The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-04-04 00:00:00

ter i
rf these two systems has her arodulive civet),
se •i us irjury to the real mt.-resit of the country, by
cheiclang the recruhing fur the regular army, and
waakaning, at the same time, the force shish
ought to be, at this moment, in every part of
tl.e king tom, consisting of
its mass of popula-
tion, which is altogether independent of, and
naconneeled with, the Regular Army. I would
wish to s, e the natioral exertions shew themselvei
in as many corps as the people chose to form
themselves into ; and the great mass of population
trained to that platoon exercise and proCtice which
world soonest qualify them for a place in the ranks,
and enable them to aft as an armed peasantry; a spe-
• of force, which, in every age and clime, and
in all naticns, has ever been an objeff of the
greatest dread, and the most harrassing and
&greasing to au invading army. I have a very
great objeCtion to the immense expense which
L. been incurred by the volunteer system, in
the way it has been hitherto managed, and which
amnions to a sun, that is almost incredible. When
• refleCt,' Sir, that since the commencement of the
,sent war, little more than three years and a half
rlApted, no less a sum than five millions has
, c:;i:cridi!,l on the Volunteers, and by subscrip-
t ti am their own private purses, one million
rte e ; and when i further state, that the very great
I.'4:wives which have been incurred by individuals,
is ',early equal to the other, it is astonishing. I
know myself, feom my own experience, that the
expenses of the Volunteers amount to more than
the allowance of the Government ; and if so, it
behoves us to consider what proportion ten mil-
lions beaw to the property tax of the present year.
Thds it appears that, in three years and a half, the
Volunteer system has cost th- country a sum equiva-
lent to the property tax for a year; and, atter all, I
think the system has not the merit of being the
most advantageous way of employing the mass
of the people. Whets the comparison was made
of men associated into bodies, and men trained
individually to arms, the former were indis-
pntairly preferable ; as *via the proverbial energy
of a Tyrolean peasant. would but little avail, un-
less combined with the efforts of his fellows. But
when the question becomes, whether it is more ex-
pedient to leave them tiscotnhitred, till the period of
itva-trn, and then to possess them as a force ap-
plicable to the service for which they may be most
wan-ea ? r whether it were preferable to have them
*sae intimate, united, and marshalled corps, dis-
posable only in certain cases, and to a limited ex-
vat ? I have no hesitation to say, that I infinitely
puffer thr in that state in which, being lacked up
and ftsocert oy no conaitions of enrolment, the King
could exert his prerogative, and require their aelive
aid, whew* he judged it most proper to apply it.
My opinion of Volunteer Corps is, that they should
be composed err persons ot the rather more elevated
condition of life; and, for all the remainder, com-
ps:nag the great mass of the population, I should
prefro them, as a trained and disposehle, but not
a-soc:aced, body of aitiams ; to be regarded a, a
stirrer, from eth'eh the losses of our arena, in ar. y
contention with the enemy, might be immediately
repaired. An army that had such a dependerce,
and could, like Antler's, spring from the earth, all its
tureenth revived, most certainly prevail, its the end,
ag.rnet any force whirth emsid land on our shore,
but which could not expe,ft to derive reinforcements.
If a thousand men were lost, we should have, in any
r, a thoueind men to supply the blares ; and
4ttutitift'esee should always be in a condition to oppose
to skeleton regimen:s, an overwhelming comple-
ment. Even allowing that the existing volunteer
zegirtients are as good and efficient as the inesti-
mable materials of which they are composed are
capable of ;nuking them, they have the disadvan.
cage of being commanded generally by very- inex-
perienced officers, in whom the men, in the hour
of danger and duty, would went confidence; and a
country, to be defended under such circumstances,
I can never be brnaght to regard as in a state ot
security, nor its system of defence to be modelled
with proper foresight on the part of its administra-
tion. Is pursuance of the opinion which 1 have
unfolded with resped to the Volunteers, 1 propose
to approximate gradually to that princip,e noon
whic., they were supposed, by the letter of Lordi
Meknes, in 1799, to be at first constituted ; namely,
that of embracing and embodying into corps, the
superior orders, and putting the great mass into
that ease of preparation which would render them
fit to attach Ita regiments that might sustain loss.
The reducing things to this cadet, could be to ease
the country from an ezpence that it would be im-
aosebte for it long to support. I shall propose to
reduce the number of Volunteers, as well
• to relax the discipline, and abate much of the
dory at present required from them. Instead of
g their improvement, I shall propase even to
• :number them horn the nice attention to
regulaticns with which they have been
taonbied ; and I shall also propose a few retrench-
ment. in their exaeuiliture. Alihough the leading
ream a of what I inured lc. as I hale said, greatly
to red,ke to rmmbet of corps, what 1 propose to
the Wss,• is nut a measure that tends to the reduc-
t. 'II of a vast militiry force, before another force
strings up adequate to the defence of the count, y.
o --cluse a Regular Regiment is to annihilate it ;
hut, in reducing the Volunteer Corps, the men are
~a:e retatne.l into a channel from winch they are
iecor.erahle when wanted, and will come, at once,
ready trained to tha use of arms, and familiar with
the ditties which they are tequired to acqua them-
waves ot. I do not Wish a rapid reduCtion of the
Volunteers; but if they cannot he maintained for
less than the enarmous rape-nee+ hie!) they appear
likely to entail upon the ccuntry, it is tape :tent that
they should be diminished with all the celerity con-
tinent with security. The ex; once at present M-
anned, large even as I have stated it to be, will not
he sufficient to maintain them in future : for ad-
mltting that the allowances which they re-
et ,se, were to be continued, the subscriptions
which have been made in their aid are ex-
hausted, and therefore the extreme of supporting
them according.to their present establishment and
numbers, would be every day more and more de.
',Alan); upon Government, until, in the end, the
%%huh: weight would topes.: neon the state rcver.ue,
atd the Hoose most, in a hide while, prepare to ex-
oer ience double the expellee which has been hitherto
I`•ivie- By dividing the pnpuhation into tie ewe
stassea Prspomel, the eapenei,suic will be diminished.