The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-23 00:00:00

lie took the estitna,e at 2,200.000, the expense n
oee, • -
what lie then stand was, that ii an
5,000,000/. were to be made upon Irish property,
would bo taxing Ireland to four times the excel:
to %Moll property was assessel for a simile'
purpose in England ; and that, if the pr,
Irish
party of England were to be rated at the same ratio
property would be under the Bill, the annua
assessment would be not 5,000,000/. but 23,000,0001
and this, he said, would be an net of gross injustie,
towards Ireland. In consequence of the confusion whirl
.existed in the House at the time when he was speaking
he could easily account for the misunderstanding havint
taken plat'''.
Mr. FOX MAULE then rose to move the seven:
readine of the Army Service Bill. He deemed it in
eurnbent upon him to make some statement to the Heels(
relative to the princip e which this Bill contain: 6.
and also to the motives which had induced the Go-
vprument to bring forward a principle of this nature
Ile could, by following the precedent of 1800, hay,
Changed the service from unlimited to limited, by
simple alteration in the Mutiny Bill, but as it had bee,
the practice to remove from that Bill all that which
gave occasion to continual discussion, and reek° i
simply contain the law and discipline of the army, an(
as the discussion on that Bill had been carried on fro,.
Year to year with very little notice, the House, relying
mainly on the judgment of the Executive Government,
bll
e preferred to call the attention of the House to th,
Principle involved. It would be in the reek)]
lection of the House that a former measure
regulating the service had been repealed,
after two years, when no experience could be had of
its
merits. He did think, that no one in that House wool.
Start any permanent objections to a standing army it
the country. He assumed that as a matter hie!
their
would dispute. All would admit tha,
`ueir domestic interests, their extended colo-
nies, our position among the nations of the
earth, required a permanent army in this country
I .
t was said that the system of recruiting the army ea,
a voluntary system ; but when his lion. and Gallant
Friend brought forward his motion, last year, he di.
net at that time give any distinct, opinion on the
,subject. It was promised by his Noble Friend at the
uead of the Government that the question should receive
the careful consideration of the Government during the
recess of Parliament. The question had bean well con-
sidered, and in considering that question it appeared t.
him that there was no system of enlistment that wa,
voluntary in its name that had not been, by the
Practices which had been resorted to, deprive,'
of all the rtues of a voluntary enlistment in effect
e feund, on looking into this matter, that there migh
be very serous doubts whether any one who eve
enlisted into the army did so for the purpose of
,Taking it a regular profession for life. lie 'ows ti.:
mere were some classes of their recruits wit', hag,
Very readily gone into the ranks, not with any view tc
future, but rather with the view of e clping tune
Perary distress. He found that their ranks scere very
much accustomed to be recruited by those who were hilt
arid averse to labour, and who thought that in the lib
°F a soldier they would find that idleness and indolence
Nisonant to their dispositions. He found that it was
t°o often the case that the prodigal sought
41 the army a refuge from his improvidence,
Slid it too often occurred that where lads
Who had got into disgrace immediately had
recourse to enlistment in order to avoid their temporal.)
toasters. With that class voluntary enlistment was at
an end. All the rest were voluntary in name, but it was
ill reality brought about by the artifices and
remises ef recruiting parties.—(Hear.) The place
which they adjourned was the public-house, and mei;
were tern eted to enlist by the fallacious promise 01
bounty tneney when they were in a state in which they
• Could hardly be called amenable for their actions, am
the unhappy man too often found that in a moment of
inebriety he hail disposed of his liberty for life
44e did not mean by this that the men became slaves ;
but there could not be a doubt that they surrenderei
their own life and disposition to those who corn-
'tancled them, and when a man found himself i,
this position he often deserted in the first moment o'
disappointment. He is no doubt arrested ii
the
course of a few clays, and the man who ha
voluntarily joined the regiment is brought back
Incustody and involuntarily made a soldier. The,
uey had often heard of men who had maimed them
se',
es, under the influence of such feelings a,
those
engendered by a dial ke to the service:
and when they considered that a man was taken away al-
t°e'rether from domestic ties—when they were severed le
the duties he has to hen he knew he had no hop.
• the
his fireside except under a high fine,
didlll shape of purchase-money, he (Mr. Fox Mauhe
Whether,sa that it behoved the House to considei
Itorenew that the army was receiving somewle-e
by r attention than it had done for many years past.
painful enlistment, and by removing those
raighul circumstances which he had described, the;
able t not make the life of a soldier less objectien-
• uay,
Improve present, and at the same time
not Prete the condition of the army. He de
all thoserkl t°
the effect- say that limited enlistment would curt
"15, but lie did think that it would hay,
of
other resets curing many of them. But wit(
the subjecutres of' improvement such as formed
the late of the military administration o!
of Government, and with the measures
Go-
vernment he improvementd. being carried on by the present Go-
had now rideans
eolnieve that many of the evils of whirl:
theyto complete would be effectual!)
cured if they had recourse to limited enlistment. I-1(
fleet( hardly say a great many of the evils in connexion
With the army had been removed, that the discipline,
had been improved, especially now they had a,
little of the degrading punishment of the lash
'What he proposed to do with regard to the limiting the,
period of enlistment WiLS to alter the period to ten year:
in the infantry, and twelve 3 ears in the cavalry, artillery.
and ordnance departments. After that period elapsed
an Option should be given to the soldier of re-enlisting
the infantry soldier for eleven years additional, and tie
Cavalry for twelve years, making, in the whole, twenty-
°lle years for the one and twenty-four years for th,
other—the period when they could claim their dis
Charge. He also took a power in the Bill to en-
-811,10 the commanding officer to retain the sol
e "ler for another year when the regiment we,-
abroad, should the public service require it. He
might be asked the reason why he made any
clifference in the terms of the period for infantry 'ate:
ejlvalry soldi,rs. The difference of training however, was
the,„ reason of the extension of the period for the latter.
