The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-27 00:00:00

THE

from the undue severity of the service required from

Sul vice Attalla be eispoi tionee blur:—lse ye ers its cis
colonies, fifteen years in India, and five years at home.
No one would maintain that that was too favourable an
arrangement for the soldier; but the result had been,
that from 1834 to 1838 the soldier had been at home, on
the average, only four years and ode month, and from
1838 to 1842 four years and ten months. The addition
which had been made to the army now enabled the sol
dier to pass in this country the full period 01 five years,
which were essential-to the recruiting of his health after
service in the colonies.—(Hear, hear.) Although fifteen
years was the period assigned for the service
of troops in India, some regiments had been
obliged to remain there, from want of relief, for
nineteen, twenty, and even twenty-five years.—(Hear.
hear.) At present there were eleven regiments at home
which had been here more than five years, whilst
there was only one i❑ the colonies which had been there
more than ten years, and only four in India which had
served more than ten years. If any attempt should be
made to press more severely upon the British soldier it
would before long be discovered that such a thing was
anything rather than conducive to economy.—(Hear.)
It was the intention of the Government to make such re-
ductions in the army as, without infringing the rotation
of the soldier's service, would consist with the duty
of a Government not to, they believed, maintain a
larger establishment than in their conscience the in-
terests of the country required. The Hon. Member in
referring to the events of last year had truly described
the great mass of the people of this country as being at-
tached to the Crown and the Constitution. The spectacle
which this country exhibited during the past year would
form one of the proudest monuments of British history;
but it was apparent from the admissions of the Hon.
Member himself that there was a risk of the contagious
example of the Continent spreading to this country, and,
under the circumstances, it was his (the Chancellor of
the Exchequer's) belief that no greater armed force was
maintained than was absolutely necessary.—(Hear.) Al-
though the Hon. Member had spoken that evening in a
tone of commendable moderation, the language employed
by the Liverpool Financial Association in discussing the
same question was not equally temperate. In one of the
tracts issued by that association it was stated that the
army was maintained solely for the purpose of feeding
the younger sons of the aristocracy.—(Cheers.) Liver-
pool certainly was not the place from which such asser-
tions might have been looked for. Only last year the
Government received application after application from
Liverpool for additional troops.—(l.lear, hear.) Troops
were sent and encamped on the outskirts of the town,
but the cry still came for more, and also for the Suspen-
sion of the Habeas Corpus Act.—(Cheers and laughter.)
It was not quite just, nor, indeed, honest, in a town
which had benefited so much by the army in time of
need, to turn round and say that the army was main-
tained only to support the younger sons and brothers
of the English aristocracy. The persons who would
first suffer injury from any tumultuary proceedings in
this country would be not those connected with land,
but those connected with commerce and manufactures;
and it was, therefore, most ungrateful on the part
of that portion of the community to cast upon the
aristocracy the odious imputation of personal motives.—
(Hear.) The next source of expenditure, and no doubt
it was a very large one, was the ordnance service. Upon
that they proposed no reduction, because it was necessary
to maintain that branch of the service in fall vigour. It
was most expensive and most difficult so to maintain it,
and he thought that if Hon. Gentlemen would only refer
to recent events in India, they would agree with him
that it was disgraceful to this country that, having such
advantages in all the arts of war, as well as in civiliza-
tion, we hardly ever went into action in India but that
we were overmatched in that branch. In like manner
the principal increase was not in the increase of force,
but from the change of the armament, both as to guns of
large as well as small calibre. He did not wish to go
into details, but simply to refer to that which would
be brought forward in greater detail when the esti-
mates were moved, namely, the increase, not only of
cannon, but also of small arms. A great change bad
taken place, and he thought it would be an act of
cruelty if we sent our troops into action anywhere
without putting into their hands the best and most im-
proved kind of arms. In the Chinese war a small party
of our troops, armed only with the common flint mus-
kets, were surrounded by 3,000 or 4,000 Chinese ; they
bravely defended themselves against that overwhelming
force for several hours, but, a shower of rain coming on,
their muskets would not go off ; a party of marines,
armed with percussion muskets, was marched to their
assistance, the Chinese immediately made off, and the
soldiers were rescued. There had been a large increase
in the expenditure of the ordnance department in conse-
quence of that change, but when it was completed he
thought they would be able to make a reduction in the
amount of the annual estimates. To a great extent the
change had been already accomplished. He believed,
also, that there was a considerable reduction for stores
in the ordnance estimates for this year. Certainly there
was a very prevalent feeling in this country not much
more than twelve months ago as to the defences of
this country not being sufficiently strong. He did
not participate in the extraordinary alarm that was
expressed by some Gentlemen on that (the Ministe-
rial) bide of the House as to the danger of foreign
invasion but he thought the Government would
have neglected their duty if they had not taken fair and
adequate means for the protection of our great naval
establishments. Again, the great object, and a just ob-
ject of that House, had been to improve and raise the
moral condition of the British soldier. For that purpose
