The Sun.
London, England, 1804-04-24 00:00:00

what T. thought my duty in that respell. But,
it is .needless to refer to the.past ; enough still'
reTnains to be done, even upon the supposition that
the War came 'a? unexpededly upon-Ministers, as it
did on,tlleCooprry. Supposing,this to ltave beep
the.'faa, we haue to consider how our efforts have
beep .co.,4bjned, and what -.improvement has been
:rnacle,in'-our means of Defence, Alluding to that
:part to which the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Fox)
..ibad particularly adverted,
.what has been done
since the first day of the Declaration of War ? Were
the minds of Nlinisters even then diSposed to give
any encouragctr..ent to our resonrces ? So far .from
rota y blind did they -2appear to the dangers
of our ,it..2.4tion (Load " Hear! Hear !" ),
. -

that it was the common -conversation among
them, that. they did not mean 'to _call out
,the
whole nuoiber of Volunteers that- had been on
duty dlning the last War ; but observed, that it
traf .uon-onsary to go to so great an extent with
the Foices as their predecessors. It was known then
thar,insiead of encouraging the Volunteers, the means
of'c.alling them but were suspended, and that the de-
sign. of forming a great plan of Defence for the
Country originated, not from Ministers,: but from
talbsequent.discussions.in this House, and the zeal of
the Country, which saw the danger, and: pressed for-
ward.upbn the-Government in order to guard againsi
ir, and suggested a plan to which the minds of Mi.
ni,ters appear not till then to have been dire6.ted.
Vi d ti)en, .Iyhen this body of-Patrints pressed for.
-ward in Defen.ci of.their Cot:wry, how was their

;caul directed, how • was that , measure managed
which hati -hcen-so tartilly.,brought. forward I Sir,
•
shalt-not enter, upon a detailed account of. all The
confusion that prevailed, and. whiclomust have made
, -
a ptetty.Tdiep.impreivon on . the -House ;..but with
aeves'2.aao,the great question of Exemptions (I .atll
poe.nowa arguing, against the propriety of its be:
ing continued, but questioning the wisdom of the,
original grant) what was the c.onduaaof Ministers ?
'Why., they officiously pressed these.exemptions upon
tlitse who did-nOt.want them, as if" they had been..
in !baste to stop- up 'the sources •feorn whence the:
Army
,was to be recruited.. I myself, as well as
many other persons in the HOuse, must know, that'
these exemptions came upon ,the
,Volonteers un-
aoslght-for and unexpeaed : and when they
,were
granted, 'the conditions were so obscure, that they
Coislel not possibly tell whether they had them or not.
Now as to the power of resignation,. this is,in my opi.
pion, the best means of keeping up a force of the
naittreof the. Volunteers. But without discussing
I.he propriety of it, it is only' to be observed, that
the .10 was drawn up in such a dark aosi obscure
manner, that when it was stibtnitted.toathe examia
tisin of the Attorney-General, for Whose charac-
ter and professional abilities I have the greatest
respea, he decided the affair in one way, and
the Court of King's Bench in another. Haviog,
Isidwever, the Attorney-General's opinion, Minis"-
.te.ia-Were extremely industrious in cirCulating it
othotsg all the-Volunteer-Corps, but without ena-
bling, the Commanding Officer to giant- a_discharge,
whilis they... Might haye done if they thought that
the thing was improper. 'But instead of employing
this simple method, they waited till next Session, and
then brought in a Bill;tb make that law. which was
law before,' Here, however; two radical &leas in
manageineut-ot the 'Volunteers occur, to Whreit
1.-Would wish shortly to advert. In'the first place, it
was left to the discretion of Ministers (and the dis-
cretionary power was a very proper one) in what
manner this force was to be distributed, _and whoa'
ptoportio.ns were to be accepted in' the different
couoties. What followed from this discretionary
piwer ? -The consequences
.ought certainly to have
been, that' the first objea (If attention should be the
defence of the Maritime Counties of*Kent, Sussex,
and Essex ; the second the great Military 'Arsenals,
and the third,' the Most vulnerable, points thraugh.
out the where our great manufaaurerss
ere established. These ought in all cases to. have
hid the preference.. But that discretionary' power,
hife as. it was claimed, and speeCirta as the claim was
complied with, was very issadequately exercised.
First, it was resoissed to confine the whole to _six times
the Militia, imilthe.rnOst aingular inattention appear-
ed to the situations of the different Counties .in ac_
Opting the propositions ; and in this respea the con-
diaefof Ministers is liable to the most seridaS animad-
version. But even this resolution was very ill timed,
and I at this moment_ see a witness of the fait (look-
ing at Mr.SatEßlAis), whose pretnature.and ardent
zeal hurried him on
~ too rapidly ; for that 'Hon.
Gentleman will, recollect, that with the full con-
seaf(of His Majesty's Minister's, he Moved for a
Vote of Thaoks to. the Volunteers, and carried it,
which was. intended, not only as- a reward for their
past zeal, bpi also as an encouragement for them to
catty their zeal much farther, and for this ptirpose it
Was voted that a list of all the Volunteers, who
shOuld enroll themselves during the interval from one_
Session to another,- should be laid on the Table, and
entered on the Journals of the House; but it did
not occur to him also to move the Thanks of the
House to those who. should be disbanded ; but after
their names had been entered upon the Journals of
the HOnse, to Convey their fame and patriotism to
pPaterity, a Circular Letter was dispatched to de-
.citnate those which he had wished to, multiply ten-
fold if he could, .and to tell 'them that there was no
.farther occasion for their services. This, Sir, puts
Me in mind of 'the use of the word. thanks in
French, whichimplied,'When used to a person who
held any office, that those concerned were so sensible
of his services that they could not endure to trouble
hitiaany longer ; which was a civil way of telling
h'slin to go abut his business, for that there
,was, no
Miller occasion for aheSe services. Now, as to the
regulations of the Volunteers,' a discretionary power
,Vas in this respea left in the 'hands of Ministers,
which
shad been
_utterly and totally negleaed.—
They had obtained the power of accepting.Volun.
tears, under such regulations as His Majesty should
epooint.. 'Whateyet dilutes,- therefore, about pre.
Cadence, whatever:dis disputes about the dee-lion of Offi-
cc Pa, or any other matters, had arisen 'among Voluna
tees, they are entirely owing to His Majesty!ti
piste is—(/oti eriis of "Hear/ Hear!")—The next
point in which the Condo& of Government had been
highlY objeaionable was, the reluaance they evin-
ced in -granting money for the payment and training
of 'the Volunteers, and the delays andfluataatiOtis•
which h'ad taken`nlaCe in eonsequence. That it was
I,e.tent intention of Ministers to form the Volunteers
tit: •. •