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

on a plan or discipline similar to the Regulars, and
•
to aft with that description of fotee, was manifest.
The Volunteers have . been reduced into Battalions,
and -tleeLinsuaions issued for their regulation by
14is Royal Highness • tile. Commander in Chief,
.9ncli being the express intention of Government,
according in
,my vievi of the subjea, there is an
essential defeet in every step they have taken, and
what I now ask of them is, that they should take
eifeaual means. of carrying „their oivn- plans into
execution with prompt and- immediate effea.---L.
They obviously mean to make the Volunteers.ade-
quate to aft with Regulars. In answer to this,, I'say,
conform your pradice to your intention. Take
every measure
,that will render the Volunteers fit
for the service you intend them. Now, what is
it that His Majesty's Ministers, in faa, have
done'? The Volunteers are to be called out twenty
days in a year, and this, in, their conception, is to,
make them equal to the arduous duties expeded
from ;heat. Many, it is well known, only. attend,
and are capable of attending part of :those, days,;
and of those who do attend-thewhele time, it cannot.
be, thought that in that short period they can .'be-
adequately qualified, according to the present plaP
and rules of discipline by which they are regulated,
Under these, the Officer can scarcely be said to have
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power to enforce the silence necessary to catty on
the most ordinary degree of duty,•wieh that steadi-
ness and attention which 'is requisite. It is no:
excuse to His Majesty's Ministers at. this moment,
that the House . may formerly have sanaioned the
plan on which they have aaed. That plan'ewas
produced last summer, undersircumsfatices of a very
urgent nature, which iequired measures of "immediate
defence, without, particular
.attention to the mi.
nuti of regulation,' or 'the perfealon of -the plan.
-Now ,the evil. was very different ; time had, elaps-
ed sufficient to originate every improvement of
Which it was capable ; yet Ministers, thOugh
frequently admonished of the subjea, have in' fuel,
and troth originated no, means of improvement.
Whatever. 'Pressed'by the urgency of present dan-
ger, the peoplesmay, and have „sewn, every disposi-
tion to step forward ; they. have done 30 at great
inconvenience to themselves and, private concerns ;
but this they had a right to complain of, that Minis.
'cm had in no degree matured the plan, which they
even had not the merit of originating, but borrowed
from their predecessors,. anderequiring from the
people a permanent sacrifice of time and labour, on
principles applicable only to an urgency ola tem.:
porary nature, and being adapted for that occasion,
were not in their praftical effefis, minutely ex-
amined, The next point I wish to advert to is, atIO
the instruftions given :- on this subjeft I have, upon
several forther occasions, suggested Those improve.
ments that I thought them capable of, but though
not contradieled, they were always disposed of. by
Ministers in the language of the States General 'of
Holland, ad referendum : they were left for fu-
tuee consideration ; which, in point of fait, never
took place. What I have particularly to corn:
plain
,of, is the languor and inconsistency in
Ministry;, they seem, on several occasions, un,
able to.cmnbat the reason of measures, and seem.
ingly adopt. theni, but immediately sink from
their assumed vigour, and frustrate or neutralize
the plan in their weak and desultory execution of it.
On a former occasion I pointed out the necessity, or
at least utility of, Field Officers, Adjutants, and
Setjeant-Majors to complete the Establishment 'of
the Volunteers. This certainly'was not denied by
Ministers: they took, however, a few days to con-
sider of it, and then, to make the measure entire.
ly their own,
ethey re.jeaed the Field Officers, ap.
proved. of the Adjutants, and left the Serjeant-Mae
jars: uncertain, though dependant on the very
same principle. Agana, as to the. Adjutant, they .
contrive to puzzle and perplex that regulation ; af-'
ter some delay, they agreed to allow an Officer of
that description to Corps of 400 men, provided they
shOuld exercise 80 days, although they were to re.
ceive only so. days' pay. Now, if Adjutants are
useful,- they must he equally sn, to any other num.
hers as well as 400 ; and if they were needful
for those Corps that exercise So days in a year,tliey
=lst be more so to those that-exercise less. But why,
it may be asked, if 86 days exercise is useful,
why if pay is received at. all, should. it be only for
twenty days ? There is a puerility and inconSist,.;
ency in the measures' adopted on these subjefis by
His Majesty's NM-asters, that spew them ineipeble
of following up any principle they adopt, with
strength .and vigour. They could, not deny the
reason of the measure proposed,' and therefore adopt
the prinCiple, but immediately they ,becnme fearful
of a vigour alien to their own charafler, and frus-
trke its effeds by the confusion and tardiness.of its
execution ; it is 'impossible , that any thing can
more strongly prove their total want of origi—
nal vigour, or borrowed saeacity. Of themselves
they suggest
enothiag ; what they take from
others, they neutraliza, and spoil in its execution ;,
they can neither infuse spirit into any, measure
themselves, nor let that :quality, when ,suggested
by Others,- have its natural worse ; every thing,
under their managetnetst,- becomes taene,•itikeivarnie:
and inadequate- to its end.
,As to the other point,
that respe'ting the introduaion of Serjeant-Makers'
from'the Line into the Volunteers, this was recom.
mended early in December, and yet the point was
not at this moment decided. At first it was said,
that Officers of this description could not 'be found
in numbers sufficient e then, that they would nor.
come forward without an allowance, by way of half_
pay. Deulats and difficulties were started, bait nothing
was decided. Ministers, in this instance, neither
knew how to rejeft, nor how to adopt the proposi-
tion, .and nothing 'but hesitation and inconsistency
marked- their conduit; qualities, of all others, the
most unfit for the discharge of the arduotis duties
they have at this moment to perform. SuCh, in the
'instances I have now pointed out, has been the inde-
cision and weakness of their condua, that when the
Volunteers were under 'discipline to be led against
an enemy, weeks and months pass away in doubt
what plarvof discipline is to he adopted. On my
return to the County of Kent, after•tn,king the sug.
gestions I have noticed, I found orders had been re.
ceived by Officers in my Distria, to keep their men
in readiness to march against the Enemy at'
,a mO-
- warning, and in this state they have remained.
six weeks and more ; and all this while eepeaieg
thenadaily to meet the Enemy,Government would rot
deteitnine whether they should ileac Serjeen;alo4-