The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-06-09 00:00:00

Le

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e, at this moment. 400.00. men is arms. who
1 entered for a bounty,
proshewed the facility
which men could be
.red, tinder a
-erent system. But the praline of ballo had
troduued the ruinous prialtice of giving lama
:intim for limited services : and that was the cause
the difficulty of getting recruits for the Army.
new mode of recruiting was now adopted and
WAS hoped that man could be got by giving a
arty from Government. Now, what he con.
;ded for was, that the public money ought to he
out in the old way, through men who had been
iployed in the recruiting service before; and who
I °old recruit at once for the Regular Army, by
.ms of limited bounties. But it was a very bad
:In to get men to exchange fkont an Army em-
ioved h.:. home service, during a limited time, into
service that was unlimited. He had many other
SjeCtions to this plan. Let Gentlemen see the effeet
v....mid produce on the general military feelings of
' c country; if a country meant to have a high rr.ili.
Tr feeling, the way to do it was to have none, or very
eve military men,except those belonging to the army.
t should have nothing, in FAR, but a real army, in
hich alone should be centered all military honours,
rivileges, and distinttions. It should not have the
orrn of soldiers without the substance. It should
.t have men wit, were not soldiers carrying about
em the ponip, parade, forms, and distindieits,
hich mai oed an army. 'Men who were net soldiers
hetil.l :.ot be allowed to exhibit that splendour, nor
oviut them those.titles which belonged only to
hos: who had seen real service. It was a vanity,
hich, in the one, produced great evil, and in
e other was highy useful. These insignia and
arks of distirsaion were, perhaps, the greatest
centives to meritorious w9ions ; and they lost
heir force by being made common It once
e separated honour from danger, and gave to
„en of no military charafter the appendages
belun .d to soldiers of merit; we then re.
..runced"The Cheap Defence of nations." The
sionce of a great home force was direCtly ad-
erse to the military feeling; and would produce
he worst eifoAs an our army. His next objection
to this plan was the concretion which was to exist
v:een it and the Regular Army, by having the one
r aoled to the other in the form of second batta-
Los. The scene of recruiting, and the solicitation
to men to quit their Corps, would produce the worst
effca. on their discipline; and if the inferior batta-
lions were to be in a bad state of discipline. the ex-
ample would extend to the regular halal ons; and
cause a relaxation of discipline among them also.
He was ready to admit, that the men to be raised
by this plan. would be ready to renew their ervices ;
hit, if they did, it would be for. limited, and not
for unlimited service. They would prefer the home
battalion;. Wo had no right to pee:nine that they
would enter into the fegular army. The limited ser-
vice was the false stomach in which they would ru-
minate, and become double-chewed. But, if
this limited service did not indeed exist, then
there certainly would be a vex y great chance that
men would come into the army. He also had coo.
siderable objeftions to the manner in which the Re-
gular Army was to be recruited. Th: only advan-
tage held out in that respett, was the activity and
zeal of pariah officers ; and that was to be qui Pe-
ened by a fine. He would ask if there seas no pub-
lic evil in changing the charafters of men, and in
converting them into crimps, who were held in ati.
harrence The system at crimping was now to be
established through the couuary, and parish officers
would certainly make very bad crimps. They mos-
employ such persons; they will not be able .o do
without them. Like all other kinds of busme.s, whet e
agents or brokers were •fmployed by those oho had
not time to trauma it themselves, the parish off.cers
would be obliged in this military business to
employ agents, and thoes ageots would be crimps
Another objeCtion to the interferenceof piri‘h officers,
was the oppression which they would exercise ove
many unfortunate porsons. It would be very easy
f th,on to compel men to enlist, by threatening to
procoed agaius them as vagrants. Church-warde
were in nature to have a military charactor,
instead of the term 44 Church and State," we
should by and by, perhaps, have to hear of
tie church and the array as conneaed together.
These men might give a larger bounty than was set-
tled by law. They might fill up the army with vo-
groos. The intere tof the army was to be pro
r.Y.cd, by dewing into it a set of the most WO!thltSi
wretches, emptied net of po sr-Muses, wnrkl:,
and house; of mdest:y. Then let Gentlemen talk ci;
bolding up the honour of the army ! iie pertealy
acTreed with the observation, m itie on a forme
night by a Right Honourable% Gel-Amman (Mr.
