The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-06-07 00:00:00

and others, of great and nneaarnpled eepeacest amt
would incur the risk of injtiritee if not of totelly
destro)ing; the discipline of the atmy. In fe-
reign service, the; men must he brought home at
the expiration of their several terms of service,
which would be attended with almost incelculehle
expiring, and abundant troutile ; beseles, it will
have this certaM and very important disalva.ntege
attached to it. that the army wetild continually be
in a state of suffering, by being obliged to part with
the very best men of which it is composed, of those
also who have been longest in the service, who ate
the best disciplined and newt inured to the climate,
which men must be replaced by raw recruits—men
who had seen no service, and who, from not beine
inured to the climate, were likely to staffer infinitely
snore from the ravages of that, than from the sword
el the enemy ; and then we shisuld have to provide
annually for a very extraordinary number of ca-
sualiies. to the amount of several thousands a year,
which would render it very difficult to keep the
army at its full and complete establishmeat. He
could net but feel, with his Noble Friend, the vest
weight of this enormous expence, at a time when
the country was so very ill able to bear it, and
when every expeece that cettld possibly be avoided:
ought to be so. It bad been said, that if the pi en
did not succeed, it seas easy to recede from it, but
he thought eery differently on that head. I hey
would tied, on the conoary, a very great difficulty
in any attempt to recede from it. As the thing is
considered as a boon to the army. you cannot, at
thee nd of seven years, when the discharges are de-
manded, make any alteration in the system—yoit
caanot tell the men who are, or may be required to
enlist at that period that the boon can no longer be
continued-that :hey are not so dent ring of it, as
were this men whn enlisted seven yearf before, and
received it. You will find it hard to pet suede men,
that 'smile you are eischareing men from the eerily
who hive served seven years, they whom yea then
apply to, ought to enlist for life, or fie any longer
term than seven years; they will revolt at the idea,
and the danger will be, that you will get nit men to
enlist at all. Another Mei ietton w ich weighed
with him was, then it would he very i. jet ices to
the Militia. and still me. e to the Volunteers, who,
when they find from the opinion of Perhament,
shat their services are looked upon as of less im
pnrtance than they at first supp 'sed they would, well
become lukewarm in their combinations, and will
lose all that ardour which has hitherto so e &merely
distinguished their exertions. Those several rea-
sons had made so strong an impressein on his mind
against the Right Honourable Gentleman's plan,
that he felt he could net cones ently with his duty
but vote against the Bill. and he therefore objeaed
to the third reading.
Mr. WILBERFORCE said, tee great question
now wider the consideration i` the House was, by
what means we creel ties: increase the regular or
standing army r „ad, it was to be recollettee, that the
force now et be raised, was not of that nature that
was tn i,erso as a Iliterdaheint for a: y other species of
foice, hat was to acb as the mein defence of the
country, against all Attacks of the enemy, both at
home and Areal France possessed an army, that
Was immensely large and powerful ; and, in the pre-
sent inquiry, it sheitld he our endeavour to try in
what manner it will be in our power to give this ne-
cessary increase, its the easiest way. aid with the 1
speediest possible means. What is the foundatien,
said he, on which we most build, in order to effeel
this! he thought it was hope ; —that was ihe grand
incentive, by which mankind were impelled forward
in the vatieus pursuits of liie. Tr e man who wish-
ed to be a soldier. particularly, would be ictluated by
the !,noes of advarcing himself for life—ot bettering
his situation, and thereby placing himself in a state
in which he will be looked up to ssith mete respeB,
and obtain a charaeer above what the sphere of life
he then moved in, vroule lead him to expeet. the
present measure was well calculated to raise and
excite that hope ; and, as such, the Bill met
with hit claire approbation. He differed with
a great many of those who had even argued
in favour of the measure—not as to the mea-
sure itself, but merely as to the nature ot its opera..
*ion. He did not think so mach of what it would do
in tile way of positive inducement, as what it would
be likely to effee by doing away a very great im-
pediment to enlisting, viz. that of enliement for
life. which, however lightly some gentlemen might
think, or speak of it. was a vet y ...noes considera-
tion, and what could not tail, in the very nature of
things, to have a great weight on all minds. the
least disposed to think, or reason at This mea-
sure. operating on the one hand,by taking away ore
of the most essential objections to tasting ; and, on
the other, by holding out the temptation of more
frequent promotions, could not fail to be attended
With the most beneficial effeets towards raising that
force, which it was. on all heuels, allowed. was ab-
solutely necessary to be ohtaisied at the present
moment. If we looted tie the history of all
military ceantries, we should find, that the principal
inducement to all military achievements, was the
disposal of ribbands, and other honorary distinc-
tions, which had. ley en elewant writer, OW:* • Mem-
ber of that House, Mr. Burke, been tencifully :tiled
" the cheap defence of nations."—He should
have been glad to have seen that some-
thing of this kind had been held forth, and
could not but express his astonishment. that
them delicate and honourable chstinaions had
not been more attended to in this country, as they
had certainly been attended with very important
effects in all others, into which they had been intro-
duced.—He had heard some time ago of an Order
of Merit, that was to have been instituted in favour
colour seamen, and he hoped it would still be car-
tied into effect. It was true, they had on all
occasions shewn that they needed not to be satiated
by any additional stigmata than their anxious desire
of glory, and ardent love for their country, but it
would ;hew them, and they would be highly grati-
fied by it, that their King and fellowsubjects,and par-
ticularly the Parliament, were feelingly alive t' their
glorious achievements, and held them in high and
grateful remembrance. He differed very much with
those Gentlemen who had argued that this measare
ought to have emanated from, and been put in prim-
rice by, the prerogative. As Parliament have, for
Nose Tenet last past. paid particular attention to
this subject, he should have thought the present
Ministers would have shewn great disrespea to that
House, had they made use of the prerogative, and