Star.
London, England, 1805-03-09 00:00:00

the Tiottfe.—BA to retvri to the Oatmeal is ivhi:h
it was attempted to wrap up our fituation in •enera-
ble numbers, the Noble Lord forcibly pointed out the
abfurdity of judging of the arength of this country,
from a companion of its population and its military
force, and the relations of both to the military na-
tions of the Continent. The men who made loch
comparifons were, in his judgment, alone capable of
reducing this country to a level with thofe military
nations. Whenever the day fhould come that we were
to eitimate our ftrength upon the fcale of population,
inftead, as heretofjre, of reckoning upon the energy
of our people, &riling out of the freedom of our Con•
flitution, then would the charaaer of our country be
funk indeed.

The Houfe and the public could not but remem-
ber, that previous to the introduaion of this meafure
at all, it had been raid that the danger of the country
was fo imminent, that not years, months, or weeks,
hat even days were to be counted. And, if fuck
were our fituation, had the Bill produced an immedi-
ate and great effed ? Had it converted our fituation
of pent into feenrity? What had been the etre& of the
Bill in augmenting our military force; What mutt
be thought of the whole feheme, when the matter of
difpute was whether aOOO men, or goo was the num-
ber of men it had railed ? Was this a meafure then,
which could place us feeure from the dangers with
which we were threatened, or enable us tb at with vi-
gour and energy ? His Lordfbip then proceeded to
examine the nate of our force, from which he (hewed
that onr army had not in the lan year even maintain.
ed itfclf. That there was on the whole amount of re-
gala: force a falling off of Roo men in the amount
for left year. As to the amount of Britilh infantry,
a defcription of forecof themoft effential importance,
with a view to any naive and offenfive operations, he
(hewed that all we had of regular troops was 78,0c0
men at home and abroad ; and if it was conlidered,
that in the Eaft Indies fevere *Rive fervice, fine
the lag return of cafualties, had taken place, a peni-
tential diforder had raged at Gibraltar, and a Cc-
'ere mortality in the Wen Indies, a number of at
leall foot thoufand would be to be fttpplied. The
whcle number of Britilh infantry in Great Britain and
Ireland would be found, therefore, not to exceed
43,t00. And if cireumflances lhould call for it, the
whole of the dlfporahle force we could calculate on
being able, in the prefent Rate of our army, to em•
ploy, was 30.000 men. In that cafe too the defence
of Ireland would be left folely to her own Militia
and the Army of Referee, and England moll rely
folely on her Volunteers and Militia. Surely it clirld
not be welted that with fueh an army any vigorous
and effeDual operations could be undertaken.
therefore, we were not to be cimfined to that miferable
defective fynens which had hitherto prevailed; if this
country was to regain that influence on the continent
which, till the Peace of Amiens, the had maintained;
we mon be pi epared to contribute our military efforts,
and not merely pecuniary ficrifices. With a view to
obtaining that military force which was within our
means- to produce, the Houle ought to go into ,the
Committee ptop-ifed, and no longer milt to that
inefficient and nugatory meafure of which to much
had been faid. In that Committee too they might
prepare the repeal of the Army of Referee Bill,
for the revival of which Come Noble Lords fcemed
to be apprehenlive and revive the General Train-
ing Bill. Nay, if Minillers themfelves did not
think proper to propore any farther meafures for the
improvement, Cue h meafures might be fugge fled as the
urgency of the cafe demanded. With refped to the
recruiting of men for a limited time, his Lordfhip
profeffed !timid( Rill friendly to that plan, and he
had no doubt that it would be pofEble to render it per-
fedly compatible with the public fafety, erea if it
were to he commenced pending an alma' war. After
many other cogent and impreffivt arguments, his
Lordfhip concluded an able fpeech by Appealing to
thofe, then a majority, who had lan year fupported
a fimilar propolicion, for their fupport now. He
himfelf bad not then fupported it merely in order to
procure a change of Mintflers, defirable and neceffary
as he confidered that change, but becaufe he thought
additional means of military defence were neceffary.
A change had taken place, but no adoptive Improve-
ment of our military fituation had followed—and, as
he underftood, none farther were at prefent in con-
templation. The dangers of the country, however,
had not eeafed, and with a view to the attainment of
real Ilrength and permanent fecurity, he gave his
hearty anent to the motion.

