The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-03-27 00:00:00

They said that rectuiting for the Regulars w. at on
its .t rapid andsuccesstul manner, and that the machi-
nery of the Defence An was proceeding n ith acce-
lerated aaivity. Be that as it may, he did not see
low we could promise ourselves to obtain from this
Bill any great number of men, disposable tor fo-
reign service. It was not pretended that the dan-
ger of invasion had altogether vanished ; we did 11.-1
tind that the fleets o: flotillas, coleaed in the ene-
my's ports, had been destroyed, or that their no-
mesons armies had yet been withdrawn horn tic
coasts: Bow then, in circumstances, could
ne think of diminishing the force necessal V S,l- our
domestic protettion I lie measure was to be repro-
bated, as producing insubordination in every regi-
ment of Militia, and as imposing an additional nix
• upon the landed interest. The proprietors and cul-
tivators of land had good reason to complain of this
csmver ion of service; as, upon ensuing vacancies of
the Militia, they would have to ballot again, and
pay a second time for substitutes. In toe outset
and first establishment of oar Militia system, the
strot.gest argument against it was, the asser-
tion that all oppressive at mis s had an origin in the
mation of a harmless Aliiitia ; hut this was well
answered, by the observation, that being officered by
country gmtleut n, the pi oprieturs of the shil, such
a force mould be less tl,an any other under the in- i
flueuce of the Crown. That they had been so
officered, was undoubeidly true ; bnt such good
and e ,ncitutional Officers could not have been eb-
tained, if it was known that the present system
would have ever been adopted. When this plan
was proposed, in 1799, a solemn pledge was given,
that it would not be again resorted to ; but, after
this violation, wl a: reliance or conritlence could be
placed in the pledges or promises of Ministers ?
Mt. YOIIKE expressed his regret. that, on this
nee:is:on, he was obliged to differ in opinion from
the generality of he. brother Officers of the Militia.
for he fully approved if the principle of the bill.
however he might disapprove of some branches of
its detail. The advantage of obtaining sixteen or
seventeen thousand men, to reinforce the regular
army, was obvious at this time—and there could be
little doubt of that effea being produced What he
regretted most was, that the measure had not been
. hems resorted to ; as, it that number was now
incorporated with the regulars, they might, without
loss of time, be led against the ea.emy. What he
had to say upon the details of use measure, would
best be deferred till the bill should be in a Commit-
tee—but he must now observe, that he Was adverse
to any of those men being enlisted in the foot-
guards He had, indeed, the highest respect for
that gallant body of men ; but, they were not dis-
posable. as our other force : and, besides, possessed
many advantages which would induce volunteers of
another description to enlist amonga them. He
would stiongly recommend, that five or six thousand
men shot.:ld be speedily curetted with the marine
force, which he c, nsidesed as capable of rendering
meet essential service As to all that had been said
respetaieg the unconstitutional tendency of the mea-
sure, he sass no ground of that kind, which could
stand in the way o f the advantage to be derived
from this tempo: ary measute. 'I his word • consti-
tutional' lie often observed to be employed by Gentle-
men, to expres their own views of any subjea—
:wit the wind • unconstitutional' was as regularly ap-
pned to the crintr.uy. Now, be was not aware
of any thing ui.constitutional in the plan proposed.
( &institution called, in leases of danger for the
verso* servis e of every man capable of! bearing
arms ; but there was no constitutional reason why
any min should not enlist into the Regulars. So
far did he carry this opinion, that lie thought it
would be adviseable to allow, as a permanent nice-
sure, a certain number of men from every company
of Militia to enlist into PeAulars every year,
and et stated periods. 'the question was,vrhetherany
injury was likely, by this opm edam, to be sustained
b' any inlividual, of such importance as to counter-
balance the advantages of this measure? But this
surely could not be the case when no individual was
called upon to enter for unlimited service without
his own consent. As to the feelings of Militia Of-
ficers no the occasion, he must say. that he saw no
reason for their being adverse to it. For his own
part, his feelings were of a different kind. and he
took a pride in commanding a set of brave men,
who were ready to come forward at the call of their
country. Upon this ground he had, on a former
occasion. in conceit with a Noble Relation of his,
given every encouragement to the enlistment of men
from the regiment he had the honour to command.
The men of that corps enlisted to the number of
900 into the 20th and 46th, which had since so glo-
riously been distinguished. The only detriment that
could arise would be, in the event of any of the no-
blemen and gentlemsn employed in the Militia re-
sigaing in disgust for their men being taken from
them ; hut that was a thing which he could not be-
lieve until re saw it, ant he should never snipe&
such persons of such a aireliaton as to leave their
regiments while the enemy continued his prepara-
tions on the opposite shore. and still threatened this
country with invasion. He knew that some indus-
try was used to render them discontented ; for he
was shewn a circular letter against this measure, di-
reeled to the different regiments of Militia, and
signed by thirty-two Officers; but of that. perhaps,
it would be enough to say, that eighteen of that
number were in a systematic opposition to those who
composed His Majesty's present Government. Those
very Gentlemen, not tong since, lamented that a
Government or Administration was not formed on
a broad and comprehensive scale; but had that
been done, it was more than probable that the same
measure would baste been resorted to, in which case
he fancied, many of these subscribers-could have
thought very differently of it. He denied that it
would i.e any burden on the landed interest. as the
Bill provided, that at ter the men should enlist, when
any vacancies occurred, the parishes should, pro
em•oi, be exempted from the ballots. When the
l'orlioment, last year, admitted that the Militia was
more numerous than was necessary, they did, in a
gr( it measure, decidts upon this question ; and as
fist )41.idliol !eduction, in the manner before pro-
pese•f, wool.' be very slow in its progress, it was
highly desirable to draw off the surplus for the rein-
Incentent of one disposable army. He then ex-
pressed iris dislike to the provision for allowing the
commanding officers to cut their regiments, as it
were, in two, the consequence of svhich would be,
that they probably would retain the picked men of
the gretiataters emiliJight infantry, leaving to the Re-
.
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