The Sun.
London, England, 1807-07-23 00:00:00

al

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An
stating htssentinieuts on the subjett
he hatido-,oltarged his duty, saw•that the
tarlii*Ssfe4.-ot 'the'conntry voarfar-frorn being per.'
fe6t'l) tifraid•thdy`tilked' too Ttineh on these.
subjeitTs,, 1#1,•; Ist ,so little, had beep floott, haft
ltopectithur they had done with
Ih ,cliSooltsiOns of .this..
btu - the— subjee' dd been:it/tin'
broached, he trusted the House would takeeffeelual

measures for procuring.a gfv44,,artny, which, added
to oor naval .pre-eminTuce, :,wou4l Paahle us W 4:4,
defiance to. the Tyrant ..who,liad„l ram pied upon, the •
independence of so many of the Continental States;
BAtHrmst said, Olaf the :t iew Which; his,
110.0. Friend who spoke last had taken of the Mili-
tary System of the Country, very much coincided
with,his own. Fie timught that the Nohle Ltlrd. had
ton'itinch 'dire6ted his attention to the prodUCtion'ot

an offensive-force, The feEiner drafts from the Mi•-•
litia had uniformly taken place when some great of-
fensive objea was in view, and were not therefore
similar to the present. Every thing was morefa-.
yourable at present to the introduciion Of an giriw
of Reserve, than in 1303.; and he conceived that
thepretentlneasure- would wild to dishearten. arid
'repress tbe spirit of the OtEi:ers of the Militia, and.
would prove highly disglisting to them.
Mr. began_ by obserYing, that
though another opportunity would occur for discuss-.
ingthe merits of the proposed measure, yet he ditild
not let this occasion pass- of delivering his senti-
. rneny on various observations that bad been made.

&lee this -discussion began, another measure had
he;en proposed by,:an Hon. Gentleman; and which
he should certainly prefer to that of the Noble'Lord,
since it was less circuitous in its nature, and would
not contribute to disgust and weaken the Militia
13Atablishment. He 1-13 d formerly delivered his sen-
timents with regard to the Militia; and had Said that
its discipline could never be expeeted tatequar that
of the Regular Army, which Was produced by the
sense and experience of the 'common -dangers which'
they had undergone at various times. The Officers
of the' Militia could not' be expeded to make the
Art' of •War :their study, :like: the Officers of the
Line, and they had not the same opportunities fir •
witnessing real service. For delivering such senti-
ments he had been frequently termed an enemy of
the Militia, and an outcry had been, raised, against
him on this ground by Gentlemen on the 'other
side. But from what appeared this night, he might
o'vtif told the Officers of .the Militia' that they had
re to dread froth their
_pretended, friends, than
min him, who had freely delivered his sentiments.
They were like the lamb -which was -fattened by
the Mitchel., in order 'thatit might be afterwards'
cut: up. The Militia were, a. sort of preserve of
same, with which Country Gentlemen were well
'.4,;(1t-14inted, and which Gentlemen on the other side,
mad carefully
.proteCtod; in .order that. they might'
afterwards enjoy the;-.'greater sport. They Were
boitig to break up that. body of which they
ad proclaimed so loudly:the importance, and which
had been formed by great, sacrifices and great exer-
tions. It, was nut likdy the Militia Offieers would
view with any pleasure their labours undone, not
for the Purpose of offensive service, but for that very
able' of defence for which the Militia Force was
raised by the Constitution...lt was saying, in fad,
that tbey were less qualified for 'defence in their
present form than when , transferred to the Line.
They would. be entirely broken up for_ a, long period
to come. Nothing appeared to him ao absurd or
inconsistent as to say, that because invasion was to
be expected, therefore the Militia should be broken
up. The drafting of men from the Militia had also
been talked of as a matter ofcourse, or like the trans-
fer of so much property. But the real efficacy of
the measure depended upon the choice of• indivi-
(huts, and Was altogether voluntary, so that a griev-
ous disappointment.. might take place as. io the
number. Upon the whole, it appeared to him,
that, though the measure of the. Noble Lerd.did not
profess-to subvert the Militia'Establishinent, yet*‘vent'effedually to'underrnine• and betray it. The
Righl''Hoti. Gentleman then, entered into a.long,
defence of the Military Systeth which he had intro-
duced, and which' had been frequently adverted to
in' the course of Noble ',Ardis. 'speech. :He con-
tlided, 'that previeus to its proposal, the Military
,SYstsnif: had teen merely a system of expedient.—.
1:4 Army of Reserve Measure was one of the best Of
'these, though still only :a temporary expedient.'
It went on .till it:*gabld go no turther, acid
expired by the difficulties .which it had itSelf
Created. The Noble Lord had professed— that
'le did net
_me-an to introduce any measure of
Incro novelty : and indeed there was no novelty
iii drafting- from the Militia. • That: measure- had
bevn already tried, Whitt One,,tOurth volunteered,
their services in • the Expedition ~to Holland,; but
that example, he believed, the House . would
11(4 think ealgulated to encourage the practice.
After this measure came the :Provisional CaViiiry
one 'Of the most utiadvised and oppressive mea-
mires 6.!er 'adopted, which' compelled even ladies,
worn n, to:pay a fine Of .fitly orsixty guineas. To
that sureetled the 'Additional Force Ad—and if.
Crer a measure failed, that roigbibe said to. do: so,
- • by which it .was possible to judge
(slot]
such tallure; it raised men at an '':,,normous ex-
Pencv, and prOdticed such sCatidalpUS and enormous
injustice, that at last the Country actually vomitted
it up:Then followed the military plan which he
had hrougla forward; and Which'appeared to hlm to
Immed on the principles of common, sense, and
addressed to the common motives -of human action.
The Country had been preViously Stibjeded to so
'tn'ach quackery, there had been so much blistering,
bleeding, cupping, and purging, that it became ne-
ceofory to have recourse, as it were, to the 2,4 medi-
call Le' to try what the strength of the Constitution
would produce by its own efforts. The former
systems_ had been tried in vain ; the words Ballot and
Bounty seemed to coMpose.all the /totes of the
miii-
tars gamut., Ministers seemed to entertain no other
ideas than What were comprised in these two words :
--=-When the bounty failed to prodUce the eflB&, or
beemne exorbitant, then fhe ballot was called in ;
Lind when its. influence expired* then a bounty was
again had reeburse to: But the object of-his mea.
sure had been to improve the situation of the soldier,
.• and to render it eligible ; it was to raise the charac..
ter of the military profession, and to render it as un7
neeessgry to
.grant.bounties to induce persons to en-
t-er into it into any other occupation otlife. Thel
Noble Lord had said, that the. Mt had
roYedi-neflicient,;• but,--the first °hied of that Mt
-uati been obtained, namely, the. Carelment of the

