The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-04-04 00:00:00

Sir. i am satisfied that Gentleman will think with
me; that, after a few years, the fervour and Alarm
which occasioned the honotreahle spirit for associat•
in to defend the country, will subside, endthesystem
of-entirely voluntary training cannot be pursued :
therefore, however unnilling I am to suggest such
a measure, we must have recoure to compulsion.
Under the toll impression of the necessity of its
adoption, all di it can be done is to make the com-
pulsion as light as possible. The Honourable Gen-
tlemen, oppos't• to me, are smiling, I see. I VII
sure I (11l 110 t like this thing the better for comina
from theta shop. (d general (cake.) I do nut for-
get all the works of this sort with which they kept
the state anvil in a continual heat ; the clink of these
Cyclops was intermittent, whilst the adivity of the
bellow's-blower was such, that the ford.- and smithy
never cooled. /A real of laughter.) Thus, for some
time, did these nee-eyed armourers of Mars keep
the counts y in a fever of efiight. But the measure
nnw to be ailed upon shall not operate like theirs.
"lhe compulsion is to extend to nothing fur he th n
training to the use of arms, and that to be confined
within the compass of a year. This service will ex-
perience all the amelioration and abridgemet t of
extent, which the volunteers in the district woul I
occasion, as well as every other alleviation of the
duty, which could be devised with a proper regard
to sound policy. Wherever the old foundation can
he reduced within the countess of this new system,
I cull adopt it, I mean the foundation of the It,,
enma.,se, the principle of which I think pettedly
e live. The obligation imposed upon all persons
to train themselves, and the requisition of their scr-
vines, in case of :Oval invasion, I approve of now,
and have always expreesed my approbation of. That
Was the principle tipne which the Volunteers were
originally appealed to; but it degenerated into a
system which became exceptionable. It was said,
' after a time, that no ns tn. eeold nhjed that he was
injured by being required to meet at 'he end of a
village, with all his neighbours, to undergo a dril-
ling ; brit this, from the promiscuous mob which
assembled for the tike purpose, was really found to
be an unpleasant duty imposed upon the higher
or,le:s of society ; and it was in contemplations of
this that I was indoced to approve of the
association of vnlenteercneps, to remedy it. The per-,
mission to associate, however had been, as it was
now apparent, curried to a disadvantageous extent
I have already said, that it was my olljed to reduces
them within a politic compass. 1 he reduelind
which I propose to make, woislil be one which 1
would yield a saving to the co_intry. amounting to
the difference between the June and the August al-
lowances, charring generally the more material for
the less extensive expend ture. The estimate for
th- year would t' en be 1,479,0001. exclusive of
347,0001 for clothing, and some contingent al-
lowances to Yeomanry. Instead of eigoty five
days, the lumber required, upon which the corps
were to go out for exercise. will he twenty-six;
and this, with a discentineance of pay to officers,
wiil occasion a saving of 210,(0 il. The allowance
of pay to drill s. ijeants will also be decreased, so
as to augment the saving to 300,0001. There is,
also, a material disbursement to lospeding Field
Offices, which, it k pretty generally understood,
may be well saved ; but, as there must be some efg- t
fleer sebstituted (ere in a more civil rapacity, wilb •
may be appointed by the Lord Lieutenant, or
otherwise), this redudion of expellee cannot, per-
haps, be estimated at more thin 35,0001. To this
is to he added the payments. by the Receivers-
General, of marching guineas, amounting to
193,1911. making a total annual saving of 8711,0001.
These, Sir, art the reduainns I shall propose in the
expences of the Volunteer Corps, not from any hosti-
lity to those Corps, for I possess none, but from a
consideration of the orates ire burden upon the
public revenue, which their estahlishmein imposes,
a d which, if not checked, from the purse t state
of the Corps, now no longer to be maintained by
contributions, will become onerous to an er.:ent in-
tolerable. Though, Sir, the measures to be sub-
mitted will have for their (shied to reduce the VIN
luideer Battalions, an effed will be produced, at
the same time, of replacing the men in their num-
bers, though, to some extent, in different persons ; and
the change will be such as I wish to see, as it will be
occasioned by the introduction of those who are better
capacitated for afloat service. I wish, Sir, to pro-
vide for such persons at the general training would
prove unpleasant to, by granting them. on certain
conditions, leave to train themselves in the way
most accordant to their inclinations. All who
embrace this permission, must do it at their own ex-
pellee, Government only undertaking, in such cases,
to provide them with arms. To these Volunteers,
an allowance will be continued, but not to the ex-
tent that has hitherto been made. It must, here-
after, be distintly understood, that all who shall
enter as Volunteers into an associated corps, must
serve at their own expence. From the final opera-
tion of the Aat nothing will exempt, but a double
boon is given to the opulent subjeft, of training
hinrstlt io the way most agreeable, and when
the danger presses, of serving in a corps with
which he has associated, and to which he is at-
tached. Thus, for the cxpence to which he goes
beyond his poorer neighbour, he commutes the
hazard of being drafted into a regiment of the line
to fill up vacancies, for service in a Volunteer •
Corps. I come now, Sir, to speak upon that part
of the system which I am to propose, in which I
have experienced most difficulty to make up my
mind. Much as I abhor, in common with all the
country, any measure of compulsion, in the great
Ivry, or the mass, I find it necessary, that classes
should be formed, which must be done by lot,
which. I suppose, will be called by the name of
ballot (forgbt4r, sad Aver ! beer ! rives tie Opfreadbas
',echo. About eoo,ooo west will be seleded from
the population, whom it will be necessary to put
ender a mode of training. I know no other way
of selating them, but by lot or ballot. The men
so fixed upon, are to he divided into three classes ;
the first commenciug with those at the age of 16
years, and not exceeding t 4; the second, those
from 24 to 32 ; and the third clues, those from 32
to 40. It will be left to the discretion of the
Crown, to call out sites parts of these halite:
as His Majesty shall think fit, and its the part.
of the country most requities them to hr in
arms. If the Volunteers in any district shall be equi-
valeet to the number of men required to be bd-
lotted fur, the ilistsiet will thereby he emitted

