Star.
London, England, 1806-05-07 00:00:00

•4_.•. . . _ .
ender the AR. As one criterion of 'their einallty he
would only late, that out of i 1,000 men railed pre-
vious to the pa of January lafl, more than aOOO had
deferted. With regard to the means that were em-
Pored, he looked upon them as entirely unfuitable
to 'lie end in view. The parith officer had very dif
faent duties to pertorns from that of railing foldicrs,
and MI habits and purfuits were evidently fuch as
unfitted him for fuch an employment. Inftead of
men being railed by local influence, the effeas had
been, that crimping was encouraged, and the boun-
ties had undergone no diminution. The general are-
, age of the men fo railed bad colt the country thirty-
,deo pounds for each, and thefe railed only for a li-
I inked time, a fpecies of ferviee, which the Gentle-
men oppolite had reprefented as ureters to the country,
and dangerous to the army. Another obje& of the
4 AEI had been fisted to be, that of releaang the re-
v cruising fervice of the army from the competition to
which it had to-en before liable. But in oppofition
i 1„ to this be would Aden that immediately previous to
the operation of the AR, the recruiting had been car-
ried on at the rate of 6000 a year, while Muting its
operation it fell to 400 e. All the great objeas
which bad been propofed by the authors of the Pa.
rib Bill had completely failed t and be amid there-
fore Weirs thole Gentlemen who profeffed In much
reps& for the memory of the Right Honourable
Gentleman (Me. Pitt) who brought it in, to confider
at leak as much the objeit that that Right Honour.
able Gentleman bad in view, as the means by which
be hoped to obtain it. The objeet was to raife men I
but in this rape& the bill had failed. He mutt,
therefore. confider it as a lirange way of hewing
their relperk to the Memory of that Right klooeur.
able Gentleman, to overlook the policy and Moak.
Joel for which he bro.& in that bill, and to winkle
perfevere in the means which had hiled la argue.
sag that elk& which* had wilhad. The oppefition
that the repsalof the hill now experienced, proceeded,
as he fuppekd, from that natural pertiality• which
~ men will feel to 'Drawn which they themfeivellia,
aroduaed, however thdy 'mei& fail set their operation.
The Noble Lord (Ltd Calltereash) had Paid it was
unfair to reprobate the principle alibi periflabill. on
. account of the 'balks 'of it. It was, however, only
by thole shahs that the hill could be made t• pro-
duce any mem. The park\ officers went to the iin,
fpeaing.riffican, and requeded they would finish
them with mcraiting redcoats, or, in other words.
with'etimps, and without thole crimps the bill gelid
nos have prodddsd any men. The *berm then of
the bill were in fa& the principles ofin operation.—
As to the ceconotnical argument, rehretking the ex-
”nee of making repayments. of .thofe hens which
had. been levied from the patifhes as penalties, he
thcnght, that if the Noble Lord agreed that the pe
nalties now due lieeld settee levied; he molt alto
agree that it would not be jolt Of kr to ptutifit thole
pantiles who had been quick and•ready in paying
their penalties, and to exempt thole who had been
dilatory and negligent. He, therefore, for thefe
magas, flsoold rapport the motion. '
Mr. BASING TON, laid, that it ilairgiltekion-
able that theprovifions Ofthe bill had their objilt '
to mile men. laud of wttl the hal had only ope.
rated to relic money, In the Cemety of Leicelkar, he '
knew that thole two hundred men, that were 'lead
bj the returns on the table as twin bah railed kr
panfb officers, were in fall only headed over by the
recruiting ferjeants of other corps, Is men that being.
under fine, could only be admitted in this delkeiprion
of force. Five guineas a man Was Om to a retruit.
big officer for getting perfons of that dircrilition. and
the bill was never in that county confidered to be
• any thing but *bid to rail. money ln the writhes.—
The apportionment that was made of the men to be
railed in the rerpettive pennies, was not on the pro-
portion of their population, hut of their wealth and
their ability to contribute. He therefore thought the
bill had completely failed ID its propofed objeas, and
ought to he repealed.
