The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1806-05-07 00:00:00

italr 406 1 rill' • . • elided eriA steting,that even Ind all the abuses • hem praflised under, and fomented by the A 431, which were attrihnted to it, he still thought it a mea , lire that merited to be persevered in. Mr. DENNIS BiIOWNIZ said, he was satisfied of the absoluie necessity which existed for increas ing our regular force ; but it appeared to him, that the plan of the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Wind h ini) was one which would completely change, with out going at all to augment or improve, the army. Possessing the means tie did of knowing that the Add,!ional Fore Bill had been efficient, and hav ing raised 18,001 men, he thought no man could fairly say it was inefficient, he should certainly op• pose its repeal. In Ireland it had eminently suc ceeded, having averaged in its produce 74 men per week. It had been said, that the men were not raised under that law—(Neer he !) He knew, how- I ever, that they were rai,ed in his county for the sum prescribed. He had been told by a Judge. who went the North-East Circuit of Ireland, that he bad been requested to suspend the fines in one of the counties, until the last day of the Assizes ; he corn pred. and by the day named, all the men were raised. The-Hon. Member believed the Act had been equally successful in other parts of Ireland, iod thought it had established abundaet proofs of its utility. Lori HENRY PETTY said, he would shortly state. in reply to the Hon. Gentleman • who spoke last, that the question was not for the Repeal of the Additional Felice AR in 'it-fiend, bit in England. Notwithstanding the concern he errrienced to find the Noble Lord (Castlereagh) thought it iseccssary to continue this measure, however inoperative, vi cious, and hurthessoine it might he, he was yet glad to see it regardzd in a. right light. How sadly it bad failed et its real object, seemed at last to ,be somewhat acknowledged. It was proposed as a me tsore isf local influence, instead of local corn- 3n1 14 tt desi , hiu 1. 1..164 prilsion (beer ! hear!) Setting aside all the de fens inherent in its constitution, if its ;skied were answered, wonid it he proper to continue it ? But it had failed in every &led. It was t• have provided a large effizimt force. grounded on the de ficiency ef the Army of Reserve and the Militia; and in the degree in which the proportion of men failed, the Bill must have failed, however much sisenee may he raised under it. He would state in what ratio it had failed, and the enormous weight of fines (f fear ! Hear ! ) which it had imposed upon the parishes. The number of men in the first in stance to be replaced by it was 16,945 ; to which were to be added 8979 men, who had enlisted into the Regulars from the Army of Reserve : thus, by the Ist of Odober, 1805. the parish officers were to raise 23 924 men. On the 4th of Odober last, they bad raised 1,624 (Thar ! hear! kat. !) and were therefore in defaelt 24,090 men, and had incurred penalties to the amount et 481,8001. (Loud c, les of beer! bear!). Between the 4th of October, and the 14'h of March, there were raised, in addition, 7033 men; so that there now remained 21,997 men doe under the Ad, whilst the penalties amounted to 450,4051. ; and yet this was not a Bill, the °Meet of which was to raise money ( Hear ! Hear!). then could be a stronger or a fairer criterion of its entire and eminent failure ( Hear ! hear! Hear! ). Noble Lord, in the statements he had made of the produce of the Aa, had included the whole - - wtiv9l4. Afinelt-saiaad for Eaglar.d,..Lrehuld. .ar si Scotlird but he (Lord It'nry Petty) would. take occasion again to say. that the Ata the House were deliating upnn, was for England only. Notwith standing the complete abortion of this measure, thus proved to demonstration, thellouse were told that the gross michinery being set at work, it will raise all the men teriiiired. Entertaining this ides, and looking pro-apedlively to the nest au tumn, deo calculation would stand thus: vacan- e'es by casualties. ke, in the army, 6304 t Va cancies in the militia, 901 ; which numbers, added to the deficiencies before enumerated, would leave 27,132 men, to be raised by parish officers by the Ist of Oftober, 1806 ( Hear, Lear 1). The average num ber of men, per week, that had been raised un der the Al,f was 170. Supposing this number to be continued from the 14th of March to the 1 ith of Oflober, the parish (slicers would raise 4.930 men, which would leave, at that time, 22,202 Men defi cient, and penalties due to