The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-16 00:00:00

courage end patriotism to consult the iuterests and the •
exigencies of the State rather than any personal consi-
deration of unpopularity with their. conttituentn Her
niieste's: Government had then to consider by what
moans they could best raise an efficient force least open
to the various objections to which every Militia Bill
would be liable. I 'believe that:there are none of your
• Lordthip who entertain a doubt alit some increase of
the military force of the country is desirable.—(Hear.)' •;
Whether voider ordinary circumstances the British
army, small es it is, with the onerous duties it hereto 3
perform,. be adequate to the eine discharge of thote.du- • -.•
tics, or whether for • ordinary purposes, looking to the
great ameuet of-thote duties; and the censtatitly increas
ing calls which new acquisitions and new exigencies
render imporativen-whether under all these cucum- '
stencss the British army, efficiently disciplined and per-
feet in its orgenization as it is, ho sufficient to meet,
teith- a `duo regard to the comfort of the soldier, the .
various demands made upennt, is a 'question Ido not
think it necessary, to enter upon. Bat.if it Li insufficient
to meet the requirements of a peace establishment; it is
certainly ittsufficieut to meet. any extraordinary exigen-
cies •which may arise, Still less is it able to meet a tuddat •
invasion of a largo and•well-disciplined' body throvin in a
few hours upon. our coasts. But then it has been said.
if this ho tbetnase, why do you •propose a militia force? •
Why do you not propose an increase of from ten to
twenty-thousand men in your army? Ten thousand
Britith troop are more effective and more economical
than fifty thousand militiamen. I must take the li-
berty of adapting that declarstion tinder some qualifica-
tions. I speak with .great deference in presence of the •
highest authority' upon such subjects; bat in the first
piece, as regards expenditure, I think 'it would be easy
to shove- that. 101000 regular troops would be less effi-
cient for- the•purposes for which the; force is to be raised
'and more expensive, than 50,000 militiamen. I think
it very probable that my Noble Friend the Gallant -
duke, if 'entering upon a protracted campaign, or about
to tighva pitched battle on which the fate of an empire
migut depend, aed which waa to be tested by discipline,
severe pressure, coolness under. fire, firmness and sol-
dier,like qualities, would prefer a body of 10,0000 re- •
guise troops-tone-body of 50,000 half-disciplined militia-
mene-e(Cear, hear.) But in the case of a sudden inva-
sion
of this country, and not for the purpose of keeping
on a permanent force; what would be required would not
be so much organization and discipline as that in which
the regular army, would undoubtedly be deficient, else
numbers and masses,_(Hear,) I believe it has been ,
stated, over and over again, that the utmost amount of
the regular army which at this moment could be drawn t_
together for the defence of the country--setting aside
the troops in Ireland—would not exceed about 24,000
men; which, it the 8,000 enrolled pensioners were
added, would give a total force of about 32,000 men in
all for the defence of the country against such an array
as I hare alluded tot This calculation, it must be ob-
serve d, produede upon the assumption that yeti with-
draw
every man from every-garrison and fortified place
in the country.. All these ploces;logether with the ship.
ping stores, would be therefore absolutelY left without
men to defend them, • end` npoa• the most moderate scale,
the whole 'of that 32,000, including the 8,000 enrolled
pensioners; would not be•more than stufficient to garrison
and protect these fortified placea.—(Hear, hear.) Add;'
therefore, 10,000 men to-the regular force of the coon-. ,
try; and, in the ease %%Inch I am supposing, the 30,000
men being required for the defence of thegarrison, your
whole available array *Mild then not exceed 10,000
men, with about. 4:000 cavalry. Instead, therefore, of
having only 10,000 men availableefor. an emergency of
this kind, we propose under this Bill to have 80,000 •
militia men; 25,000 of these militia men will be able to
perform the garrison duty, assisted by a comparatively
smell portion of the regular tunny. It is not too mach
to suppose that 30,000 militia men will be able to set
free from the general service of the country from 20,000 ,
'to 25,000'0nt of 30,000 regular troops, which now con-
stitutes the whole of your defending force, and beyond
that you will still retain from 40,000 to 50,000 of the
minas, to co-operate with the 20,000 or 25,000 regular
troops whom you have thus relieved from garrison duty. •
By this arrangement, instead of an army of 10,000 ,
regular troops free to act in the field, which you would
possess by adding that number of men to the present
force, you will have from 20.000 ''to 25,000 re-
gular troops- assisted and supported their ser'
vices- in -that respect would be invaluable—by that
force co-operating with' • the 40,000 or 50,000 militia
men, the defence of the garriSons and arsenals being at.
the same time fully provided for.—(Hear.) I have now
stated the grouhds upon Which- ber Majesty'a Govern"
spent—not undervaluing the great advantages of disci-
pline, nor pretending- to 'compare the individual militia,
man with the individual soldier-estill prefer, for the
defence of the country alone, a large increase in the
militia, to a comparatively -entail' augmentation of the ,
army: • Variounother • reasons might be adduced which
would lead to the same conclusion. For instance, an ,
augmentation of the regular army, undertaken et_
~.
a time ot immediate pressure, would hail to a constant t
re-opening of a vexed question 'in the House of Com-
mons, for the purpose of reducing the force so soon nit
the immediate emergency might appear to have passel
away In addition' -to this; althouh—undoubtedly, not
a point which ought to step you in the consideration of
the question if the 'circumstances required it—by the,
establishment of a militia force you indicate to all
foreign powers that year Motives are phrely, strictly,
and exclusively defensive, an augmentation of the naval
forces or of the regular army, they being instruments
of offensive as well as of defensive warfare, may
naturally suggest to foreign nations the propriety of in-
creasing thcir own forces in a corresponding degree.
