The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-23 00:00:00

j)ECEMBER 23, 1854.

Vrottarings arliament.

FOREIGNERS ENLISTMENT BILL.
This bill was reported in the House of Lords on
Saturday, the Peers meeting specially for that pur-
pose. Lord ELLENBOROUOH renewed his protest
against the measure on this occasion, but the discus-
sion that arose was brief, and the house very
scantily attended, as was expected upon so excep-
tional a sitting. The bill accordingly passed that
stage without difficulty.
On Monday the bill came up again for third read-
ing, and, although no division took place, the objec-
tions previously raised against it were once more
forcibly urged and weakly met by the Ministerial
speakers. The Earl of ELLEN/Witt/lila( began by
specifying the modifications which the measure had
already undergone, and which he admitted had some-
what alleviated its objectionable characterisucs.

Nevertheless, his disapprobation of the bill upon
principle remained unallayed
The 34vernment themselves, he remarked, seemed to
distrust the fidelity of these foreign troops if placed in the
Mediterranean garrisons, and he could not understand how
they could be trusted in the Crimea. If they revolted in
Corfu, might they not desert at Sebastopol? The sth
clause gave power to the Government to make supple.
mental Articles of War for the foreign troops. He did not
believe that that clause had met with the approbation of
the commander-in-chief, for that noble lord when in India
abolished the separate Articles of War under which the
Indian soldiers enlisted, and placed them under the same
discipline with the British soldier. He wished to know
whence these troops were to come? He adhered to his
opinion that there were no troops in the world like British
troops. A chain-cable formed of wrought and of cast
iron links might look equally good in all its parts, and
might act equally well in fair weather, but when the strain
of the storm came the cast-iron links would be sure to
give way. His wish was that the British army should be
composed in all its parts of wrought-iron. There was a
sense of personal dignity about an Englishman which he
believed did not exist elsewhere. An Englishman felt if
be disgraced his colours that he would be hooted when he
went home—not a woman would look at or speak to him.
It was different with foreigners. If they turned their
backs they but disgraced the arms they had assumed, and
they would go back to the banks of the Weser, or the
Oder, or the Elbe, as much respected as they were before.
He wanted to know what consideration we were to give
these German princes for thus obtaining the services of
their subjects ? If these petty German princes were willing
to sell the blood of their subjects for money—and he could
not see why else they should give their consent to this
system of enlistment—then he wanted to know what dif-
ference there was between this traffic and that carried on
in the kingdom of Dahomey? Could that be right on the
banks of the Weser which was denounced as the last
atrocity on the banks of the Congo? He confessed
that his object in thus opposing the measure was t.) force
the Government to draw their forces entirely from English
subjects. He wished to drive Ministers out of that course
they seemed to have adopted, of making war without a
reserve ; of conducting a campaign without means of tran-
spo►t ; a system which condemned the army to gain bloody
but fruitless viotones.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE ridiculed the appre-
hensions entertained by the opponents of the bill,
declaring them absurd and exaggerated, and prophe-
sying that, upon investigation, they would vanish like
spectres in the daylight. He respected the fears
entertained by the public out of doors, who did not
know the provisions of the bill—he honoured them
for their jealousy of the constitution—but surely noble
lords ought to know better
From the Duke of Marlborough to the Duke of Wel-
lington scarcely a battle had been gained by Englishmen
in which foreign troops had not some share. We were
superior to Russia by sea—we were superior to her in
wealth and in credit—we were inferior only in population.
It was important that we shonliredress that inequality by
every possible means. What was the objection to our em-
ployment of foreigners in order to redress that inequality ?
It was alleged that. her Majesty, enlisting those troops for
the purpose of foreign war, might launch them against the
native populeion ' • and, though it was admitted that they
were not equal to Englishman, still it was supposed that
the British yeomen and the British militia would be no
match for them, but that they would at once extinguish the
liberties of England. He thought there was not a peasant
on a village green who would not laugh at such an appre-
hension. The Minister who in former times had most
employed foreigners was Lord Chatham, who made it his
boast that he conquered America in Germany—that was,
by the employment of Germans. The battle of Minden,
which was one of the moat English victories of the last
century, was foughtwith a British force inferior in numbers
to the foreign force marshalled under the same banner.
'the Administration were as much impressed as the noble
earl himself could be with the necessity of bringing every
well-trained Englishman into the field; but., having done
that, they were impressed with the expediency of employ-
ing a foreign force as well, the Government being respon-
sible for their employment and for their efficiency. With
regard to the alteration of the Articles of War, all that was
intended was to shape them so as to suit the habits and
customs of foreign soldiers.
The Earl of DERBY, after rebuking the previous
speaker for the levity with which he treated the con-
stitutional objections to the measure, observed that
MisMtass had emiused their delay in embodying the

