The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-27 00:00:00

state of efficiency of the various corps; and he knew,
that no deficiency in discipline was is any case
passed over. His Hon. .Friend had st,.-.l,:sd tha., Lard
Mel'ooarne,,*caling. the insufficiency of the force, made
great reductions in it. But his Hon. Friend must per-
mit hitn t 3 say, that Lord Melbourne, while Secretary
of State, increased instead of diminished it. Reductions
certainly took place in 1837 and 1838, but they were
made entirely on financial considerations. He main-
tained that the character of the yeomanry was not to
be assailed on the ground of honour and z?al. As to the
absurd and wild sentiments uttered at the Crown and

Anchor, no ono could for a moment suppose that they
expressed in the smallest degree the feelings of the yeo-
manry.—(Hear, hear.) As to what had taken place in
the north of England, he was quite certain that if the
yeomanry should be called on they would do their duty
as faithfully as they had hitherto discharged it. The
Hon. Member had ql3ted instances in which the yeo-
manry had failed to do their duty; but he knew a case
which happene I at Stirling, in which: had it not been for
the assistance of the yeomanry cavalry, a great loss of
property and life would have ensued; and their services
were remembered with gratitude to this day by the in-
habitants. Similar services bad been rendered in times

of disturbance in other parts of the country. It was not
that the force was always called into active service
ag,►inst mobs, but it was the knowledge thyt yeomanry
(turps were in reserve to protect the locality to which
they belonged, which enabled them to avail themselves
more effectually of those other means of defence.—(Hear,
hear.) The vote had been from year to year put upon a
very reduced scale, and he could state from his own
knowledge, derived from the report of officers who had
inspected them, that at this moment, when they were
accused of leaving the country in an almost defenceless
state, if they did away with the yeomanry force they
would do away with a force which contributed mainly to
the safety and protection of the country, and at a trifling
coat, which this House had hitherto voted, and he hoped
would still continue to vote.

Colonel REID entertained an opinion diametrically
opposed to that of the Hon. Member for Bristol. The
Hon. Member complained of the incapacity, the inade-
quacy, and insubordination of the yeomanry troops;
while he, on the contrary, was of opinion that they were
a corps of immense value, both physical and moral, and
eminently qualified to perform all the duties which could
possibly be imposed on them.—(Hear, hear.) This was
no mere casual or theoretical opinion, but one founded
on experience and personal observation. When he had
the honour of commanding one of the regiments of the
household brigade, he was sent to inspect some
troops in Hants, commanded by the Right Hon. Gentle-
man (the Speaker), under whose able command they all
were in that House.—(Hear, hear.) He saw the Right
Hon. Gentleman presenting a most soldierlike appear-
ance and bearing, and he saw him conduct his regiment
through a variety of well-selected movements, so prac-
tically useful, especially one of them, that he had never
had a field day with his own regiment since without
adopting it. He left the field with the conviction that
the corps whose evolutions he had witnessed was emi-
nently fit for any duty which it might be called on to
discharge, and he would stake his reputation as a sol-
dier, that a body of such men would quickly rout and
disperse a mob of thirty times their number. With
regard to the expense, he considered it the most econo-
mical description of force which could be employed:
13,500 men coat the country, if not called out, 45,000/.
per annum, and, if called out, 81,000/. What was the
cost of the regular cavalry ? A regiment of 400 men had
only 271 horses, out of which there were not more than
250 really efficient. The cost ,of this was 17,7771. per
annum. The cost of 1,140 men in the regular cavalry
was more than 13,500 yeomanry, and it must be recol-
lected that these 13,500 men were liable to be called out
at any hour. During the Chartist riots the Bucks Yeo-
manry were called out to replace the regular troops sta-
tioned at Windsor and the neighbourhood, and that regi-
ment, to the number of 600 men, assembled, ho had•been
informed, in less than four hours, and not more than 20
men were absent. There might be inefficient corps, but
they ought to be disbanded. This was, however, a course
which ought to be excercised with very great caution
and discrimination—a little more than had been shown
by the Whigs. He would not deal in general charges.
Ho was sent on one occasion into Berks to in-
spect some corps of yeomanry. He inspected
three corps. Two portions of the yeomanry
troops were in a state of great efficiency, and he reported
accordingly to the Commander-in-Chief. The third
corps was not in a state of efficiency. The three corps
were, however, disbanded. The Hon. Member for
Gloucestershire inquired the reason, and was informed that
it was in consequence of the unfavourable report of the
inspecting officer. Now, as the inspecting officer's report
was confidential, therefore it was hardly fair, after
the report be had himself made of the efficiency of two
of the corps of yeomanry, to disband all three of the
corps on a confidential report. This was a specimen of
the judgment exercised by Government in dealing with
the yeomanry force. He believed the country gentlemen
and yeomanry constituted the most respectable portions
of the community, and he did not think their characters
would suffer by any calumnies that might be directed
against them. Because a few persons used intemperate
language at public meetings, was it fair to implicate all
in the same censure? If occasion should arise he was
satisfied that no political considerations would shake
their feelings of loyalty, and prevent them from doing

their duty.- _
Col. CHATTERTON bore testimony to the efficiency
of the yeomanry force, of which ha had inspected sixty-

,hree regiments.

