The Sun.
London, England, 1803-12-14 00:00:00

, . .
'.ind if this..wav-dOncirliliOut the consent of the
Vuluntee.r, it was a (nudist' good faith with such
,a man. .11 this Bill pfloscd in the form in which it
stood now, the condition of the Volunteer 'Wag to
altered by it : he .hid nat v„,,„„, was promised
to lun When he entered, and therefore
sure was a hteach of good faith towards- him,
that by. Parliament ; good faith ought to be stria!),
olisryett by every body, but more ,by
Parliament. tt , was, ekiretnely iMportint to Ob.

'serve, that in this Volunteer service there was at
present no. sort of discipline In this great
except the terms on which they dyad beet, accepted.
M'any of them had -discipliop,,withln themselves,
and' which they obseryed fob:, their own regulation
and internaharrangement ;.bat if Parliament inter-
fered to impose on _them .some discipline to which
they did not•agree at the time their services were
accepted, it
_would .do That_ which it had no tight
to .do, because it was altering the condition on
which the Volunteers- entered, and they'were en.
titled to insist. on the terms on which_ they en.
tered; and heti he could itot help saying, that part
of the speech! of the Right lion. Gentleman onder
the.Pallery (Mr. R9sej appeared to him to have a
mischieVous tendency, because it went to favour
Ilf.ift breach of faith., It was impossible, without
breaking the condition on which the Volunteer en-
tered, to alter any, of it, or tosuhjea him to any
thing else without breach of faith. It- was Aid
to be desieable 'to put • the Volunteers ''With the
Regiments 'of the Line. That' warliadeed:•the
case of those who might be' called out under the
Deterice Adts butiit was expressly otherwise :with
regard to the VOttit..tteta:; :for 'Parliament had ek-
prcssly declared illa•C'the: Volunteers should not be
called upon to join the Regimentai eif the Line,
and to do otherwisep4w would be to Violate the
faith which was tlilekilasis of the Volunteer Service ;
and it it was.pentiSsed: to make that alteration,
the engagement :betwee' Goverment 'and the
Volunteers was. dissolved ; and if measures of this
kind were to he insisted upon, he was afraid the
'Country would be deprived of a great,deg of Ser.!
vice it might otherwise. have.' The c Volunteers'
were an immense body of men, and they. Were, of
course, 'very attentive to What paseedcoecerning
public affairs, and particularly respelling them-
selves ; and care should be taken to' bring no.
thing .fOrward that was ineonsistenl with the faith
Parliament had pledged, itself to keep to.,
wards them. He, was, however, confident, that
Ministers would not countenance, nor would Par-,
liareent pass, any measure-that wits contrary to good
faith, in any shape or oft arty condition. There
had been a great deal .saitt some time ago on the
subjeet of a breach of -faith with respect. to Pro.
• peity, and he wished the flo4se to be asattentiVC,to
the question du breach of faith respeaitig Liberty.
.• Mr: Secretary YORKE said, he could not see the
Clause now in discussion in, the light, in WhiCh the
Learned Gentleman viewed it he did not see how•
it could be considered as a breach of faith, This
was a remedial Bill, to exempt Volnoteet Corps
from certain hardships to which they were at pre..
sent exposed under the atria letter of.tlie Li,s.• It
was not intended by it to d,) any thing u:,l.lvoursble
to the Volunteers._ 1 pia Clause
was pr)sreftive
it was not intended to, take pface until. after the 1,1
day of May next. But with regard to.the.exemp.•
Licosa Volunteers, it was t‘i take plate Immediate.
ly.• The other part would in truth be as if, Parlia.
meet never made any alteration ie the Law re.
epe(ting these Volunteers,: and the Learned. Gentl-
eman instated unit .that l'arliament.had no right to,
make any alteration in the Law in this respea•; 'that
he would never admit. The fall was, sthat it would
be in the power of thoie Volunteers to dissolve, who
should not like this new regulation ; they might
quit the service if they did not approve of it, .and
did not choose to continue : the only consequence
would then be, that they would have nu exemption,
bet would be subjc& to be ballotted'for the Militia,
or the Army of Reserve, and the deficiency which
Might thus be eteatedin the Corps must.be filled up
out of the Classes specifiectin the Defence Mt : but
the alteration proposed, he apprehended ,would not
have the desired {Wed,' for the number of clays of at-
, Aindance being limited to five, was applicable to a
time of Peace, whereas the, measure must now be
adapted to a time of War.
Sir W. YOUNG considered "the Volunteers as
divided into two Classes. Those which Ca= on:
der theßegulationt. of the did of the Iting,, and
. those; under, the Act,a the 4.3 d, of the King. The
first he considered as Volunteers superior, in cosi-
aeration of their offers, to the second ; for the 'first
came forward without any view, eneaation, hope,
Of idea of any exemption whatever. The second,
although he did not mean to dispute their spirit,
zeal, or patriotism, yet they came forward Volun.
.seers under the idea ,of a commutation of duty-recta
be exempt from other Military duties that would
have heenimposed upon .theta' by Law, the Army
of Reserve, .and Defence Mt ;, he there.
fore submitted the proprietrof making somedistinc,
*lion between. these two Classes of Volunteers. .
The CH,INCELLOR of At EXCHEQUER
thought the Hon. Baronet alluded particularly so thi
Volunteers of the ,County of Buckingham, who had
aded much to their credit, in coming. forward as
they did without claiming any exemption ; lot he
could not allow of any distinctionbetween the: Vo.
lunteers of this County, either as to tlmac, who
entered previous to the War. Or ..subsequent to, the
War. Distindtions between men anuated• by such
noble motives, were, invidious. :It should not be
insinuated, that all the Valmateers did not :enter
from one motive-rrthei glorious otte of defending
;their Country, and te preserve its Honour. He did
therefore beg leave to vindicate the Volunteers who
entered since this War, as wall As those who were
in that charader beloteit. Their having:become
Volunteers was purely voluntary ; theyhed' nn con•
caption of what they arc now entitled to by' thelt6l
of Parliament it was impossible 0/Y141101441 for
the great bulk of them had, entered -before that
Clause in the. MI had been to touch as mentioned;
or even hinted at. It_ was .no motive of ecnnnow
tation of duty or exemption that induced: the.
lunteers to come forward I. it .was a spontene.
aus burst of • fenuine zeal in Abel', Commy'lvcause,
unmixed with any thing selfish, uncontaminated
with""Y thing impure.; it was a .glo'wing spirit of
patriotism, that 'made them, rush forrild in the