The Sun.
London, England, 1804-04-26 00:00:00

1804.

,
increase our Regular Force, is most ry
.airent, it
can have no such tendency, foe alte filefici&icy
-must •be supplied by new levies ; it ,is a mere in-
terchange of Force between the two ,Countries,
without any addition to the general Force of the
Empire suitable to the emergency of the present
time ; it is a measure of exchange in the.,services
of the two parts of the Empire, instead pf limit-
ing each to, its own county, and it is nothint, more.
The Militia of one Country was indeed, oneone
casioni sent to the other, but then it was ifoon the
ground of a special emergency, and this cal justly
form a precedent in favour of any similar Measure
when a sitbilar emergency shall occur. At Present
fin such emergency exists, nor can afford aetsallia.
tion fo the adoption of a measure, the object of
which is to transfer the Militia of stinegooritry
to another. But at any rate, Sir, the measttre, the
plim for augmenting and transferring the 'lrish Mis
litia, must, in the nature of things, be distant in its
operations ; whereas the grand object whieltought
to eritage- the attention of 'government ttid the
Country, is to raise such a force as may speedily
be rendered adequate to answer its own purposes,
and at the same time likely to be no less efficient
than permanent. A Bill may be passed in a very
short time to transfer the Militia of Ireland, but
for a long time it must be a dead letter, because
the Irish Militia cannot he transferred until the
propoied augmentation shall be near)), completed-;
.and if it 'cannot._ be transferred till that ieriod,
which mush he at some distance, arrives, are we. to
sit still and do nothing towards speedily putting the
Country in .a situation to, smile at the ' efrs)rts of its
Enemies ? 'To put the' Country in such a sitSuoi
tion by the speediest means in our power, ought. to
form: the present object of our inquiry ; and is
the present measure likely to attain so desirable a
purpose? I?, this a proper measure to increase' the
Militia in Ireland beyond its prooer lithits, in a
mode that exposes it to all the disadvantages of a,
competition of the Regular Force; which is allowed
on all hands tia'be the most excellent we can possess,
and in the way of 'the augmentation of which tici
obstacle that can poisiblY be prevented ought to
stand, and this job at a time when we are su anxi-,
ous to have this roost efficient species of force car-
ried to a high extent ? The augmentation of, the
Militia appears already to • have had the effett of
stoppirg the recruiting of the Army of Reserve in
Englaod, with which it has confessedly come into
competition. Admitting that the Army of Reserve
-came into 'comperitiOn with the recruiting of the
Regular Troops,in the ordinary way of recruiting,
'still it formed a' resource from whence the Regular
-Army has been supplied ; and -are we then to el:
change this for the adoption of a mode of
petition which shuts up this source of supply, and
affords no aid to the Regular Army ? But this-is
..'accompanied with another objeCtion, 'which has not
hitherto been noticed; in England, where the Mi-
litia is almost complete, the Army of Reserve
is stopped : in Ireland; where a considerable part of
the Militia is to be raised, which comes in -a greater
degree in competition with the Regular Troops, and
is at the same time a worse species of force than the
Reserve; it is to be augmented. But on looking
into this Bill, Ifind, that in Ireland, ilscArmy of
Reserve is not stopped -(ableseving the Chancellor of
the Exchequer shakii7g his bead), at least it .is-ribt
stopped in this Bill. I know not what the intention
of Ministers might have been (a.lau:g.h.); but I never
heats it mentioned, nor was it ever, as far as I know,
stated by them. But however, Sir, if it be the inten-
tion of Ministers not to stop the Army of ReserVe
in 'lreland, it does indeed take away the force of
the objection' which I was about to urge; but then it
-leaves the matter in its original state ; so that the full
deficiency, which is about 8000 men, are to be raised,
and at the same time the Militia is to be augmented
in preference to the Army of Reserve ; which is
neither more nor lesi than substituting the worse
species of force for the better, when- both. may be
obtained with equal facility. Thus, without the
Chance of procuring greater numbers, is the worse
sots of force preferred to the better. A force
which is so limited in its services, which affords no
'comparative chance of recruits to the Regular Army,
is preferred to the Army of Reserve, which
possesses so many superior advantages, and this
too without any greater facility in raising the
One than the other; and by these means the
professed objet of the . policy which Ministers
themselves have in view, is counteracted. As
to the lathes measure, for facilitating the levy of
the Regulars; it appears to the last degree weak
and puerile to think of raising Men by a lower
bounty; and tempt them to a sort of service by
a smaller, which requires a greater temptation.
No answer can be given to this objeetion, egcept
that One of two things is intended: Ist, That
Men may be raised by Means of connexions; which
subsist under the denomination of claims, or some
other ties of the same nature ; and if this is not the
intention, then the answer to the objection 'must
be, that rank is to be given to Officers' as' an en-
couragement to them to raise men; and this is nei.
ther more nor less than giving a higher bounty
in another form, to which, on all hands, thereq.
pears to be a fundamental. objection. Thus the lis
that species of Force to be suspended,' which 2 af-
fords a source of supply to Our regular TroopOind
nothing.in the world that can for a moment be tti.
slated as adequate toProdticethe proper effet9:‘,. to.
be substituted in its stead ; and therefore I shoind.
suppose that even those who have at all tirries been
the most hostile to the measure of the Army ofßes
-serve, and have thought it from the beginning much
'more objectionable than I ever did, will be dispo%;ed
to oppose its Suspension for the preSet-o, But I
will even go farther, and say, that thiise who °Nett
tothe high boontiCs to which it has given rise,