Mr. 6s BORNE complained that the officers of yeo-
manry corps went to balls and assemblies in uniforms
which were not sufficiently distinguished from those of
officers of the regular army. Officers who had been
serving abroad all their lives did not like on their return
to see yeomanry officers in such uniforms, and called
captains and colonels.—(" Ob!") He wished to know
why the general order establishing a distinction between
the silver lace of the yeomanry and the gold lace of the
regular army had not been enforced?
Mr. MULE was not aware that such an order had
been issued. _ . .

said, that after thirty years' service in the
regiment of yeomanry to which he had the honour to
belong, his experience led him to the conclusion that
the yeomanry corps did not deserve the opprobrium
which had been cast upon them by the Hon. Gentleman.
—(Hear, hear.) The instances to which the Hon.
Gentleman had referred were, he thought, more dis-
paraging to her Majesty's troops than to those corps.
—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman bad also said
there was great delay in getting the men together, but
it had happened to him (Ur. Bass) to be called
out on many occasions, and he had known his regiment
summoned at seven o'clock in the evening, and to have
marched into Derby before eleven o'clock the same night
hear)—and they had afterwards the satisfac-
tion of receiving the thanks of the magistrates for their
te-vices. In 1842, when at a great distance from home,
he had been ordered to attend in his county, and his re-
giment, which cousistei principally of farmers to the
number of 600 men, cheerfully left their own labours,
though it was in the middle of harvest-time, and served
for three weeks.—(gear,) The only advantage he had
ever had from belonging to a yeomanry corps was to
spend 15,0001. of his own money—(A laugh)—for he
had never receive I Is. pay in his life. If his corps de-
served one-hundredth part of the opprobrium the Hon.
Gentleman had lavished upon the yeomanry in general,
he (Mr. Bass) should feel it a disgrace to belong to it,
but it did not deserve that opprobrium, and he hoped
that until he had a son ready to succeed him he should
be allowed to remain in it.
Mr. HUME objected to the yeomanry force, because
from their short service they had not time to acquire
habits of steadiness when they came into collision with
the people. He believed that twenty-two troops of forty
men each, of regular cavalry, would do mere to preserve
the peace of the country than all the yeomanry; and, in-
deed, if free trade continued, as he hoped it would, far-
mers and their sons would have something else to do
than to belong to these corps, and having a spree when
they were called out.—(A. laugh.)
Mr. F. MAULE, in explanation, said that the yeo-
manry when they were on permanent duty received
pay, and in that character became subject to the Mutiny
Act.

Mr. CLIVE bore testimony to the efficiency of the
yeomanry corps with which be was connected.
Mr. EDWARDS referred to the services of his regi-
ment in preserving the peace of the town of Halifax in
1842, and said that they had received the thanks of the
Lord-Lieutenant of the county. The moral effect of 150
men iti that district was sufficient to disarm disaffection;
and as to the trumpery matter cf expense, he thought
the Committee would scorn- to take it into consideration.
Mr. NEWDEGATE trusted that when the Hon.
Gentleman (Mr. H. Berkeley) should again be about to
make so unpopular a proposition as that which he had
made to-night, accompanied, as it was, by an attack on
the Protectionist Members, ho would not select that (the
Protectionist) side of thellonse to make it.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. H. BERKELEY believed the Hon. Member (Mr.
Newdegate) commanded a force somewhere in the neigh-
bourhood of Uxbridge.
Mr. NE AT DEG A.TE— I do not.
events, the Hon. Memo
Mr. H. BERKELEY-At .a.ll

—..-- -
ber belonged to that distinguished corps which wasCOWI-
- known in the country by the name of the
" mournful and dangerous."—(Great laughter.) He had
been told of some half.dozen of them marching through
Uxbridge with umbrellas over their heads.—(Renewed
laughter.) As regarded his (Mr. H. Berkeley's) select-
ing his seat on the Opposition side of the House, that,
he presumed, depended upon his own feelings, without
the necessity cf consulting the Hon. Gentleman.
( llear, hear.) But if the Hon. Gentleman wished to
know wby he preferred addressing the House from those
benches rather than from the other side, which he should ,
very much prefer, be begged to say that from having a
physical infirmity
be found Hear, it convenie)nt to resresp t upon
hear. With ect
the table while spea.king*.--(
to the magistracy of Bristol, he hoped the present gen-
tlemen who held the Commission in that city would
not be confounded with the past. The town of Bristol
was now as perfectly safe from the threats of an ill-dis-
posed mob as it would be from an ill-disposed yeomanry.
Mr. HENLEY observed, that as the Hon. Gentleman
had chosen by inference to cast an imputation against
a set of what he called unreformed magistrates, it would
have been but common justice if he had stated that those
gentlemen were brought to trial in the county of Berks
and acquitted.
said that it was the last thin
Mr. NEWDEGATE g
he should have thought of to make any observation as
to which side of the House it might be convenient for
the Hon. Gentleman to address the Committee, but he
could not help feeling, that as the Hon. Gentleman had
indulged in language not highly complimentary to those
(gr. Nevvdegate) might be excused for
around him, he
having adverted to the circumstance. As to the
" mournful and dangerous troop"—(Loui laughter)—he
would not stop to inquire in what purlieus of Uxbridge
the Hon. Gentleman had:pickeclup that name.—(Divide.)
The Committee then divided, when there appeared—_