THE PRESS.

militia upon the plea that the barrack accommodation '
was insufficient, and yet now proposed to raise a body
of 10,000 or 15,000 foreigners, and quarter them upon
the country in barracks ; or, if they were billetted,
their presence here would be only the more objection-
able. It was urged that in foreign war we had em-
ployed foreign soldiers. This might be true and still
not applicable as a precedent for the present bill,
since in foreign wars those troops served under their
own banners and fought in their own quarrel. At
Minden the British fought rather as auxiliaries than
principals, and much the same might be said of Wel-
lington's campaigns in the Peninsula :
There were two objections to this bill, and he had not
heard a satisfactory answer to either of them. The first
was a constitutional objection to levying and training
foreign troops in England and the next was, that it would
discourage the efforts that were now so energetically
making in England. If the alterations iu the Articles of
War tended to exempt these foreign levies from corporal
punishment, to which the British soldier was exposed, he
thought no more dangerous course could be taken to excite
the murmurs of the British regiments. If men were
wanted, he thought that large bodies of trained troops
might be obtained from India. He wished to ask the Go-
vernment whether any supplies of men or money for the
support of this war were to be drawn from our colonies.
The North American colonies were now as independent of
England as Ireland was previous to the Union—the only
tie iu both cases being that of the Crown. Yet was there
over a war in which England was engaged that Ireland did
not contribute her assistance? He believed that the North
American provinces would be as ready now to contribute
both men and money towards earring on this war. At all
events, he was certain that if England would find the
money, the North American provinces would be gratified to
raise three or four regiments to share all the dangers and
honours of the British army, the only difference being
that the years usually passed by llritish troops in this
country should be paused by the American troops in their
Own country.
Lord Derby added that after the vote of a former
night he should not again trouble the house to
divide, hut would content himself with recording
his own negative to the third reading of the bill.
Viscount HARDINGE expressed his approval of the
measure, because he believed it to afford the means
of obtaining the largest three they could at the earliest
possible period. Though he bad every confidence
in the army now in the Crimea, and in the spirit
of the British people, still he could not think
that would justify him in resisting the present propo-
sition.

Earl GREY believed that the objections to the bill
were founded on very vague apprehen-ions or ideas
of danger. He considered that the Legislature
would undertake a serious responsibility if :hey re-
fused the Governmont the means and powers now
asked for to carry on the great war in which the
country had engaged.
Earl GRANVILLE also supported the bill, which,
after some remarks from the Earl of iNlainiesbtuy
and Lord Redesdale, was read a third time.
On the question that the bill should pass, the
Duke of NEWCASTLE consented to strike out the sth
clause, to which Lord Ellenborough had objected,
sanctioning changes in the Articles of War. Thus
amended the bill was passed by the Peers.

The bill was brought up and read a first time in
the Commons on the same evening, and within a few
minutes of its passing the Upper House.
Oti Tuesday the second reading was moved by
Lord J. RUSSELL. Much prejudice, he observed,
has been excited against the measure out of doors,
and exaggerated apprehensions seemed to be felt of
its possible consequences. Nevertheless, the history
of this country showed that a similar expedient had
frequently been adopted in times past, often with
great advantage, and always with perfect safety. In
the reigns of Queen Elizabeth, of Cromwell, of
William 111., and of Anne—by Marlborough and
Wellington—whenever, in fact, England had engaged
in continental war, foreign troops had been enlisted
under English pay, and embodied as a portion of
the British army. Admitting that the employment
of German soldiers in the American war was not to
be justified, Lord J. Russell urged that whenever
this country embarked in war for the sake of main
taining the equilibrium and preserving the peace of
Europe, then was it altogether allowable to draw
forces from every European nation. The present
war possessed exactly the same character as our
former contests, in that it was waged against a
preponderating power, and presented no features
that rendered advisable a departure from our ancient
policy or abstinence from employing the expedients
that had formerly proved so useful. I'remising that
the severest call on our resources occurred at the
commencement of a war, the noble lord detailed the
nature and extent of the services which must imme•
diately devolve upon the allied armies for the purpose
of defending Turkey at all points from the dangers
that threatened her. In the Crimea, in the Danubian
principalities, and in Asia, they were called upon to
resist a sovereign who commanded sixteen or eighteen
corps d'armies, each as numerous us the force which
we had already despatched to the Crimea. If we at
tempted to supply reinforcements solely from native