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

TH UR SDA Y, JULY 23, 1307.

much more so must it now be, when it was hafdly
possible to turn our eyes to any quarter in which the
interests or Great Britain were not' at stake. If the
sphere of action were great when the Right Hon.
Gentleibliti was in power,- how much was it
tended at -the present moment. We had now ''to
support new principles of policy, and to feed so much
larger an Army employed on foreign service. In
the Army at, home also, we were called upon either
to make a great effort to render the second battalions
of our Regiments efficient, or, with a due regard to.
economy, to abandon them altogetAr. He was ap-
prehensive, hoWever,, that should they he abandon-
ed, the weakness which marked them would cha-
raelerize the first battalions, and that the first batta,
lions would soon beeome as inefficient as it was so
deeply to be lamented that the second battalions
now were. It was impossible to lOok to the general
aspe& of Europe, and to the Returns on the table,
by which 'it appeared how large a portion of our
force was employed abroad, and, even on the .
most superficial view, entertain a doubt of theile-
cessity of great exertions indeed, if we were de-
sirous of preserving otir security at home, and
of not abandoning our Military greatness abroad.
If 'the necessity were disputed, he was prepared,
and staked his personal responsibility to prove
(could he do so without divulging that which
ought not to be divulged), by the most satisfac-
tory and undoubted details, that no voluntary or
other local force was adequate to the wants of
the Country, but that for every thing of that
description, a regular and efficient toree must
be substituted. The , question; therefore, was
not whether the Volunteer System, or the Train-
ing Bill, could be improved,. but what that system'.
was which would.carry our Regular Army and Mili,
tia to the highest point, with toe least inconvenience
to the existing establishments and with the most mo-
derate pressure on the coimtry ? If he had satisfied
the House that some substantive increase of regular
force was necessary for , the preservation of our
dearest interests, it would be -a proposition not very.
difficult to establish, that we must not rely for
th it amount of force which the public exigency
required 'on the system of ordinEry recruiting,
-Which the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite
had projeCted, or on any system of ordinary re-
cruiting which human wisdom had devised. He
would not now enter into a detailed examination of
thy: Right Hon. Gentleman's System : that w ould be
a subject fir future discussion ; but he would gene-
rank state it as his own deliberate and decided con-
viction, that if any system of ordinary recruiting were
freed as munch as it was possible to tree it from the
raids of undue competition,and were in everyresped
as well administered as it was in human power toad.
minister it, it might keep up an army once brought
to its'standard, but it could never by competent to
keeping up an army, and of increasing it at the
same time. Let the House look at the result of
the Right Hon. Gentioman's System for the last six
months—the most favourable period of its operation
—they would find that, deducting the boys raised by
it, the aelual produce of men obtained for the army
was not so great as by the former double operation
of the ordinary recruiting, and the Additional Force
Mt, much less was. it calculated to give that in- I
crease to our military strength which the foreign
measures of his Majesty's late Ministers (and into
• the ,wisdom of Those measures he would not now
enter) had .rendered necessary. If therefore it
was meant to have a bond fide addition to the
amount of our public force, it was perfettly
luSory to depend on the ordinary recruiting.—
In truth, therefOre, the question came to this, what
measures must be resorted to to raise the army to
the standard. to which circumstances imposed the
necessity of its being raised ? Certainly by some
Rurt of compulsion.. Nu desirable species of com 7
pulsion had ever occurred to any Administration un-
conne&ed with ballot : 'and here. he could not
avoid condemning the unnecessary painsi. which the
Right- Honourable Gentleman opposite had taken
to decry the use of ballot. If it were'ellowed
that compulsion must be resorted to, and that that
compulsion must be founded on ballot, our choke
was narrowed to a very limited extent. In submit-
ting to Parliament' what had occurred to his Majes-
ifs Ministers as most expedient on this subject, he
would not expel any peculiar novelty.
acknowledged that he had not made any very
He hoped
aat they
great discovery : he had indeed avoided every thing
that appeared mighty ingenious, because he knew
very well that on all subjects, and especially on miti-
Ury subjects, these ingenious and complicated theo-
ries, althoUgh they might look extremely well on pa-
per, were found to be sadly deficient when attempted
to be put into practice. He was persuaded,
whatever might be his opinion of the Military Plans
of the Right Hon. Gentleman, that at all times,
'and in a state of war above all other times, it was
irifinitely better to adopt the Military Establishments
of the Country as they stood, and to fortify and
support' them, than to weaken and throw them
down for the purpose of substituting some specula-
tion, of which experieoccalone could prove the su-
periority. There seemed to be this aim* alterna-
tive on which to decide : If we were to raise a great
number of men by ballot, the Country must be call-
ed upon either to submit to a ballot for men direct
for the Regular Army, or to submit to a ballot for
men for the Militia, with the view of our drawing
' from the Militia that aid which the incomplete Re-
giments of the Line required. He would state the
grounds for the option made by his Majesty's Mini-
sters, and shew why they thought it the less advise-
able measure to raise a number of Men by ballot,
direa for the Regular Army. It was true that the
A6t of 1804 (the Army of Reserve MI), to which
he might. consider himself a party; was for the pin-
pose of raising men by ballot dived for the Army ;
and it was also true, that if ever a military measure
was beneficial to the Country, it was that Aa, from
which, in a very.sh'ort space oftime, most important

