The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-23 00:00:00

to the prejudice of the many. He would call upon the
Right lion. Gentleman opposite, or upon any of she Hon.
Members, to pat their hands to their hearts, and say whe-
ther it was right to persist in such a course? He would
ask them to say whether we could continue our present
vast expenditure; and then the question was, whether or
not any opposition should be made to it ? For his own
part, he was firmly resolved to oppose every vote to the
very last. He would not give in even though he should be
beaten again and again, as had often-happened to him be-
fore He knew full well that public exposure of; abuses
was one thine, and success in correcting them another.—
lie had often before combatted the extravagance of all our
public establishments, and so repeatedly called the Littera-
fion of Ministers to the vote of 1,500/. a year to the Go-
vernor of the Military College, who performed no ade-
quate duty for such a salary, that at last they agreed to a
reduction by what he considered a very unwilling.acquiee-
cence. The Attorney-General might say that he (Mr.
Hume) was bringing the House into disrespect, he would,
however, tell the Hon. and Learned Gentleman, that the
House deserved to be brought into disrespect. He con-
tended that every act of continued expenditure beyond
the resources of the country, served more to bring the
Howse into disrespect than all the paper bullets of the
Standard, or of any other newspaper. Those who could
not stand attacks of this sort, were not fit to manage the
affairs of this country, or of any-other.—(Hear, hear.)—
They were told that there were no general complaints of
distress among the people; he would say that we were
fest approaching a crisis when the people of England must
rouse themselves and vindicate their own rights. He,
therefore, hoped to see a cordial union of active co-opera-
tion, from one end of the country to the other.—(Hear.)
He might be told that be was now using inflammatory
language; his answer was, that in times like. these such
language was necessary. After every :fair trial was made,
then it was high time that an unfair trial should be made.
—(Hear, hear.) Ile had repeatedly warned his Ma-
jesty's Ministers, that if they continued exaction, they well
deserve re-acticn, and they must blame themselves if pu-
nishment should follow. His decided opinion was, that
nn vote whatever ought to be agreed to, unless a clear and
satisfactory statement were made of the purpose for which
it was intended. From all that he had already seen, his
only hope was that the people would take matters into
their own hands —(Cries of " Order, order," and "Hear,
hear.") Ile maintained that the people had a right to do
so. He was prepared to show that the amount of money
raised for the Army was most exorbitant. The first
question then that suggested itself was, whether with the
present reduced prices of all articles, the pay of the Army
ought to be kept up at the rate it was when prices were
high? He had the authority of Lord Palmerston, the
late Secretary at War, for stating that a large sum
might be saved by a small reduction in the pay of
each man. Why, he would ask, was it necessary to
keep up so large a number of men in time of peace?
The number of Household Troops alone was 14,038,
including Life Guards, Cavalry, and Infantry. Now
by a paper signed " Palmerston," which had been laid
before the House, he found the following result :—The
expenditure of the Life Guards amounted altogether to
32,0001. Every Life Guardsman cost the country 741.
4s. 11d. without including his horse and other allowances,
which made the whole charge about 1501. a year, a sum
that exceeded the average pay of a clerk in any mercan-
tier office. The expence for each dragoon was 561. 11s.
5d ; for each Foot Guardsman, 341. 6s. ; and for-each of
the Infantry, 311. He would ask, then, in what situa-
tion were we now placed ? The Right Hon. Secretary
had stated that our military establishments were not now
greater than in 1792. He held in his hand a paper dated
March 27, which hail been laid before the Finance Com-
mittee, and it gave an account of the number of i fficers
and men employed in 1792, 1822, and 1828. The num-
ber of privates belonging to the Horse Guards, kept up
in 1792, was 678 ; in 1822 and 1828 it was 1144, and
this year it was the same. The number of privates of
the Life Guards in 1792 was 3,200 ;- in 1822 and 1528
it was 5,204, arid this year it was the same. The num-
ber of the Cavalry of the Household in 1792 was 4,296;
in 1822 and 1828 it was 6,018, and this year the same.
Here, then, there was an increase in the Cavalry of nearly
one- third since 1792, and in the Horse Guards of nearly
two-thirds. The whole number of troops kept up in
1792 was 46,000; at present it was double that amount.
