The Sun.
London, England, 1806-05-31 00:00:00

2-1!),127 ; but this increase was entirely upon the
foreign. troops, the -waggon train; the veteran batta-
lions, and the cavalry ; on the.infantry, which was
principally. to he
.loOked to, instead of an increase a
diminution of 2018 4nen had arisen. On the dispo-
sable force' of 115,000 men; an increase of 20,125
had been made in the same peritid ; or these 13,000
had been derived from the Militia, and (5000 from
the Army of Reserve; adding Boys and the. Veteran
Battalions, it appears that no progress was maded
were, therefore, stationary With an inadequate Force,
half of Which was tied downntO the lefence of the coun-
-try. Was that a system to be adhered to ?' ft was not
necessary now to inquire whether such a proportion
of disposable force was adequate to, the maintenance
of a proper degree of skill and discipline ; but 'the
events of the last year were?sufficient to sheNir, that
the existing disposable force fell Short of what the
honour, the dignity, the interest, and the safety of,
the Coentry required. We had hurried a great Power
into a War, into which it was reluaant to enter
and when it had entered into that War, we were

unable to give it any, suppert. - The Noble Lord
opposite (Castlereagh) must admit, that either there
was the most unskilfill- management in the British
Cabinet, or an insufficient disposable force at its
corn nand. If We had had 100,000 Men 'disposable
for .foreign service when Bonaparte marched towards
Germany, we would either have diverted him from
that enterprize, or landed near Boulogne, and
burned the Flotilla. The system of having a small
disposable force was therefore erroneous. Finding
men averse to becoMe disposable soldiers, instead of
inquiring into and remedying the causes,which made
them so, recourse was had to limited service as a sup-
plement. On this principle was founded the Army
of Reserve A&. The application of the same prin-
ciple was in the present instance resorted to, to pro-
duee a more useful force. The fitquency, the seve-
rity, and the publicity of corporal pimishments also
required correction. A correction of this evilwould
render the service more agreeable, without injury to
discipline. The officers would endeavour to render,
themselves popular ; but with. the check of the"
monthly report of the discipline of the Regiment to
the General commanding it, there was no danger that
this cultivation of popularity would produce disorder
among:the men at the expiratio'n of their terms. The
smallness of the pay was another disadvantage which
Would in some measure be remedied. It was true, a
soldier had not the same wages as a tradesman ; but
what tradesman had the same assurance of a com-
fortable provision at the end of 'l4 or 21 years. To
try the 'limitation in the second battalions, leaving
the -first as they were, would be to give to the Se-
co- tid battalions the advantages and charaaer of the
first. 'lt was certainly better that the Army should
be maintained on its present inadequate Ooting by
means that would preserve its present excellent
quality, than increased by Means 'that would dete-
riorate it. But what a miserable system that must
be, which, with all the exertions it made,. did not
enable us the more to attack the EneMy; hut was,
on the contrary, for the greatest tart, totally op-
-posite to the acquisition of -military and totally
destru6tive of military merit. From the year,l639,
the enlistment for term of years had bemused under
the French Monarchy. Louis ,XIV. fixed the term
of service at seven years ; in 1701, the diseharge of
the men in time of war was prohibited. In the
reignfof, Louis XIV. it was ordered that throe men
per company of 60 men be discharged every month.
1777 Marshal Saxe censured those who had' notdis-
charged their men according to the :ordonnance.—
If General Washington had complained of. the' en- •
gagement for limited service, it was because the en-
gagement. of his whOle Army, when he took the
command, had expired, immediately after the.
Battle of BunkeessHill; and all the menlintitle,d to
their discharge wished to.return home.., When re-
inlisted; it was only for one year,- and they insisted
besides on the right of chusing their own Officers.
The cause in which they were engaged crave ideas
of equality inconsistent with discipline. But 6 a small
proportion of our men can be, intitled to their dis'7.
charge, and in case 'of invasion the-power of the pre-
rogative could retain them all or bring them back.
With respell to the mutiny at the clbseof the Ame-
rican,War, it was excited by a breadh of faith on'
the part of Government. The men \ were engaged
to serve during the War, and in the interval be,
tween the preliminary and definitive Treaty,. the
men were ordered to India; under these-circum-
stances it was no surprize that the misunderstand-
ing of the Government 'should excite discontent. To
try the system of limited service would be.attended
with much less danger to 'us than to any other
Nation. Our external hostilities Were under-
taken only by detachments, which were easily
managed, 'and in case of invasion • the preroga-
tive commanded the whole populatiOn of the
Country, This Country, from its manufactures and
industry, could not have a sufficient defence without
the Volunteer system, or something like it.—(llthr!
hear ! from the Opposition Benehes).—Gentlenien
May cry, hear hear! but though he highly disa'p-
proved of the. Volunteer system; some. armament 'of
the mass of the People was absolutely necessary. It
was from the impossibility of having all our force
disposable that so many measures were:adopted for
fort-I-ling forces of an indisposable nature. - It was
on' that ground that the Army of R-eserve Ata and
the Additional FOrce Jet were resorted to. But the
training en Masse would afford a resource beyond
any thing yet tried. He appealed to the General
Officers whether the Army was dissatisfied. HOW-
ever contemptible an addition of sixpence a-Week,
or a pot of beer, as it was called, maybe in the eyes of
the Gentlemen opposite, it was matter of consider-
ation to'the soldier.- In the American War, when
'78,000 men were raised for limited service, no be-
neficial change was made in the situation of the old
soldiers; as was the case now, and jet no complaint
ensued. He
_appealed to the humanity of the Meat-
ber for Yorkshire (Mr. Wilberforce), whether the.
men' sent to India should be kept for ever from their
CUuntry. The, plan of havino. 200,000 men en
masse would create a reserve which would afford an
inexhaustible force, in case of.
:invasion. The dis-
charged soldiers would be as polled as, ever. it
should be, necessary .for.lbe' prerogative to place
them again in the ranks. Before 'that
,they would
be useful in training. It was, therefore, -matter of
stirprize to him to-hear it charged that no subsidiary
force was provided, when this force was so much
more subsidiary than any proposed by the Hon-. Gen-
tlemen opposite. •
- Sir JAMES PULTENEY stated that the ori-