Addington) on the subje Ft of the quota bill;
thet it produced nothing but the vary scum of the
earth, and we should look at the renewal of such
rn,asure with dread. The gre..test part of the men
furnished by parishes on that occ isi..n were rejefied.
Now it WAS& ttint the House should look to the glum-
tity oflitigation, which this business wouldproduce in
parishes ; and that the might form some estimate ;
when it was seen, by a printed paper en the table of
that House, that in one year, through England And
Wales, Cie sum of 200,0001. was spent in Law-suits re-
it:lye to parish paupers. Would not the questions,
whether the pi open number of men had beer. raised—
who Were to be fined, &c.—produce no litigation ?
T:.e ;:arish officers would cour.teratt the recruiting
fir the Regular Army. It the House wished to
'hive an army at all, let that be raised and establish-
ei in a proper way ; let there be bat one army ; and
let it not be tilled with rabble, hut held high in its
own and public estimation; give the mum belonging
to it a bettor provision than if they entered for
a 'limited service Put it into a situation of respeEt,
o: honour, ar.d of glory; so that every besly shall
have reason to say 44 It is a good thing."
Mr. Fettle explained.
General Noarox and Mr. Wilt° supported the
BPI

-:

The question vras loudly called for. and rio Mem-
ber presenting himself, the Gallery mason% the point
of Ining cleared, when
Mr. PITT rose, and spoke to the following eft ea :
--" I beg pardon for delaying the House, but it
!‘.) my in:cntion not to me until all those wh.) are
1) the habit of making objellions, and were likely to
4 the measure winch I have the honour to bring
fisrward, had stAtei their sentiments ln the observe-
t ,ns which I mean to submit to the H,use, I shall
Endtly confute =yea to etlbat illialedietely relates

NI Has merits of the measure; bin, before I enter
upon that field, I flatter myself I shall be forgiven,
if I betray a wish to answer some objeEtions which
have been urged personally against me; and if I
advert particularly to those which are made upon
the alleged ground of want of vigour and efficacy,
as if I had forfeited some pledge or broken some
promise which I had given before I came into office.
Now, Sir, upon the whole of this case, in all its
bearings and relations, the question is admitted by
all to be founded upon the same grounds. I soy
upon the same grounds precisely as that which I
brought forward when I was out of office ; so pre-
cisely, I state, that many of those, who are now my
most powerful and inveterate enemies, concurred
with me in all its leading features; and, from a
seise of its superiority, agreed that the only mea-
sure of the Govreninent upon that subject which
it proposed to cuffed, should not be proceeded upon
until full time was allowed to consider my measure,
to which they thus appeared to have given the pre-
ference. It is, therefore, I confess, some disap-
pointment to me, to find that when that measure
comes forward, the same precisely in its fundamen-
tal principle, and differing in no respell in all the
material parts of its construdion from that which I
originally proposed; it i•, I say, some disappoint.
meat to me to find that those very persons, who
approved that measure, now not only withdraw
their support, but also ditt they should turn
round upon me, and say that the precise mea-
sure, which they formerly stationed, is one so
defe(tive, so bad and incorrigible, that it is not even
fit to be examined in a Committee of the House. I
admit, that the Light Hon. Gentleman opposite to
me (tile. Windham) did not concur in every put of
my plan. I own, certainly, that there were many
points of i' of which be disapproved; but even with
this aloe. .roe, I think it strange, that new, when
it comes iorw od, strips of its most objeftiouble
point, I should find, that, instead of conciliating his
favour, it has, on .he contrary, inflamed his oppo-
siti )1, and that the removal of a grand cause of his
disapprobation should have only increased his dis-
P • ' dis-
pleasure. But 'lir, if I lied myself so opposed,
if captious oOjed ons are talc= to my conduit, and
Gentlemen wit) involve themselves in inconsistency,
is order to attack my consistency, I have a fixed
and incontrovertible argni nt in my favour. I
have the s.. i,fodion to say, • oat I have aground upon
which to term an unerring judgment ; I will refer to
what I have already dew if it appears that the
. • .sure which I now bring iorward is the cause I
r rigi ;lolly proposed, I flatter myself I shall sufficiently
vindicate my consistency, and answer every objection
mode against it. I admit, as I have already stated, that
it dare; s so far from my original idea, as it is divest-
ed of the osjoStion o: the billet. The Right Hon.
