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

theyavera catily fallen iLto,. whater ativali
tages may,operate against them to attach men to the
service. If it was-said-that those who entered into the
army did not look to futdreadVantage:lie Would net
• deey that it was so in a great Measure, and that was
one of the &feeis he- complained of in our service,
. and one of . the advantages he looked to from the
remedy, if it was the introduCtion of a better class of
men into the-service. -He was told, that to hold-out
to a yoting lad the prospea of an 'advantage at the
end of r pen-S., was to hold out an advantage that
would have co 'weight. Certainly. it may haVe no
weight as applied by the young Man directly
self, but when he saw the influence it had on, those
around, him, he could. not linl tp be equally influ-
enced by it. When he would:see his Uncle Tom, who
14 years betbrewent for a soldier, enjoying himself-
on the honourable allowence granted by his Country,
for his services; while other relatives who had ae-
maineal•athome were, p4ahapa, reduced to the ne-
cessity of subsisting pmaa scanty - parish .allowance,
be could not fail to draw' inferences froni the:' corn-
*parison caculated. to give a preference to a:military
life. 'The period to which the obligation of seraice.
-should be limited should be. seven yearse-ssome.
thought it ought 'to be shorter ; but this was a'sort
• • of
.compromise between their
.w ishes and .the 'wishes
of those who•were for, service for life. At, the..,end
of seven .years,.he proposqd a.dischare'e, With credit
as a meritorious reilitary.servant.i In. ttle Second pee
_noel - of seven years- of the war should he be alispOsed
atolenew his services, he proposed to gifLi sinhll
Merease of p,iT, of riQ greater. attlollllt- than '@fiat the
decreaseof-the value Of inc n 1 rendered necesSary.
to keep them, iii aruia.at, its standard 5.. 64: a,we4k -
advance •for instaece. This period of seven. years •
was tueent :to the ;iolntry ; as it took a longer
time to make a Cavalry ,Seldier, and a still loner to
in ke in. Artillery. Soldier,_ he shotilddivide the time
ofserviee for them into ten -yeats.fpr the first period,
.six years for the second, and five years for the third.
To revert to the Infantry, after the expiration of the
second period of seven years, he
,proposed to allow
pension of a -small ;nitwit. Inyaluable as it would
be to retain a Soldier of this description in_the Service,
it was infinitely more valuable that he should go back
into the community aucleahibit a beneficial example; •
in enjoying the merited bounty of the Country:—
Whether any service ought to be. required of these,
amhether they should beat the option of the Chelsea
for home service iii the garrison -battalions,
he should leave tobe hereafter determined. !To those
who should continue to serve after the period of 14
years, he should propose an advance of I s. a week,
for they would then he soldiers fully tried, arid par-
ticularly intitled to have _confideace placed in them.
After 21 years, it was fit they should retire with the.
full allowaece of. Chelsea, such as it had been 'fixed
by the late, Goyernment and the Commander in
Chief for those who. had distiogniahed themselves
in particular places, or had undergone particular
services, such as
,those who, had ,lost their sight in
Egypt :.this 'allowance was ()tie shilling a day,: the
men who ,Would have entitled
,thernselves to this
should be free trom all service in garrison battalions,
eainauy other line; and if thee carried offrobustness.
'of fraMe, and strength of constitution, so much the
better. The -better
_they Were capable. Qt. cajoye
ing the. re-waads of, their„ services, the more strik-
ing their useful and' bilnonrable example would
be. On colonial aervice, he would allow the man
to' be retained. in time of .war six Month§ above..
the expiration • of his time of
,service, if that
should be - necessary;, btit .at. all events to bealisa:
charged at the end of the siaarnonths and sent home'
at-the expence of the GPvdriirraent like the Troops Of
the East India Company. '; rf he were the principal
changes he proposed in the condition of a soldier;
and trom these be looked forward to the most bene-
ficial effe&s. Other.changes of leSs Moinent would
be carried into effect without the interfererice of the
'Legislature, by His Majesty's Ministers, and chiefly
by the Illustrious Personage•at the head of the Army.
Other provisions would be adopted by. the Legislaa
Lure, with a view 'to place the charaaer of Officers in
a higher light, and.throngh that. to infihence and
mama the soldier. These provisions were in many
instances eonneded. with 'extraneous considerations
which it was hard to methodize, and of which it wet.
perhaps better net to state any till they could be sub-
mitted altogether. Wit qne of them was to allow
pensions to Officers' widow s,, he would, not say. to
what amount, but on the plan of the compassionate
list of last War, the amount of the grant; under
which was so small, that the ,distribution- of it was
the most heart-breaking thing any feeling man was.
ever engaged in. The principle of recruiting for a
term of years would of itself go far :towards
filling up the Army. To place the chara&er of
a soldier in. a state that its. own attrataions would
operate as a bounty, should. be 'the great objea of
.consideration ; to increase and add that tespeet
.which amidst a thousand. disadvantageous' circum-
stances was still attradive. This he stated as an in=
definite outline, fully
,persuaded that any provisions
to the effect he had deacribedcoold not fail to be at-
tended with advantage. , There he left this part of
tlie, suhjea, but not before-he 'aclarteal to a very ma-
terial part, which he had Passed over as it was, natu-
ral to do with many material points, in so compli-
cated a subjeete What was:to be donewith the ex-
isting Aptly engaged to serve universally for life
He answered, Noting. . Equity required no change
with resped - to them : nor was it to be supposed
- they would
.be diacontenteda They had seen men
enter their regiments with an advantage of successive
bounties, to an amount far beyond what they had
received, and they had shewn no discontent because
tile reason of the thing was visible. Thus lit the
American War the Fencible Regiments received
higher bounties for limited 'service than others dld
for unlimited, and yet there. was ..no- complaint on
the part' of the latter. The ,same case occurred in
.every war; and as no discontent was shewn on this
. wore obvious ground, it was to not
-be expected that
_any would be shewn on the different, length of
the tern of , service. It was proposed further
to make a great increase in the Chelsea Establish-
ment; The lowest ciao of pensioners Would be
allowed 6a. a day, the, next 9d: an 4 the third
Tina advaucement to take place immediately,- from
tnotives,as well of jut consideration cd past servics,
as bf policy to -give immediate effeat to the influence
()lilac example. • It would have the,effed, Pt:giving
a vested interest in a,very desirable provision. No
man of .those now in the service should be released
till after the expiratieo of 2.1. years, but at ahe.e.tad
of the periods of a and ea' yeer-s,
_they areto be al-

