead good, were he to mime the ex sonde of China, Japan, 'l'm tary, or such recnore regions; Inn it did oils at all Apply so countries so near us, and with which we must he so well acquainted. The example of, the Inencb monarchy be considered as peculiarly - let t:elle ; for 11's one could be ignorant that, in many respells, and n,iiit.uw points patticularly, it long served as a model for the surrounding nations ; hot as the preetoeofthe whole world. andahe di:act and positive opmions of many high miliary charac ter s in this count! y, were egai.ist the con . yeEtion, he , .'sold consider that point as perfelly at rest. As t s the third objefti in, which regarded the dischaig i•ig the men in time of war, and which he meant next in advert tn, he had to observe, that all our for mer measures were merely temporary expedients, to rise a foree for the exigencies of the moment. w. 0 a guy particular regard to its permanent els ' t fed.. We se-nsed, a; it were, absorbed in the th oigt.ts of .our preservation fir the moment, in Guarding against present danger, without any refer ence •r% the fate of our posterity ; that was the lead ,ing principle in former measures, but now seem ed to be I. st 1.. tne apprehension of the future. These was olte 'reds( ifICC:IIISICEICy in this mode lk el reesonn.g, Clich could not escape any man why c,onstdered it wit.: attentiun. It was urged. 'that few roct could be raised by this change in the condition of the service. if this assertion - were true, the conclusion would be inevitable, t h at it only a fee' men were raised, there would be only a few to he dtsaat ge .1. It was a most eztraordis use y kind of reasoning, which he heard from the roma side of the House. that if men were raised only for the period of twelve teats, we must peri od...illy diseherge one seventh of oar army ; hut a littie reflection would shevr,that no such eted could •he produced till a future period when all the danger* of the evils anticipated would probably be over. Upon the whole, the fed was, that it would seqtere the lapse of twenty years before such coast gin-flees would happen, even supposing that they ( mad result from it. The 1)101O. as IL was now pro rased, lei: His *Majesty the option of retaiaiog men to theserviev tor ten, instead of seven years, as was 'Grit Pthentied ; and the itiycharge of these soldiers, i at the time specified in their engegements. would (why be .incarred for the purpese of pocuiieg superior advantages. No a !vitatage 1. ouid be gained without rniking some samifice. This Wee the mamas chic.; produced all the improve towns of this country in point of agriculture; it was the vivifying principle of trade, which led the , merchants of • his gr , at country to embark in prejell. of commerce. winch rt quired a present leaflike, but widch was also one of t! , e main sources of the wealth and power of Great Britain. Upon such a sul4eci, the House :tumid not allow the opinions that may be given by military offiens, to he by any means decisive. They were net imperial jnclges. for they telt a peg , . tome; interest, sash, pethaps, a pride s which did not let them come to it with an unleassed judgment. An Qtrwer, accustomed and etta•hed to a r gmient, *Hoch he was familier with, a n d may himself have 'colt:butes! to train s would no more wish to have ' any et:lnge in a film grenadier company, consisting at men, all of five tort ten, or six tect i bigb, than a pet eon being, in the country, and fond of a rani- " eider row if trees, would .ike to see one of theta cut down. which may spoil the unitnrmity. He knew the minds of men to be reluctant to the tn ik ion of any sacrifices, of which he was himself •na- - bled to state a striking instance. The praflice of turnip husbandry, some time since introduced into England, rims .ed hitheito almost confined to the county where it began, because of the rehillance to make a present sacrifice to the 5..n. - .0 or uncertain speculation of a very pro dodtve crop. The blindness of some pet stirs sugpsted. and adhered to an old maxim, e 41 , 3• erns should get all you can, and keep all you b..t experience showed, that by keeping all you het. you lose the chance of ; s etting any more. Let the &Luse consider, what was the situation of the army, nelson there semis° lima allowed for the term of ser vice? The opposersof the 1;41 said, i• you should nevet seer any seen to get from you in time of war ;" bat as by the adoption of this principle, the man may be eternally lost to his triends and his family, cveu if it •.Vdb to be supposed that at such a period every sol act sbeuld claim his d'scharge who was entitkcles-a ,ippositiao not warranted by the example of any age, ..- Any country, or of any service; yet he adhered to i e opinion, that even that sacrifice shoold be made. '. le 'yearn lie proposed was one, many parts of wrath had beets already adopted, an i all parts of which were before in contemplation. Were there • teem a danger, which, however, was not the case, • that a seveuth of the men should be entitled to their - .:.,charge its the course of tea years, from the pre sent period, itill the Legisl ante would retain very areple means cc remedying that evil. As to the gene ral (fee of liniaed service, in pcinr of time, he would refer the Hoes* to what was well known of the 1!. OAP twiny. The korner custom et the East sip Company. was to raise soldiers under a stipu ;.....int, which hal always hewn religiously observed, that .hey should not be compelled to Wive for more to --. five yeti. and they recruited so effectually, • twit •he practice was only put an end to by t ie tievernmeeit, which thought that thee 1.