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

SUN,

t be ready who called out at almost an hour's notice. Nov,
he asked,. would the proposed militia ruswer that de-
scription? It wa obvious that no force not permanently
embodied could be suflieiently disciplined to meet regular
troopi in the field, Their main reliance Mast be on their
army and navy. Ho* could they expect to get men to
serve at 7s. a week who were probably receiving at least
12s. a week
wages as ltdeoucere?; They proposed also. to
take them from tla ir honeee for a period of lied yeare, in
order to make them serve es common soldiers, a ale the
diaadeantages of being subject to martial law and to the
regelar military discipline. Looking at all the induce
ments field out tothe, soldier; he was of opinion that:the
soldier's career was. by no Means a bad one to him
.who
etas ready to do his dtitY. But this was .not the case
with the militia. If they paid down the hounty at once
they would piobablyaet. the Most wOrthlees of the .poe
pulation, who would be tempted by the 'amount to enlist.
, fie feared that under, this Bill mon would •be found'
pocketing the bounty,. with which they would proceed
to California, to Canada, or the United States, and that
when they were wanted they would not be forthcoming.
And now a word upon the subject of desertion. By the
Act. of 1803, it was proposed to raise an army,of reserve
e£ 49;880 men. The number actually raieed was 45,492."
Of these 2,871. were ' balloted men, substitutes for re-
, emits. Of the whole number only 44,071 joined their
e regiments, and of the'ee, during ton montba, 5,651 de-
serted, Or were claimed as deserters, and 2,116 were
charged -with committing other offences. , Under this
. BM, if meta could not be procured by voluntary enlist-
ment, recourse was to he had to the ballot. There Was.
this, however, to be urged as a merit in the Act of
1803—namely, that every balloted man could claim
frona the parish in which he lived one-half of the cur-
,rent price of a substitute, provided a certificate wore
procured from the deputy-lieutenant of the county.
If the price of a substitute should:rise to 301., which
was a low average, the party could call upon
the parish to pay him 151. Although this provision
was beneficial to the individual, it was not so to the
country, which Might; on account of 80,000 men, be
called upon within the next two years to pay, perhaps,
Baum of 1,200,000/. Rethought it particularly hard
upon the people of the manufacturing districts to compel
service or impose a heavy fine. With regard to prece-,
dent, he denied that the principle-on which past militias
had been raised was that of pressing the lower orders
, into the service, in preference to the classes above them.
By an Act of Charles IL the onus of furnishing to the
ranks of the militia was thus established. A man pos-
eessing 50/, a year, or 6001., in money, was to supply a
foot soldier. - A person receiving 600/. a year, or in the
possession of 6,000/, in money, a horse soldier ; and men
,of smaller property were to club their funds together,
to enable them to supply their contingent. He believed
in the patriotism of the people of this country, but it
behoved Parliament to. beware how it - alienated that
feeling of patriotism by committing an act of injustice.
; But he hadether ohjectionsao the Bill. Whilst he be-
lieved the milis would prove a failure he at the same
time felt confident that it would interfere with recruit-
ing for the regular army.. It was impossible to go into
the market for 80,000 men_ for this force Without crip-
pling regular enlistment. It _could ba incontestably shown
. times,
that the ballot had, .in.past lead the effect of
checking the ordinary recruiting for the, army,. and that
men held back in the hope. of being required as substi-
tutes in the militia. He confessed he shared in the ge
. neral persuasion that this measure would never be car-
ried into effective operation., If. it was, ha thought it
would succeed in enlisting only the least steady, the
least industrious, and the, feast intelligent portion of the
working population. Would it be wise to procure Bach'
men, partially train them in the use of arms, and then,
after:the lapse of five .yeete, turn them loase upon the
country ? The danger of such a course had been felt lu
France, and it would he well to avert it here. At the
present moment there was no political excitement
amongst the working classes, owing, as lie believed, to
there being no grounds' of ecimplaint .as to their condi-
, done but it ought to be remembered that ten years had
not yet passed over our heads since it was necessary to
send a military force into the manufacturing districts to
restore order. He denied that there was any inconsis-
• teney in Opposing:. this Bill and supporting that of Lord
John Russell, for the two -measures were : essentially
different, so diffeient that it 'was -hardly possible. to ap-
prove of the one and not disapprove of the other. The
one measure provided for what was called a local
*Mitt, and the other for a general militia;. both
proposing to , take- the measure passed at the. period of
the last war as a foundation. In 1809 Lord Castle.
reagh, introducing the Bill for the formation
of a local militia, Maintained what ho (Earl Grey) con-
tended ought to by the principle on which a reserve'
force ought to be enrolled to assist the regular army;
Under the old Act, incase of actual invasion, the 'local
militia could be removed to or from any part of the
country, and such was the intention of the Bill of Lord
John Russell.
_,Lord, Castlereagh proposed a strictly'
local force, to.be permanently embodied' in case of `ac-
tual invasion,, and then only in case of the inability on
the part of counties to supply voluntary 'corps. He
(Earl Grey) thought it unfortunate that the intention of
Lord Castlereagh had been departed from, and that a
local militia, which had proved a most valuable force,
was supplanted by a regular militia.' Since the war the
regular militia had cost thecountry 8,000,0001, and froth
that period to the presint he doubted whether it had
contributed one iota to the safety of the empire. Lord
J. Russell in his Bill proposed' that no militia should
be raised in those counties where voluntary corps could
be established. The contingent to be supplied by au
organized police ought :not to be forgotten. Ho be-
lieved that at the present tem:tient in a majority of our
counties the police force was inefficient and ineffective,—
(Hear, hear)-e-and .he thought . county magis-
trates would do well if, proceeding upon
the authority of Aeta of Parliament, they set about
forming a more complete police force than now existed,
ehe expense. of the force to be thrown upon the, general
revenue. , A police force ,formed on the model of the
Irish constabulary would be a. protection to the country
in time of war, and could render most effective service
in time of peace. It, was also a part of the plan of Lord
John Russell to assist the fornaationef voluuteerrille
corps, on the understanding thaathey were recommendedby the lord-lieutenants of counties, and that the parties
accoutrements. Such
°, force would add, he .thought, to
who composed- them should find their own arms and,
the safety of the coantry. By. encouraging. such corps
the practice of the rifle would becorao as much au amuse-
ment with the young men :who belonged to themeas the
Use of the bow did with our ancestors. In a period of .