Colonel. BAGWELL was averts to the plan which
the Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Windham)
bad propofed.
Mr. I.EE began by fisting, that although by the
ifreturns on the table, it appeared that in the county
he had the honour to reprefent (the county of Wa-
terford)t the panes officers had railed above too men,
yet he could fay, from his own certain knowledge,
• that there were not two men railed in the county in
that manner. The number was entirely made up of
men under-the fire of five feet four inches, who had
I been handed over to the Patifb Officers by the fee.
t Jeants who had been recruiting other defcriptions of
• fervice. In England there were no lefs than rode-
' teen counties, in which note man had been railed by
parish officers I and in the large county of York,
' which'eught to have produced 56744 rest more than
407 had been railed altogether within the left eigh-
teen months. He thought it was a great objeCtion
1
1 to the 11111, that in the courfe of eighteen months, it
could not be underftood by thrift whole duty it wet
to execute it. On the (core of economy. it was molt
ridiculous to lay it down. that only flatten guineas
should be given as a bounty to a perfon enlifling for
general fervice at once, but that twelve fhould be
given to thole who entitled for this force, and ten
more if they fboold go from that to the regular
I army. It was only cheating murders, and picking
, our own pockets, to fay that we were ready to give
the fame man twelve guineas in the morning, and
ten more in the evening, or to put twelve guineas in
one of his hands, and ten in the other, but to fay at
the fame time, that upon the ground of economy. we
could not think of giving fuch a bounty as twenty-two
1 guineas at one time. It would be coddled by every
body, that the efficiency of the Bill was rather in the !
breach than in the obfervance : it was by the infra:- i
tion of the law that the °Nee and policy of it was ,
obtained. This was a fyflem fo contrary to all ideas
i of morality and good government, that were there
' I no other reafon he thought the Bill ought to be re- i
pealed. As to the plan that had been propofed by
; the Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Windham) 1
I as a fubftitute for this Bill, he mutt fay that, gene-
rally (peeking, he approved highly of it, and
t hi() iii
ihmt ieta
fu wouldre bbtler ltihkeerley
wtao be v
s on
ea
part
e rrT
ofili itcli,een and
t never
could agree to, and that was permitting foldiers to
throw up their mulkets, and retire during the continu-
. anCC of the very war in which they had been enlifled,
if their term of keen years had expired. This was
a part of it that he knew a great many of the Right
Hoot Gentleman's friends would oppofe ; and as for
hitufelf, he hould rather rejeß :he plan altogether
1

• . •
than admit Arch a prineipk. As to the Par Bill,
however, confidering that it had failed in all the oh-
jeas for which it was introduced, he Should certainly
vote for its repeal.
Sir EDWARD HARTOPP Paid a few words in
praife of the zeal and alacrity with which the County
of Leicelter, which. he had the honour to reprefent.
Rood forward on this and every other occalion to fe-
cund the views of the Legillature.
Mr. PERCIVAL (spoofed the Speaker's leaving
the Chair. He coofidered the prefent fyllem to be
better than any which had been pia/poled to be fhb-
fiituted for it. If the Right Hun- Gentleman (Mr.
Windham) had thought this Bill fo bad in Hell', or ,
fo unconneded with other parts of the military fyf-
tern, he certainly need not have delayed fo long in
moving the repeal. The Right Hon. Gentleman,
however, by his condo& in that 'deka, (hewed, that
he confidered it neceffary to nate Tome other fyfiem
to the Houfe, before he called upon them to repeal
that Bill. He could not therefore complain, if the
Gentlemen on that fide of the Hoofs Ihould think it
neceffary to examine a little what kind of Albin-
tute was to be prefeneed to them. The Right Hon.
Gentleman had appeared to agree with the author of
the Bill, that sothooo men was about the number to
which the army of the country (honk t be railed. The
areny.adually exifling.amounted to afiyarmo, which,
in point of number, was not much inferior to what he
himfelf thought heed:try. As to every thing elfe
which confirtoted the excellence of an army, high
(pith. genii ffifcipline, and fo forth, the Right Hon.