lowed the increase of pay. was all that could
be done for them, and they NVould have reason to
look upon it -as a liberal boon. Having said
,thus
miich'ou the constitution of the adual armed force,
he erne- now to that great question in political
science, What was to be done With that part of the
population that was not a6lually in a military shape
The real military force had had an almost. exclusive
swayindeterminingt he fatg Ofn ation s.Ther: was n ever
an instance to the cbntrary, except in America, were
therelad been opportunities of eluding our forces in
a vast and difficult extent of country, and thus to
protraa'the 'War till• habits perfealy-militart.Were
acquired. This could, not be done in Europe; cer-
tainly not in a confined Coqntryli4e this,where things
must necessarily -soon come to close contest. But
the question was here, what could be got from that
loose. part of the; population in aid of the proper:lDi-,
litary force; and care should be taken, that,what was
gotin aid of the lie6rplar Force sboiild not tend to
Weaken it.- -With' respea. :to 1-x)int,_ditrei;ent
persons entertained_ diferentopinionsi and tlie same
:person` entertained different -opinjciti at
times. fils opinions were, with a .feW ilterat-Ons,
.arising from circumstances, that is,lnl tails muialtdis,
th6'same: as before, and they would befound,tO be
compating them with the, only records- vf _had
e
ofopinion,s
.-deekired in Parliament—records
_which
were; in this instance, particnlarlv zuthentic. The
error that :Wy.l. *Leen fajlen into m this inatter,
The -we're the necessary result of the
-
'nov-elty of th".pzise;; earl the difficulties iu, which it
was ifivolvea. Those who cause inipecnc atld. re-
model had the advantage cif 016: expeeenct:, bUt
'they di5.:4a11t,48,-; QC i}Ot.ini.7.-1Eg...1 Cl',' nll 1111-
,tiy' enter 'itpon..- .I\n‘l:aps
prede.cessors,haci•en to
_Jan ,-..;•l.ltary
ctilirts from the,KeSling nrgenq
Fur hithself-he..pressed, the most 111.,: it: 1.
At the commencement of thewac tv:o1;:e

lull of aldriii'and alfdopr---p•oh.q,
they expe.:ted
,an immediate, .
prepared to meti it u..,