-snes %mere:rad too much with the recruiter,. rip::: regular army. The erode now proposed, at to hiss .that a bids was best adapted to ttt :.:41111ti coestitution, and pep:taxon of this . country. It wq u !d .itgreduse a new stone, of lire and vignur into the service. It would rid n of persons who now found their way into it, such askew:le eon vias, aid peiple it a scandalous dcscilption, Art.l replace them by better classes. such in cline of danger, th cuntry could with confidence rely in. ['hese considerations, he said, were to be weighed en each side, and it we. tor tar Committee to con sider, that as you canna ehan i ge your r oputatioos. you must resort t o that which you can .4.10„ and chance yeur condition and term rd service, if you really mean to render the army mere effeduel than it is at present, under all the disedvaiireges toetir which it has latiourecl et 1 ice years, from the high bounties, and other circumstances, front the tecure rrince of which. in future, it is so very necessary to relieve it. Besides; they.. would only be doing et once, what they had been partially doing for years past; and, it was to be recolleaedt that the rife& of an attempt of this sort would arise froiu the impress ' slots which would be finally made by it on the minds of the peophr in general ; it wa, by a sort of reverberation that it would operate, teed men wish. ing to enlist weuld he mere influenced by the ge neral estimation of ethers. as to Ore than by what they might themselves indivi &rally think of i:, In addition to all the in- I he bad before alluded to, he begged leave to state the T,WArdle which were intended to be given as a stilitulus to thaw of a better description of p•r..ms, than had tinselly been act ustornel to make the army their Profession ; such as the ilea. ive !reales., to be etane.] on them after a certain time of service sees expiied Hedid nut mean the eleaive frenchi.e to horn's ht, nor to couaties in Scotland, I.e undeisteed, *ere in many re speste, and io different parts of that country, nr.irly assimilated to boroughs, in their nature and int& of election ; but to counties in England; he thrught it might, for retch pus pi-isits, be very fairly and pro perly extended to those persons he had just men tioned, and he had no doubt but the country would detrive from it the ai4vantege of drawing men into the army of a t!iffhrent and superior condition to what had formerly been used to enlist themselves for a term of unlimited service, on io other word., for life. Ile wruid not Innyen d•-twin the Corn miree, than barely to add a very few words on the inconveniences which it had been mated would arise to our colonial service, which he was con vinced would never be half so great as bad been represented, which W 01114.1 every yens he growing less :red kss ; and which were all founded on the avaricious principle of tefuting to make sacrifices of present adventeges n in order t ) obtain much greater and more substantial he.).• tits in future The Right Flomtiecretary cencludee by moving " that the oath be made part of the iltil;i'—which being read front the chair, - Sir JAMES PULTENEY said, that having eke idy more than once glvea his opinion on this suhjeet, he would not at present. trespass farther on the tirne of the House, than merely to touch, as shortly as poschln on a few of those points otitis hewer argument', to which the Right Hon. Stcretety had alluded on the present occasioe. The Right Hon. Secretary had intnrmei the House that he entertained twos that, by this measure, be would be able to drag men into the army of a snorior rinse an 4 cruelitims in life; bur, he could not help *skin t ( hietiagle Kinour able Frien t. whinier he ,dees seriously believe that men wJI ever ,-mist ;n such circumstances He was by no m-ens willing to say say tbieg in dime , ragemeni of tl e e niple of this cautery. but he would aporal to the eneeri ince and 'knowledge of the House, whether the generality of men who enlisted into the army were net induc.id to do so, either from Circumstances of ataiiil elvers', or from some pressure or other, which rendered their staying at home either irksome or impossible. the mesa why he prefened the Additional Force Ail was, that from motives. of some kind or other, men were inclined to entry for get eral service, though they at first did so only tor a limited term. By this meant, the general recruiting for the army was eminently going on, and, therefore, though he liked the old system the best, yet, it the opinion of His Majesty's present Ministers must plev ail, he world wire. that such as chose it might !Live the option of enlisting for general service, or for life, and he would, therefore, be for introducing this 11. mitation into the second bettelioes. Another point of the Right lionoprable Secretary's argu ment, in which he differed with him widely was. the experience of otheecountries, and particularly of France, with respea to the enlisting fir limited service. He still must repeat what he bad I. 