The Sun.
London, England, 1813-01-21 00:00:00

M
THE
4. .

(CIIICULAIL)
Wtir7Office.
It being of importance to the Security,of public
Motley intrusted•;tO Regimental Payinasters, that
the persinis who become sureties for them,
should, be clearly shown to be cOmlietent to
the amount 'tor which they arc respectively
bound, I have the honour to acquaint you
that, in future, ip Order the
more readily to ascertain the competency of a pro-
prosed surety for a PaymaStcr, One of the, referee
is to he a reputable.housekicper in London, urt.;i
less the surety shall be resident inSeothind, or
Ireland, in Which case, if the Rarties cannot give
a rclerence in London, it wilt:be sul!ickut that one
t the refertees should he a Pethni' o •-the about_
description resident in Etlinbnrgh,
I 'lliac the honour to be,
, • .
Your most obedient humble' ~S.`tritant,.
• I At:aIIUtt,TON.
Colonel of the Regiment. ,

• PrdtiliSlijltE I‘lll,ltl
(Copy,) • •S%m tchatl, jpri. 14, isui.
Sir,---1` atn 'commanded by the .Prince Regent
to acquaint your Royal Highness, •that having
received a memorial from certain Substirntes .of
'the PerthAirn regiment of militia, 'claiming aye.
lease from their military service at the end of 'ten
'years, front , the date of their enrolment, and
grounding their claim on, cart Ain Clause's of the
42d of the King,. cup. 9 hi (Hy .t 1 II iA
been pleased, totwitlistandin;;; irry:;ll4 r eon-
'duct on the part;of the petitioners, in :ling to
make their representation, in the first. instance,
through their commanding Oilicfn. to the (06,-
wander in Chief, to direct that the. ett.ie should be
referred to• the Law Servants of. the Crown.,
whose opinion, in obedience to the commands of
his "Royal, Highness, I have the honour to en-

Ini,ve it also in command, to recommend to
your Royal Highness, that immediate steps, be
taken to inform. the petitioners, through their
Commanding Officer, of • this opinion upon their
said that your Royal Tlightiess will be pleati
eel at the same time' to express, in the strongestnirtntier,
umn ner, the confident expectation of the Prince
Regent of, the entire and, complete acquiesce.nee
of the petitinners in this dear and conclusive ex-
position of the law, and his; Royal lighness's per-
suasion, that ,the discharge of their military
ditties, until the term of their service shall legally
tind regularly expire, Will be Marked by the sinne
:zeal, loyalty, and obedience, by which it has been
hitherto distinguished.'
1 ion likewise • comninntled: to' acquaint your
Poyal IlighneSs, that since the receipt of the
morial frthn the Perthshire Substitutes, the Prince
Regent has received others from the Berwiek
shire. and Latiprkshire rlegitncith of Militia but
as they Are 'oVecisely- his Royal flightless:
,lifts not thoughtit necessary to'order them to be
referred to his 'Majesty's baw Sereants, for their
`opinion upon them. I nut, &e.
~,(Signed) Stomotyrn.
Ifs Royal •Ilightte.s.4 the Commatide '

alt C.hict'► &c.

Cott), a a (.1112111,Ar Luttet,l4lrov,4eri by the Aeljatnnt, (;elll.-
' nil to rt),'; General ()ilicerb cobuttombitg eAt
Brittti tt

(4itati!., 1 :111 .!;,10)ary,1R13.

have received the Chintwindij iu ('!lid's cOin-
tnantis to tran..ihtit tip yoh the cnch,,ed Copy of as
letter, which he hits received flout the.Steretary
of. State, cohreying the opinion of 1.16. Maiesty's
Principal Law Servants on the claihtitreferred hy
serving eS Subs titutes 111 feginneuts
of Ati(ilia of NOrtli.Britain. •

