The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-19 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

The Duke of NEWCASTLE moved the third read-
ing of this bill.
The Earl of ELLENEOROUGH said, as his noble
friend the noble duke had not intimated, in moving the
third reading, that it was his intention to propose
any further amendment, he presumed they might under-
stand that the bill was to go down to the House of
commons in its present shape. That being the case,
and, as very few of their lordships were present on
Saturday--(hear, hear) —it was but right he should state
to the house what the material alteration was which the

HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY.)
Their lordships met at five o'clock.
ENLISTMENT OF FOREIGNERS' BILL.

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bill had sustained in its progress through the house.
That alteration was confined altogether to the substitu-
tion of 10,000 for 15,000 foreigners. No doubt, that
was a very material concession on the part of the Govern-
ment. It was one which did not do any very great credit
to the forethought and mature consideration which ought
to have presided over the concocting of a bill of this
great importance, inasmuch as it appeared to them a
matter of very little consideration whether the number
of foreigners to be employed in this country was to
be 10,000 or 15,000. But was there no other inipr,,ve-
meat ? Because there could be no doubt, under the
second clause, ill-worded as it now was, under the head
of bodies of reserves, it was possible for the Ministers
to retain in this country, as reserves of foreign troops
employed abroad, a very large proportion of the 10,000
men whom the Crown was permitted to have in Eng-
land. It was a remarkable circumstance that, while it
was declared to be the intention of the Government

that the reserves of the British regiments employed in
the Crimea should be established at Malta, or some
place convenient to the Crimea, it was proposed that
tho reserves of the German battalions should be re-