'fore more than once asserted, that, in general, other countries enlist their men* for Isfe. P 'er in stance, afweys did sn ; and, he believed. Russia also; and every on. knew very well what cheraiter the arms-s or those two N verrs held in the world. The Right Hououreble Cent eman had said •: at he (sir J. Pelteney) had made an omission of that great power, the monarchy of France ; but he bid not 4one eo; plait_ he particularly stood on. and asserted, was, that 'Owe was no authotity to sheer that any ceune y had atiopted the preaiee of dis charging men during the time of war, with the sole exception tit the Swiss ; and as to the hlonetehy of France, be had 'hewn, by the last Ordenad , we it bad made, in the very year before the Ren.lution took place (which chreeereate he had read to the House on a torturer eight, and which it wee, therefoie, uunecessery to trouble them with Again), that they had once pars - ad the system of calistine for !mooed service, and lid Abandoned it. Why had they done so IL-Decease, horn she Last war in which they had been then previeesly ragas• ed. via. the seven years war, ttiey had expert cocoa the mischievous and woeful effeas of rt.— Every one litotes, that in the seven years war the Fiences a-re renharkebly unsuccessful. and their armies were. in consevence of their disorderly and usasoldierltke conduct, held in contempt and deri sion by all the powers who had to contend with' them; the French -nanarchy had therefore given •p this mode of enlistment, and why we should take it up, atter they had tiallt abandoecd it, from the experience of its mischievous effean was a mat ter far which he was at a loss w • accouut. By the very circumstance ef being enriiked to he discharged Jain the war, the men woad become less oil dies's, and mdse citte-in —their minds wr.:ll-1 be turned to the ease and comforts of home, more par ticulatly, a the expiration of UM term slacw 'to- wzds•st close ; and by those means, they would shrink from the necessary degree of discipline. which can alone conititure a good soldier,. and Le rendered, in A considerable degree. uqr for service, for some Cline before 41:ey we:c discharged. As to the written opinion h. bad given, he denied there was any inconsistency in it ; for at that time, he felt a sinall• inclination towards enlisting for limited service. Provided they were not to be diathesis:4 during the war, hut on no other "conlition whateecr. Another, point was. the Right Hon. Gentleman had said, the number of men to be discharged annually, would not amount to more than I- 121-11; but what ever the tinmher may be, that added to - the other casualties. which are continually GCCllrting to lessen and diminish the army. could not fail to be severely telt ; for it would not o nly be a certain number of men that would so often be lost to the army, but they would he the best men, and most important to the army toi hAre testified ; they will be 1210 the bent disciplined, the most inured to ser vice, as well as to different climates, and such, in short, as it would take years to replace with hien equally efficient ; and, therefore, to discharge such own, would be attended with incalcol.stle mis chiefs and injury to the service. He • would oniy trouble the Committee further with a very few words as to what had been said by the Right lion. Gent. ai to the general amelioration of the army.which this new plan was to circa. Re believed ) their must be a great change in the sentim is of e the people in this country, before you c an et a better description of persons to enlist intcythe tarty ; and the idea that limiting the .neyice t• air taw of seven years, would do it.' fried n.ade no impres sion on his mind ; and he verily believed, it would not be inure successful in the impression it would make on the minds of the propls:; and if it did not, 'it would be giving up a certainty, which had always, proved highly efficacious, poth towards the re- cruiting and the discipline of the army for an innovation, the success of which was doubtful and uncertain, and the failure of which could mit but be pregnant with serious and important consequences. The last French Ordeedvaive for limited service was fro. eight years, but did not admit of a longer term; but then it was expressiy ordered thereby, thnt no man thotild be e n titled to his discharge durmg the continuance of the war. He :roped. therefore, the Right Hun. Gentleman, and His Majesty's other Ministers, would pause. an.: consider the measure mote maturely before they adopted it; btu if it must at all events be resented to, he hoped they would let the recruiting for gene-al service go on as before, and only take this in aiu of it, leaving it to the option of those who might choose it, to enlist for general or limited service, as they thought best. Mt. YORILE said, he had with pleasete waited to hear the opinion of the Hon. General who had just sat down, and he thought His Majesty's Minis-i tern nog it to wish, as he did, to hear the opinions of a great many generals in our service, before they ventured, ra•hly, to adopt a plan