Gentleman (Mr. Windham), alluding to my origi-
nal plan, rays, " BA lot was formerly the order of
tile day ; ballot was the burthen of the song ; we
heard only of ballot, but now ballot is gives up as
good for nothing." Sir, noon this part of the =h-
ied, I must inform him that a ballot, in the general
exercise and meaning of the phrase, was no
part of my original pion. A ballot that brought
h .me ini..;ll. a compulsion to the cottage of
the poor, 41.4 forced him into the service under
an irresistible pressure, I disclaimed. What I
proposed was a limited ballot ; a ballot which,
by reducing the fioe, and holding out the tempta-
tioo of a moderate bounty, might remove the in-
cor venie 'cies resaltng from hioh bounties, and
put winos in the very !rain in which f now propose.
The idea of using ballot as an engine us force a man
ir.to :he •ervice, under the pressure of a heavy fine, I
crigirothy guarded against; and I only proposed a
small fi..e, toe operation of which might have some
eff Et, though far short of compulsion. At that
time, however, I had not all the sources of Wino
motion which I have since possessed; but now, that
I have learned the operation of such a fine would
oe organ;, instead of modifying to I am inclined
to give up tne ballot altogether. So far I have tra-
velled out of my original way, and so far I thought
I was avoiding instead of meeting objection. And
nosy, Sir, I to , I have a right to ask whether I have
fallen short of any promise I have made, or disap-
pointed any ezpateion too my condud has encou-
raged? B t, Sir, I air. told t'Os noosureisnotofthemag-
nitutie at.d otent to woicli thL p.; .lie looker forward,
and that it furnishes a prow 0 the country is not
in as great danger as I have repro ei.;ed it. It might
be suificient to say, that this charge (Imes with a
bad grace frott those who opposed net may this, but
ever! other measure for the defence of the country,
aid the general safety. I do not mean to dispose
of the objation in this way ; but really, Sir, with-
out del) the House by any retrospedive view of
measures already adopted, or a pompous display of
what shall be my future conduit, I will say, that, in
reapen of consistency, shore is not the slightest
ground for any charge in that particular. I never
said that this measure was all that could be neces-
sary. I alinit that elite' means may be also neces-
s try ; and I admit that among those means, the
limitatiou of service, in time and place, to that
part of onrforce which at present enjoys no limita-
oinn in respedt of either, is now under cgusidere.
Lion; at the same tame admit I do not feel yet
competent to make such a proposition, or to say,
that if it were 1 reposed I should feel myself pre-
pared to agree t i it. I never said, as has been in,.
