The Sun.
London, England, 1802-04-14 00:00:00

men inrotled, should be divided into classes, that la
rule class should be placed those who were unmarri-
ed, and under 30 years of age ; in another, those
4ho were marriAi, but had no children; in another,
those with ore child ; and so on ; by this means, as
all the classes need not be called out together, re.
course might be had, in the first instance, to the
youngest men, and those with the smallest families.
With respeCt to Substitutes, he omerely meant to
propose, that the Substitutes should be taken gout
those who resided in the same County as those
fo; whom they served. As to the organization of
the Regiments, he intended to propose, that each
Companv should have a Captain, and that Field_
Of should not have Companies. With respect
to the fOrmation of the Regimental Staff; it was his
intention to propose, that there should nor be a Pay-
master to any Corps which consisted of less than
three Companies ; his object was to prevent the
great expence which arose, at present, from small
Corps having as large a Staff as those consisting of
much greater numbers. He also intended to pro-
pose, that there should not he a Surgeon to any
Corps consisting of less than two Companies, and
that no person should be a Surgeon to any Corps
of Militia, until he had been examined at Sur-
geons' Hall, and until his skill had stood the
test of an examination before competent judges ;
he proposed also, that they should be placed on the
same footing as Surgeons of laintry in the Army.
As to the Non-Commissioned Officers, it was his in.
tention to adhere to the 26th of his Majesty, with. re-
spect to their number, being one Serjeant and one
Corporal for every 30 men. , But it was his inten-
tion to propose, that the Serjeants, Corporals and
Drummers should be bound to reside near the place
where the arms of the regiment were deposited ;
and that they' should he under the care of the Adju-
tant. It was intended that they should obtain a
perfect knowledge of. the exercise, by which means,
the men, when called out, would he easily taught
in the prescribed time during which they were to
be out, whilst if the Serjeants and Corporals were de-
ficient in skill, when the men were called out to exer-
cise, it was evident that a great delay must take place
in the latter obtaining a knowledge of their exer-
cise. He should propose also to the House, that the
pay of the Serjeants, Corporals and Drummers
should be increased and made very near that of the
same description of persons in the army ; that the
pay of a Serjeant of Militia should be is. 7d. per
day, of a Corporal ts. 2a. and of a Drummer the
same as a Private, is. : he should also propose, that
if any Non-Commissioned Officer was absent,
with the leave.of his Officer, that he should receive
his former rate of pay ; if he was absent without
leave, it would, of course, be forfeited. With re-
sped to training and exercising, he intended to pro-
. pose, that instead of exercising two-thirds for 28
days, the whole should be exercised for at days.
The e:olence of exercising the whole for ai days,
would be the same as exercising v.vo.thirds for 28
days, and the farmer period would be sufficient-for
the purpose. When. the Supplementary Militia were
called out, 20 days was found sofiScient to teach
them their exercise, and in 21 days the Militia
would at least learn how to prime and load, apd
fire, and to march, without falling down. As to
the embodying,. he proposed that the same power
sh'iu!d be given to His Majesty of sending the
M ilitia to any part of Great Britain, as-at present.
It had been suggested that they might be suffered
to go out of the Kingdom, but he should not make
.stny such proposition. He should confine himself to
what bad been before rate pradice, leaving the other
consideration to the exigency of the moment ; and
whenever it.at exigency should happen, as it had not
long since, he was convinced there was spirit enough
in Great Britain to carry any measure into effeCt that
such exigency might render necessary. He had
every reason -to believe, that our Brethren in the
Northern part of the Kingdom, were now perfealy
satiAed with the mode of raising the Militia, and
that they would most readily, whenever. .called upon
for that purpose, march to any part of Great Bri-
tain. He wished, however, to propose, that in -
case His Majesty should not think_ it necessary to
embody the whole, that His Majesty should be
empowered to call out any part of the Militia, and
to distribute them as he should think necessary.—
lie had stated, that it was proposed to augment the
Militia of England to 60,000, and that of Scotland
to tz.ooo, making altogether 72,b00. He con_
dueled by moving for leaveto bring in a Bill, " to
:mend and consolidate the Laws relating to the
.in that part of Great Britain called England,
and for augmenting the number of the Militia."
Mr. SqERIDAN said, he had listened wilt
great pleasure to the very able and 'distinft manner
in which the Right Hon. Gentleman had opened
this subjea to the House. Undoubtedly although
every body must wish to see every possible degree
of economy praCtised, yet it would be, at the same •
time, necessary that such a force should be main-
tained in this country-, as the general state of affairs
in Europe required. The statement of the Right
1--hm. Gentleman had given him the more pleasure,
because he was always a sincere friend to the Mili-
tia Establheient, and therefore he had viewed
with n, teat regret the encroachmentswhich had of late
been made upon it, which had broken in very con-
siderably upon that constitutional system of de-
fence. The plan of consolidating all the alts upon
this subject, appeared to him to he a very good one,
and he lit Ted when the Militia was placed upon its
former footing, that it would not again be encroached
upon, as it had lately been. Be hoped, that when'
Gentlemen bad spent so much time in disciplining
their regiments, and in gaining the affection of their
men, that they would not again be, placed in the
situation of mere Dtill Serjeants, anti that the prin-
ciple of Militia Law would not again -be de- -
parted from. He perfetily agreed with the Right •
Hon. Gentleman as to what he said respeCting the
Surgeons of the Militia; but an Hon. Baronet had
some time ago presented a . petition reseeding the.
half-pay of Snrgeons in that Establishment, which
be hoped theßight Hon. Gentleman would take into
his consideration. He wished to say a few words
upon a subject not directly connected with the ques- -
tion before the House, but as the Right Hort-Gen-
tleman hrtd alluded to it in the course of his speech,
he hoped he might be permitted-to make a few ob-
servations upon it. The Right Hon. Gentleman,
:tiler paying some compliments. to the Navy of this •