actual invasion such a force would be found far superior
to a mere body of .niercehhrielt
and although it might
not be ableto contend with the disciplined ,troops of
Russia or France, it would, as containing.the. flower of
the young men of Eoglaed, prove a very formidable
auXiliary to the regular array. The measure of his
Noble JTriend wouldhave reduced the.peried of embedie
merit to the minimum of teaelve, mooths, or, it ordinary
circumstances six mouths. The greet objeetion.to..the
present Bill was, that the bolter classes of the people
would not expose
themselves, to the risk Of being
called out.. tease:rem as spldiers fur SO , long: a period as
,
five yeaese is
in the event of tear breaking out. The
Goverement hurl at the same time, virtually rejected the,
uirers of 'the volunteer corps, under the idea that they
Would iuteeferewith the eervice of the militia. That;
however, was ee,.
could afford to furnish themselves with arms and QC.
fplikoy; for the class
.of persons, who
ceutremeute were: not ;likely. to enlist in the militia us
common soldiers,- , Thy: Bill of his ttiohle Frielei ad-
naiteed substitutee, and though, undoubtedly, it also al-
hewed the ballot—it was only as a last resort or reserve;
,apd if ho,had conceived there was the .least
possibility of
its being practically
required and enforced, he would
never'havo been a party tattle propel's! of the: measure
by- the late Government. He conceived, upon those
grounds that the differences between the two measures
were so serious and so much matter of
principle, that
it was impossible for -anyone who had adopted the first
measure to agree to the present one. He would new
offer a few observations on the general state of the de-
fences of 'the country. Ile considered that we tweet
mainly rely on the righter troops the
,navya-
prideipally, on the navy. Ho was of opinion
that we. ought ,to possess a naval force sa-
‘perior to any other ,force , which we could ever
have to meet in the Channel—equal to the navies
of Frauce and Russia. It .was not necessary thattilti
force should be always in the Channel, but within a mo-
derate distance, whence it could be brought beck in a
short time. It was better for the discipline of the navy
that it should be stationed in the Mediterranean or in
the Tagus than at Portsmouth. The Government should
take care, however,. to have information of what was
going on abroad, so as to have aforce always available
at short notice, empilior to any force wo might have to
meet. A superior naval force diminished the necessity
for a standing army, whiele, after all, was the only force,
on which, when it ,came .to actual fighting, we could
place any reliance. With a superior naval fordo wo
might do, of course, with a far less military force. Ile
did not believe the defences-of the country to be in so
inadequate a condition as had been represented; on
the contrary, our naval force had been augmented since
1846, and the number of troops (excluding artillery) was
about the same. The artilleryalso had been placed upon
such a tooting that it would soon be nearly double' what
it was when-Lord J.. Russell acceded to office. .This was
the branch of the service which, as it. took most time to
train, ought , most to
.be looked to in. a period of
peace. His opinion was, that meaus..should be taken to
provide for prepeely increasing the regular troops. This
could not be provided,,fer by a mere increase of the
standing army. It was requisite to take. means for, se-
curing the more, rapid, recruiting of the troops in aim of
war, unii,for, inakipg the force
,as efficient as possible.
With respect
,tothe eystom of recruiting and training, he
balieved considerable improvement.tnight be 'introduced
in order to attain these objects. In
.1847 he bed intro-
duced a. Bill to shorten thee period of, enlistment to 10
years.- The illustrious Duke (Wellington), whose opie
Ilion on such subjects it would, be presumptuous to dise
pate, hail then declared the effect of such a. measure
would be to deprive ,tbe army of numbers, of valuable
. men who harlsorved more than 10 years. But he (Earl
eGurretyh)titdionuebotteivdenwiletentcheeirnit
time
ehot
fnopt,e4.ll,wienll.oervdeenr
to
lo)
sine:
a which was.
cure the great object of a. strong reserve of regularly
trained troop,important on account of
the epposition certain to so
be made, in this cooetey
egaiest the centittuanee of a ne homy
in time of peeee.- Al is. Pet oseeirneQu's standing
would be that after 10
years' service: ealdieri 1,11%1;
. be allowed to a' -
and be enrolled p*iaiiere, who wows r""
regularly trained force, available in any einergt`hcnefw'm a
With
regard to the training of the troops, toe, the-tr,;'neces''
room for improrement. ne believed at present thatt;ts';''''
was ne seffieientty cfreptive system of training in ope‘Ztre!
Lion, in the army, and.: e2(Nchilly with respettet to
,ballefiriag there word not proper facilitieS 'feu; practice..
He hid even lieird,thet the troops who had one out in
the , Rirkonliead took their .firot le,ssote3 in firing tnii
1 during a few days while the ship was detained ac l'ofts-
month. Ile was of oeittien rico that the pray tiee ef for-
' tificatiOu was not suflieieutly attended to in Our array.
Zn tad " COnvergitioils of the Emperor igapoleov; it