Lord MULGRAVE defended Lord Hawkefbury
from the charge of having Paid that Parliament had
nu light to difeufs military quellions. His Noble
Friend. who had arraigned this polition with fo muck
afpetity, molt have totally mifreprefented his Noble
Friend, who laid merely that Parliament ought not
to alginate and devife military plans, 'inlets in cafes
of the uttnoil neeeffity ; Inch as did now cliff. He
denied that any fuch motion as the prefent had been
adopted laft year, for no fuch motion had been de-
bated. For his own part, though he had concurred
in thinking that Tome change in Adminifiration was
necetfary, he by no means ever went fo far as to think
that all the military plans of the late Minillry fhould
be repealed. Of the Army of Referee Aa he thought
that it had been of ellential fervice to the public, and
that it was fufpended. not becaufe it was bad, but be-
caufe it was no longer necelfary. He contended that
the tneafure fo much arraigned had not received Inf.
ficient trial, and that what trial had taken place en-
couraged a belief, that it would produce men without
impeding the other means of recruiting the Army.
But neither that, nor any other plan, could be effec-
tual, unlefs pained with contlancy ; nor if it was
thwarted by confliftiog meafores, and enfeebled by
doubt red uncertainty, as to its continuance. As then
there was no neeedity for entering upon a courfe of
enquiry wh;ell was likely to obfirue, rather than pro-
mote the public faietY, as the Rate of the national
defence was fuch as to afford us a well grounded con-
fidence trf firccefs, fhould it be called into Vtion : be
was decidedly Wile t'n the motion.
The LORD CHANCELLOR left the Woolfack,
and abl defended the military fyliens of the late
AdminiWration. He Rated the motion, and contend.
ed, that the latter part of it, which proptrfed that the
Houfe after reviling the exiting laws on the
fobjekr, proceed to devife other plansoT military dc.
fence, was highly objedtionable. He did not, more
than his Right Hon. Friend, deny the right of the
Hoofs to do in ; bat he warezrtain that nothing bat
overbearing, neceffity weld induce the kibak to
aims*, =Wain okaatfaso whichriksional,

it was ajirifable to leave to the Executive Govern-
ment. The Additional Force Ad, he was convinced,
would produce men, if it had a fair opportunity of
being tried. And if parifhes found that there was no
chance of its being repealed, exertions for that pur-
pofe would be made. As to the railing of the penal-
ties, the law poffefred means of enforcing them, and
it was jutt and neceffary for the public service, that
in this, as in many other cafes, and particularly in
cafes of a fiinilar kind laR war, they fhould be en
forced. Notwithftanding the charges of imbecility
and weaknefs, fo boldly made against the late Mini
ary, they had done every thing that any men, that
all the talents and property of the country could have
been expelled to do for the public fafety. As to the
decay of the influence of this Country, owing to the
Treaty of Amiens, he °Unwed, that the influence of
this Country on the Continent was as little before that
Treaty as after it. One advantage of that Treaty was,
that it had afforded the means of preparing thole
effeetual meafures of defence that had been provided,
in this war into which we had been dtiven, by leading
to that unanimity which had facilitated our exertions.
Upon the whole, he faw no advantage to be derived
from that revilion of Alas which had been highly
beneficial to the State, which were full/ended becaufe
they had done their bufinefs ; and particularly he was
adverfe to that part of the motion which propofed to
go into a Committee to devife farther meafures of
military defence—a propofal wholly unwarranted by
the circnmftances of the country.