puted to me, that the amount of the force now
raised and subsoong is not equal to the defence of
the country and to tee insurance of its perfed safety;
on the conuarv, I raid it was ample I only
found found fault wi Ili its distribution; that, raking
iroo consideration the places more immediately ex-
posed to danger; the force was nct so judiciously
disposed of as it might be, but I never complained
that, with respeft to amount, it was insufficient. I
also said that all was not done to improve the qua-
lity of that force ; and the House will recoiled that
I seggested many other particulars which were in-
corporated in the former Bill. I also recommended
that the Volunteers shoutl be invited to go upon
permanent duty, and I have the satisfaltion that, be-
Ikea the Bill was passed, tloz patriotic zeal and
ardour of the people canoht the idea, and,anticipating
aii kgisletive compulsion or controul,so many came
forward of their own Accord to embrace that courae
so necessary to discipline. that we have now the Vo-
lunteer force in a very different state from what it
then was. There are other subjects which I urged as
r.eceuary before I came into office, and which, I
admit, are not to be found in the present Bill.. I
mean sone alterations in our Naval force, and I

also advised fortifications to be ereacd, where in
certain &burins, flom the peculiar circumstances of
locality, they might, if judiciously contrived, sun
only tend much to our security, but leave a great
number of men disposeable fur service in other quar-
ters. The Hbuse, however, will see, that neither of
these could be introduced into the present Bill, but
f hope the House will not therefore conclude, that
they have been neglelled, and are no more though
of. 'I he fa& is, the one must be the suhith of a
distina and separate Bill in itself, and the prteo-
gatives of the Crown may he competent to car-1 iiu
the other in:o elfeet without any legi•shstivc in-
terference. Here then I shall close this part or tile
case, and I trust the House will parden me fur in-
troducing so much matter extraneous to the real
subjea, and applying personally to myself, -ellen
they consider the charge of inconsistency that has
been brought against me, and how anxious I must
feelto vindicaternyselfagainstthe imputation. (4 /6,4 r/
cry ft' Hear! Help!) And now, Sir, when I come to
consider the merits of the Bill, I cannot forget that
the time is not far distant when we were told from
all sides of the necessity of vigorous measures to
meet the public danger. The Right Honourable
Gentleman, among others, assured us it was greater
than at any former period. It was recommended
to recruit our Regular Army, and to increase and
improve every means of defence. The propriety of
this advice I never heard disputed ; all agreed that
it was a most sacred duty to keep alive the flaind
which their own good sense and patriotism had
kindled in the breasts of the people of England.
They were not referred to maxims borrowed from
quiet times. They were not to confine their exer-
tions to the limits of parishes, and to submit only to
trifling privations, but to raise their exertions to the
extraordinary level, which the new And extraordi-
nary order of things had created. It was urged,
that things which, in ordinary times, would be op-
pressive, ought not to be looked to or regarded; and
yet the very men who held this language, would now
repress those exertions by refined arguments upon the
poor laws and the fears of a dispute between a co-
lonel and a parish officer (load cheering) ; I did not
expert to hear the Right Honourable Gentleman's
tone sunk so low (hear, hear); to hear him who
had laboured so much to animate and rouse the
nation, and impress it with a just sense of its dangers,
now come forward and advise the people, for petty
parochial considerations, to risk the best hopes of Eu-
rope, of oumelves, and of our posterity. Such are the
considerations which, we are now should sway
us ; but I trust they will have no weight, and that
we shall never forget the sacred duty imposed upon '
us. If the measure be not likely to be attended with
efficacy, I admit, in that case, every burden which
it brings is an objeaion to it; but, if that is not the
case, Ifit promises any utility, there should be no
appeal to minor considerations, we should hear of
no such objea.uns as that it converts parish officers
into recruiting =joints, and puts magistrates out of
their usual course, or such like. If a will produce
a large force, all objeaions of this kind ought 'to
have no weight. Any difficulties or embarrass-
ments which k induces will he amply compere.
sated by the progress which we shall have made
towards the attainment of our great °Nett.
But, Sir, is all this novel ? I am told that it
is wild, complicated, and novel. to have recourse to
such a measure. What, Sir, will these Gentlemen
think. when I inform them, that this measure, which
I noev use, bas, with all its machinery, stood the test
of life? years, during which time it has beer. extended
and improved by different Afts of Parliament, and
lately applied to the Army of Reserve ? Such, Sir, is
the fanciful, novel, and wild system to which I have
bad recourse; a system which is long known and fa-
miliar to every Gentleman in the House. I come
now to that which I onceive to ne the great ques-
tion for the consideration of the House, and the
great ground upon which they are to give their vote
this night, namely, whether the establi , er.ent of an
intermediate force raised. for a limited service, with a
view to be itself a part of a permanent force, a source
for the supply of the Regular A i my, be a more likely
mode of providing a kite adequate to the neces-
sary purposes than the present simple mode of re-
cruiting? I take to be a fair statement of
the question, and I shall consider it in all its
relations. I have heard it said, that this inter-
mediate force can never be a measure of utility,
and that it consequently ought not to be re-
sorted to. Now, I would ask the Gentlemen
who hold this language, first, whether there are any
persons who would not enlist for a limited service,
and who would enlist for a general service ? Se-
cendly, whether, if they enlisted for limited ser-
vice, they would not be more likely to elitist for ge-
neral service, than if they had never served at a ;
and, thirdly, whether men so enlisting, for a general
service, will net be better soldiers than if they were
taken at once from the plough, or any other occu-
pation unconnetted with the army like ordinary re-
cruits. Now, Sir, in arguing this proposition under
these three distina heads, I would ask, whether ex-
perience has not proved, that more men can be pro.
