The Sun.
London, England, 1806-04-04 00:00:00

. tilted, that it wonld be dangeroOs to carry it-into
eifeEt, because something might happen that would do
a way* beneficial effeas, or proveiojurions totise polk--
lic servie4. The establishment ofthis change' in Abe
• term of service would have the 004 of ‘ inducing a
better description of persons to enter the Army, Which
would diminish those other circumstances that ope-
rated to discourage their entrance into,the service.
He would- not here be understood to mean; -that se-
vere and corporal punishments ought tq.be abolished.
It 'would still be necessary to
_enforce diScipline with
vkorous punishments when merited. 13,74.• the cir-,
cumstances- attending the introchiCtion of a betten
cless of persons . into the Army would have a /lonble Operation in promoting- the entrance- into
it. . The better description of persons would les-
sen the severity of punishments, and the lessening
the severity .of punisheoents would encourage a bet-
ter description of persons. to enter,.and the discipline
would be, infinitely improved. Another effeCt of this
principle would. be. to lessen desertion. What the
amount of the desertion now was may be learned
from the Noble Lord's account, (Lord Castlereagh)
which.stated the desertion, from ,13,000, raised under
the Additional Force Bill, at 2600, about one-fifth.
The consequence of -the vicious system was the in-
trodo6tiou of vile men into the-Service. This altera-
.tione combined with the, other,. would -in' time do
away; the enormous expence of the present mode of
recruiting the army, which was -so wakeful! to the
funds, and so injurious to the public 'service.. Thera
was another objection urged against this cbange,
which applied to thisCountryrhore than to any other,
because -of its Colonial Service. -But with respe& to
this objeOion„ it was at-best but a distant. one. -It
would lest apply at present, but. might hereafter ;
,though in the mean time measures might 'be taken-
to obviate it. This might be done -by 'making eckli-
tional allowances, and giving .additional advantages
to the men who should go. on that service. There
were many men who had no. objection to the Co--
lonial Service, and the objections of others might
easily be alone away ; so that the objeeliion would
not operate for a long term of years., If the ob-
jeCtion had any weight at all, -it would apply with
most elle& to the most distant Colonies.- The East'.
Indies were the most distant of the foreign posses-
sions of this Country ; yet the whole of the India
-Company's army was inlisted for a short—a 'very
short term of years. It had been said, that the In-
dia. Company had broken faith with their soldiers.
This was- a `misrepresentation. - He was welliin-
formed, and by an Otficer of high rank, that the
India Cenwany lied observed the most scrupulous
and exact faith... If they- had- .not, they certainly
:would -not have,recruited their armies. - They pro-
vided comfortable residences for such of their soldiers,
whose terms expired, and when an opportunity of:-
facile seoc Them to Europe, accommodated in -their
own ships, afirding the beat accommodation that.
men could have. This he had from very high au-
thority. If the service in so distant a. Colony could
be Well performed by men raised -for liMited terms,
it 'Might be equally.so in any other.. But the objec-
' lion would be fully removed by the existence of-those
Corps, which it was, now deemed wise to keep up ;
lie meant the s.c.'cond . Battalions.: If it should be
asked what -was to •he done with the men whose
term of service was . near expiring, . he should say,
put them into the second Battalions. He had seen
and read -the opinions of several Military Gentlemen,
Of high eharader,.drawn up with much care And in-
dustry, which urged against this principle the ex-
pellee that would be the consequence of renewing
-the bounties so often. This objection was founded
on the principle that the bounties were to re-
main the same as .at • present. .- It did not fol-
low ' that they were- always to remain the same,
though they could not be materially reduced at
' present ; nor that the bounty shOuld be the same
in the.seeond as in the first instance. It had also
' been urged that, -if the limited service were adopted
' after the expiration of the first term, we should
-lose every year a proportionate part of the army
that is, if the recruiting were to be. for eight
years, that, after eight years, we should every year
lose °tut-eighth of our army. - But that calculation
went upon a supposition that no men were to die
during that-term. If that were the case, the calcu-•
latien would be just. But as men would die, others
would be substituted in their stead ; so that it would
never happen that such a ' proportion would --go out
at the same time. Before the expiration of the scr--
vice, besides, some would; of course; have received
encouragement in the way of promotion, that would
attach them by interest to the service, and . others
would not be disposed to demand their discharges,
The great question on -this point was, , whether the
•number that would' be lest at the expiration of the
period of sersiice would be equal to what would be
-at all times gained-by the increased advantages of the'
-terms and nature of the service. He had been, moved
by the calls of the Right Hon. 'Gentlemen opposite.
to bring forward ' the measure this day, before the
minute details of it were in every instzmett completely
arranged. It was not, however, very material Whe-
-timer the matter, were brought forward this day o.r ten
dayslaier, 'arid the hOlidays.would•afford A Conveni-
ent opportunity of considering the particulars of a
sqbjeCt of which every body knew a little, and no-
body knew much. It might be objeavd, that a corn-
:petition would arise froM Officers of different Regi-
ments striving 'to catch the renewed service at the
expinition of the period. To prevent the men from
going out of their Regiments, the change from one
-Regiment to another, ,was to be molded, of the rank
of three years and a half service. If the man shotild
chuse to Change his Regiment -at that loss he might
exercise his option. With respect to desertion,
- which he should have adverted to soonar if it
were not impossible in so extensive - a statement
to keep every thing in its place, it was proposed to
punish it with a-forfeiture of t he benefit of the whole
.of the time served, with a discretion to the• Court
- Martial to restore half of it if they should see just
- grounds. This discretion was intended to prevent
the merit of a long service from being forfeited- by
one false ash in a moment -of folly or intoxication :
but in -no instance was the base act of desertion to
escape the proportion of half the period of service.
This must produce a gradual cad on the charader
of the Army. it was certain that desertion prevailed
even in the most limited service; but-to say that the
, prevalenee of desertion would :not be-limited -by the
I prospect of release at a certain time, -was to argue
.against the first principle of human nature. Men were
intlueneed,it• was true, in all sitinqions,•by the habits of
tnose about them ; and where habits of desertion pre-,