men who weramabie, tt DC Caßea VpOD., lir WAS 11e t
iklisps without its faults-; it wiight .ditlieldt
Make it work well ail arauceTbut he was cum-hie:
!. • 6,d it w.asyffie best 4'4 iity.which the getteial pop 4,
' Ia i ion :oftlutk-ountryncould be -made availableiii its
defence. , The Noble Lord had tiow,the,At,t7in
I own hands ; and he was like time t ie iiidif'W;illeetiyl
quired Untie Oracle whether the 'spgrioV/ Whit:ll'll*e
Held in:his hand was dead or alive ? Itwoultblepend;
upon. t he:Noble Lord.la.whAt, manner it would
._131)
executed.
But in the mean time, it bad, produced a,.
daiSificatiOn of individuals; 200,600 men had already
been enrolled, and might soon-be madereadt
called upon to supply the losses in the army that might
be consequent en invasion. .-He then proceeded :to
defend the measures be had taken with regard to the
volunteers, and contended that his Obje6fliad been'
to make them Volunteers in reality, not merely its
name, and to separate those who might'be disposed
to serve 'at their= own expence from-those oiled out
under the Training AO. His systeM consisted, of
three parls—a it. Army formed by regular recruit ing, a
Subsidiary Force to be raised under the Training
At, and Volunteers serving without expence to the
country. These were the headS of his plan, and he
should be ready to stake his-credit upon its merits;
and to stand or fall M the opinion of his country ac-
cording to the manner in which these merits were
estimated. He was certain, that in proportion bs his
plan was,understood by the people, it would be ap-
proved and adopted. It had been attended with the
greatest success hitherto,, though it laboured under
the disadvantages of not being thoroughly. under-
stood: Lord Chatham had observed, that codfidence
was a plant of slow growth even in the most culti-
vated minds. How much more slow therefore must
it not be among the ignorant. lower clas,es of
the community. This being the case, he had just'
ground to hope for the most successful result Irons
the progress of the meashre which he had the ho-
nour of introducing. 'As soon as the people should
feel that they had not been deceived by expedients,
,but that the system was to be permanent ; when'
they were satisfied, from experience, that those who
enlisted might return to the. bosOm of their families
,and connections at the end of seven years, if they
chose it ; in' tine, when they should understand' all
its advantages from those-very persons who at the ex-
piration ef, .either of the three terms specified, should
return to the 'Place of their' birth, or' settle else-
where, then he was certain that the plan wOuldan=
sWer the most sanguine expectations of those who
supported it. He disapproved; of 'the' Measure now
introduced by the Noble. Lord on, several grounds,
and partieularly because it would introduce most ep-,
posite terms of, service: The Noble Lord, by re-'
taiiimg a part' of his (Mr:' Windhams) measure,
would have ii:en serving in-the same regiMent both'
for a limited time,.and for life, Here the Right
Honourable Gentleman entered into a comparison of
the nreceding system' with his own, and' sheaved