Gentleman keened to confers, thaLettclaing was want-
ing io the Britillt army as it now Good. Now as to
the nunsber, the (mall defisiency which, now tented
would, in the courfe of a few years, ,e fupplied by
the Settler operation of the eliding ('Rem. The
annual wills of the army, by askance. was reck-
oned at tsaaoo. On the other fide, jhe general re-
cruiting fervice produced, on an. average, 11,000
every year, and the Bill that it was now propufed to
repeal. produeed,'at the towel calcillistian' 'o x,
which left a regular increafe to the army of Soon
annually. The plan, however. which was propufed
in place of this fylicas • was one that, pima facie, did
not premife any increak at all. Although the B:11
had not been productive in' many parts eitEngland,
yet it was allowed that in Ireland a confiderable
number of men had been railed under it : but al-
though the repeal now moved foravis only the Ad-
ditional force Ad that alit:led England, yet if that
was abandoned on the ground of its being eboozi-
ids, oppreffive, and tyrannical, there mull be 'a
Moiler Bill for repealing the Additional Force Ad
far Ireland. It was not to be fuppnfed that a tyf
tens fo obooxieds, as not to be', endured in this
country, was to be rivetted on Ireland. As, to
the Noble Lord (Lord H. Perty),t who complained
of the Bill In much on account of the hardlhips
the parifhes fulFered by its !netlike, ftirely the No-
ble Lord would not think that that alone was a foffi•
cleat radon for repealing it. He would put it to'
. that Noble Lord, would it be [efficient ground for
opprifing his own meifures of. finance, to fay that
they peened hard on the country ? The Noble Lcrd
would not admit fuch an argument as condone('
'sawing his to per cent. Property Bill, Which was
fupported on the firange and fanciful idea. that is
was more coofoliog to the teenage of, the 'within, to,
fee at once how high the tax could: be 'carried,'
without going itirtanp,h any gradations of increafe.
The Noble Lord would certainly reply, that he knew
limb.* tax mull prefs herd upon the peciple I butt be
did not know any other that would produce what
was wanting with lefspreffure. It was upon. that
principle that he fhould defend the Bill that it was
now propokal to repeal.. He Tho.aa fay, that he knew
no other fyltem more likely than the prefent to obtain
the number of men that were waiving. It was rat-
ing it low to fay, that with the aaillance of this Bill,
no Ws than twenty thoufand reciuits were obtained
annually. Be Mould then elk, had ever the ordina-
ry recruiting fervice, withom that Alliance, pro-
duced that number If not, the excefs mull be at-
tributed to the operation of this Bill. But fuppofing
that the Bill Ihould be repealed, and in the coterie
of the next year it was to be found, that inllead of
an increafe in confeqnenee of the plan of the Right
Hon. Gentleman, it &mid prodoce an ahfolute di-
minution, what then mull be dime ?.. If the plan
fhould tail, it was evident that they moll then have
recourfe to compulfion of Come fort or another. He
thought Gentlemen that felt fo tnetehaendernefarmo '
eantriffion for the hardfhips to• which the pariflns
were now expofed, would do well to confider what
they mull be expofed to next year, if the plan of the
Right Hon. Gentleman fhould not produce the elle&
he eipeeted. In fuch cafe they mutt either have re.
condi to the ballot, or elfe to that fort of coMpol- •
lion which ells upon the purfe rather than upon the I
perfon. The ballot would certainly he more oppref- I
five than the ptefent Bill, for fhould the balloted men
-find fuhflitutes, there waald be precifely the fame
quantum of money kind upon the panffies, but in
a manner much-more unequal and oppreffive to indi.
