The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-05-01 00:00:00

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ti AINAV AItIN G then rose, and said, he
war' ed to offer himself to the Speaker's witice
thus soils the debate, from a consciousness thit,
it he ,14 tried it !anger, so many tconaurahle ls;fe'rit-
ben% whowfisbiliaiess were far superior to his, would
,teliver their opinions on the suljea, that, after the
Ham.- became exhausted, he could not expect to be

listened to. tie must, he said, express his concur-
: one, in some of the sentiments which had fallen
inert rite Honourable General, who had just sat
dn en : and particularly in that, in which he censer
dereTt it a matter of danger, to part with any thing
of great importance, till a substitute had been pro-
vided for it ; and he could, therefore, have wished
the Right ft-mint:lle Gentleman opposite had de-
layed tnineing forward this measure, till lie had
something else ready to offer in bee of it. At the
same time that he said this, he was inimical to the Aft
which this Bill was intended to repeal ; and when
hr disapproved of any measure, he thought; the
sooner he got rid of it the Letter. In looking to
that Al, he had not the smallest doubt but that
men might be rai'ed under it, and in considerable
numhets ton; but, ia getting men, we ought also
to look at the means by which they are obtained ;
and, in this respect, he objeded to the Ad, because
it gave a new charatter and new duties to a certain
deseription of men, which it was never intended, by
the Constitution of this country, they should piissess.
He alluded, he said, to that part of the At, which
introduced church-werdens and overseers into par-
ticular offices and stations, which invested them
with military powers and itmetions ; when, in the
exercise of their attnal and proper offices, it u as ne-
cSnsary they should aft entirely in a civil capacity;
their functions being, in some degree, ecclesiastical
also, and by no means consonant with the offices
and duties imposed on them by the House ; for
I when it was considered with whom they had been
associated by that ad, he did not mean to convey
the slightest disrespeft or telethon on the serjeants,
Or other inferior persons engaged iii the reel Dicing
*Service; they were deserving of pratse for doing
their duty, in the profe.sion to which they he.
longed; but, however in 1 itorious they might
be, certainly Church Wardens and Overseers
-ought not to be joined,with them in such orces.
Another objedion he had to it. was the undPfined
chat after and nature of the Bill. It pretended ta
be merely a matter of defetree, Mitneas, in int*, ;tit
instrument of tesation., .He was ewer.. that its mat-.
eters of detonate ymi-cametia some cases have ii a ith..
out taxation, tot a hen you are at war, you nmst I
have the .sineen of war—which was money— I
but in il;ki4g. for that, it should ;.!Ar•lb he i
done in such a manner, that every part o: the pen- i
pie should pay equally, and contribute in the virile I
degree of proportion, according to their eircucn-
ttanees.—ln short, so is every inhabitant of the
culinary should know what he has to pay towards it.
It shon!cl not come upon them as a kind of bye-
law, as a meainre which they did not understand.
Ho would ask whither the mode r f tatrion esta- '
hlished by this Sill, was at all similarto that which
was addteed in lay ing• on the general taxes of the
Nasion I He was certain, no one rould ray that it
was not very materially different. The Aft, he said,
Iltsterporated as a Levy of Men. and if those could
.not be raised in the proportions mat Leclerc for the
several Parishes, then it cams to aft upon the inha-
bitants by way of taxation, and that in a very heavy
nod opprostive way. It had fatleit te Isis 'ot where
seen malty miserable proofs of the it quality and in-
jusice.witft which it bare on chffeieni . eactiptiensest
, persons ; and, in all cases where there bad been an
. unsuccessful levy in any parish, it had fallen with
extreme severity on tlis lower and pre ter classes.--
In the parish of Mary-la-bonne, the wealth of which
' every one knew, as well as the splendour if the ha-
bitations, the tax was sally 4d. in the pound ; in St.