that the balance was considerably in 'favour of the
latter. Uoder. the 'Additional Force.Ad men were
raised both under size amt. over • age, at 40 guineas
each, while the pperation of his • measure produced
efficient recruits at a bounty of eleven guineas each.
In the last six months the number which entered for
limited service into • the :regular army exceeded the
whole of those who entered during the preceding
eighteen months through every, other channel. The
regular recruiting was now producing twenty-two
thousand men in the year, which, 'allowing for ca-
sUalties, gave nine thousand men to the regular ar-
my in every year.. Helamented, therefore, that the
Noble Lord had thought of breaking up the Militia
.System,' and deprecated the destinaion of this plan,
which was now so produetive under every disadvan-
tage,.even that of being placed, in its. very infancy,
under a most severe stepmother. , The Noble Lord
disapproved of the measure,- but stilt retained agreat
part of it. Why he did so, he could not tell, unless,
as had been once observed; the Noble Lord always
wished to keep two strings to his bow: A Right
,Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Yorke) in a part of ills speech
seemed to allude to the disaster at Alexandria. On
that subject lie "should not' then enter, any further
than,to,state, that, our troops had not been sent • to
conquer the:country, add therefore that the force
'sent was-stifficient to accomplish the desired object,
if they bad been joined, as there was reason to be-
lieve, by the natives. With respeet 'to Buenos
,Ayies, the blame, if any arose from that Expedition,
could not be affixed to the late Ministers, for it was
planned imdcondueted by the friends of the present
Minkter3, and one:who enjoyed the contidence of
the Administration which preceded the last. On the
whole, he•disapproved of the Noble Lord's measure.
1/w S4:CRETARI at felt that the critical
.state of the country' required an augmentalion of
our regular force, ,not only for defence at.'hUtne, but,
to enable us to cover and protect our Colonies ; after.
:every ,consideration which he could give the subject,
he, thought the mode proposed by.his Noble Friend
by for the best for accomplishing this objea. The
late success ;of the eneniy made, our condition mare
dangerous than ever, anitof cam-se-demanded efforts
equal to tie difficulty. The Right. Heil. Secretary
then noticed the prominent parts.of Mr; Windham's
pFin with a view of shewing that its success was not
altogether so progressive as the Right lion. Gentle-
man bad stated.
After a few Words from Mr HERMIT in support
of the Noble Lord's (Castlereagh's) Hon; and irom
SheW
,Letevre, in support of limited service in
preference to enlistment for life, •
Lord CASTIAREAGa rose and observed, that as
printed Bills were ready, the liothe would allow
him to introduce the subject for discussion on Friday
next..

Lord Howicx reminded the Noble Lord that the
question was one of great importance, and entitled
to serious consideration. There was also -another
business of very great importance to be.debated, as•
he understood, on that day, he meant ;the Irish In,
surreBion -Bill; be hoped, therefore, that neither of
those measures would be urged with,precipit:ition.
After some discussion as: to the proper. form of
proceeding,- between the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, Lord H. Petty, Sir John Newport, Mr. Whit.,.
bread, and Sir Arthur Wellesley, it was at length
agreed to read the Noble Lord's (Castlereagh's) Byls
a first time to-day, and a second time on Monday.
Lord CASTLEREAGH then brought up a 1311, en-
tabling his Majesty to. increase the Militia or Great
Britain to a limited extent, under certain cireu:n-
stances ; also a Bill, enabling a certain portion of the
M ilitia-artrrelit-gritain voluntarily to etih,it
Regular 'Seryice; which were read 4 iir.3L a: :d

I. XLL m Ira?. on il
ihd to be printect.,
,On the otionr)f 'Sir AllTut.tit ZSLIVY) the
le
li-ish Insurreaion Bill, and the Irlsh Arms Iii;1,
ere read a's tit &ond titnei-and 'o &fed AO. be coal-
t iti=t7;:iiiiiri a 4, . • - ..... ...............--- ---
$ The Orders of the Day.4)eing. disposed of, the
rtfouse Adjourned at one o'Oock.
_

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