advantage's had been derived. If, therefore, the
Country stood in the same situation asahat in which
it stood in 1804, he should eertairrly have thought
it-the duty of His Majesty's Ministers to submit to •
Parliament some propositiena -analogous to the Army
of Reserve Ad ; but it was impossible not to feel
that the circumstances of the Country were 'essen-
tially different now from what-they were then, ,and
that they were now preeiely such as to afford strong
reasons for a preferenLe or the other mode of in-
creasing our military strength. In the first place,
from the magnitude of our force (however yet in-
adequate) we had more nearly approached to those
bounds by 'which every .Country, limited in popula-
tion, must necessarily be prevented from furnishing,
more men for its military service, •ot at least from
furnishing them without considerable difficulty.,—
If, therefore, a mode offered itself of procuring
men with more facirity than in any other way, that
mode ought to be' adopted. There was another
striking uifferenee between the situation ofthe-
Country when the, Army of Reserve Aft was pass-
ed, and the situation of the Country at present.—
Just before the thimer period, the Regular- Militia
had been balloted, and had been called into:service ;
now their period of service had expired, and would \
terminate withehe termination of the war. What-
ever supplies, therefore, might now be drawn from
the Militia fur • the Regular Army, would coniist of
men whose services • would be .otherwise • approxi-
mating to 'a conclusion, while thet new 'levies, :.
to till up the deficiency thus occasioned in the
Militia, wouldconsist of men commencing a term of
service of five years. Thus the Country would • Ob- -
tain a military protection ready for a new war, or
any other emergency, and would enjoy a diminution
of those burdens which must otherwise be incurred
at the conclusion of Peace, to replecethat very 'great
portion of the Militia which must •in that event be
discharged.••. In proposing, therefore, to levy men
by ballot for the Militia, • rather than to revive. the
. provisions of the Army of Reserve Ad, no new
or avoidable burden would be imposed upon the
Country, but that burden merely would be •antici-
paten, to which, on the return of Peace, the Coun-
try must subMit. That part of the measure of the
Right Honourable Gentleman last year, which ex-
cluded from the Army any reguldr battalions for
limited service, was another strong cause fur prefer-
ring the mode now proposed of augmenting our force:
It was, true that this obstacle.' was not insurmount-
able, but it was the wish of his. Majesty's Ministers
to disturb as little as possible the existing Military
Establishments of the• Country. The' levy of men.
for the Militia would be less prejudicial to the Coun-
try and to. the regular recruiting for :other rei:eaios. '
There. was a:greater prourene,s -in the peasantry to
ewer into.the-Militia than into the Regular Army.
Men for the Militia would not only- be -more easily
got, but they would .be-of at better deseription,- ni;rt
_although he allowed that the large Jaallot- which
would be required would raise the biitlnty consider-
ably, yet it would not be rased so much as it the
same ballot -were to take place for the Regular Army.
The balloting for the Militia had become congenial
to the habits of the Country. It was t:uuiliar with
it. The people recognizedit with tranquillity, and
the Magistrates executed it with ease The Army
..ot Reserve Ad, although a• most estimable measure
at the time. of its adoption, yet-being one of compa-
ratively greater preseure, .alter it • had been tour
months In operation, degenerated so much, that
those by whom it had been proposed thought it their
duty to move fur its 'suspension.' He thought also
the House would feel, that the -fad of the penalties
under the Army oh' Reserve Ad. never hating been -
-enforced .was a most'seriotis obstacle to any recurs
• rence to that measure. Those-who very •in power
'had transterred.the penalties to the Additional Force
'Ad, and that alone; but when ••the Right. Hon.
Gentleman proposed .to Parliament to repeal those
fines, in defiance of every principle-of public justice
and legislative dignity, he (Lord •Castlereagli) 'had
endeavuured to sites,' how pregnant with mischief
that Right Hon. Gentleman's proposition was; and
that it ,was one which -would render nugatory apy
measure similar to the Army of Reserve Ad. What
the step then taken was unwise, now appeared pretty
strongly; and were he to.propose a renewal of the
Army of Reserve Ad, be witesatistied that ho should,
in consequence, subjed the Country to all the texa-
tion of a legislative measure, which must end in
complete tailure. The House would also feel as an in-
ducement to prefer the mode which he had suggest-
ed, that looking at the present situation of the Coun-
try, it the Gentlemen of the Militia were; disposed to
lend themselves to such a laudable object, it was
muclituore desirable that any temporary inefficiency
should exist in the defensive rather than in the -O'lE6)-
sive part of our military furce. In every point of'
view, therefore, it-seemed preferable to raise men for
the Regular Army from the Militia, than to raise men
for the Regular Army by a ballot. It was 'it mere
anticipation of a burden which must be imposed—it
was's cheaper method—it was one by which better
• troops wend be procured—and it would ultimately
restore to the recruiting market that monopoly which
he was as desirous -as the Right Hon. Gentleman
oli-
posite that it should possess. Having thus detailed
the grounds on which the measure'. now proposed,
: had been adopted, it became necessary to state the
extent of, theleVy. . At the termination of five years
service, ail men balloted for the Militia were en-
titled- to their discharge. The- official documents
proved, that from December next to the succeeding
May, -between five and six thousand of the Militia
would be entitled
.to their. discharge,, besides the
waste produced by other circumitatic'es. -He was
anxious When-the subjed of bell& was agitated, to
submit to the House the- expediency of providing
not only a cover for this deficiency, and this waste,
but also such a number of -supernemeraries (t-or
whom the Officers now ,in the Militia would -be
'Sufficient) as' would render • any norther ballot .tor
two or three - years - wholly unnecessary; to that a