the amount of 552,0001. Hear. hear!) Was this the principle of the tax? Was it to levy penalties? If it were not, was it possible that a tax could be persisted in. not one of the principles and provisions of which had been, or could be, fulfilled ? (Herr lettr !) He would look at the Afl in another point of view—the quality of the men raised by it. What did the Noble Lord (Castlereagh) and the Hon. Gentleman beside him, think of the charafler of the force, when, as was apparent from the docu ments befnre the House, out of 11,042 raised by the Ist of January last, 2,116 had deserted (Near I hear! hear ./) What quality of force was this? raised, too, by a Bill introduced by those gentlemen who were railing against the plan of His Right Honourable Friend (Nir. Windham). and that a time when one-Oth of the army, raised by their own measure, had deserted. When the Noble Lord spoke of the negligence and unwillingness of Parish Officers, it was but fair to consider the nature of the duty required at their hands. If a man were to accost him (Lord Henry Petty), whilst going down to that House, and desire him to go and Assist in making a fcirtification, he would say, he had a duty to perform with which he was ar vhaint.d, and which he hoped to acquit himself of creditably, and should not expea to be told, that he refused to serve his country, because he attended to that which he understood, in pie ference to embarking in an undertaking which was foreign to his habits and his understanding. But the Noble laird wanted to make those persons military, who, of all men, it was most to be wished should confine themselves strictly to a civil capacity Ow I • bear In going the lengths that the Parish Offi cers Lad done, it they had not violated the spirit, they had certainly (acceded the letter of the Aft What had been the effe(t of the measure Had it reduced high bounties Ilad it reduced the num ber of /limps ? However the bounty might be li mited by the Afl, if ;he Parish Officer and the Crimp were associated, the necessity of the one would Assuredly yield to the eztoition .4 the other, and hence the extravagant bounty of :321. had been paid. And after all this ciiminal convetsation between ti e Parish and the Crimp, by whom the former was completely se2i:zed, what was brought forth ? A Soldier for limited ; (4 laysh) useless to his Country ! (as had been said of Sol diers for limited Service) a bad example to others! and the sympathy between lilin and the men in the lire—not raised in the same district, and having no connection or intimacy !-L-was to induce him to become a Regular Soldier. His Right Honourable Friend (Mr. Windham) has been said to be intro ducing a sentimuNtal system ; but, unlike the ground work of this Bill, his philosophy accorded with a principle that had been acknowledged and approved in all ages. The persons charged with the men tion of this Aft, and the Army of Reserve Act. had been obliged to resort to the very thing which it was the protessed object of the Bill to remedy. It was proposed to disiocumber the Recruiting Service, and allow a fair field to act on ; but from the following statement, it would be seen how that object had been attained : From the Ist of Feb. to the Ist of Aults.t, 1803, 6538 men were raised by regular recruiling ; in the next six months, when the Army of Reserve Ao begat to operate, 4504 men were obtained; in the following six, 3,7G9 men ; during the next six months, the Army of Reserve Asa ceased, and 5,949 men were raised by recruiti, ; during the like succeeding period, in which the aR had no operation , . at all, 6,698 men were raised; and, during the Irv, six months, when Lord Hawkesbury's notable Additional Force Bill commenced its course. the recruiting fell again to 4,450 men; and, during the pt tied of the operation of the Act, 1,9439 men has been the greatest number raised by it in six mon.,:ts. From, the Ist of Feb. to the end a Sept. 1804,'Y',461tar reciults over. obtained ; in the like period of I t;.).1. 