better barracks were required, and that could not be
effected without additional expense.—(Hear, hear.) If
we were to have soldiers of a higher and better descrip-
tion, it was only just and right that proper accommoda-
tion should be afforded, so that that improvement might
take place.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Geptleman had
alluded very shortly to the increase in the miscellaneous
estimates. The increase in that expenditure had almost
Biwa) s taken place in items that had been pressed upon
the Government by the House of Commons. Year after
year charges had been put to the general expen-
diture. Government were either called upon to un-
dertake, or did undertake, duties which previously
had been performed locally, and new charges,
of an enormous amount, had been put on the
miscellaneous estimates. He found that, since 1835,
charges perfectly new had been put on those estimates
to the extent of 600,0001. a year, and that on others
there had been, not an ordinary increase, from year to
year, but an increase by transfer and other things. He
found that by the transfer of the county rates, the in-
creased vote for education, the increased expenses of
convictions, and for printing, there had been an increase
of nearly 700,000/. He was not professing to deal with
minor sums. He was as much in favour of practical
economy as the Hon. Gentleman himself could be—there
was no one in that House who could take such an interest
in economy as he who had to find the means of pay-
ment. . But if they were to give that protection to life
and property at home, and .to trade and commerce
abroad, which he believed to be necessary for the deve-
lopment of our induArial resources, it would be-impos-
sible to reduce the naval and military expenditure to the
extent the Hon. Gentleman contended for. They had.,
however, kept that object in mind, and he would en-
deavour to show that they had not been behind in
effecting all practical economy. He was happy
to say that he very much concurred with the Hon.
Gentleman in believing that we were in a very
different position this year from that in which we were
about this time last year, when it was necessary to bring
forward the votes at the time those estimates were
framed; and be it remembered, although the French
revolution had not broken out, there was a state of feel-
ing pervading Europe, and even France, which it might
be expected would break out, and which actually did
break out into rebellion, and no man could say at that
time what the effect of that effervescence might be. He
thought, therefore, the Government would not have been
justified last year in reducing the number of the troops
or the number of men for the navy. His Noble Friend
stated that he was not prepared to reduce one man in
the course of last year, and he thought his Noble Friend
was justified by the occurrences that had taken place;
but he thought we were in a different position now. It
was evident enough in many parts of the continent that
those parties who were the leaders of the movement had
not seen much reason to congratulate themselves upon
it. There, as in this country, they had found that revo-
lution was a losing concern.—(Hear, hear.) In the
neighbouring country of Franco they had shown a pa-
cific disposition, by a considerable reduction in the army
and navy. The Right Hon. Gentleman then proceeded—
I believe that the conduct pursued by my Noble Friend
at the head of the Foreign-office has most materially'
contributed towards the preservation of the peace of
Europe; time has been gained for the passions to cool
on both sides, and men have seen the folly of engaging
in revolutions; and the chance of maintaining peace is
as different from what it was last year as it is possible
to conceive, and there is but small probability, I hope, of
our being engaged in any hostilities—(Hear, hear)—
and the result is that we have felt ourselves justified in
making reductions. I believe that these few incendiaries
to whom my Hon. Friend alluded are deterred from act-
ing by finding how impracticable it would be to excite
the population of this country to any unwise disturb-
ance. The mills are now pretty generally at work, and
employment general throughout the manufacturing dis-
tricts, where disturbances may generally be expected to
originate in times of distress. Tney are now not only
alive to the lolly of engaging in outbreaks, but they
have not the inducements of want or distress to do so.
There is no prospect of any disturbance of the peace in,
this country. The Hon. Member, in referring to the
events of the past year, entirely omitted all reference to
the sister country. Perhaps he will say, because there
was no great reason to apprehend disturbance there. I
believe, however, that it was not the fault of the parties.
themselves that disturbances did not take place.
Mr. COBDEN—I said there were not above one
hundred persons in arms.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—There
are, however, well-authenticated accounts that much
larger numbers were assembled, who were only re-
strained by the conviction of the presence of an imposing
military force, and it was no fault of the authors of the
insurrection that it did not—l will not say succeed—but
come to a head. Even there, however, there is little risk
of a recurrence, for I believe that without some stimulus
nothing of the kind is likely to break out on the part of
peasantry themselves; and this House has wisely armed
the Government with the means of putting down those
who are disposed to promote agitation.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir, the Government has felt it to be in their power to
propose a considerable reduction, both in the army and
navy.—(Hear, hear.) I shall now refer to the state of
affairs in India, where war has for some time pre-
vailed. The demand made upon us by this state of
things has been met by a reduction of three regiments
from this country. These regiments have been taken
off from the British esteblibhment, having ceased to he
employed here. The actual reduction in number is
7,000, while the weight taken from the charge of this
country is three reginsents.--(Hear, hear.) The army
last year amounted top 03;000 men; this has been re-
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