The Sun.
London, England, 1803-09-06 00:00:00

SPEECH of S;r jOIIN

'arP.

AT •A MENTINe. OF THE COUNTY OF EDINBURCU,
HELD IN•TH2 PARLIAMENT HOLM, JULY 20,
'1803; TO ,CONSIDER OF PLANS FOR 'IIIE DE-
FENCE OF,:THE COUNTRY.

AFTV,It the Papers were read, Sir JOHN DAL.
It 'V 1t17,14 moved; That as an addition to the -Reso.
lutit.;ns of the Committee, the following clause should
be added, '' Resolved, that this Meeting recom.
" mend thatiVnlunteer.and Armed 'Associations of
" all men between "the ages of IS and 45,'be raised
d to the extent of the sixth -man, in everY parish,
to-he regularly 7.srained and disciplined, particu.
‘, 'arty in, marking- wcli and.charging quick, three
days in the. week, anti an hour at a time." He
would not-press :if it; interfered with the Resolu..
bim wished- that those who fumed. the Rest..
would adopt the substance 'of it-in. some way
:or other. , - •
He had been the first man in the three kingdoms
(fur the truth of,which he appealed to his .speech
•printed at the trine) to propose, at a Meeting- of
the County, •in this very room, that the Nation
shOuld be raised in a mass, similar to that which
the French had at. that time raised ; and he would
know give the reasons which weighed with-him then,
and w.eishyvith hits, till more nuw ; which. reasons
will COkISISt in apping.;: to: the present adual fir.
cumstanccs. of flit-War between, Britain antkfrance,
:the, circumstances of the three greatest Wars in their
consequences that ever existed ;. .theWAr nf Hapi.
1)4,, the War of Anierica,. and. the late Wao of nine
Powers against France. • .
Much of his studies tad been applied in' tracing
the causes of the rise and fall of Nations,. and on
that account he hopes for the indulgence of this
Meeting. •
• • • . THE WAR OF lIANIUM:. •

It appears from Livy, that flanibal entered Italy
With tOo,coo men, and that the Roman Army was•
equally 'nOmerous, but weakened by detaching
30,000 to the,,derente of •thfrerent parts of Italy;
'Cite Consequence was, that liFinibal, in all his first
blittlea, defeated,. with .a large army, troops that
were less numerous. But. the lots of 50,000, inen,
at the battle of Cannt,- opened tht eyci of tht Ro.
mans to their danker, 'indititY. raised all lit.Roinan
Citizens in a mass. .I.i.itt..Says,t that in the, first
subsequent lusituni theluttriber of Raritan Citiierin
Was 138',900' and the-tit-ions about 'twenty-five.
A Legion' consisted' of near 000 Men ; but by the
addition of ati'equal number of Allies to it-, it:con.
of near 'i0,600 ; 'so that` the Roman Army,
when' 'the mass was ra.ited,' consisted' of about
This -Was'nOt
.The Romans did,What
they hail nester d'nie oefare, they added 8000 slaves
' to supply the Out of the prisonerti takeu at Cao,,:t
antitall...:l 'the searen from the coatts to the atmy,
which •by • nese means ante .thin to
,consist of above
306,660 men. The state Of the War then came.
be an Army of above 3Oo,cicSo agaimit.an Army• of
ne60,000. I tix' upon, that Uurfiber because the
Allies of !tome no( revolt tilllote in the Wit.
With the' raising of the mass the fate of the War
turned,' till Hanibal Was &Wert out of Italy.
Liuk at Afriea,.'a short time after. ` When I la.
nitro! was driven. Pitt) Africa,. ,the Romans sent
great Army after hiin, -hut the Carthagenians, in-
stedd of raisjng' their People in a mass, trusted their
tate to merceriarits and- AUX.iliaries, and ,to a single
battle, instead of imaking the War a war Of post s In
their own country, irs.theyrrukhr' to have done then,
and -England ought to now. Thus ltotne- saVed
Italy by raising their. People in a mass, andCarthake
lust Africa by not toilnwrngthe example.