The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-04-23 00:00:00

military system was ton experstre, too loose, too
irregular, and that he found, to use his own phrase,
the stage occupied by that to which he had the
greatest avei zion, runtely, the Volunteers. 'that
he found himself so much fettered, embarrassed, and
crippled by them, that he should be obliged to call
upon Parliament to abolish them immediately ; and
that, in voting their clothing for this year. it was not
to he expefted that Government would allow it any
snore ; that they were totally inadequate to serve
in line ; and that they should he deprived of
the benefit of Itsspeiting Field Officers, whose re-
ports concerning them he thought entitled to no
credit. From relaxing their discipline, there-
fore, it was to be inferred, that he meant to
disqualify them altogether from moving as an
army ; for be also diminished their drill serjeants,
took away their corporals, and wished rather
to retain them at home than employ them to co-ope-
rate with any army.—lt was evident, that in all
parts of their organization; his wish was to deprive
them of all the means by which an army could act,
and reduce them to the state which he admired
most, that of an armed peasantry, or a chilled po-
pulation. After every :25 days' drill, they were
to be throaty back into the population, either with
muskets or without them, but certainly without any
officers competent to lead them against an enemy.
Mr. FRANCIS here spoke to order, and asked
whether it were regular, upon a simple motion for
papers, to go into a debate upon a subject not then
before the House?
Mr. PAUL also complained of this motion,
of which no notice was given, being suffered to take
precedence of that of which he had given notice a
considerable time since.
The SPEAKER acquainted Mr. Paul, that he I
was under a mistake, as notice had been given of
this motion; and to the point of order, he said, that
he did not feel himself warranted to say, that any
part of the debate was irregular.
Lord CASTLEREAGH then observed, that he
should not have gone so much at length into that
part of the subject, if he had not thought that the
constralion put by Mr. Fox on the opening of Mr.
Windham, did not make it necessary for him to
compare that construftion with some of the aOual
declarations. His principal object was, however,
to express his satisfaCtion, in hoping that the new
system would be found different from what was to
be expeded.
Mr. WINDHAM said, there was a certain figure
in speech, the name of which he should not then
mention, which was apt to lead more to pas-
sion, than could be done by any force of argument.
He was glad, therefore, of the interruption
given to the emotions it excited, as he should
be able to deliver himself wits that temper
which a man would naturally be desirous always to
preserve. Of the two Members 'oho spoke on the
other side, there was only one who dealt in general
arguments upon the merits of a qmstion not before
the House; and the ohs:remit), ,s of the other were
of that nature which did not cod for argument, but
for contradietion, for he pro ceeded upon the most
open bare-faced misconception, he would call it,
which he ever heard in his life. He set out with
professing to explain the -nature of his motion ;
but he then did not expl•+ir. the °Weft of his motion.
From this specimen, he could now see the nature
of the warforc that was 'lobe waged, in order to in-
flame the public agaiv.st His Majesty's Ministers,
whether right or wrcr g. That, he supposed to be,
in their estimation, ri correft scheme of Parliament
ary warfare ; but ho wished the Gentlemen to be more
correct in their conception, as they might derive
no advantage frrim having recourse too often to
this method ; tone charge made against him was,
that of saying t hat the army would be degraded by
using the same uniforms as the Volunteers. What
he said then, 'ne would now, and always aids ad-
here to, which r was, that our army, as well as all
other armies, could only exist by its distinctions,
which would be destroyed, if universally extended.
Beyond that, he denied that he had said any thing,
or used any t xpression, which could imply disgrace.
Neither did Ice say, that the Volunteers would be an
asylum for such. as did not choose to serve in any
other way., What he said was, that those who
ohje&ed to car npulsory training, would in the
Volunteers hay e an opportunity of being trained
in their own Tray, and at their own expence.—
If that were an offence, it was given long ago by the
Right Hon. G entleman (Mr. Percival) himself ;
who, on a former occasion, was very active in the
detail of a mea sure which appointed training by
distriets, as the conditions upon which the Volun-
teers were• to ha re their exemptions. It was surely
no reproach, th. tt where an option was given, that
option should be taken. It was a strange thing, to
hear that Right lion. Gentleman complain of corn-
pultion, as if the Army of Reserve, of which he
was, as it wore,l:he parent, was not the very essence
of compulsio is. He complain of it, who gave it as
his legal opts ion , that the Volunteers had not a power
to resign ? Su. :11 was the Gentleman who now
repiescuted c onspulsion es a disgrace. As to the
discipline, the Right Hon. Gentleman was unable
to fix upon as y thing but the incautious word rrlaw;
In point of criticism, to be sure, the Right Ho.
nourable Gil tlemaa hal there, certainly, the
advantage of him, as he should have expressed
Isis meaning I ietter, had he said the word remit,
which was e :hat he intended. As to their
being deprive) of the Inspating Field Officers,
that could pig duce no alteration of their discip-
line ; for these officers had no power over the Vo-
lunteers, not es .n so much as to compel them to at-
tend. In maki ist this reply, his objeft was confined
to a statement e •t these faults. He was ashamed to
stand up there t a justify himself, for he disdained to
do so, when he +►as unconscious of having done
and therelore a poke only for the single purpose of
refuting. Pohl! c economy, however, was necessary
to be attended to ; which he believed the House
would feel, whe s he stated to them, that out of the
number of 350,t 00 Volunteers, no less than 300,000
of them were ps .id, as appeared by the pay lists of
June and Aug* Ist Mt. If the Hon. Gentle-
nun opposite to him, therefore, argued right,
supposing his plan to go no farther than the
stoppage of d to payments, it would disband
these 300,000 s :olunteers who received the pay,
and leave no ens •re than 50,000 inarrns ; but were
they not placed upon the plan in which they first
originated, not ay, that of armed associations,
serving at their own expellee? According to the