'ideals. As to the plan that had been limed by the
Right Hon. Genileman as a Inhltitute for this mea-
fore, there was no certainty of its being adopted by
Parliament, and therefore if the exifling Bill was
repeated, it would be poffible that there would be
nothing to fet in 41 place.—( Crier of hear, bear, from
eler Afinifferial Bench.)—However clamouroully Gen-
tlemen might cry hear, hear, he mutt fay they had
produced no documents to influence the Houk, and
that it was too much to mita them to ail on their
prejudices alone. He could not but complain of the
Houle betng deptivtd of the authority of the opinions
of the General Officers who had been contented. He
underllood, however, that with the exception of one,
; all of them had been againfl difcharging foldiers in
time of actual war. He Ihould alk the Right Hon.
Gentleman, had not the officers of artillery been con-
! fulted?Had they ant adually remonftrated l( Mr. Win-
d: ham anfwered, No.) He had really uncle:flood that
they had, and that they dated, that before a man had
been ten years in the Artillery he was not fit to be a
ferjeant, and that is was between the tenth and twen-
tieth year of fervice that they were the molt Pitiful.
As to the part of the plan which was to.prevail,upon
the men to re-enlifl for a teemed period of fevers
years, he thought it could not be adopted. The
Right Honourable Gentleman had not propored to
give any feeond bounty, but only an iacreafed pay
of fispence a week. Could any pietism [two& that
this fispence a week would have as (nom_ an fired
111 a' bounty of lutirleen guineas? OicottM 'stay 0.51

• •••• • :
fancy, that the annuity of fixpenCe a week was the
'value or that bounty t If any of there men writhed
to re4nlill, they would certainly, go into another
regiment and take the fecond bounty. What was
the Right Honourable Gentleman's idea with re-
(peß
to the Volunteers, he could not pretend to fay,
he did not know whether he meant to encourage or
difcnurage them. The Right Hononrable Gentleman
had profeffed, that he rather writhed that the number
of Volunteers lhould be increafed, but he could not .
fee how that with was continent with the opinions he
had fo often delivered upon that fubjeet. For his j
own part, he was as warm an advocate as any man j
for the olunteer Syltem, which he eonfidered the ;
' mon important, the molteffeenat, and the cheapen ;
defence of the country. But if the Right Honour- '
able Gentleman's opinion of them was c wreft, and
that the Volunteers never could be made efficient
tinder the prefent fyllem, nor ever all in line, or Ana
in the manna that was intended, it appeared to him
that in fuch cafe they ought to be ditfolvcd. The
reports of the Infpeßing Officers were, however,
quite in oppofition to this opinion ; and one General
Officer, now high in his gaieties Councils (Lord
Moira) had reported, that the Volunteers of Scot-
land were fit to be brought out againn any enemy,
and that he would head them with the great-
en confidence. He was afraid, however, that the
Right Honourable Gentleman had 'taken all his
ideas of the Volunteers from thole corps which he
himfelf command:4 Lie Felbrig Volunteers.—
That corps in itfelf united almufl every thing
which the Right Honourable Gentleman had been fo
accufiomed to condemn (airs ebtor, bear!) In the
&II place, of all the corps that fuhlißed in the county
of Norfolk, this was the only one in which the Corn
wander had taken the title of Colonel, all the reit of
the Volunteer Commanders in the County were con-
tent with being merely Captains (4 larigh). The
compotition of this corps was alto tome what fingio
lac. There were 73 privates, but no Staff, no Field
Officer, nd Captain, no fubalterns, no drummers,
and only two ferjeants, which was of eonge too lit•
de to initiate the men at all in what they ought to
do. The Right Honourable Gentleman teemed to
wills to exemplify in his own corps all the insperfec•
lions which he complained of in the Volunteer Syr-
tem. If at any time he law in Hyde Park, or any
Where elfe, fuch an appearance of difcipline as flag.
gered his opinion, he immediately comforted himfelf
with the recolleftion of his own corps in the country,
and of their indifcipline and want of fubordination.