. . , .
that . what was about to
,propo:-(.- now on.:;
have been done then,. by .making u,;(2 of

luntaT servictiof the. people—by gi ii,g, the peue,ie
an 'opportunity of learning 'what they should ;do
'when he Enemy \Vas C9llle-7by instruCtingetheM iu
.the discipline. that was most -useful to be. known,
by means of Officers from the regular service—by
forming depots of Arms, and opening a` shop for
instrudione The Officers may have been kerit ‘v n
by the mail coaches, the arms by the waggons. No ,
further time need be lost. These measures, with the
aid of little associations among tiwniselves for the
-purptise et distributing pries for shouting at marks,
would have produced a force, not indeed capable of
engaging a regular army, but capable of assisting a
ii inn 1y rvgtilar Army, of f harrassing
„and NN-eigh7
ng'aown the eneitsy:, . and furnishing at fund of
cruits ~from which the loSsesef_on Regular :Army
may be:speedily and- effeCtUPv repaired. Ile could. .
not say with certaintytheteetie:ts.
everrnow : bat it hiay 1-sevtriedeeast49-*d shoktlye
and no mischief could'T•ie from. flit. peo-
ple re e.-secife`bl for ,the tore ai ion of the Volunteer
corps. Tlicee t ;what to-do. when t 1 14.3 r
asked what Vin to.b6 d6Lie:`,; Tgeyohpught the best
-thing tube dp n e,:tvh =lOl en_theiaiseitaeteas" to make
themselves ;lig.e ..scildier.g.-* totgetaveriee crre4se's,--.4.na
to learn their exercise. - Th 6.: clovezecnent wai to
fblarne.:for'eneoureginsthese, ideas mid-the great
Man. (Mr. Pitt),_ whosee4inions were ahvayseto- be
heard With deference, ../v.rntaina.
they•may be made Nltar:to
-Whose hebits were its from-the -n nfre
lit ary chat.:(Yer,- cot:111140' 6y Officers. 1-tk tifej,k_
seines, Of whp ill. flerfeetl y itnpra:talc-able to /1)7'111
that. sett of substetice'fit.,49 take. the fie.ld' as regulist
soldiers,weee thetleatirith a regillata\th.
ThiS he vas sure was; -more au' eli-Or'7Of tlie 'heart
ihan ofthejudgmerit of the 'Right Ron. Gentleman.
It might have.provect fatal to the Coontty... if
:Volunteers were to be opposed to the attadk of a ter-
aular invading army; as the enemy wotamusi
and We most,'.depreeate, it was iMpinssiblfeulinoytelaoplubpi-e
pose 'that. Many-must faile:thOugh_rminywoulddo
-their duty. . -.4 man Amy: be in himself
of doing what- was :right e but be might be iefeaed,
with the bactexample.of thoseabout him, or widen
his view.' The reason:that lines were weak was, we
cause men were influenced by their neighbours, fearea
:When they feared,' and yielded when they gave way.
If the people were „to be. ciefended.lay the 28th, the
3eth,eor other Regiments that had distiug-uisted
themselves, they would feel a confidence which the;
Could not have in Vo)unteers. Not that the Volun-
teer System was vithodt advantages; the enrolment
itself was a great advantage, as it marked out a great
part of the military population; the Volunteers were
besides marked oat by their dress,- known to their.
_neighbours, an4ledged to the Country the obliga-
.tion they had contrail-led. 'He -%viilcl not- say that'
they may not be very useful even in Cprpsee In a
Jong .contest, a prospea •
that it would be unwise in
us not to look to, though it was by no tne'ans_all
agreeable one, a. skilful
,General iney mate great
1.1,,e of them, and pesSibly lead them to a capacity
:for services of tlie:higher order.... But if-it was pro-
-posed to fit .them for the field, and an increase of
pay and allowances were to be givekt..to fit them for
..that, that, the labour would be lost it would be to throw
good money after bad. Hewilteld only for Volunteers
of a certain description, such as were of the better
. order and,ready to serve withoutexpence to the Na-
tion. The others he would have trained loosely,.
, taught the platoon exerciseew. ith,a view to furnish
recruits, and the use of fire-arms, to which the Vo-
lunteers judiciously rescrted.On,their owls impulse,
firing at marks, With, this training .they may be
Used under intelligent, min as armed peasantry. This
was.his viel.v.of the nikev, but the system that had
been followed wentto include"all volunteer exertions ,
to 'Volunteer firstCorpS. His first ohjeaion to tinseystem
was its • Immense' expenee. The yoltnteei systetn
.'had cost Government:; its theeeyears and a half, five
_ subscriptions from the.poCkets of indi
victuals it had cost as much more ; aud though this
might not 'be considered Oft the same, footing as ifit
'bed come from Parlament, it was entitled In great
,treight—there ',wicks Inc expencse un-
teer went. to for 1i;e:A.:11, which alteeether amounted
to no lesserhantle Sa1.11:f5:1M: Thus the.Geve-rinneet
expence ,NOl in
nalf\ttieikoiivrty Taic. ;•botlistogether to the
whole- •Peaperty Tae ; ,and the cost, to iteixi•ivals,
sheeldeot,be,overleolicd, 11'2.3.'ecia4 to either
ot them. If we were to pay for the Volunt.b,...r