ginai Artily sent to 4.lnerici was enlisted for life:
so •;.va.--1- the g-,tette•r part. of the Eyptian. Army. -
C'oirin;:l CRA rifcilD cited parti,..:ai.irlyitne 40th,
the 2.:Oth,,.apd antient Irisn raised
origlrally for :;•:lited ervice, but wno 1-olunteered
for Lgypt:a,l Aintqgitishing- themselve,
Eg-yptian
Goiteral LOFTUS said, the success of the mea-:
sure proposed by his Right Hon., Friend dq/ended
on time; but it deserved a fair'trial. , He owned the
greater part of his,Objeelions to it were done away,
by the power to return the men for three additional.
years in itime of war.. He was encouraged also
by, the success of the measure in, the American
'War. . • '

General NORTON said a few words in a low
tonF., the purport of which we undertood-to be itr
opposition to the, measure. He thought the ques-
tion already sufficiently understood and discussed,
and he wished to come to a decision at once.

CANNING could not forbear expressing his
disapprobation and astonishment' at the manner and
time in, which a measnre of o extraordinar'- 'and
important a nature was introduced. ,This was, the
first instance in which a matter of such a funda-
mental'nature was brought for Ward in a Clause. of
a Bill, and' that not a Bill strictly and necessarily •
connected with .that subjed; At least there could
befbund but the ominous. and singular precedent
for. such a proceeding in the Reign of Qucea
Anne, the authors of which were the Tory Mi-
nistry of that- day. Such attempts must argue
either great confidence in those who made. them,
or great confidence in the Parliament to- whom
they were proposed. So much as to the man-
ner now word respedin.g the time within .
which this hazardous measure is in,, be consider-
ed. The Mutiny Bill has al:-.‘ady. been suffer,-
ed nearly to expire three times,. and. the 'fourth
Mutiny Bill-had Emit a very short period 'to run.--
Consequently, Parliament would' be obliged to deli-
berate, and decide upon the present momentous
measure, against the day when that Bill was to ex-
pire, However serious, therefore, and well-found-
ed, might be the objections of many. Gentlemen to
the present proposition, , they had no alternative but
to give their assent to it, or to leave, at such a crisis,
the Country without an Army, a dwadful dilemma
to which the Right Hon. Gentleman bad wantonly
and unnecessarily reduced that' House—because it
was in his power both 'to bring it in sooner, and to
propose it in a separate Bill. To what'an unfair
condition then has.he not subjeded Parliament ?
The Army was not rapidly crumbling away. Dn. •
the contrary, ,according to the Right Hon, Gentle-
man, it was in comparatively a better condition
than , almost at. any other period ; and all that
seemed wanting was a systeM of graduals improve-
ment. Where then Was the excuse for thus' preci-
pitately pressing it ?—This, upon the present occai-
sion, he should not hesitate to observe, and the
observation- he believed would be saniitioned by the
experience of all ages and. countries, that never did
any'discussions in popular-assemblies respeding thP
condition and constitution of an army come to any
good. Plans and propositions might be entertained
with respeot to the Constitutional ,or Parliamentary ,
Amy, but the Housewas not thus rashly to inter-
fere-with the King's Army. This was the first
tempt cf the kind since the Reign of Queen Anne. '