George's, which was the next, it was a shilling s in
Sr. Giles's, two shillings ; and in parishes East of
that, it amounted to three and four shillings in the
pound: for this ica-ion, that this was not a tax laid,
as all taxes voght no be, equally on the popu-
lation; not according to the property of the patty
taxed, bet according to the whole of the as-
sessable property in the parish, which was con-
trary to- every rule of equality and of justice.—
It may be, and he believed had been said, that this
was intended to operate as a punishment on
;meshes for not raising their respeftive quotas of
men ; he believed, in his conscience. it was not in
their power to raise the men, and it was unfair and
unjust to punish either parishes or individuals for
what they were not able to do.—Such a proceeding
is to make mention operate in a manner the most
odious that can be imagined. The• Poor Rates were
desci 'best by the Ad as the basis on which the tax-
ation was f traded ; but he thought such jeasis WAS
extremely unjust and unfair. The objeae of the
Ad was general, and for a general purpose, and as
such, the operation of it should have been the same.
It had beensaid,weshould not getrid of this Aft till we
had A substitute for it. On that head he had his
dente], and greet doubts. He thoughts-however.. he .
might say, “ We are sel as we are ; ' and, therefore,
to use a vulgar, but strung expression, •• We ought
to let midi alone." Ile hod another objection also to
the Mt, which was, that the greatest part of the
men who are to be aged on by it, would not be
found such moral, sentimental, thinking, kind of
men, as to answer the view of it. Having seen the
inequality and injustice of its operation, he should
give his vote for the repeal, because he considered
it as unnecessary, as well as unjust.
Mt. CANNING said, he had great satidaftion in
bearing what fell atom the hen. General, and
the snore so, as the House was refused the opinion
of those other General Officers who Intl been con-
sulted upon the Military System. He felt a satis-
fattion also in the sentiments delivered by the Hon.
Gentleman who followed him, as from what lie
said in the beginning and conclusion of his speech.
he hoped they would concur with him in his general
1 principles. As to the Defence Bill, he was ready
to admit there were some provisions of it unegnal,
`and which imposed hardships. particularly on the
large towns, but the amendment be had to propose.
if agreed to, may tend to do away all objec-
tions ; at the same time that the House would
have au opportunity of retaining its best pro-
visions, and the most substantial parts of it. If it
shcsuld be contended, on the other side, that the op-
posers of this motion ought to coirfine themselves to
the merits a the Bann question ; the cffriduer oh-
...artful by the Right Hon. Gracia' also opened

to would afford a very sufficient answer. if the Te-
r of the Defeace Act were only meant as a
• brat* 'swamis, distina from the genet al military
sy em, he would ask, why did Ills Melesty's!Mi-
nisters defer the repeal, during the previeus months
'ny, remeiited in office? In the long and very able
speech of the Right lion. Gentleman, which lasted
four hours and a half, he dwelt upon a variety of
• triples, which• he of coulee lett open for discus-
sion, totho.e who succeed him in future stages of the
discussion. lithe present ISlotioat should be agreed
to, the eflea of it would be to induce the Parliament
to tread back all the steps of their ancestors, and give
up for ever the system of compulsory service, for
another, to which no example was to be found, in
any country in the world. In the preface to the
Right Hun. Gentleman's speech, lie had stated that
compulsot y service was a thing which worked well in
despotic government:, hut that the erinciple of com-
pulsion met with a bit-lion in the force end spit it of
the British Constitution. When the new poi should
be carried into effel, he would as;. isti,at w.• were to
do in the beginning of a new wer,e/(ter h,t etng prn-
•clairned to the wutid that we renosinced ter eves all
recourse to compulsory service? Hew as this to
Ise done, when every retrospea would shew us, that
this cum' y was never able to keep op its militat
service, without having recourse ,to .compulsion?