itricPENck,

security would be given to the Line, that a coati-
nual ballot would not exist in competition with.
their ordinary recruiting. In looking to the number
of men-which it would be proper to,raiselor these.
purposes, two questions offer themselves fOr
consi-
deration : What number of men could the. Zliiitia•
afford to spare? and what number of men , did the
army indispensably require to put it in a .state .uf
adequate efficiency ; that was to place every regi...•
meat, including the second battalions, on its proper
footing ? Having duly. weighed these points, big -
M ijesty's Ministers ~proposed that ell those men
now serving in the Militia exceeding three-filthsof
the 'Militia establishment in Great Britain, and one
half of the Militia in Ireland, should be traesferned
to the Line. By this arrangetnent, about 21,70 U .•
men would be gained from the Militia of Great Bri-
tain, and about 7000 from the Miiitia of Ireland.
It had been thought better to propose to take the
excess above .three-fifths of the britsh Militia este-
blishinent, and the excess. tthotit 'one-belt of
Irish Militia iStabliahment, rather thateao take two;
fifths of the British Militia and halt the Irish• Mi.,,
litia, because as several of the -Militia regimentari
were not completely filled up, the latter mode .
would weaken theta too much. one word, by
the proposed Plan, the British Militia would remain
at three-fifths, 'and the Irish 'Militia at one bah- ef
its present .establishment.. The men to be reiied
by ballot were, •as he before . staled for thn e.
jeas,:to cover the waste in the Militia, to sti ply-
the deficiencies occasienect.-. by, so great R transfer
from the Militia Ire invents to.the •Regular
and • to. provide a,body .of supernumeraries large:
enough to prevent the speedy recurrence. -ot the'
ballot. Mae& these objetts, it had heeretheiv,lit;
better. to. mention a proportion, rather' than n de.*
fined number. As the law. at present stool, his
Majesty was':empowered to on time Counties to:
ballot for a Supplementary liiliiia, amounimg, in-
Great Britain, to 24,009 men, viz. 20,000 in Eng—
land, and 4000 in Scotland. As the number of t his
Supplementary Militia was evm.lly half of -the eata,,'
blished Militia, so it * had lavn deemed advisable to'
propose that the Counties should be called upon for
a Supplementary Militia and a half; making
''56,000 men for Great Britain, besides 8000 for
IrelancL Allowing fur .the necessary waste, this
would add at least 38,000 men- to• the' gross mili-
tary force of the Country, and 28,000 men to the.
Regular Army; leaving. with the Militia a large,
body of supernumeraries, sufficient for a long
period. to release' the standing army from the
embarrassments which a ballot must occasion ; and,
when peace should arrive, instead of not having any
Militia at all, the country would possess a.Militia of
.36,000 men, and would only have to raise the differ+
ence bet weqn• that number and Iliafull establishment
•—narnelyi aliurtli,: or 2,060 Fact). Having that
stayed 'the extent to which in- the present-exigency it
had been thought wise to carry the increase of the
Regular Army from the Militia, he ob erved that no
pains had been spared by his Majesty's Government