l'he Commander in Chief had lioped, that the
levy clear and. decided opinion which yvitS'giVen
on the claims of the soldiers of this description in
the Circular Letter, which, by his Royal High-
ness's direction, 1 had the 'honour. of addressing
to you. on the 12. th of November last, could not
have failed olconvincing them of, the error under
which they weye acting ; and he cannot butpoli-
serve on the irregularity of their cOntrue(on the
present occasion, in having passed by their Com-
manding Officer, and having addressed themselVes
immediately to. the Prince Regent. His Royal
Pigliness,however, derives thhi satisfaction ir,om'
.the irregularity of their praceeding, that, in the •
first place, they. 'dill perceive that nti considera-
tion is allowed ta intervene, or impede, the exa-
mination into-any claim 1)1 a soldier, however er-
roneously founded, whenever it is ;tilted in terms
consistent with discipline, and there arc grOttuds
to trust it is urged +I ith a perstihsion on the 'part'
of the claimant,that it is a legal and a fair one ; •
and, in .the second, that this • gnestion, ,*hich
has for some time agitated the tnimls. of the per-,,
sons concerned, will now be finally.deehled by the',
highest authority.
trosmitting- hi you this docnment, I atr) di-
tected to signify to you the Commander in Chiel's‘
comiumids, that you immediately commit:li:lie;
.theltam'e to the Officers in' the corumand,of
ruents of North 41ritish in the District
under your eommand'ound that you At the same.time
'signify. to eta his Royal Righnes4's expectation,
that thqy will personally -eiplitin to their man the
result of the reference which has been`matle to
the Crown Lawyers, and impress' on. the T 1 ini! of
each, iodividtuki. the confidence, which the Com-
matider Chief entertains, that they will con.-
tinue, to the legal period of. their military ser-
vice, to perform their duty as faithful ' and ()be.;
diem soldiers; and it will at the time he
highly necessary to explain to them, that, if, after
the fair and indulgent investigation w kit ,has
been given. to this business, any soldior shoultl,
allow hintsellto be so far misled, as tonake,4ll4
vroneotts and unfounded claiin tin cause of any
proceeding contrary to his ntilitury,thtty iiott en-
gagement,i, he may be. ass:nett that the stmie'Wilt
conshlered kAtuyst grave then t: against' tth-
ciptitte, Met with all the rig Our: and
severity :whichinn offence 'of tbar nature, Under
such aggravated ciretunstatre6,•wOulddemand,
I hil.ve the 'hontinr to be,
YOUr. Very obedient,
litunble;Scrvant,
11.1attv CALVERT', Aaj, (Jen.

(Sitoe4l)

