The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-02-16 00:00:00

the Army of Reserve AI,C and which had even
gone so far as the third reading; and also an Act
for suspending, for a time to be limited, the Army
of Reserve Aft, as the ballot had been found to
operate to the disadvantage of the recruiting
service for the Army in general. At this parse
cular period of time, a change, however, took place
in His Majesty's councils, and the Adlninistration
which then succeeded to office, brought forward the
B;11 now alluded to, which, after the fullest and re-
prated discussions in both places, was at Iceeda
passed by both Houses of Parliament. His opiaion
of the Bill remained still the same as it had eve:-
been (a cry from the other side of Gear! hear !). `iee.
Noble Viscount said, he wished to be heard, and to
be pesfeitly understood, that his opinion of the Bill
remained unaltered. He had opposed it in its pro.
gress through the other House, because he did not
approve its various provisions; yet, theagh he still re-
tamed the same opinion respecting it, hi thought, that
after having received the most mature consideration
and the fullest discussion in both Houses of Parlie-
ment, it would not be fair or politic to repeal it tie
it had received a fair vial. If the Bill had bele.
completely successful, he was certain, in his owl_
mind, their Lordships would have heard ef no m--
tion for repeal. Before they wieild, therefore, give
countenance to such a measure, they shotild kilo%
whether it was likely to be finally croweed With
success, and proceed to so hasty a step as that
of repeal, because of a partial or temporary
failure. For his own part, he was flee to con-
fess, that he was by no means so sanguine in his
,expectations of its ultimate success as mane of he
Noble Friends (A err' of hear! hear! from flu oppo-
site side). He hid given the Bill every oppesisien
in his power till he could do it no longer; and he
was sorry that Parliament had placed him in the
situation ; still he could not avoid asking, can it he
argued that the experience of the ACI hes been mob
as to say that it has completely failed? and there-
fore the material question for the cnnsidtn atien.ol
their Lordships at present would be, whether the
At has so much failed in its provisions and epee-
don as to justify Parliament in abandoning the
measure altogether ? It now became necessny for him
to take notice of the most pa'nful part of the bill,,
and that was the levying of penalties; these were
not to be countenanced, and indeed they had beea
forborne to be levied in such comities, as they wear
found to bear most heavily in their °permit...
His• Noble Friend, however (Lord %Vestmorelende
was right in what he stated, and was hr no mesn
answered by the Noble Earl (Spencer) ; for, is
fact, they were not the framers of the measure.
The Bill on the Table of the other House did nee
go the length of repealing, it wens only to tie sespea-
itoll of the Army of Reserve Aft. There was :lien
he said, another consideration, which was, the Sim-
plementary Militia. That qeestiein was equelre
twee for discussion now as it was 'belie; eie last
Session. He was one of those that lamented tie
proposed reduction of the Militia, and en coratini-
mwl grounds ; he thought the Militia, should beau
fair proportion to that of the Regnle; Army. Cis.
cumstances were, however, greetly- altered at The
present moment. At the commencement of site
war, a very large addition, and be might say, me •
heard of before, Was made to our -Videntect emcee;
a reason, of course existed now,-'whieii woolkwar-
rant a reduclioa of the Militia, that ilia we
exist at any former period. But there was a
still further and stronger one, that vaeiebee
with more force than all the , others, and the
was the absolute want of 50? officers to tat I y on
the discipline of the Militia cesvice. It was; deem-
fore, in a great measure, necessary to reduce them se
far, and, bey ;n1 that, he would certainly have en
objenion. It gave him the greatest setisfetitun, end
he felt a pride he was unable to express, in •stittiee
that we had, at the present moment, not less that
10 1,000 Volunteers in arms, 200 000 of which were
tit for actual service, and only 40,r)00 that weer
not inspeded y a farce which was mei:lent to kit
defiance to all our enemies, and ref reed an lon=
and lustre on the country, which it had never enjoy-
ed [dire. The praftice of keeping rep the Militia
bad been adopted long before the V alunteer;Systime
He thought as highly of the Militia as any mire
could do, hut the Volunteers having corneforteme
with so much zeal and ardour, made it praelicableze
reduce the Militia, for the purpose of increasing out
regular and disposable forces. We paid a very high
c -ampliment to the Volunteer System, as entirely coo-
stitudonel, zed praised the alacrity and enthiisians
with which they had stood forth in defence of thee
country. Who could not but took on their services a
the voluntary tribute of a tree people, in support and
deleuce of a free Government, and would eveiat
main a lasting record of the honour and patine, r;
of the people ? His Lordship then, reverting
immediate question, said, their Lordslf ps co.t .
agree to the 'Motion for a repeal of this • Act
they had suffered it to receive a fair tr'el.
however, it should meet with success., le owt.t.o
it might he desirable to alter and amend it
(Hes: ! bear! bear!); and be had no doubt but what:
such a measure was deemed proper, so as not to io-
terfere with its immediate operation, it would beta re-
fatly attended to by His -Majesty's Mini-stirs; but at
the present moment, he thought there WAS the same
objeetion to any alteration and amendment, as then
was to a repeal. He has stated, he said, the groune
on which Parliament ought to set in support of its
own honour and dignity, and must, therefore, object
to its being induced to act with any degree of pre-
cipitancy. It had been said by the noble Earl
(Spencer), that if this motion was carried and the
aft repealed, some other measure would be pro-
posed. He !should be glad to know what that mew
sure is-ivitis it intended by the noble Earl to restos
the ballot, or would he resort to the Army of Be-
-
serve on airy other principle ? He had the satirise'
Lion to know that all the measures he had from tire
to time brought forward, had been ailed upon withis
the last eight months ; the German Legion had bees
increavd ; some regiments had been raised he
rank; and this mode of increasing our regular vie
disposable force, he insisted, was by no means liner
to the objeftions that had been raised against-it.
He had beard, he said, this night, for the first time
since he hest had the honour end privilege of addreue
ing their Lordships, what he had frequeatly heard'
another place, but which had never inside say ire-
pression that WAS greatly hurtful to his feeling:s
something said as to want of capec4 and talents ie.s.
His Majesty's Ministers. For his owe pert, be c
say, that ever since His Nl.,),:sty bad done bis