4110 Government proposed then that they shoul,,
have the opportunity of enrolling themselves fo,
I deferred pension, and during the time the)
Were enrolled for that pension they should serve
twelve ay ye sin each ar, uon the same princip a,
pend sioners who were entitled under the 6th, leith.
9th, and 10th of Victoria. The deferred pension-
sneuld equal in amount the lowest sum which wa
at present fixed by royal warrant. After ten years
Zelive service in the army, if the soldier enrolled himself on
is discharge, it was proposed to require twenty-two years'
at the end of which period he would obtain a clear
title to a deferred pension. The effect of this measure would
e, that a person entering the army at the age of eighteen
Would serve for ten years, which would bring him to the ag,
Of twenty-eight ; if, then, he enrolled himself at the age ot
t
-wenty-eight to serve for twenty two years, at the rate of
twelve days per annum, he would then, at the age of fifty, re
eive a small deferred pension, of which he would be left in
I wninterrupted njoyrnent during the remainder of his life.
Thin plan oeld therefore, affect a double obj
ect—it would in-
ducee many young' men to enter the army, with the full pur-
rh" of spending the first years of their enlistment in the ranks,
„owing that their d,scharge would take place at a
Period when they were still young, and fitted to enter into
nY other kinds of business, or turn their minds to agricul
rural,
mechanical, or mercantile pursuits, and if they en-
rolled themselves for a deferred pension they would carry into
the society and the country these habits of order and regu. '
rttY which they had learned in their military care r,
4`,!1(1 also provide a reserve force of great importance, should
the
eountry be called upon on a sudden to defend its
sthat
from foreign aggression or to man its garrisons, so
ttat the troops in active service might be employed elsewhere.
He_ took it upon himself to say that these pensioners, especially
behind walls, or in entrenchments, or in any service requiring
11°t much labour, were as thoroughly conversant with the
duties of soldiers as when they carried their fireloeks at Wa-
terloo, or even previous to that, and twenty or five-and-twenty
thousand of these men would be sufficient to provide
for any sudden emergency which might arise. A few
regulations for these pensioners constitute the principles
Of the present Bill. He did not intend to make the Bill
retrospective, for the prerogative of the Crown could do much
in the present case, and therefore if he was asked why he did
not extend the privilege to the army at present, he would say
that the authority cf the Sovereign could of its own accord
effect all that was desired, and although he did not see an
danger in the extension of the principle, yet common prudence
required that they should have some experience of its working.
Even supposing that such a privilege were to be extended to
the army, that every man were to receive his discharge who
had been ten years in the ranks, the first thing they would have
to do would be to place such restrictions upon the regulation
as to hinder too great a deflux of men from the ranks, and such
a system would cause even more discontent than at present
existed. In the present system, under five years' service a man
might purchase his discharge for 20/. ; after five years he might
purchase it for 181., provided he had a distinguishing marl:
for good conduct. After seven years' actual service he might
Purchase it for 151. ; and after ten years' service, with two
marks for good conduct, he might purchase it for 5/. ; and
after twelve years, with two marks, he was entitled to a free
discharge; and after fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen years, he
could receive a pension of 4d. or 6d. per day. Although he
4.41 not intend to extend this plan to those at present in th
t-VIY, he anticipated good results from it, because he did nut
ink those complaints which had beenmade were well founeete
Although he had adopted this plan with respect to those in the
lalaY and those yet to join it, he should take care that all the
revisions of those warrants which emanated from his Right
Ii on. Friend who had preceded him should be punctually and
terally fulfilled. For these rea,ors he did not intend to
li •
mit enlistment to the present army, but he did propose io
extend it to those vet to join it, and that they should be car-
lied into effect, if the House should agree to them, as soon se
under
could bring them into operation. He had proposed them
more
the conviction that it would make the servic much
t sire popular than it was in this country at present.—
~Lsear, hear.) The public or popular feeling in this matter
at ooe which in this case they might safely legislate for—
(Hear, hear)—because those who were most deeply interested
10 the matter were the masses from whom the army was
recruited, and unless they made the service palatable
(Hear, hear)—and agreeable to those classes they
alight
rely upon it that, with the exception of some
distinguished corps, such as the Horse Guards, the Life
Guards, and regiments of a similar character, which he be-
lievedttla were much sought after by a higher class of individuals
find'i those ho generally joined our regiments, they would
much difficulty in getting good men unless they made the
service palatable to the masses. 1 hey might depend upon i
Poet would not get the class of recruits they required in so im-
portant a branch of the public service. But on ecenomical
grounds he should recommend limited enlistment—(Hear)—
because the expense of keeping up recruiting depots in various
!arts‘ of the country, and of transmiting recruits backwards
and forwards, and by circuitous routes, Ails great. In many
instances
presentes all
that expense might be avoided, if the
service were made more popular, and instead of the
system of recruiting, depots were established
ill different places to which recruits might repair.