rEittwapnn MILITIA, •

OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY AND SOLICITOR•

' GENERAL. • '
(COPY,) r
11‘1Y LORp, Lincoln's Inn, 13th
We bad the honour to' receive your Lordsliip'
Letter; dated 2tl January, 1813, transmitting to,
us a Petition addressed' to his Rojo.). highness
Prince Regent, by several persons serving as sub-
stitutes in the Royal Perthshire Militia, claiming
a, right to their discharge at the expiration ;of
five, .or at the:mOst; ten years service, and !le-
siiing*thaf,we- would take the same into ;mine-
diate consideration, and report to your Lordship,
for his Royal Highness's lamination, our opinion,
thereon.
We have accordingly attentively considered the
contents of this Petition, ',and the Statute of -4.2
pea, 111, chap. 91, therein referred to, and parti-
cularly the several sectioms which the petitioners
appear to rely upon in support of their claim of a
limitation of their service to a period of five years,
or at most of ten year ; and we are very clearly
of opinion, that the claim of these petitioners. is
totally groundless, and cannot be complied with,
without a direct breach of the postive provisions
of the Act of Parliament, - The inistppreheission
of this subject •seenvi.to have arisen front not ad-
verting to the clear line of- distinction (basest by
the Act between the ballotted man who serves by
compulsion, and the substitute who serves by his
own engagement, .and receives a con3iderable
bounty, the, period of service for the balloted man
being expressly fixed by the 35th Sectiem of the
Act, and the terms of the-Oatli which .he is re-
quired to take, to the space of five years; whereas,
by 'time Section immediately following (the 36th),
the period Of service prescribed for the substitute
is " the space of five yeari, and also for such fur-
ther ti ine as the Miiitia shall remain embotlied;rif,
within the space of five years, his Majesty wall
order amid direct (as it is notorious he HS (10110
the Militia fir whi'Cli such man is enrolled, to be
411%1W11 out and embodied," agreeable to which
Faint of Oath is given to be taken by the Snbsti:- '
tote, ilifferent front that of the Ilallotted Man,
which ire engages to serve in the' Militia during
the term of five years, " or for such farther time
as the Militia Shall 'reinain embodied'," if within„'
'the space of 1.1%*6 ye3Vl ilk Majesty shall order the
Militia to' lie, drawn out and embodied, ualess he
should he sooner discharged,'
construe this Section-as limiting the service
of the Aubstitute, when the Militia is embodied, to
the 'saute period as the service of the ballotted man,
would be to reject all the Words in the 36th See-
tion, and of the Oath which follows it, extending
the service cemditionally to a farther period, and
to Av. the saute meaning' to both 34th and 36th
Sections, which are thus pointedly conttitited
with each other as to their different objects, The
other etitistruction of the 36th Section 'aimed at
by the petitioners, by which the lithitation of teu
years is supposed to be given to the Substitute's
period of service, is an attempt to introduce anew
term into the clause, tor which there is not into'sy
part of it the leastauthority. The truth is, that
Ole dnratiol of the service of the Substitute is
neither confined to any definite;period of years be-
yond. five, nor is it'absolutely unlimited, beet it is
made to depend wli6olly op a cotaingency, ,nainclY
the continuance'of the embodying of -the Militia
by his Majesty's cottunand.--;-If the Militia• had
not been ordered to be embodied within the pre-,
scribed period of fire years, the Substitutes ser'-
vice would have, ceased, as well as that of the bal-
lotted Man, at tire end of the five years from the
date Of his . enrolment;` but Such Order:having
issued, the Silbstittite is now bound by the ey=
preSs.words Of
.the Aet of Parliament, and of his
Oath, to serve as hing`tts' the Militia' for which •
he is cm'olled shall remain embodied, and no
longer. The meaning of the Act on this subject
is So elk:arly and pl,tilily expressed,, that it admits
not of the least doubt, nor is there in any part of
r the'Ae any clause which, rightly considered', in
the smallest degree militates or barrio es With-this
crinstruction. The Seething relied upon in'tlits pe-
tition (all of which We have tittentivelyA.cad) are
perfectly consistent*Withit. Some of theta have'
in, reference whatever to the duratiort of a Sob-
ititte's !q!rvice, sneh as Sections If), 32, 37,.88,
95, 61, and 143, Thes9th, Kith and 132alclanseli,
in' which the discharge of the Knbstitute is men-
tioned, and a power given' to inflict, by way of
• punishment, an CNICIISiOII of his service, .vva.:ch
the petition states' to rehder the limitations con-
tended for indisputable, atford no such inference
on the contrary, these elauses•tvill be found per-
fectly consisteut with the construction above gis,co
of the Act, as to the true nature of the limitation
of a Substitute's service.

The fallacy of the argument used in the petition
arises fron► not considering that the Act which
passed i►t 1802, necessarily provided for every
case which might arise its well in a titue of peace
c 1.4 of war, when the Militia should not be, as well
as Nvhen it should be, embodied,

In many events which .might have taken 'o'l6:
(as bas'bevn already stiewii) the Substitnte's ser-
vice might hive terminated at the entl. tit
,years, and it will terminate, ti 3 to all who have
serieit their five years, wheneVerthe Militia ceases
'to' he embodied, except as to any Substitute who
may for any is,Tence; have been sentenced to serve
for i(mOre extended period.
'There is therefore no inconsistency In any of the
;provisions of the Act; nor does' it follow that. be-
.catiserthe service of the ,Substitute is not limited
to any definite period, that it is therefore wholly
untiinited,'and tilbuitting of hapoil`sible extension,
unless eXtended as a punishment fortransgression.
'he service, of. the Substitute, thOugh not 'butted
by timc, is limited by events, and, tilt those events
ta4c the service cannot' be .discontinned
without the peril of incurring a Oiret viuhitipa'of
Or LOA' ,
l 'e.wave written our opinion thus at large On
Subjca, not from any difficulty or doubt really
, ,
belonging to it, but rrom the great importance of
obviating any possible misunderstanding respect-
ing it. We have, 84:',;
CSigueo Tito PLIY MLR.
GAIIKOW.
Rght f toth Lgrd Viacuttia Sidmouth,

Ittc,

NvILIJAM AIVAII"Eit SCRIPPS, Soot))lolton-sh,
I.(jNI)f)N: Piloted I,v iv(jori, of No. 119, Strand; told l'ublisbuil
At the SUN ()I I.'llt, No. 112,, Straud, where ildik-rlisoneatv„ firders tor the taper, Leiters for the Editer. 3(l' ty.rfor- '"►"s