The Sun.
London, England, 1804-02-02 00:00:00

sions that might he vonralee to turn, by ereatosg.
a prejudice which, as long as it was permitted'to;
exist, must necessarily cause a bias in the judgment of
the CoUrt, if indeed any such prejudice could exist
where the learning was so extensive and the judg-i
'went so strong.—There were two positions,whiCh-,
were likely to Create a prejudice against the side
,of
the case which he had ,to support—one of them'
sprung out of the mere dry meaning of the vapid'
f‘ Volunteer ;" the other had its origin in the 'Op-
posed breach of faith of the Legislature towards the.
Volunteers,'in extending their liability to continues
in the Service on terms to which themselves aeever!
assented to, by Parliament having ingrafted. on the
Engagement cf the Volunteers something beyondi
both the letter and the spirit of their original con-1
traa.
With respea to the first, namely, on the suppos.l
ed meaning of the word Volunteer," it had t
been treated as a solecism in larguage, to call the
service of a Volunteer in any degreocompulsory.—
Now he apprehended that a Volunteer, although
he had an original option entirely in himself, yet he
might enter into an engagement whicth was obli-
gatory ; for although he was perfea.ly free before he
entered, yet having entered and promised to perform
--a-duty, he was bound to perform that duty, for
'although he may be a Volunteer and 'well entitled
to that appellation, yet he may be taken so far to
'have parted from his independence as to bind him.
aelf to perform his Promise ; so that the meaning of
Volunteer was capable of a sense that was some-
what more precise than the stria gramatical. mean-
ing of the* word iiself—He,. illustrated this. by a
familiar instance of those who are Volunteers
in the Army of Reserve, who although they
are so denominated, as Contra.:distinguished from
those who . are ballotted, yet when they enter
they have both the same duty to perform.—But
although 'he untended that a Volunteer could, not
resign after, his services had been accepted,.and
lie had ben enrolled, yet he had his freedom
entire until lie was aatially ordered to naaech-7
lie was not until then compelled to do any thing.
Tie was • his own master completely as far as Law
went ; he cant(' not be drilled nor compelled, to ap-
pear in Regimentalti, but by his own consent. He
was bound only as a Soldier when under orders to
March ; his attending Daills,,,Scc. were only that
which hodid in order to become able to perform the
solemn engagement he had entered into with qn-
vernment in support of his Country ; and surely
there was a difference between, the volimtary situa-
tion of a man at the origin or inducement of his
entering in'to an engagement, and, his
,obligation
afterwards to perform it.. Thus .a.Volunteer was
flee either to enter or to reftise to enter, but having
entered, he may not be free to depart from the duty
attached to that charaaer, This play upon the weld
Volunteer," had created impressions very unfa.
vourable to the fair consideratjon of theargutnent.
Upon the other subject, that of the aliedged breach
of faith. of, Parliament in ingrafting on the Volun.
teers some conditions to which they were not sub-
jea originally, he, maintained there was. no such
breach of faith. For that in the Artily ep masseEill, every man from the age of 17 to 55, (and
there were but very few either above the one or
below the other
b age in the Volunteer Corps), was
ound immetuate to some ua. `sal
G
forth to be trained by Officers appointed by the
King, to march to any part of the Kingdom, and
to join the Regular Force: The Volunteer., on the
contrary, was not, to be trained at all unless he
liked it; and then he was 'commanded' by . his owu
Officer. He .was not baund even to march 'further
than the limits of his service, if be agreed Only to
a limited service, nor was.he boirnd in join the Res
gular Force ; so that when Parliament was making
a law to affeet every maii in the kingdom, the Vo-
lunteer Inet,With particular indulg,ence. He admitted
the Volunteers to,be most meritorious men, -hat he
denied that Parliament had:been guilty of any breach
`of faith towards them.--lie admired the simile 'of
his Learned Friend, who had compared the VOlUn_
Leers to a Wave of the raging. Sea, ready to
overwhelm every thing that
.Opposed it, add al.
In .eeci 44t, they avereguideti by principles of per_-
ied honour, but,he thought it, was prudent in the
Legislature. to keep thisaniility: and overwhelming
force together, lest by some accident it might dis-
perse and lose its efficacy.—He did hOt mean to say
that the .Volunteers world not he hound by their Ho.
nour to continue true to their Sianclard, but Honour
alone Visa's not .sufficiegt
,fi.)r a 'Legislature
,whose
Easiness it was io make LaWs to preserve -a Na-
tion. There were now perhaps about three hon-
sited and forty thousand Volunteers, trained and un-
der Arms ;—suppose, they were to resign two or
three days before the'Eacmy landed, what, would be
the contusion ?—But it might he 'said that the
King had the power to call out the Mass—true,
but what would, an undisciplined Mass of Men
be better than a Mob, and mixt with the Vol
lanteers, Would render them much less availing
than if they were. all „Yolunteets trainecla:,:titit it
might be said, that the' King had the power to
place them in the same condition as they are in now.;
true; so His Majesty (night, but of what use in such
a case would the power to resign be ? Of no use
whatever ;. it would then only appear that such of
the Volunteers who had resigned would. be cons-
pelled to serve, by which they .would have.lost the
grace
,of theireoriginal , voluntary -charafter, and
serve on convulsion..
He then proceeded through all the Clauses in the
Ads of Parliament of -rise ;.3.4.th Of the. King, which
was the fisat VOlunteer-ACt.;.and the: Army of. Re-
serve- Act, by fwitiChshe admitted that a Voluzireei
Might resign, but by the Clauses of the 4.3. d of the
-King, he maintained that a Volunteer could
not resign, and thaihythis provision the Legislature
wen soar froth doing any thing harsh to Volunteers,
that it held out to--themlicetiliar indulgenties.—He
-thoughteho had softie reuum .to complain,' not hi:.
his Learned'Friend, My. Easat NE, but °fills client,
for the roam:ea-in which that opinion. had been pub-
Aished,-for althougli thatsteinicira Might be extremely'
valuable, as it Certainjaawasolaborate and very able,
.yet it mighnberapplicable to the case :of theiodivia
beinglcuhclusive on the case of all rho
Volunteers:Of-this kin.geoniaabut it had,been-Pek'

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