The Sun.
London, England, 1806-03-06 00:00:00

DEFENCE OF THE COUNTRY.

Mr.. LONG,, seeing a Right Hon. Gentleman
(Mr. Windham) in bis place, took occasion to, ask.
when he would be ready to lay before the House his
plans with regard to the Military ?' The reason he
asked this question was, that time was very pressing,
in consequence of the suspension which had taken
place in the progress of those arrangements, and
particularly in Ireland, to which the opinion of
the Right Honourable ,Gentleman was knoWn to.
be adverse. •

'Dr. LAWRENCE 'rose to order, conceiving • •that
the words of the Right Hon. Gentleman might lead
to a debate in an irregular manner, or if sudered to
go abroad' unanswered, be likely to produce inju-
rious effeets.. . ,

The SPEAKER conceived the Right -Hon. ! Gentle-
man perfeEtly in order;
Mr. LONG'professed that hi objea was to state
the reasons which induced him to . put a question
upon a subje& with regard to which he disclaimed
any intention to .produce inconvenience to the, Right
Hon. Gentleman fo whom it Was addressed, but to
obtain some. Satisfaelory informatiOn.as to arrange-
ments in the proposition of whichthe trusted that no,
delay would take place which could posSibly be
avoided. .

Mr. •WINDHAM had no obje&ion to give the
Right Hon. Gentleman every - satisfaaion in his
power.' ,Bul he was by, no means prepared to give
that answer to his question, which he appeared, to
look for. The Right Hon. Gentleman, in talking of
plans, assumed of 'course that some, plan existed ;
but of this he (Mr. W.) declared that he knew no-
thing. Certainly there, was upon the public mind
strong impression of the inefficiency of the existing
militatT arrangements. •
The SPEAKER. called the Right Hon. Gentle Man
to order, and
:pointed out the propriety of confining
himself; to.a mere answer to the question proposed.
Mr. IFINDHAM resumed, and said, that Mini-
sters had no doubt diligently applied their mindS to
the consideration of the :Military Defence of the
Country. But that no plan was yet matured. The
subjed was .too delicate, difficult, and ,important,
finally to fix upon any plan Without the most atten-
tive deliberation, without an ample consideration of
all points bearing upon the case,, and without , con-
sulting all those whose opinio:was ikititled to re-
spelt: In the prosecution of this course no time
would be lost.

•
Mr; CA NiVING rose to inquire, whether the
Notice on the Book with regard to the 'Repeal of
the Additional Force Aft was meant, tO be followed
up ?=—The' Right Hon. Geutleman (Mr. Sheridan)
who gave that notice was not then in his place, but
the Right Hon. gentleman who had just sat down
could no doubt tell whether it was intended that
,the
Aft alluded' to should form a part of the proposed
military arrangements. The Right Hon. Gentleman
stated his reason for. putting this question, that,
While 'any suspense preVailed to the intention of
Ministers, this Ael cquld not have its full effeat.—
On the contrary, as his Hon. Friend behind him had
stated,;it had ceased already to operate in many parts
of the Country.
Mr. WINI)HAM., although he felt that he could
nry well decline at present to answer this question,
upon the grounds lie had already stated, yet he had
no hesitation in stating, that in any military arrange-
Merits vihich he might have the hotiour of snbmit-,
ting to 'the House, the Ad alluded to should, certainly
have ai lace..
Loid OstiLsTOki- withdrew 'his Nbtice of Motion
with respe6l to the D:A)ts of the India colupany in
Eno-land. •
;

Lord TEMPLE obtained leave to bring in a Bill'
farther continuing the A& which suspended the ope-
ration of Certain Laws which apply to the Woollen
Trade. •

Mr:-TIEWNEY postponed, till Monday next, his
Motion relative to the Elea.ioa Treating A&, which
stood for to-morroW.

LORD COLLINGWOO.D.

Lord HENRY PETTY moved the committal of the
Collingwood Annuity Bill. •
Colonel BASTARD expressed. his Cordial concur-
rence in the ohje& of this Bill. But in considering
the rewards about to be distributed for the Vi&ory
of Trafalgar, he begged to know_ from the Noble
Lord, whether, it was intended to make any parti-
cular grant to the Widow of Captain Duff,. who,
with a large faMily, and scarcely any means of sub-
sistence;. had to lament the loss of her husband on
that' glorious occasion ? With this Lady he had
not the honour of being acquainted. He spoke
only from the information, of others. But he hoped
that she and her family would not be left to subsist
on the ordinary provision allowed the WidoWs of
Naval Captains.
Lord HENRY PETTY stated that-an application
had been made to Ministers in favour of the Wi-
dows. of Captains Cooke and Dug ; and that subjeti
was under consideration. He should only say; that
itiwasnot usual to grant to the 'Widows of- Naval
Captains more than the ordinary allowance.; but he
was not yet prepared to give adecisive 'answer to the
Hon. Gentleman's question.
The House resolved into the .Committee, and
Clauses were introduced into. the Bill, providing
that, in the event of 'Lord Collingwood's death,
1.,0001: a--year should be settledsupon Lady Colling-
wood during life, and 1,0001: a' year .upon his
daughters during their natural lives. '
The House resumed, and the Report was ordered
to be brought up to-morrOw. .