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to exemption ; and so in proportion to the num-
ber of Voluuteers, in each perish or place, a
diminution will be experienced of the number
of men required to be raised by ballot. The
men en whim the ballot falls will be trained only
2b days, And viii ieceive a shilling each time, as a
comPeasatiou for their half day's work. The same
grattity will also be allOwtid to the Volunteers. Sir,
it will not be necessary this{ 1 should go into detail
now, with iespe.ft to the force to be raised by the
ballot, 1 nerd only state, that they will not be car-
tiei from their own homes; neither will they be
embodied, nor svear any particalar clothes ; but it
will be confided in the rim sere of the Crown to call
them out to some town in the county for a short
period ; and even, should this be thought too bur-
densome, it will be relinquished The option of a
file will be given to those who chose to be exempt
from the ballot, or service in a Volunteer corps, of
two denominations and rates. It will devolve to
the detachments of the regiments of Militia to in-
strma the ritts.ea ; and thus an association will be
effeifited between the two descriptions of force, ilrit
will he benefi mil to both. 'llse Militia will con ;net
themselves with attention and conciliation towards
the members of the mass, under the hope of MAIN.-
in: many of them to enter into their ba.talioni ;
anda by this intercourse, a permanent advantage
and decrease will be derived to the regular army.
This, Sir, is • measure that I hope will be atfended
with anore beneacial results to the crummy than
Ow o. the late Minister's, called the Army br-De-
fence Aft, under which 57 battalicns were to be
raised, and for which ()Seers were provided before
i a single man was got. These officers were turned
1 to graze while the aft was most deliberately rif-a-
im; the uhj:6l of its framers, and were waiting. like
(system, when there is an ebb, with gaping mouths,
fur tide lime (1 hemp 0 Even had this measure been
produftive to the extent expeaed, 9,000 men a-year
was the utmost number it was to raise, arid yet it
was to ahviate the necessity of all other means for
recruiting the at my. The Militia is a species of frrce
that has not been considered to fall under the Re-
grdar Army, ne.r the Leru-en-Masse. At its original
estautishment, it partook, perhaps, mere of the
latter forte; but at present it is certainly part
of the regular army ; and as an army far home de-
fence, iseminemly dimiplined. instead of the parish
balitßs forthis service, at present resorted to, I pro
to substitute recruiting at a limited bounty, and
Illlee the regiments on the same footing as the
Mlllitinits Ireland. A measure has been suggested by
thelate Right Hon. Secretary, to allow the bush
Militia, upon certain conditions,to enlist into the line.
If this measure can be found to be extensively prac-
ticable, it is intended to aft upon it as an excellent
expedient Sir, I should state that the usual allow-
ance for cloathing will be allowed to the Volunteers
this year ; and I also add, what is necessary to
be fully and clearly understood, that Government
deer not hold itself pledged to renew this boon on
any Imam occasion. I came now to the sub jetit of
Volunteer rank ; and in expressing my opinion on
this head. I must say, that the rank given to the Vo-
lunteer Officers, was an injury dime to the Regular
Army. It the Officers of the Line are not to have
command in their own peculiar province, in God's
name what are thsy ? Never was any thing
so 'revolting to all reason and feeling as the
making Volunteer Officers higher in rank.—
What would the Hon. Gentleman opposite (General
Tarleton) think, if a man in a red coat wire, ad-
dressing him, to say, he was the son of a Noble-
man, having rank in a volunteer corps, and there-
fore
expefital he (the General) should bow to hit
opinion on military affairs? Or, if a man entering
into the Militia, ami telling the officers, 0 I can buy
a dozen of you," musty because he teas superior
in civil rank ? To obviate this absurd and injurious
precedence, I shall propose, Sir, that, in future, no
unicer enjoying the rank of a Capta n in the
army, shall be subjeft to the command of any Vo-
lunteer Ofticer. In proposing this measure I con-
lie in the goad sense which I am sure abides with
these gentlemen; and this confidence induces me
to remark, an the circumstance of some cf them
beisigs,eaen in common and familiar life, distin-
guished. by the prefixing to their names their rni-
itaitys-meak. I should think any man meant to
make.sport of me, who contintiea to give me a title
to which I had stn pretension, and the abn e er pros-
titution of which I should detest. With resped to
the clothing of Volunteers, I think it no light or
trifling thing that the clothing of the army is to be
seen on the backs of Volunteers. The livtry of His
Majesty's servants is permitted to be worn by none
but those in that capacity ; and His Majesty's army
ought surely to preserve their distindion. l'o this end,
I trust to the good sense of the Volunteers ; I hope
and espeCt the country will see them having a raise-
worthy regard to economy, and laying aside the ap-
pearance of what they really are not : Soldiers they
are not, and cannot be, and should not assume their
garb. Sir, the country ought rot to trust solely to
its Standing Army. The population should be in
that SIAM in wiper it can best support it, by
being put into that sort of pautal tra:ning,
which, whilst it qualifies them to meet any
emergency with fortitude and effeft, should not
distrait their attention entirely from other affairs.
The advice of a late eminent statesman ( Mr.
Pitt), I know, was to put the country into that
state of training. Supplies of clothing should be
ready for use, and when danger is really at
hand, no man should be exempt from sharing
it. The operation of the Bill, which it would
be necessary to introduce, to embody the plan
I have submitted to the House, will be gra.
&Ai- So little do I look to it for immediate
effea, that I expel the seed will be some time in
the ground before it thews a blade. I hope, how.
ever, the measure will wear well, and that what at
present appears complicate and huthensome in the
training of £OO,OOO will nut really prove so.—
The Bill will be accommodated to the basis of the
Lee* es Maim Aa of lima ; there will be some
amendments necessary in the Militia and Mutiny
Acts, and there oust be a Bill regulating the Chel-
sea allowance. 1 return my thanks to the House
for the indulgence shown me during the long time I
have trespa.sed on their attention, and shall con-
clude by .mtving the repeal of the Aft of the 44.11
of His Nlajesty, called the Defence Ad.
Lord CAS I'LEREAGiI said, it was in no de-
gree his intention to oppose the intiodanion it the
13:11, mach less to follow the Right Hon Gentle-