But when you melte an augmentation of these troops
whose services are not fitted for foreign warfare, and
which must be.strictly limited to"the defence of our own
shores, you state in language unmistakeable to foreign
countries, that your intentions are pacific, and that your
policy is a perfectly defensive one.—(Hear, hear.) We
now come to the particular mode in which we propose •
to carry into effect, with various amendments, the estab-
lished law of this country Kith respect to the nsilitil-
Ltt me remind your Lordships, betore I go further, that
that law is absolutely and strictly the law of the country,
and that without an Act passed in each successive year,
the Crown has the power,.elthough it may have the der
tire of dispensing with its • exercise t. of calling oat a
Militia force under the ballot, as it existed in the' Act
l 80:. I do not wish to enter 'into any invidious 'CO,OI-
- isons of the measure which we propose with that ere
posed by the- late Government, and I have still less in-
clinatioe to do so, because the Noble Lord late at the
Lead of the Administration made no, difficulty in com-
municating to- me privately and personally the 13" t
which he stated it had been his intention to ()gat to,
the consideration Of Parliament, and I therefore fee'
dotibly Unwilling to enter • into any possible corn'
nstnts upon: the points of differince in the two roc:,
sures. At- en, Berne time' 'May be .-permitt a .
to state that although the. Bill introduced V
the late Government was nominally one for eststlishing
a heat militia, yet that in two most important purlieu'
tars it so fur deviated from that character which bv.°
usually affix to the term of a local militia, as to conslP
Lute a considerable difference between that, Bill and the
wait which I now submit. Because while tho term lunni
militia conveys the idea of a force not only iecallY ,
trained, but qualified and called upon to act only
its own immediete locality, yet the Noble Lord who to
troduced•the previous• measure stated that it was a ,
matter of the utmost importance that a force should be
provided which • should .Iso eppliceble to service in any •
mightpart ofie titeciulliren
excluded the admission of substitutes, and reqeired al!
dit;edandKtitunigetulas ainlolvahli°mhiliittsia Seel rr
ei et
le n 6
persons r
ballotred•foto servo-in person, the Noble Lord
and his colleagues felt so strongly the inconvenience'
and hardship et such a provision that he announced his.
intention of departing from that principle of the loot
militia, and placing it in this respect upon the saute
footing as the general militia. With respect to the
numbers proposed to 'be raised,
T
d,
hoie
there is no
measures.,
difference between the twois; how-
ier, one difference to Which it is' necessary to direct
attention—the Act of 1802 (42d George III.) readored
liable eo the ballot, and consequently to service in the •
militia,all persons not entitled to claim exemption be-
tween the ages of 18 and 45. The late Government felt
theincouveitisnce of the liability to the ballot extending •
ovcr so •great a range; bUt I confess that, for wy Own '
part, I cannot but think they fell rather into the 0,911 i
site extreme when they announced that the ballot siwtrlor
• ,be drawn hem men between the ages of 20 and 230, a
the present year, and in subsequent years for men
_lse
single year alone. Observe how the Act would press
s otherirm o ltohcaatl
period
upon the population. The numbers provided for by n
Act of 1802 was about 40,000, independent of one twoor.._e.
end toners
corps, 'such as rho asmoroef ,
the populatioen'of
than doubled; you will see, therefore, pressurethate
would not' nn
80,000 risen upon the whole• popul
na
t
io
n
ould have been
greater now than a pressure- of 40,0-0 d to
subject to the
in 1802. But the Bill of 1802 propote 45. The Bill
ballot all persons between the
aes of
Artillery
andlB'th a desire to
of the late Government, no doubt with a
the countryh
obi
tain more effective recreits, and no doubt
wine family
desire to avoid as far us possible interferenceoabed rtlised, not
ties, proposed that the 80,000 maenn_B4lls, 1
but from. one of •
from a population between 18
It proposed, proposed, therefore,
the ages between 20 and 23.
to raise the force upon a Population extending _
of twenty-seven
years, as in the Act o
over only three
yearf instead
1802. Tho consequence of
that the pressure of the ballot
would have be©u this would have be
feltwith far greater force than in the
`l'h©
Noble Lord (Lord J. Russell) esti- -
previous cas;,.ve
,
that about one-fifth of the entire male
popeltstio72
mated, I bebboiwo
on the ages of twenty and twenty-threo
would have been liable to the ballot. We have taken
course inter
mediate between the proposal of the late
Government and the existing law, but approaching
somewhat more nearly to that of the late Government.
eve propose to extend the period from eighteen to thirty-
five years, a period at which recruits drawn for the
militia will be in full vigour, and be perfectly able to
discharge the duties required of them for five years; ftrid,
a very large portion'cf them will no doubt at the end of
that period of service make good volunteers into the
regular troops. The numbers wo propose to take are
taken therefore upon broader limits than those assigned
by the late Government;' and I cannot help thinking
that the strong opinion felt by them that a great case of
oppressen would tell upon the population
rdbeftwreene
eteee proscribed by the Bill, was one gorofua.
-local militia, •
induc-
ing them to depart from the. principleof rovidinet substi-
tutes introduce the pormisiive power of
mightp bebballoted.
tutee upon the part of.. the
men
nes does not, however, by
That plea of providing substitutes does
might fall upon that
any means diminish the cry:
vehicle would be subject to the
portion of the population
ballot.---(flear, hear.) It yho a mutter of very little
importance to such of .
soar
a-
Lordships as may be within
some few happy
individuals
tare ere ittrenz you
the prescribed ages—_and
Lordships who are within the
prescribed ages—(A laugh)—if you happen to be bal-
d
lotted rest the militia. There went be no inconvenience
tes;
tof view, in obtaining suhstitu
in a pecuniary point
4
Wit iihit which feu 120 1181111 %I MR ;Viasbips cu