to digest a mode of tranferring ' the men from the
Militia to the Line, more tree from cbjetion thou
any that had been hitherto devised, more palateable
to the Officers of the M.litia, and less likely to hurt
that just pride in their different regim.n:s which they
so laudably entertained. On this part a the subje
his Majesty's Government would be extremely, hap.
py to receive any suggeoions, horn the Officers of
the Militia, with which they might think proper to
favoul them. r It had occurred to his Maje!ay'aMi.
nistersethae there were two objedtions that were
likely, to press on The feelngs of the Militia Officers.

—;the first waS, the large amount Of the tbrce that
would be subtraded iroru the Militia—the other,
the danger which the Militia Regiments would for a
while incur of aselsxation of discipline by the volun-
ur recrulting for the Line. With resoea
tteottgfirst objeaion, he trusted it would not be

deemed a very serious one, when it was considered
that; although a great dimiinitan in the nutobere of
the Militia must certainly take place for the increase
of the Regular Army, .yet that a, greater number
'would be immediaely supplied from the counties,—
With respect to the,:eeond, it was proposed, in the
-first instatice,.and for a-certain period, to subMit the
recruiting for iIL-.14-ne from the Militia solely to the
direction of the Mditia• Officers. It was propped,
that for 30 days after the issuing of the warrant-, -no
soldier or Otticer of the Regular Army should inter
pose With the M Ilia. It was in the contemplation
of his Majesty,- and of his Royal Highness the Corn.
mander in Chief, to: give, as usual; Commissions in
the Line in proportion to the number -of men raised,
and to commission the Oaken, -in the Regiment to
which the men might be invited to go, shanld the
wished for number not .be produced within the 3.6
days ; but it was also proposed to accept a smaller
proportion of men, provided they were produced in
30 clays, in preference to the allowing of volunteer-
ing is round numbers, it a third was thus produced
instead of two•filths. He would submit to the House
'but a few observations on the terms of enlistthent,
because they would become the ,-subjea of a future
discussion. He was tat front wishing to anticil ate
the decision of Parliament on a question of so ioter-
esting a nature, as whether or not the men should be
allowed to inlist for lite; though he.ditiered Vely
widely from the Right Hon. Oentleman opposite on
that point, lie wits,. by- no -Means. disposed to advise
that. the Regulations adopted-last year should be re-
scinded, and thingrvestosed• to iheirformer state.--
Still he thought it would be wise to give to indivi7
duals the alternative whether they would enlist-for
life or not; but he-admitted that the fit Opportunity.
for discussing the question would be on the int roduc-
lion of the Mutiny Bill. He. would observe, how-
'ever, that the -Right Hon. Gentleman himself had
not thought that-no case could occur in which a de-
•viation from his 'Regulations -.would be advisable,
He had held out anoxpeaation to -those who had.
'served 0 t years,_thatthey Would-be iminediately
charged ; but prudenee would not allow hint to yen.