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II

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man through all the particulars which he had, it.;,11
so much ability, stated to the House ; but he thou:.
he would be doing himself a great irjustice, are
also the memory of the ltight lion. Gentleman w:th
whom he had had the honour to ai, if he did n t
make some observations on the speech whic:i he Kid. .
just heard. Thelatter.periud of the ptditical I,!e cf
his Right Hon. Friend, was considerably iuvriv din
the attack made on the military systeM. wh•ch he
had h. en the principal means of establiehing ; and
e considered it as a duty to defend it. :Thine wets
some general principles, in which all must wee..
and he was sure the Right Hoe. Gentleman hiartielf •
(Mr. Witi,:ham) would adrril , that the overturtrint
of any great system of deli nee, must be prejed
to the State, particularly when it was attempted
during the cent:nuance of a war, and he thought
he might call upon the House, not to adoiSt any
new plan, tinless necessity required it. He *idled
that Gentlemen would, with him, examine into
what the state of the army now u as; never WT6 it
•u G•>urishiug, and he was convinced, the Right
Hoe. Gentleman himself was r—it so great an enemy
to ir, as to say any thing to the contrary. For this. •
the people were indebted to the Noble Person lately
at she head of that department, and he was tut e
they would ■hvaye remain grateful. He was 1• a •
pared td state, that k was the intention of his Righ.
Hon. Friend, to have made some entail altera•iona
in the mustier plan, an as to make op the de6-
,resuair, bet they were not of suet' a mAnitude as

I.