which appealed to Lint 1 raught with so many difficulties, and liable to in many injurious consequences--.a plan which ap peared to him to be of a very alarming nature in defici, and on which he hoped the House would, .tat . least, pause, be tore they santlioaed it with tlvir ap probation. For his own part, he had listened with she greatest attention, to the long, and, ha runts owe t, very able speeen, tit the Right I ion. Gentled man, though without being a, all convinced by chi arguments he had therein made use or. The quest stun then before the Committee was, whethe'r then should leave out a Claute, that bad 4lway , hitherui been usual in the Mutiny 801, for the purpose 'of introdueiog tine, which he feared would be prpa dative of much and serious misch•ef I 'He had entertained a hope, from the giit length of time which Ministers had t.tken before they brought forward this plan, that they woo have re-consulted a great number of General Office?s on the subjett, and have come to the House fortified and supported by some such important an thlrity ; but as he found, unfortunately, that was not the case, bat that they were determined to intro duc,e so very alarming an innovation, he roust pro- test against it, arid be telt himself bound to do so, on the principle of public duly ; and, as the Right Hon. Gentleman (.Ir. iVindnam) had alluded to a speech %voids he had delivered on a form r night, he would repeat it, " that His Majesty's Ministers • ought to be cautious and guarded in what they did on this subject, as they were tee swim n servants of the Crown, and bound to give His Majesty the best and most constitutional advice ;" and that he, as one of His Majesty's Council, considered himself as a sworn servant also, and bound to give His Majesty the best advice, on that and every other subject, that he was able to do.— Before he proceeded to answer the arguments urged by the Right Hon. Secretary tins evening, he thought it necessary to trouble the House with a few preliminary observations, by way of ohjetlion to the measure. In the first place, he thought it extremely wrong, that such a matter as this should be env ailed on the Mutiny Biil—it was, in his opi nion, highly uncemstittnienal. 'The Right Honour able Gentleman had himself laid down the position, that the House should not legislate at any time on things that were unnecessary. If so, why might not this matter have been settled and done by His Majesty. in virtue of his peer igative, instead if being dieted by the Legislature. Is there any doubt of the f ith of Government now, more than has been entertained at any former period t Has riot the Ki, g, by his prerogative, a right to -make rules and regulations for the coodua and dist:Wine of the army ? If so, be insisted it was extremely wrong to introduce any sun jet relative to the eonduet of the soldiers, to the view and consideration of the Legislature. There were only two cases on this point, similar to the present, and. in his opinian. they said not much in favour of it. One of them was in the reign of Queen Anne, during the worst part of the latter mid of it, un der the administration of I.ord Bolingbroke. The other, in Lord North's administration, dating the American war. They were, however, both very had. precedents. The present measure, though of a similar nature, was uch worse ; and the tacking it to the Nlutiny B kl, very wrong indeed. as it was nisei gin unfair advantage of the House ; it bremg well known, that the Mutiny Bill must he passed within a certain limited time, and, thee fore. a sufficient perioa could not be led far mature st.nsideration and debate en it. And, tail more reprelidtsible wai it, that it went, in a atrinO p degree, to stop the exercise of the King's undooleed t werogotive, if he should find it prr dent or Deets. ery to eit.rt it, of showing his disapprobation, by putiii g his rote on the Bill. Should His Majesty be so i t ,_ clioed.in the present case, bow was he to do it fogy engrafting It on the Mutiny-bill, they take away ail possibility of the use oft.hat part of the prerogative, vested 4y. the Crinstitution its I lis Majesty ; for, "Virsis to use it, the Bill could not pass wiLhi., ite eeeessary period, and the army would be d . ,. banded.' . Ha 441 not flatter himself, that any t!;;: o he could say, was likely to have tried, much le did he suppose it could pooiLly ioduce Ministos ta give up theft plan. He had obserrod, that at:me .1 thetn.were very saeguir e in the formation of measure:, anel, when s:. formed, as pertinacieus in their adhet. ence to them ; he coold nut. therefore, hope eve" to delay the present rneuSure, but i.e would, at kast, do his ditty to the country by opposing it, and abetting it in its tine colours. The Bight Hon. Gentleman had stated to the Conunittee that be Looked on this as a permanent provision, and o -which won't! operate a roost ameliniarion in the stole of the army. If sn, tthy hurt y it on is way ? Why not Live more time for a Nil te . W consideration of d? Why not suffer it to lay too till next Session, when they might. in the esteem, have the opinions of General Officers; a n d not, by tacking it to the Mtititor Bill, thus attempt to Usti. Anti, as it were. force the House to adopt it. Ile hoped, however, they would tacit/say ;mistier the subject, and pause before they wet* prevailed on to edopt . an innovation so truly alarming, and preg. nant with so many mischievous consequences.