The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-06-21 00:00:00

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may be expedient to afford farther explanit ;an epla-
tire to his pending negotiations with tore;g pnive.s,
and the views and objetts of them, in reference to
the contest in which His Majesty is engaged."
Lord CASiTI..F.REAGH sale he would not at-
tempt to follow the Hon. Gentleman through all
the long Ind very able speech he had jdst made, as.
if he did, he should necessarily trespass too long on
the time of the House ; he would. therefore, content
himself with applying his arguments to such parti-
cular parts of it as appeared to him to require oh-
serrations to be made on them. The Hon. Gentle-
man, towards the conclusion of his speech, had al-
luded to the vote his Right Hon. Friend meant to
call for on a future day, and, under all the circum-
stances of the case, had cautioned the House to be
careful how they place confidence in Ministers to
such an extent as the sum now wanted. He hoped,
however, to convince the House, before he sat down,
that if they have not a proper degree of confidence
in the present Government, they..hould endeavour
to obtain one in which they can place confidence.
In many parts ..f the Hon. Gentleman's speech he
differed very little from him. He agreed perfthly
with him, that at no period of our history was the
country more true to itself. lie held also the same
opinion with regard to the present state of Ireland.
In short, he believed there never was a period in
which the picture of the actual situation of the
country presented so favourable an aspe&. He
admitted that the lion. Gentleman may, as a Mem-
ber of Parliament, call on Ministers, not only for an
account of the resources of the country. but also to
shew how they were administered. But, however
much he may doubt the ability of Ministers, lie
must admit the general prosperity of the country.
He confessed he rejoiced ire that as much as any
man could do, but at the same time assured the
House, that he would not wish to make that at any
time whatever a ground for the continuance of war,
if peace could be obtained on safe and honourable
terms. The Honourable Gentleman had stated that \
Ministers had at the commencement of the war
boasted that our finances were in such a state, the
war could be carried on for some years, without
making any addition to our debt. That calculation
was, however, made on the supposition that the ex-
pences were to remain on the same scale they were
at that time; but if, wince that period, more exten-
sive measures have been adopted than were then
foreseen or expeded, it could not be matter of sur-
prise to any one that the expences should be very
much increased, and therefore tl.ey were, in the
course of things, higher this year than they were the
last. But the Honourable Gentleman was certainly
incorren, when he stated the increase of thirty mil-
lions; he must know that was only the nominal in-
crease, and that in reality it was not more than half.
There were two parts of the system of Administra:
tion, in which the Honourable Gentleman had stated
he thought our situation bad, viz. the as my and nava-.
He thought, however, the Hon. Gentleman could .tot
but in candour allow that the state of the army was
very materially altered fur the better than it 'e is atthe
period he had alluded to. The Noble Lord AIL wed
that circumstanced as this country is at present, we
could not carry the army to too high a push, either
in numbers or discipline; but he was certain that
in comparison with the amount of the army in 1 .02,
which was during the last war, and vamp it was in
a complete state, and yet it had since then Matas-
, ed very-much. to lnere, -be as-adistai.-19
174,000 men ; on the Bth of June, 1 sr, it was
176,199 men ; in that it is now higher than it was
at any mind during the last war, when it was at
the' high:st stare of improvement to which it
could arrive. In the beginning of 1804, the
whole regular force was 232,000; it was now
247,000 men, which clearly sheered an increase
of 15,0uu men for our home defence. In cur
various settlements abroad there were then •
about 50,000. At present there were 77,000
men. He [tasted, therefore' it wc ohl appear
the exertions of Government had not been Small
when it was evident they had in so short a time in-
creased the regular army 34,0)0 men. The in-
crease of the disposethle Infantry was 22,000, and
in both that and the gross force, the general aspect
was such as to be highly encouraging: In the
four first months of this rear the adcution was
20,000, and there was a very fair prospect ; that
in'the course of the next eight months there would
be at least 15,00) more, which gave in the whole
year an increase cf 3.5,000 mint aid that he
thought was one of the strongest proofs that Govern-
ment had left no means untried to increase the re-
gular army, and had succeeded very much in their en-
deavours. The 0, her branch et the system to which the
Hon. Gentleman had al:u led was the navy. In this he
had endeavoured to shew that very little adif tion
had beets made by the Noble Lord who was last at
the head of the Admiralty Board. The Hon. Gent.
had said there were no more than three ships of the
line added during the period of that Noble Lord
being at the head of that Board. He ought, how-
ever, to have stated the whole number of those ships
which were obliged to be put out of commission,
and the number necessary to supply their plater.
He would then have sbewn that in the whole time
during which Lord Melville was at the head of .I,e
Admiralty, there were added to the navy 43 sal; cf
the line, 32 frigates, 53 gun-brigs, and 33 fire ships.
making in all 170; so that the number of ships now
in commission, of all kinds, exceeded by 60, those
of the period to which the Hon Gentleman alluded.
The Hon. Gentleman had thought roper to state
the causes of the war, in winch, however. he was
very wrong. Government did not enter into the
war, as the Han. Gentleman chose to as-nine, from
the speculative hope cf reducing the power of
France, from the sole means of the resent-re, of this
country, but from a thorongh convielion, founded
on the general condo& of the enemy, that they had
no choice ; and that if they had not made a stand
when they did, they would have been guilty of as
aft of folly and weakness, for which the Hon.
Gentleman might very fairly and justly have him, e 4
them. The Hon. Gentleman was, however, 'vie
content with haring named untruly, the objeft of
Ministers in entering into the war, but he had pm-
ceeded and made as unfair and uncandisf a coati:ism
on the mode in which they had carried it on. With
all the great and acknowledged superiority of o .r
ival force, it cannot be supposed that we can at ail
times keep a safirci nt number of ships for the pro-
of

refore conclude wen a..... ...e, - --•.....-- __ __ ._
Jdruss be presented to reetion of our varii)as fireign stativlns, and for our
would be gracioliii home cktence, and be always superior. or even equal
Parliament before it in number to the enemy in all places. We MUM for