(I big primal allofion to Mr. as a Volunteer Ulcer,
prorlarctiereosruleralt terror ofof laughter.) He could not.
however, content that the Volunteers of England
lhould be judged of by the Felbrig Corps. As to
the levy as w.f., the Right Honourable Gentleman,
with 411 that cOurtery and conciliating manners that
he ,generally ufed towards thole who oppafed his
,meafures, laid that he did not like it. the better for
coming from their (hop. Fle mull tell him, how•
ewer, that, in (raking of their (hop, he did not under-
Inand the wares and merchandizeit produced. Nothing
was more unlike than the Len ro-1440 Ad which
they propofed, and that of the Right Hon. G ntlemar.
.1
They prnpofed it only on the grqund of urgent necel-i
fity, nod in the Bill itfelf encourageer and invited the,
netion, to be fiend from its hardthips.by offering their
voluntary fervice. It was for this .altat they had
granted fo many exemptions. The Right Hon. Gen-
tleman's plan, however, gave no encouragement to 1
voluntary fervice, btu only. permitted men to retreat
into it as a fort of afylum. The great advantage of the
fubfining Bill in its principle was, that it multiplied I
the number of recruiting officers, by interefting n o,coo
pariffies in the recruiting fervice, inked ol Soo men ;
and many of tbefe pariffies would, in the ordinary
courfe of recruiting, never be vifited by a recruiting
party. He lhould propofe to the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman, inflead of totally changing the prefent
tyf-
tern, to try an experiment in the prefent year, which
it fuccefsful, would induce Parliament to agree to
his plan in the courfe of next year. Suppofe he
would allow the fecond battalions to remain, and to
recruit at the fame time for the different dekriptione
of fervice, with different bounties ; fuppofing twelve
guineas for fervice limited both in time and fpace,
fourteen guineas for Cervices limited in time, but not
in fpace, and fixteen for general fervice, then by the
numbers of men railed by the temptation of thole
different bounties, it would be ken_ in what light
the different defcriptions of fervice were viewed by
' thofe inclined to enlift. He thought the prelent Cyt•
tern mutt be more efficient than that of the Right
Honourable Gentleman in railing men, as at prefent
whoever chutes to enter for limited fervice, may
have in the additional force a fervice limited in (pace
as well as in time. This therefore being more limit-
c4 than even what that Right Honourable Gentle-
/man prnpofed, would, on his own principles, be more
attraftive. He therefore mutt oppofe the newplan,
as having a great chance of not producing as many
men as the prclent fyflem, but no probability of pro-
ducing more.
Mr. Secretary FOX declared, that he tis.d no with
that the repeal of this Bill lhould be Contidered in the
light of a party triumph ; he willed it to be repealed I
becaufe he was convinced, that it had not only been •
inefficient, but that it had done cnnfiderable mifehief.
It was to his mind, a powerful IlLitalOrl to the Bill,
that it was confelled that it wasnot intelligible to the
perfons who were to execute it fur nineteen months
after it had been palled. Was he to praife the wife
Legiflature that could not make their meaning
derttood, or the wife Executive that could nnt com-
prehend that meaning. The Right Honourable Gen-
tleman who brought in the Bill, certainly propofed
it a a meafure that was likely to produce fuch an
immediate effeß : but how was that promile realifed?
It was nineteen months before the Bill was at all in.
telligible. But now Gentlemen fay, that people be-
gin to underhand it—that it would produce many
wonderful clefts if it were (fill fuffered to esitt.—
They therefore oppofed the repeal of a Bill, whi. h.
although molt unproductive hitherto, would, accoiJ
ing to their opinions, be very productive in lime.
—But Gentlemen fhnuld recoiled, that every tingle
principle of the Bill had been already completely
abandoned in the execution of it, and therefore it
would be very difficult to point out how it could be
: amended. Tilt lira principle which had been held
forth was limitation to a certain dittri.l. The Re-
f ccuiting Deicer was not allowed to rauge uver the
t whole kkgrium to look for men, but the men were to
he railed in their reipetlive dittrrets, by the lucid in-,
iiMUSOCC And authoi iiy of die parifh officers. This)