The Mica of the Defence Ail, indeed. though it
did not exclude it, had recourse to the most
mild and mitigated shape of compulsion, and
'operated by a salt flion, by lot or belles; but one
great detest in the new plan was, that though it
a fic3ed and avowed to give up compulsion,
it took it tip again in the subsequent Fart of the
detail, and enforced it with the utmost degree of
rigour. The test of his principle of frietion
amongst a free people was, what, tinier this prin-
ciple, was to be done with the rriilicia ? The Rig:it
Hon. Gentleman said, that they were to be raised
by bounty ; hut, he would'ask him, by whom were
they recruited ? It by the. Crown, it would take
them out of the .principle of their otiginal forma-
tots eonstitroion, and dept ive them of all their
distivittis e ei deter. It by she counties, he would
tilers ask bow mode ot recruiting differed from
Ch: principle of the Defence Bull? hiet'fitas aware'
thin compulsory service was liable to znitnrund
great ohketinos. anti That it would be very didicult,
if even possible,l6 do oh/lout it ; but he contended,
bat at was inculidsent on Gentlemen to sheer, what
hey :tad nut yet time, some case in which it was
"'site/ober inatimiasrble. befine they, called upon
shf .tease to ienoursce it. let order to get over the
oujeaiou of the re being scarcely one chance of the
count! y not being able us do without it, they should
be Impend wh:s at least .500 chinces that the one
chaece never shituld.arise. faith, the plan held out'
little,more than ii•delusien, for the histiny of the
country at different pet iuds, wenld fully prnve, that
seek mesectations never could be fulfilled ; sod
mere lie thought it his duty to use his best en-
deft to save Parliament Item the distressieg
mortification of holding out • pledge, with a great
pability Wore deem of its speesly.retraftion.—
The neat c.harafter rut, the Defence Aft, wits the
provisions it • made 14 the supply of the regular
amity. vsltieb led 111111'now to oonsi•ier.it, not k.l its
civil, but its maims.), etfeas. Had lint eo. operati-
*ton beet per alyzed and suspended lie the notice of
its repeal, it would this year have produced from 1G
to 16,000 men, which must he elbowed an extranr-
din:try and unceuraging elf.et ; when et was ecnsi-
deceireset the House was last year pet Fealy Luis-
fled With the teepeftation, that it might produce so
much even at 9000 effeCtive men.; 'lhesc et,
111,0d0 men would be sufficient to supply ail ;thee
:Average casualties of the. whole :only ; wad there-•'
fore, in his opinion, should not be pertvd with for
a mere speculation, or matter of experiment. The.
Right Hon. Gentleman, however, had premisedo
with no more edditicinelexpence th inabout 18,00(4.-
• to supply not only ahehme casualties, but likewise
all the loss of military force wi icb should arjse from
the various establishedsources /bleb he meant now to
supersede; a promise su extravagant and gigantic,
that it was impossible even tor the truest eanguiat
man to have any dependence on it. I believe, ego
tinged he, I should have abstained from epeaklng
oh the subjea of permanent service, if I did nut
find myself fortified in the opinion I entertain, by
the authority of the Hon. General who spoke
,eaely
in the debate. It was indeed compettint let me VI
have objeaed to any discussion of it in this House,:
because if it were offered as atoms for the army, it
.1
should, like all other boons of the same nature, hare
come from the Crown. But when, from the irlis7.
cretion tar precipitancy of a Minister. I find it is
brought before the House, I have then no choice,
but am called upon to discuss it. The Right Hun.
Gentleman. says, that thungh the rule ot pet ma.
nent service now subsists in the army. yet the
wish for an alteration of it, lies deep in the feel-
ings
of human nature. But, supposing that to be
true, and that it was proper to try this 'sentiment,
faritie ertitiply no more- than an expel iment, yet does
it follow, that lees:ruse it might he right in a dune of
safety, it would also be right in a time of peril
that, because it might be fitting in time of peace,
it must be so in time of war? or that, because it
might be proper when our establishment is low,
it must be equally so when that establishment is
high? The Hon. General has shewn the incor-
reaness of the assertion so frequently nude in this
House, that it is the praflice in foreign countries, or
indeed in any country, to recruit for limited service
only ; but admitting it, for argument sake, to be
otherwise, still I contend, that such a practice is rot
applicable to the British service. Foreign powers
compel their subjects to do so, but when this country
has recourse to compulsion, it always applies it in a
very mitigated toim, by limiting the time, or the
,Rent ut the service, and sometimes with alimise-
dun as to both. Besides, there is a great difference
between tryieg the experiment. which the Go-
vernment may do now, it they think proper ; I
say. there is a great differeece between that,
and proclaiming it to the world as a fundamental
principle of the establishment. It has Leen already
tried, during the American war, and may now be
tried in the same way again, without making it a
formal part of our military system. A Noble Lord
(De Blaquiere, we believe) stated, on a former
bight, that he had enlisted a regiment for limited
service in Ireland, which afterwards fought like
in America ; but that Noble Lord might like-
wise hese added, that the same regiment had pre-