The Sun.
London, England, 1807-08-13 00:00:00

[PRE CE SIXPI iiCE

IMPEEL4L PARLIAMEN.T.

HOUSE OF PEERS.

WEDNESDAY, At OUST 12.

Aldgment wag deterred till to-morrdw, in the
Appeal '"The Duke of Hatniitoil, v. the Rev. Mr:
Scott." •

The aluseff Wilson v. Alexander" was remitted
to the,Conrt of Session.
The Irish Vote of Credit Bill; and several other
Allis on the table, were read a:third time.
• Mt LITTA..

The Order of the Day' being read for the' third
reading t Militia Transfer
- • Lord MARA/1W rose chiefly with a view to re-
.state the op:Ilion he had on a former occasion ex=
'pressed of the tendency of this measure, ant to cur-
, reel a miScoacenton of it, WhiCh some Noble Lords.
seetutkt to' labour Under. It was 'acknowledged by
his' Noble Friend (Lord Hawkesbury) that it had
lately been matter of consideration with his Majes-
ty's- Ministers, whether at the present crisis it wi.-Ae
better to resort to the principfe of the Army of Re-
serve Bill, or to adopt the one now under discussion,.
Much inquiry was said to haVe been made resPealng
the subjea, but after mature deliberation, the opinions
of the_Cabinet prevailed in favour of the present tncse-
sure. He also had instituted inquiries into thematter,
he was far from insinuating that they Could have beet;.
so extensive.as those set on foot by 'Ministers, the
result of WhiCh most completely decided his prefe-,
rence to the principle of the Army of,Reserve Bill.
The country was-now almost precisely in the same
situation as that in which it was placed in 18(13,
when the Army, of Reserve Bill was adopted. The
crisis at present was perhaps inure urgent; and the
state of he'Continent less favourable.; but still under
such circumstances would he have !poked 10 the
operation of the Army of
.11serye Act. The be-
neficial' etreas of that Act became more visible every
day, and promised the fairest • success ; but it Was
thought proper to substitute a measure in its room,
which at the end of twenty months did not produce
more than 8000 Men. The Noble Viscount then en-
tered into a comparative statement of .the operation'
of the two Aasethe Army of Reserve and the Addi-
tional Force Bills, which he compared with thatnow
under discussion, and declared it to be his convic-
tion, that there could not be a moment's hesitation
in preferring the principle oft he Arinyof Reserve Bill.
The fuccess erthe measure was,at best but contingent. ,
It would avail. but little, Unless Peace were concluded-
within five yeara,at farthest. With what probability
Such an event could be looked for,_be was unable to
conjettlute. Now the whole beoefit to be expe6te.d
from'its fullest success was that it woulchtilselm,ooo
men for the line, and thus far increase our 'clis-;
posable force;. that he confessed to be no small ad- -
vantage, it 'it could be acquired.to that extent, which,
ho 'Were!, he doubted : but even if it did so far suc-
ceed, •sti,llthe advantage was too dearly bought by
iiijuring establialiment ui 77,000 a. full
Moiety of the whole of our armed force.; or. rather
by unhinging and perhaps destroying that constitu-
tional fat= altogether—and to answer what end ?-
to encourage our defensive force ? and was not the
Militia a main portion of our defensive force; and
would not the-present Bill tend to frustrate all the
hapes that could reasonably be reposed in that body,
an excellent body of Men as it now stood ; but• What
Might it become when 28,000 of its best cEsciplined
men Were suddenly withdrawn t'rem it ? He must
protest ,most seriously and solemnly against the adop-
tion of such a measure. % •

Lord II'dti7KESBURY acknowledged having'
said that it was matter of deliberation with ivltnisters
.which 'of' the two measures they should' prefer, and
the present was not resolved upon without full con-
Viaion of its'being preferable trnaer all 'the circoln4.
stances of our situation. It was allowed, by. the
Noble Viscoudt, that the Bill might in a great mea-
sure, if not tally, accomplish its object, bat that
still its benefit was contin6ent: Granted. • But what
was the wish. of 'Government ? Was it not to meet
the pressure and diminish the evil of the present too.
ment ; and how ? by increasing our delenskv and.
disposable force, This then would be; in some des
gree, accomplished even in the View.of the Noble
Viscount ; and so far then it would succeed. But
be had little or no doubt of its complete success, and
then our military means would have received a very
great increase ,indeed ; for those who well under-
stood the condition of a soldier, and of a disposable
force, -would readily acknowledge that by such an
addition to it as that of twenty. eight thousand men,
not only was our defensive &tee considerably in-
creased, but also considerably strengthened, which
was a distinetion nut to be overlooked.

The LORD CHAACELLOII did‘not think that
his habits authorised ,him to aspire to great military
knowledge but .he would, however, venture to
concur with the Noble Viscount (Sidthouth) in giv-
ing the most, ample praise in favour of the Ariny of
Reserve ACt. At the time it was brought, forward
that Aet had 116 concurrence, and ho did not heyit ,te
to say that it was one of the most able military p 1
~,tbat bad ever been produced in this country ; hut
while he made that acknoWledgment, he must also
observe, there was room to think otherwise of that
tneasure at'present. It was not so well adapted now
to the crisis of afLtirs, and the effe&s which at first
it might have produced must now be considerably
altered, net only, by the change of the actual circurn.
stances of the Country, but by , the, operation of that
other different measures thiat had since been intro.
duced,
Lord IVILIGIL-IVE thought the Noble Viscount
had bid toolflach stress Upon a distinction between
a disposable and a defensive force. No ;doubt a iris-,
posPble foree was also a defensive one; but from
every kind of defensive lotto, the sane services, the

Sallie resources, could not,' under all ihe circum.
stances that might call for these services, be reason-
ably expl6W(l.- - lie wtis, hOWeVVrx Qt. ukiuiuu, that