cured for limited than general service? In the short
space, since spring twelvemonth, no less than 100,099
men have been raised for the militia and other lin.it d
force; a number that no man will pretend to say
could be raised for general service. This indeed is
so plain, it would be a waste of time to argue the
question. But is this unnatural ? What can be more
natural than that a man should engage in a state li-
mited in respea of time and place, and from which,
if he should dislike it, he weuld have the prospea of
withdrawing, than that he should engage to Cele
climates is well as enemies ; and however getet.t.is
hardships or his dislike to his situation, that he
should net be able to entertain an expeaation of
ever obtaining a release ? Even where a servi;e, if
voluntary, would be a man's pride and glory, it often
becomes a pain and a punishment, when a man has
no choice ; but whatever might be the individual
feeling of the party himself. admitting that be should
be equaily disposed for either service, surely young
men, at the time of life, when they generally enter
the army, are liable to he influenced by their parents
and friends; and what friend, or what parent %%mild
not use their influence in ferret/ of that service which
least exposed the °Ned of their regard to danger?
So far then for the first point. I now come to the
second; namely, that many men, who have enlisted
fur limited service, will afterwards engage is gene-
ral service. In arguing this point, I shall not
state theory against theory. Here I have exis,-
ramp to appeal to. It is a known fast, that is

taa levies. tl:e Militia famished 91,000 mitten the
ogulir Army. I may al ro refer to the Army
of Reserver for an argument upon this head : 1t her. .
gin to be car led into effea oily la-t kagnst.-1
mean that was the date Of the commencement of
the system, fur its prarllical execution must of ne-
cessity be later, and consequ. otly it must be later
still heir .! the i !id i eiditals eniis.ing into it could bare
foi Med military lithits to attach them to a military
life ; and vet .rut of from between thirty and forty ..
thousand meat, :.used at diffitrent times. within that
spice, mire tin n 13,000 have enlisted into the regu-
lar army. Now, Sir, need I detain the Hpuse by
any o`.3servatiolis upon the third proposition, ii3mely
whether such men are not better than raw recruits
The question answers itself ; and could not be ren-
dered more clear by any force of argument.—
It then ilia country can be thus supplied with
fusee sufficient to every purpose, and without
adding to the pressure which it already feels; I say .
the measure is a measure of utility, and don not
deserve the censure that has been cast upon it. .
Having thus, I flatter myself, substantiated my
proposition in the three parts. into which, frit eh:ar-
m-ors and preelriOn, 1 have thought tit to divide it, I
shall now ap,,ly myself to the remainin&objetti,ns.
Ii has been cer.sured upon the ground clanmplctity,
a; dire tour, in one case, recruits to use obtained in
t' e or;iitary way by military recruiting, avid in
an tir:r c Ise, hy parish officers. Sir, I contend drat
thi: plan n ill carry recruiting home to every man's
..sea door It will not only'multiply.the ch +oriels
(..f recruiting, hut it will impose a duty u.,on all pep;
sons of influence in their respenive neighbourhoods
to bring recruits. These are ways and means
rf secruiting not possessed by persons ensagedr
in recruiting fir the Regular Army. This is not a
mere comparison between parish ofri:ers and re-
cruiting serjeants, hut whether you will empby the
parish afi:ers in the place of t e person who has.
not the F Ante means, or chance of success But
then we are told of the abuses to whicjr it is itable;
that the parish officers will entice and 'kidnap their
neighbours, and exercise every species of tyranny
over them. Gentlemen seem to forget that
these are laws and magistrates in the country who
are securities against the practice of each abuses.