In 1822 the expence for keeping the military force of
Great Britain and Ireland, together with the colonies, was
2,532,0001. ; in 1823 it was 2,561,0001. ; in 1824 it
was 2,734100/. ; and in 1825 it had increased to
3,062,0001. We had now conic down to 3,000,0001.,
yet we were still not within 500,0001. of the
sum voted in 1822 ; so that as compared with
that year there was an increase and not a re-
duction of expenditure. Before the House came to
any vote upon these resolutimis, Hon. Members ought to
look to what was the pay of the Army in 1806. If at
that time, when prices were high, the Army was paid at
a high rate, ought not the depreciated state of things at
present be taken into consideration, and reduction made
accordingly. From 1797 to ISOG the pay of the private
soldier of the infantry was Bd. a-day. In
.1806 it was
increased to Is., and a penny was added for beer money,
making the whole 13d. per day. The reasons for raising
the pay at that time could sot be said to exist at present;
and consequently a diminution ought to take place. There
were no less than nine rates of pay for the soldiers serving
in different regiments, and the rule being so irregular, no
inconvenience could result by departing front it, nor in-
deed did the late Noble Secretary at War (Lord Palmer-
ston) thick that any would result, for he admitted that a
reduction of pay might commence from the period of en-
listmeut. It would then be no hardship upon any of the
able-bodied young men who applied fur parochial relief, if
the parish officers said to them, " no, 'we cannot maintain
you—there is the King's Service open to yore go and
avail yourselves of it." The House might, perhaps, think
tles.t the reduction of 21, which he should propose from
the daily pay of each private soldier, would amount only
to a trifling sum. It appeared, however, according to
Lord Palmerston's statement, that this reduction, small as
it was, would effect upon the whole Army a saving to the
country of 240,0001.—namely, by reducing the pay
from thirteenpence to clevenpenee a-day. Then the
question was how long before this reduction would
produce any sensible effect? It appeared from
the calculations made by the same Noble Lord, that
there were in the Army 12,000 casualties every year; and
upon these as of 40,0001. might be effected for tles first
year, and 80,0001. fur the second ; so that in six years the
whole number of men might be removed from the service,
and others substituted at a reduced rate of pay. If that
system had been adopted since 1928, when it was first pro-
posed, the consequence would be a saving of 150,0001. by
the present tune.. The only question now was, whether
the reduction ought not to be made if nothing else were to
be done, and if the present number of troops were still to
be kept up. The pay of the officers bad been increased
in proportion. A Lieutenant-Colonel's pay was increased
and was
N‘aiig,t,vrarineloserourtttntttelpideesr,.nvroietnerwi
proper
—was
nyindr,of
(ariantpc,t)rse:.iteni:l°,‘,.eatf:feilteplei tiaante‘yitr
2s. 641.; a5l ijor's 2s. ; a Captain's 25., and so on. This
might
country
slightest
was done in consequence of the rise of provieions, at a
time very different from the present. But ought the sys-
tem to be still continued ? We now found, that for every
vacancy for a commission there were at least 100 candi-
dates.
House, to institute an inquiry, with a view to reduce it ?
A reduction ought to take place both in the pay and half-
pay. He never could sanction such a shameful proceeding
as took place two years ago, when the old officers were in
some measure compelled to sell their commissions to young
men, in order that these young men might be pensioned
on the public purse for a long period.—(Hcer, hear.)—He
had seen some c ilculations, in which it was attempted to
he proved that young men of twenty are no more healthy
than old men of sixty. This was most absurd, and
the reasoning by which such a proposition was supported
appeared to him the most fal:tteious imaginabk. These
were circumstances which imperatively called upon the
easil,::ll.erentrodtertheiel
House to do its duty, and put an end to profuse anl unne-
cessary expenditure. No Officer, no mater what his rank,
oughtTiThe
art4rultila,evieit,a
ilirol‘gvlerevrerr, rateon
obtained, unless strong inducements were held t ut. This
Army and Navy wanted men:tfhbpenatyotitlhilea'artupsletihreile::::::o"l:::vtirtihhnelaioBtitotthibe6me.
induce:l,l:r;
the
ececsasvaarlyry I.la d
livery
is)leaeteceilai ,aecl,ay,ll,l)e,
rebgaid.
stated that the pay of every private soldier of y had
Guardscne
The Life Guirdpanan hAnearly twice the
ltiittrieu,,,eantni
tile! na sidda.y:eari yifk.erku e,%01,3ft
up,
time