Was the Country in such a situation as to require
such an interference with the prerogative of the
'Crown: ?—He did not believe it—but if it was,
surely. it were matter of calm,'. serious., and mature
.deliberation. Either the 'present measure was in-
tended as an enabling statute, to give the King a
power he dkl not possess betore-r•to
was dormant
or
explain that power, to revive it, if it viiadormant
and obsolete, or to controul, it Altogether.._ The pre-
rogative requested no such -enabling statute: the
power of the Crown in that respect is clear and un-
deniable—it can raise
.men at any time for a li-
mited service: the present measure must therefore •
be brought forward as a ,controuling statute, and
that by his Majesty's sworn
,and chosen . Servants,
to which they would fain make Parliament a party,
and even disable them,
,ifcircumStances should re-
quire it, from retraling 'what they had done.—
The Right Honourable Gentleman then proceeded_
to animadvert , with much point and humour on,
the improved class from which the. new Plan seemed,
to propose to recruit the Army. , His anxiety wag,;
that we should have a good and cheap Army, but
' withoUt any infringement of the,'Constitution,
.or
of.theprerogatiye of, the Crown,-,-withont any ein-.
barrassment or disgrace toyarliament. Thesecon-.
siderations should guide. the Vote he had to give, •
and should incline him to vote .0 an Amendment, •
which he* expelled would be- made, that dis- •
charge should be granted fill after the end of a War.
He should also, should an Amendment to that et:-
fed be voted, prefer 21 years to the 7 or 10 pro-
posed. , He should also prefer 20 or to
.to any
higher number than that which was . proposed.
-He should again repeat his wish, That the King
should be left, in this resped,, the free exercise of
his undoubted prerogative-Hhat nothing was so un-
fair as to leave to HiS Majesty only what -was one-
' rous.and odious in the service ; and that when a
boon was to be granted,. Parliament should usurp the
merit of the favour, and impute to the Crown
whatever savoured of harshness and severity. Could
such be the condud of his chosen Ministers towards'
a beloved and revered Sovereign ?
Mr. FOX; notwithstanding, the lateness of the .
hour, felt it necessary to Make a few observations
upon the arguments urged against, the plan of his ,
Right,Hoh; Friend; and upon the view which he
himself had taken' .of it. It was objected by the
• Hon. Gentleman opposite him (Mr. Canning), that
the Mutiny Bill was so near expiring, that no time
was allowed by Parliament to discuss this measure.
Yet the Hon. Gentleman who now complained .of
the shortness. of the time, had done everything in
his power to make it shorter, for he strained every
effort to postpone the consideration of it till Mon-
day, and thus purposed to shorten the time by two
or three days. It was also complained that the urea-
sure was introduced in a. Committee on the Mutiny
Bill. Was it not the invariable prodice of Parlia-
inept to introduce whatever changes or alterationg
were to be made, in the Army in some Clause of
the Mutiny Bill ? Such; at least, he was confident, '
had been the uniform practice of Parliament, But -
stranger still was, the. do6trine advanced respeeting
the rights-of the House of Commons-?that House,
it, would seem, has_ no right to.interfere with the
Ar-wy of ;hc, Crown, . What then „was the use of