5,744 ; leav ing a diference of 1,718. In the tit st three mouths et 1805, 3,562 rectuits weie t ai.. d ; and, in the like period of litOti, only 2,507. Hence it ap peared, that. the whole number of men raised by the Additional Force Bill, was 91Y.) less than the recruitiog service, which had been iojtircd by the operation of that important invr.iment (Hear! hear !). The Noble Lord concluded with a few general observations. Whilst the Aft con tinned, he said, it would preclude the suppres sion of crimping, and destroy the character and spirit of the soldier. It had departed from all the means it was intended to embrace, and he trusted that the House would feel it a boon, and a duty, they owed to the count•y, to remove so mate rial a bar to the formation of as efeliive army. Mr. BA BINGTON expressed himself in favour of the repeal of this Bill, -vhich he said had not oper. ated in a manner which could betersnedsutc-ssiul, in any part of the kingdom. In the county of Leicester, with which he was acquainted, he did not believe a single man had been raised by the mode direßed in the Aft ; it had indeed been looked upon by the Parish Officers, as nothing more than a money bill. Colonel BAGWELL was astonished to hear an Hon Gentleman, who spoke early in the debate(Col. Graham) assert, that inflammatory language bad been made use of by the gentlemen who oppo'-esi the bill. Such an assertion, he conceived, never could be established to the satisfanion of the Hon-e, and therefore should not have been made. LI« was of opinion, that if ever there was a cause which more than another called forth the patriotic feelings of the country, it was the present. When the flight Hon. Gentleman who brought in the Bill now un der debate, and his collestgu,s, firit c•ime Inca' office, the public were elated with the hope, that some meas.). e, beneficial :a t•ie country, would be undertaken ; but, instead of having these horses realized, they were astonished to ti I that nothing which was likely t•o be so, was prep zed ; and. in short, that the new Administration nail n •t only not increased the number of the at my, hut that they had notend.•avoured to encrease the spirits of it. He then referr.•J to the late gallant achieso.ment of the British force, at the Cape of (nod [lope, anJ said, that the Honourable Secretary, instead of bring tirst to move for the thanks of the House to the officers and soldiers w•ho fought so gloriously on that occa sion, was the very first who threw an obstacle in the way of that vote. That the Army of Defence A& 'Was unexceptionable in every particular, he did not mean to contend ; but that it was better than none, be believed few would be' inclined to deny. For these reasons, he hoped the House would not suffer this Bid to he proceeded with fatther ; it ads not inch a one as was likely to be of service to the coun try, and proved that, however calculated the present Ministrymight be far declaim and alarm, they were not calculated to do service to the country. Colonel GRAHAM, lu explanation, denied hav ing applied the words .6 inflammatory language" to the speeches of the Hon. Gentlemen at the opposite side of the House. Colonel BAGWELL explained. Mr. LEE said, that having heard an Hon. Gen tleman (Mr. Babington) state, that the men ob tained in Leicestershire were not raised under the provisions of the Bill, he thought it necessary to ac quaint the House, that the county of Waterford, and, in fact, every county that be was acquainted with, was in the same predicament. In Waterford. certainly, they' had raised all the men required, but not more than two hail been raised by the Parish Officers. He conceived they were particularly fortunate in getting the men, and this originated enti rely from the Counsel of an intelligent Field Officer, who was quartered in the neighbourhood, and had or ders to raise a consilerable number of men for the regular service. It so happened, that, according to his orders, he could not enlist any man who was un der a certain size, he believed, five feet five or six. He was, of course, very often obliged to teluse some very fine men, who were, for him, under size ; hut as the standard for them was but five feet two, they employed, by the advice of this officer, re cruiting serjeants, who enlisted these men. From this particular instance, and from others which he could enumerate, he thought he might say, that the Bill was entirely inoperative. Besides this, therewere many other authorities, and none that deserved a greater degree of attention than that of Lord Hawkesbui y,scho wrote to the different Lords Lieu- tenant of the counties, to know the reason that the Bill was not produilive. It had been said, that the deficiencies were ❑ct so great in large and populous counties; but he would take York, the first on the list, and he asked, how many men it produced? In the North Eiriing not a single man W;AS raised, in the La.t only 1), alai in the %Vest not mote than • r. '5, malting a deficis, in di! whole, of 5204 men. The Ilan. Gentleman then oliA.rved upon the injury which was done to recruiting for the line, and sail, that it was against the dims's) , of the House to countenance