— ' Innovation was highly dingerous, either in the army or navy ; and, in times like the present, replete with difficulties and peril, ought never to be re. sorted to, unless it was certain there was a sttorr likelihood of its being attended with sAlatary and beneficial cffe.lti. He had listened attentively, mid had not heard any one fat stated. which prove!, or could rho- hint, a hope of nny such effete. lie would endeavour to state what was the situati • n of the army at the present moment ; ood in so duic..g. he amid vouch it w.s allowed, by the best judge, that a. no former period was it ever in a higher or ',fetter state of disciplino It amt anted, in pc.irt of I o olutubers, in cavalry and infantry, to 150.000 suet„ of which about 14 or 15,000 were for limited ser vice. On the Stich of Jane. 1801, there were wanting, to complete the army to the full establish. ment. 41,840 rank and file; hut, by canons of the Army of kleaotre, the Additional Force Ati, &r. that deficiency was not.at present above hso,olio men ; and as there must always be a 8o ring deli cieecy, he celculatestooffert the Additional Force Aa had bi en entwined, that deficiency, in a shoo time. ,would be lets than 30,000. The Might Hoe. Gentleman then went into a statronent. to strew tbt difference in the' amount of the anwr at the pre ' sent period, and to that of the American war.— He calculated 'the rota] the casualties on as average of the three first years of the present wa:, taking the ter.ole oony at 150.0r0 mess, to be about 13,000, Or a twelfth pait t and that the measure ad .ptedfm supply:so thedefteirneies, would produce 35,000 men. Since the time of King William, wish the Inception of the owo short periods of Quo' Anne,- arid during Lord North's Administrate:li des roods adopted had main oily beetrth4 of on lisonisnt for unlimited s.evice. He denied that thete had ever been an enhomeet far life. It w A s known to evety one, that a man hofiieg served 24 years, hod a right to demand his diseharge ; all the term of his service was geherally looked upon to be as long as he•wa: capable of serving his King and Country, or as long as they had occasion for his service; but• it never was supposed. that. at ail events; he was enlisted ltettife. He thee no ticed the alteration a-tempted in the 12th year of Q ueen Anne, when a clause was adopted in the .funny Bill, similar iu of to the pr-otnt, under the administration of Lord Roliorbroke—by which the soldier eves !holed to demand his discharge at the end of three years, by giving thee:. months notice to his Colonel. It was. lonever, to be recolleffed, that this measure was not then adopted , in time of war, and wer.t only to the existit g army. I This regulation, however. did not last above ten years ; for as soon as the Whiz Ministers of the House of Hanover came in, thiscreuse was left out of the Mutiny 13111, and had continued to be so till the other case in the knierican war. If, as had been ge nerallybelieved,Lord Bolingbroke wished to coded , the House of Hanover, and to favour the interests of the Pretender, I.e amid not postibly have adopted a measure more likely to give dice to his purpose. He stated this, he said, that the House might see its beariog on the present case-- The other instance was in the American war, art ; then the men were enlisted for three yea-s, during the rebellion. That system prevailed foori 1775, to the end of the war ; ht. be Goverentent did not think it necessary to ink ..duce it into ice Mutiny Bill. as in the present case; tho Right Hen. Gentleman had said, that the army was brought iron disrepute by four felons having been allowe d so be enlisted into it. He was. lie owne.l, Much sur prised at such a declaration, ma.ie in the presmt moment ; for it was universally well known. ILA!. though the enlistment of felons and others cri minally irnplicaied had been, from time to time, resorted to. in ail periods. since the time of King William; yet, it is well knows also, that the prac tice had peen, for many years, totally exploded s and no such ehArearrs had been admitted into the army. He then stated. that the ordinary and extra. ordinary recruiting, I,y I.ledinS of the Atmy of Re serve AO, bad furnished the ccuntry with a total of '23,470 men a year, and thereby denied the asser tion of the Right Honourohle Secretary. that the Army of Reserve had cut up the recruiting of the Regular Army. It bad. on the coo troll, very mach assisted it. He admired, o• much as any on the brilliant sallies of the Right Houoneable Secretary's wit ; but wh'ie he 'tray so profuse of that, he must say, be would rathe have a little serious argument few ploin, una domed, simple matters of fat—there is an old as trite saying, tt let us be wily and wise; and a let stubborn fails in support of the beneficial &teas t: be expeaed from this measure. world nate ma . slid weight, and convey more real ihforrnation the House, than the most splendid effusimis of theoretical and speculative fancy, though surround al by the fascinating ornaments of wit and Lo:T.:k;•