tained in England. Now, that being the case, it
seemed to him very unnecessary that those German
recruits should be brought to this country at all.
(Hear, hear.) It was said there would be inconvenience,
danger, and risk, in employing and embodying these
foreign troops in her Majesty's Mediterranean garrisons.
But from what did that arise ? From distrust of them
—(hear, hear)—and if they were distrusted in one of the
garrisons of the Mediterranean, how could there be any
security in employing them in the Crimea, with, he
would not say, every probability, but with every risk,
that after having been raised, disciplined, and clothed by
the English Government, they might transfer their services
to the enemy whom they were engaged to attack. The
noble duke had just stated that there were not enough bar-
racks in the countryfor the militia. Where, then, were the
German recruits to be placed in the event of their being
brought here ? If they were to be placed in the existing
barracks it could only be through the exclusion of the
militia, and the Government must defer embodying the
militia until sttch recruits are sent out in succession to
the Mediterranean. (Hear.) But there was one point
which had not been adverted to ; it was contained in
the sth clause, and appeared to him to be of very
great importance. (Hear.) By that clause her Majesty
was empowered to make supplementary articles of war,
which were to apply to the German and other foreign
troops which might be engaged. Now, by the Mutiny
Act, her Majesty's articles of war were transmitted to
the judges of the superior courts, and they were bound
judicially to take notice of them. The judges of the
superior courts would, therefore, be compelled to take
s in
her
fe noticerwmavo,jj.
pc ilaylilnygo ft
ot two
two
different diffebroednite
bodies
eotfs
soofl
dairetri
cles
judicially
service, viz., foreign and English soldiers.
But that inconvenience was nothing to having in our
service foreign and English soldiers subject to different
articles of war. The same offence, committed at the
same time, and in the company of each other—the
Englishman and the foreigner—would, under different
articles of war, be punished in a different manner ; and
none could fail to see that the effect of this on the feel-
ings of the troops and the people might be of a most
serious character. He thought he saw present his noble
and gallant friend the Commander-in-Chief, and he
begged to ask whether this clause had been suhmitted to
him before it was laid on the table ? He put the ques-
tion to him on this ground : When he was Governor-
General of India, his noble and gallant friend saw
the extreme inconvenience, if not danger, of having
two sets of distinct articles of war—one applying to
the native troops, and the other to the British troops—
and he altered the former and made them conformable
to the latter. Now, the practice of flogging was held
in reserve for the maintenance of discipline in her Ma-
jesty's forces, but it did not prevail in the German army.
They bad a different system—but whether established
by law, as in this country, or by practice, he knew not
—of inflicting punishment by the stick. (Laughter.)
There was another question, also of very great import-
ance. From whence were those foreign troops to come
He had already stated the satisfaction with which he
should hear of any arrangement with his Majesty the
King of Hanover by which he could place at the dis-
posal of her Majesty, by becoming a party to the war,
those magnificent troops whose assistance in the Penin-
sula was universally admitted to be of the greatest pos-
sible advantage to the British army. But the value
which he placed upon the troops which could be ob-
tained from the other small German Powers was ex-
tremely little, and, unless he was greatly misinformed,
the opinion generally of officers who had served in the
Peninsula, and were acquainted with the relative merits
of foreign troops, although favourable to the employ-
ment of the German Legion, which was formed of men
who were subjects of our own Sovereign, was decidedly
against the introduction into her Majesty's service, to
fight by the side of our own soldiers, of German and
other troops, obtained from anywhere in any foreign
country. He (the Eerl of Ellenborough) adhered to the
opinion that there were no troops in the world equal
to the British troops, under whatever circumstances
they were placed. He did not believe that any
Germans could equal the British soldiers under such
circumstances as those at lukerman, and under such
circumstances as might again exist in the difficult posi-
tion in which our army was now placed. (Hear, hear.)
A chain cable formed in part of wrought and cast iron
might prove equally as good as one made entirely of
wrought iron in smooth water, and might hold a ship
and preserve it from the rocks, but as soon as the strain
of the storm acted upon it, it would give way where the
links were weakest, and the vessel would be lost. That
was precisely the view he took of the unequal line of a
battle where equale
ogagconfidenceed.
Ir one
gave way in any
notbereposedin
place, the the regiments
egime
position was forced, and the greatest possible
calamities might follow. His wish was. that the whole
British army should be formed of wrought iron—that
man opposed to the enemy should be a man on
circumstances.
(Hear, hear.) And, after all, there was a great differ-
ewvheorym they could depend under any
differ-
ence between the British soldier and the soldier of any
other country in the world. He did not think he ex-
aggerated the advantages of our own constitution when
he said it gave to every man, from the highest to the
lowest, a sentiment of personal dignity which it was im-
possible to obtain under any Government in any other
country ; he had a pride in being an Englishman, and
he knew thatimf eanadctetdhatltieepo:tirteofwaomeoawoarwdohoeldwloouolhd
(tA• laugh.) Why that it was that made
were the reasons which made them
be hooted at when he returned home—that his comrades
thoesier contumely
oorwn to
i country
amwteoonhingldfiis. fight—those
hi
hose
defy the enemy and presteurmveemeltpyohlefyro ?
donoposition entrusted to
them. How different was the case with the foreigners
Disgraced, aban-
atwwhhendly: e
oeild gtui roegwbh aatschk driven
before.epytro withp
had disgraced the arms m the army, they
w
just
waheh
as well
lloffhaads
No one knew anything
about them,
assumed, they remained quite as much respected as they
were formerly on the banks of the Elbe, the Weiser, or
the Danube.
any
Danullienederstanding with any of the small German. He asked the other night whether there
w
Powers, but he received no answer. There, however,
must be some understanding. There were two classes
of foreigners from whom we could recruit—men dis-
charged from the military service, and men in service.
Those discharged from service were absorbed in agricul-
ture and trade, and other occupations, and therefore it
was in the last degree uncertain how many men could
be obtained from that class. It was different with re-
gard to the men now in service. He would like to know
what consideration was to be given to the German
princes for selling the blood of their subjects ? Would
any little German prince put himself to the inconvenience
of giving us the privilege of enlisting his subjects in our
ranks without being paid for it That was the consi-
deration ; and, in common sense and Common truth,
was there any difference, in fact, in the consideration
we gave to a little German prince for selling us the
they insisted as far as possible, and by all the means in
ser-
vices of his subjects, and the consideration the buyer of
that it
oudetti
rtoon
ttfvthhttoiri
ahaaylti
ddeests,
slaves gave to the King of Dahomey. He did not see
how the Government could act on different principles on
their power,
the banks of the Congo and in the banks of the Elbe. If
what was it but that?
upon that detestable traffic being put down
saidai
:oattnt
hmnftkdeedttei
defence
el
fl tiytaxedshitntoacienci
(Opposition cheers.) If these
i
on the coast of Africa, was it to be endured that they
should come to Parliament for a bill to enable them toy
establish that very traffic in the interior of Europe For
them
ha we princes
nt
oo wouldsreedil o jointheir
e r subjects the
against a
othersl l i at no alliance—(hear,
assist
e(ht
endeavouring ahr
t,
h he e
conflicta r )
t—o t hi
induce
nd
hu
oelieet
ntsetnveinratarsotaleol inbbcofoeleoubeftidreohei
yttfftechoytttoehhsgwsaf:eiegevms abaeoet ai
ihjenttselataacaarntryrsgd,
if, without joining the alliance, they would only take the
money to sell the blood of their subjects, he must say
that it was a traffic which placed them on a level with
t
ltmoamat
ohftnbaoteegdai
egnri
tvrntxhydeeainteaii extent the lowest and most debased princes on the coast of
Re (Lord Ellenborough) was ready to admit
Africa.
country
given his attention to what he considered the attainment
of which he was a subject, of its strength, and
maintenance,d
me;time foreignt h
amount
emnuiosi t;ofenSus pdbhttnueauetoastt
feet ortes
nfyo
us that one of the most material points in a state was to
we employed foreieners, to that extent we were slighting
the • g
the principle
and depriving ourselves of the advantages
which were •
proaused to an opposite course• for it was an
advantage that was incalculable which
that system gave
us when the peace was concluded, if ever it should be
concluded, in having in every village of the country men
who had seen war, and who were liable to be called out
at any time on military service. He believed that her
Majesty's Ministers could not do anything
than to introduce foreigners instead of British soldiers.
He said instead, because the more easy they found it to
get foreigners, the less trouble would they take to obtain
Englishmen. The Government had gone to war upon the
current finances of the year, they had gone to war with-
out animals, they had gone into war without a moveable
army—a preparation which was indispensable to
suc-
cess, and without which a victorious peace was im.

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