the practice of raising meet directly c o ntra ry t o the provirions of an Adt of Parliament. With respect to the plan proposed by the Right Hon. Secretary of State, he declared his intention of opposing that past of the limited service, which would entitle the troops to their dismissal in the mid- tile of a war. Every other part of it met with his ap probation. Sir E. HARTOPP rose merely to cleclase, that the county be bad the to belong to (Leices tershire) on all occasions, snowed a promptitude in executing any measures proposed for the good of the cioantry. It wa, this which induced them to raise the men by means of recruiting officers, not considering that they were doing an injury to the general recruiting service. Mr. PERCIVAL vric 'surprised, that the Right Hon. Gentleman should remain so long in office without prripOring to repeal this Bill, which he had •so bad an opinion of. At first, he conceived, that it was his interition to wait until he could bring for ward a measure in its place, which the House might consider better, hut this not heing.,h he thought it was a very gond rcnso:r why the Bill should not be :Allowed to procee4 turiiter at present.. He then referred to the statement madetliy Lord H. Petty. in. which, he said, the Noble Lord bad confined himself, in giving an account of the meos raised, to England . and Scotland ; but, in stating the deser tio:., he had taken in Ireland also. The Noble Lord, Is. conceived; would argue in favour of any of hii plans of finance (his ten per cent. oa comes for instance) that any other which would be equally produdive, would ad with apater degree of hardship on the people. It was fa ir, he thought, to make use of the same argument with regard to this bill, and he was in himself convinced, that no other, which would be equally produaire, and less oppressive to the people, could be found. The Learned Gentleman then adverted to the modes of obtaining men, which, he said, was either by inducing them to enlist, or by compulsion. The former could not be done, and with respell to the latter, he thought the present established mode, the most as it did not compel any individual to pay a large sum of money, but levied it equally off the parish. Many questions were to be considered in the prekent case, before this Bill was suffered to be repealed ; namely, whether it was intended that the limited service should ex tend to the Navy, to the Artillery, and to the Marines ? and whether, at the end of seven years, a new bounty was to be given? It this Bill were re pealed, the effect would be, that the nation would have nothing in the place of it—(a laud cry ft - hear! hear ! fium the Almisterili RencA)—He wished t• know, did the gentlemen mesa to say, that the re gular recruitin:r, service would give 20,000 men a year, or a suaciency,,if the Act were not in force? Void rep rof !.. • ! h.ar ! from toe same quarter). He toe:. adverted to the opinions of the General Officers, and said. lie nnderstood, that all of them were direetly against allowing the men to be dis banded in time of war. With respea to the artil lery, he had the best information, that the Officers si ere all against it, and conceived it would destroy the whole establishment; as a man was searcely of any Ise amongst tbettr,•-until 1w was six or seven years in the service. As to the bounty, he understood the Right Hun. Gentleman to have said, that it would be little or nothing at the end of the seven years. This, he conceived, would never have the elicit of inducing the men to re-enlist in the same regirnent, as by going to ano ther, and entering as a recruit. he would he entitled to the 14 guineas. The expence of this would be scrim's, and that of the additional sixpence and shilling, at the end of 7 and 14 years, would cost the couotry, at. the end of the first period, no less a sum than 200,0001. a year. With re sped to the Volunteers, he did nol know whether the Right Hon. Gentleman meant to encourage them or not ; if he did not, he should have removed them at once; and if he did, he should nut have raised so many donbts in the country with sesped to them. He, tor one, considered the Volunteers as a body of men who might be of the most essen tial service to their country, and who were capable of acting in line. A Noble Lord (Mira) who was called to His Majesty's Councils, was of the same opinion ; and with respect to the Volunteers of Scotland, in particular, was known to say, that at their head, he would march to meet the enemy on lauding. He was afraid the Right Hon. Gentleman had formed his opinion of the Volunteets in