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

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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-

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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

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wtiv9l4. Afinelt-saiaad for Eaglar.d,..Lrehuld. .arsi
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