The Duke of CLARENCE in a (tort, but ins
preflive fpeech, Rated his reafons for fupporting the
motion. He thought that every part of our military
eftablifhment deferved ferious revilion. He referred
to his own calculations refpeaing the extraordinary
deficiencies in our regular force, compared with its
attual amount, and contended that the more he con
fidered this fubjea, the more was he convinced of
the neceffity of going into the inquiry which his
Noble Friend bad propofed. Another Noble Friend
of his had, on a former necafion, alluded to the De-
fence ACI, and had expofed its nullity in ltrong and
conclufive terms. This, however, was the only third
which Milliners had even attempted to increafe our
difpolible force, and no Noble Lord could look at'
its dials without owning, if he (poke his real femi-
ments—that to troll to fuch a meafure as a means of
recruiting our army, was little better than downright
trifling. He thought that a Noble Vifcount oppofite,
and fume of his late Friends, were bound in con-
tinency to vote for the Committee, if it were for no
purpofe but that of getting rid of a Bill, which, left
Schlott, they had In leverely condemned. Among
other topics which his Royal Highnefs employed in
fupport of the motion, was the Rate of the army em-
ployed in the Colonies. The immenfe draughts of
our Regular Troops in the Weft India .Iflands had
long been a matter of deep regret, and the means
of counteraCting this evil had long occupied the
attention of Military Men. The plan of employ-
ing corps of Sepoys in thefe Settlements was one
which had long (truck him as worthy of ferious
confideration, and which would, if the Committee
were granted, of courfe be fully and deliberately in-
quired into. Many other important points, which
on this as well as on former °clarions had been re
ferred to, would alto demand fenous inveltigation.—
His Royal Highnefs alluded too to the prefent nate
of the Naval Defence, which he maintained was in-
ferior in efficiency to what was fupported by the No-
ble Lord lately at the head of the naval department.
Here again he conceived a Noble Vifcount oppofite
(Lord Sidmouth) called on to Rate whether he gave
any countenance to the accufations brought forward
in another place againft the late Admiralty. Honour
as well as milliners called on the Noble Vifcount to
difavow fuch aceulations, if he thought them un-
founded. We regret that the latenefs of the hour
prevents us from giving more than thefe few hints
of what his Royal Highnefs advanced in his fpeech.
Lord SIDMOUTIT vindicated his continency in
the vote which he fhould give this evening againft
the motion. When a fimitar motion was brought
Forward lift year, he had, in the other Houfe, refitted
it as altogether unneceffary. He had then -land that
loch inquiries were extremely impolitic, unlefs where
they were demanded by imperious circumrtances.—
In the prefent Rate of the country they could not be
fuecefstully profeeuted without recalling from the
Rations where' they were ufefully employed, many
gallant officers both in the naval and military depart-
ments. There were his arguments againft a Com
mince, at that time, and certainly thinking that,
from a variety of circumilaoces, the fituation of the
country was in a Rate of rapid improvement, he felt
hitafell quite continent in refitting the meafure on
the prefent occafion. This, then, he thought a fuffi•
cient aufwer to what had fallen from the Illußrinus
Perfonage who had preceded him in the debate. He
repelled, in terms of ftrong indignation, the charges
of inactivity in any of the departments of the late
Government. In the Naval Department he had feen
nothing but wifdom, energy, and unremitting aCti-
vity, and he should never in that Houle Coffer any
contrary affertion to pars uncontradifted. The fame
obfervation he felt himfelf called on to make, as to
all the other departments. Every one of the mea-
fares by' which the army was augmented,, had origi-
nated with the late Minitlers. The Foreign Corps,
the German Legion, the I: Mt levies, not to mention
the very extenfive meafure of the Army of Referve,
all were planned and put in a train of execution be-
fore any change in the Government took place. As
to the Defence Ad, on which fo much had been laid
by many Noble Lords, he certainly had, in the firfl
inftance, difapproved of it, and though his opinion-
was not changed as to the principle, he was bound
to bow to the wifduas of Parliament which had
formed it into a law. As it now then was a law, he
was defirous that the meafure fhould be fairly
.tried
on a great fcale, and if it fhould not fucceed, it
%mild then be in the power of Noble Lords to move
for its repeal. A Noble Lord oppofite (Lord Gren-
ville), had fpokcn of every meafure of the late Mi-
nifiry in terms of the utmoft feverity, and even con-
tempt. All that he had to fay to this was, that he
was ready to meet that Noble i.r.rd on every pan of
the eondud of the late MinifierF, whether naval, mi.
liter?, or financials, whenever he thought 'proper re-
plarly to introduce the &Ned. He was in the mean
tame decidedly againft the motion.
Lord 'MELVILLE likewife oppofed the motion,
and maintained that, W there was the profped of a
confederacy on the Continent, we could (pare no left
*as font' thowfmail men to to-operate fat the