to reqUite any mateetsioaltereeion. 'de preserve - r
1'
army. including Militia and Artillery.' was 267,0P0
strong. lie did ott wish to draw compaqo
sons; hers st preterit, it waf the only erode he
could pursue. In the year IS t, at the close of a
former Administration. the streagth of the army
1
was not mole than 240,000 men ; so that, at pre-
' sent, we had the greatest army ever this country
possessed, notwithstanding which. as attempt was
now made to overturn it. lie would now say a few
words ..sith resped to the Whelk* of the plan. Ihe
tactual increase of the army, made altcgerher one-
third of the whole of this visious Vari, so much de-
precated. With respeo to the waste of the art
not including those lost by war, AS, lately, few had
been-taken off in that way ; hut, by the common
contingetici, s attached to all mankind, 15.000 men
a.year should be counted on; and, he conceived.
that we should much deceive ourselves, if we
reckoned on lets. Any Gentleman who would
take the trouble of looking to the returns of the
force of the comely, now before the House, would
find. that the regular recruiting service bad not, toe
a considerable time. supplied more than Iron
eleven to thirteen thousand men a-year. It might,
therefore, with peat truth be stated, that the ordi-
nary enlisting, for the Lst six years, did not do more
than make good the contingencies each year, for
th.- last its years. His Right Hon. Friend had
looked with a great degree of cnufi knee to the pro..
gressive supply, from the Additional Force Aft ;
but he would not trouble the House with observe-
tions on this head ; but when the papers were print-
ed, he was convinced, that the House would see
.
the reason it was not in a greater degree pt eduaive. , %
was not from any deficiency in the measure itself,
bur on account of the total ignorance of the Pariah ..J
Officers, who conceived, coat Government only i
wanted the money, see wet the men. He did eats
wish to trouble the House, but he wished Gentler.
men to taro their :mention to the produce of ir,
under all disadvantages, for the let ten weeks.
There was a steady progress of SOO men a week, rn
all, 3,000; so that what they were now called upon
to relinquish, without having any subaitute, was a
system by which (7.000 men were annually raised.
This Bill was to differ from the Additional Force
Ate, by improving the situatios of the soldiers. and
he was willing to go alone; with the Right Hem.
Gentleman, in this respect, so far as it was comes
nolo to the principles of economy; bin he thought
the plan might extend to soldiers, enlisted for life;
AS well as to those enlisted for a fruited time. He
indeed conceived, that It WAS a l'hel on the present
system to say, that it was a bondage for life. The
Right Hoe. Semtleman, he was sure. was igntwanr,
that, in the present seetem, any mall, after a ser-
vice of tei years, might have his discharee ; and,
he believed, Ise had a right t 3 denoind a pension.
even though he were not &said:rd. In the schemer ,
that nitzin suornitted to the House, be conceive&
the Right Hon. Gentleman had a prospective view
of the army, and net a retrespeCtive ; in this he was
perfealv secure, as sae had the army raised by. the
late Minister, to support the country, his plan ot.ly
extending to those which w-re to be noised here-
after; so that he left it to his aurces.or, is the course
of six ors.ven years,'n remedy the evils ori: i .t ing
horn it. With test,eCt to the I.o.banie sap*, tone
raised by this pion, he didnit think it would he greater
than if the soldiers were raised for life. Some moo,
he would admit, wit .ed to go into the array for a
limited time, but these men might satisfy then pro-
pensity, by gaiog into the Militia. He was aware.
th.t there might be men who would wish to serve
for a limited time, and also for general service ;
but these men, among the lower order of people.
were extremely few. He then made some otiserva-
tines on the system pursued formerly foe raising
men fur a limited service, to IV'S., in India ; but
did not think that case in the slighirst degree Ann.
'opus to this. The argument, wi:h reseed to de-
sertion, made use of by the et.ght Hon. Gentleman,
could completely be turned against biniselt ; as it
appeared, from the returns, that in the course of a
year, one-third of the desertion wos from the regi-
ments raised for limited service. He did not think
that this most from any other cause, than that
the men were all newly raised; and it always, he
believed, was the case, that new tamed regiments were
more liable to loises by deaertion, than any other.
According to the present plan. the 'oblivion foreign
service. when tneir time would eepire, might, re
general. be prevailed on to eniio ag tin ; hut those
quartered at home, he was rather of opinion, :ever
would ; and he was induced to make this st iternem.
Irons a praCtical knowledge with tespee to the Irish
Militia, the greater part or which were Myral. lost
to the service at the time of the expiration of the
term for which they had engaged. It was the in-
tension of the Right Hon. Gentlemen to ian rare
the present sptern, withour know,,,g whether the
o%pyrseahletne.a:trrwohposie,
ynt.dwe sioecualtidhicdrisauvrus
40::
oe
ie.;
..
tt
:a na; ;
~he
dreadful
u ..pi no e t
dilemma,v
,ei thatd_ . ‘ '
tiefence. without having another substituted. rbi,

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