general, by the appearance of the Fellbrig carps, of which he was Colonel. There were no Field-Officers in that corps, ne Captains, no Subalterns, but two Setjeants, he supposed drill-serjeants, and 73 privates. It was most astonishing that the Right Hon. Gentleman should be the only Officer in the regiment, and should hold that dangerous post of Colonel. lie supposed, that when the Hight Hon. Gentlemen went home, lie reviewed his corps, and of course they having no other officers but the colonel and the serjeaats, he would find them all in disorder, arid therefore come back and state from this, that none of the Volunteers were worth a farthing. The Learned Gentleman then concluded, by hoping, that this patriotic body would not be judged from the example of the Fellbrig Volunteers. Mr. FOX rose and said, he could not hut request the attention of the House to some observations he had to make respecting • the present Bill. A Noble Lord (Castlereagh)"bad told the House that it was a year and a half beim e the Bill was under stood. and afterwards that it was a considerable time longer before it could be acted upon. 0 ! wise Legislature, said he.to pass a Bill of such importance, so worded, that it uas a year and a half before it could he understood ; and still wiser Executive Government, to take so much more time before they could at all make it subservient to any purpose for which it was passed. It was impossible, it he were to wish it, that he could have a greater triumph over his political enemies, or rather political rivals, than such acknowledgments of the real nature and operation of the Bill in question ; was it not enough. that it could not be acted on, without being liable to inconvenience, and subje3 to various and multiplied instances of oppression, to make any one sen,ible that itcould not be too speedily Tepealed? It had, however, been said by those who supported - ~-- - - • , this Bill, that it might lie arr.' this to be doh*? trod trig ; a mode which went ginal prineiiile and ground work rionomeabla Gentleman, alio , ways maintain/ed.:inkblot .:,o: great advantage whichUttoched and the necessity there was for the tirst battalion:. being the second battalions, who coming from the same ~clis• vicinity, they would newel; eager to terve iu the same regi. haa always from their earliest youth ilea" each other. and bad thereby i kAbits, and nearly the same prejudices parishes, dre. All those reasons, meats, which had been advanced much warmth and energy, - away, and the pi loci* of 'Mel) , destroyed. He had beard be further amended by tak;o bounties--btrier and better, strayed the principle of the so by the produas and effefts way of amendment, to what 1 meat at was proposed, bad object to, as highly inefficier pi cssi ve ; and Which he foretoL that it was a waste ct time to expend than of so tutile a measure. Otherargnments had bee,, used assn, w!;ich did not in any re-peCt ii;./ply to th.: Hid. The measure meant to be adopted by his Right Hon. Friend, had teen drawn into the argument. and Lis•Rill breaattaArd, as holding opinions re , 'Peeing the Volunteers, as if either of then* were immediately conneeted with this f1:11. In God's name, said he, can the repeal of Lis Bill d • pond on whtther the Volunteers shell be discus died or not? It was realty trifling with the na land ground of the measure, to suppose it. Hon. and Learned Gentleman who spoke last, bad • however gone into such a length of detail on Us& those subjcds, that he' would not attempt to Wit him snit, it they sere at that mrrnent debeilint the second reading of his Ri t •'fit Hon. Friend's Bill. The alt I. and Learned Gentleman had also objeifted to the getting rid of this sill, before you provide a substitute - for it. He, on the contridy„ insisted, that the only substitute there was for et, was to repeal it. The mischief it has done, earnest I be done away too soda ; and to wait for any further' legislative measure before you relieve the country from so burdensome and odious an Act, would W . _ to play with distres•es. Right Hon. to be substit Act ; and the told so ; and th why he did not 1 he could answer particular point, Friend thcof formation al jest, by delay/ ward, till the ' for though ( the other, yt be much snore , letV. this, before ari.:wer Was, and the soot chief objeibi i r 1 law, said to - , speedily e. se, d regular and disposable army. Had th:s b - sen effe& ed? Had it produced such a force ? Nothing like • it. lie had already stated, that ibis bill had pros duced next to nothing ; but, on a closer exaMina.) Bon, he had found that it had