Is it to be supposed that the lord lieutenants,/
who have merited the thanks of the couutrye
and raised themselves by their exertions to the keel
of the danger that threatens the empire, will sleep
over their duty, and suffer parish officers to ere&
themselies into petty tyrants over the people; and
if they were capable of such negle&, why should
parish officers, who have *hewn no disposition to
aft vexatiously in cases where they now have an
opportunity, aft oppressively under the present Bill ?
The Right Hon. Gentleman talks TIMC.I GI the
temptation held out to parish officers to refuse wrier •
to paupers. What is this temp.ation ?
rams* relief to the lame and blind, to induce them
t 3 bobble or grope their way to the Army of Re.
save? or to the father of ten childr n, that I e
may leave his family charleab.e to the parish f
Another objeetion is, that the measure will s: zracts
the military charaCter. Whether the Volunteers. .
and all that immer.se force r iised beyond thn Re.
guiar Army, have loweree. :ire military chareiSv
the nation, is what I leave to my Right lilors.
Friend to determine. He called it, I think, a force
ihsesieciered from danger. But he fr.rgets thiwe *lce
quent representations of the danger of having ail
enemy to combat cn our shore*, to encounter even
before the capital, by which he jestlyustailirisupd
to elevate the temper and tone of the walla. fitt
he mcolleasd what he then so justly word on thp •
country, he would not have thus di-severed danger
and ti.e volunteer force. My Right Hon. messedhas paid great attention to all that concerns mffim
tary all'airr. He well knows that offi;rers are if
more consequence than men; and that it is At
difficult to form an army in a very short time, able
tc face veteran troops, if they are officered from the
Regulars. He has argued this measure. as it was
intended to produce a regular army ; Ihst he be,
ci2c lined to examine its influence on our per
national defence. It has been acknowledpsirta2
shies, that the whale cannot be effetied by our re-
gular force. This Bill looks not only towards pre-
sent defence, but provides a new and
military system, made necessary by theP::grnof
affairs in Europe. Every year 12,000 men sisal be
furnished by this measure for the Regulars; and
when the Regular Army, in all itsoches, is
brought up to its full complement, we shall act
have less than 140,000 Regulars, addled to 140,000,
troops of the various limited services." The Rig: 111
Hon. Ger.tleman now entered into a variety of argu-
ments, to prove that his plan Id be effedtual, to
raise the necessary number its; one of wl irk
was, that the influx of your ionvroildss•
fill up the gap in the recrui so f equendy Li-
melted. Apprentices, be said, were daily out of
their time ; and. at that youthful season, massy
might be induced to niter into a limited service,
that would not at once enter into the Regular Araty.
He concioded by saying. if the Bill was committed;
he would readily listen to any suggestion thrill zt..gLt
make it more competent to provide for the/ present
wants. and the future safety of the country.
fhanopaeurtd7lnnod_hrgia.
thyser°ibirnneflruhf
GisStaluoniGibrdntle:teedebbolnhiiytnetihtgonchehaslathlditid.;:deaoluottf"ptseesto:nentlNtrhbbefainreioenorenbuvotibhelwi.:silsroitz:lr.::4;
login 1:
ening. a
the arguments,
Hun. Friend (Mr. Windham) hcaitzlekioken, is
superiority was so decided against the, that 11.
had nut thought it necessary to is opinion
But he felt himself so diredtly called upon by
Right Hon. Gentleman, that he would say a fey
words. The Right Hon. Gauntness had complain
ed, that he voted against the suspension of the A.-m-
-ot Reserve, for the purpose of hearing the R. Hos
Gentleman's proposition, and now refused Hs us;
port. tie thought his proposition dowryej to b
beard ; and he was the last person whom he e:
sPe%Eledrnedtocticihpaahteclebieein him on
opnrothposating"bi"sensa reseasulie
himself. He did so ; he moved foe the House ;
most
itselfstysalutar intoya Committee,
measures; andh w inquire intohadthe
the Right Honourable Gentleman ire that neotiry
He was willing to pmpose that course now; be to
willing the House sls..uld ;Orm that ('ommittee t
morrow (e hxd cry of Apar! hoer!) ; but the Pig
H ,n. kaew that tee :tad nit to t= eta the sv;
pert of hi, Right Hon. Friend and Maisel*: on to