done worse: it had,'; with regard to the regular at my, produced a verb. alarming mints. acc, oat indeed. He had corri pared the statements of men raised at different rods undet this ad, and they were much verse he had at first suepeired. \r lah rerpei to t' eag of doing this, he had not gone to any = ' for that was not to Le compared war ; nor did he mean to speak Reserve. He would take his date of the Parish Bill, from the Ist which lie allowed was greater in . take it first with a view of the three her. November, and December, r' them with those respective three Those raised for the Regular A, November, and December, 1804, indeed—they amounted only to ell sponding months, ih 180 S, to 91: recruiting, during the first period. November last, 2588 ; so that tb ency between the two periods, Fox then went into a similar era period of six months, beginaine the corresponding months, in 1806, two ipariods togetlshr, be made it r tosaLdecremse in the recruiting for tt amounted to 767 men : therefore. '__ Flimse ought to tepeal the Bill, which, of the last six months, had raj? service for the regular army, to as that he had last mentioned. Gentlemen to consider whether more for the benefit of the coantr) by recruiting singly, than by being cient, in conreqtrence of the aid of It put him. is mind of the efforts was mend of being employed in came forward, and said, in.praise " there, you see I am bigger than , have done all that worki' , True, sail eel but if one of my regular Wm employed on it, he would have." more. So was it with regard tc for if the recruiting bad been left have done mine without its aid. sill was first introduced, he who asked If a force were wanted ._ ed on home service, why reduce the Militia ? which answer was given, that it was necessa to raise a force to increase the regular army,. by less objeftionable mole than taking them sunk diately from the Militia, sod Cris large and reit/ tar force for disposable service was to be °bran though the medium of the artoy of reserve andA • .• , mewled ; bat how 4 # 1 ly, tty ext-nding di. to sit..troy the werk :9o4 • l„ work of it : flr the 'ins, oi ~. •• : egoyake, ,t,,.... sir.., . • • haute, bed to it, Nu lls Locality, is of aucattlig to th:s ; g to he 6iled up from 4 ho would all be muss .distrift and the saint ssrallf be Ilealous and regin.ent with those who est youth teen bred Up :ereby imbibed the tame, prejudices as to counties, 4 reasons, all those argu- armed and urged with SE were now gone. Aorta -• the Bill totally and en- heArd also that it asight eking away the double ' ir---..bey had already de- Bill, and would now do fts of it, and all this by .. at he, from the fi , ct m . :ad deemed it his .t.tt; to ient, and grievou , ii ‘, 0 ., toll, would be so use! , it . • toexperd it in the firm. s rith their feelings, and trifle with their The Bills to be brought forward by his n. Friend were never meant, or intended stitutes forithis inei..:ient and oppressive the Hon. Gentleman opposite had been and then his Right Hon. Friend was asked, d not bring them on moose ? He believed - b answer fur his Right Hon. Friend on this IL point, that the fact %A,, his Right Hon. cught he should be able to give more in.. and satisfaction to the House on the:ob. lelaying to bring any one measure for. the whole of his plan was completed 01 each part might be very independent of . , yet the effect of the whole would. perhaps. more forcibly and clearly thew°, by bring- 'hole to ether inn, one compact pout of [Zit rt . T.aT6eitis wan you" part w • ire you get any thing else in its place ? His 'es, yes; for you parted will; a heavy lois. 'Goner you get rid of it the better. The varof this Bill was, before it passed into a to be to procure, as speedily as possible, s .nA eiienesa,hl.• h e m.• AMA. any period of peace red with a time o ak of dm Army o • ate of the operatior t of October, 1804 n 11105. He wont, ree mr.nths of Octe , 1804,and compar r. ie months, in HOW Army in Octobe 04, were very littj D 48. In the corn 913. The gener . rind, was 9059. 1' 1 there was a deScr: ,of 152 men. M comparison for tt January, 1805, ar. 806, and taking tl i it appear that t or the Regular Arc re. he contended, t. which, in the cum' ijured Cie resruitir' o so large an amon And he would witt they would not q lnuy by gaining n reing so much cht id of the Parish forts of a child. in a garden, And raise of his efforts- than I was last year! ir, said he, you hays I rim kmea bad bei i re- don• a great de d to the Parish Ril left to itself, it woe Id. When the Peri ' e was one of .ho inted to be esapl ,, ... .