Star.
London, England, 1804-03-23 00:00:00

againll war, is vrliifaiei of what *as called the peace '
of Amiens—that peace which produced the prefent
crifis of our affairs, when we are literally priffiners in
our own ifland, and contemplating the means, not of
conquering our enemy, but of preferving nurfelves
Isle from his attack. Some Gentlemen ennfeffed
that the Volunteer fyttem• was bad, but yet that we
mutt go on, becaufe a change at prefent would he
dangerous. From thole who made the confellion he
}Hutt of cootie expert fupport, If he could thew that
the danger of a change was not fuch as they teemed
to apprehend. They profeffed to think the country,
in confequence of this Volunteer fyflem, to be placed
In lomething like the fituation of a General, who had
put his army in had array, and chofen an improper po-
tation; andhe would put it tothem, whether they would
deem it advifable in fuch General to remain in fuch a
poßtion after he had difcovered that it was bad, until
;he enemy Ihould attack him, or to withdraw his
force before the enemy's approach t Or whether, if
a veffel was running fair before the wind, it would
pot be better for the miner to Ming to, or tack about,
than by continuing his coinfe, expire the veffel to be
wrecked. This (truck him to be analogous to the drat
Of perfeverance in the Volunteer fynem. It might be
Bated, however, as it had been, that wg could not tack
about ; but this he denied, and that the farther we pro-
ceeded the worfe we Ihould become he pofitively in-
fined. If any man fhould fay that the injullice of this
Bill would go to diffolve the Volunteers, he would
tell him that confequence could not arife—for though
the fyfient fhould be done away, the men would
fill remain. They would not be annihilated. They
would indeed lofe tome forms, and alfo their fine
clothes, which by the by would be no great Infs, but
the heart and (*Pit would Rill be fouled. Like the
atoms, which at the lam day will be collated and
embodied again, the Volunteers will be forthcoming
Rill, although their Committees, the Right Hon.
Secretary's correfpondence, the crude meafure be-
fore the Houle, Ihould be heard of no more. He
would, however, contend that this Bill would ope-
rate confiderably to diminifh the Volunteer Corps,
and perhaps it would be laid therefore, that his pur-
port would be anfwered, and that his oppofition to
the fyllem Ihould ceafe; but to this he begged to
obferve, that although the Bill would have the effeft
be mentioned, that hill it was objeCtionable. becaufe
while it would drive numbers from the Volunteer
Corps by its vexatious regulations. yet fiill thofe who
bad need of the exemptions would remain. This was
no refinement, but a defcription of the natural and
probable operation of this Bill, which went to perpe-
tuate the fyllem, while it would go to difF.lve the
Volunteers. So when looking to the improvement
of difcipline which this Bill profelfed to introduce
among the Volunteers, and comparing that with the
price to be pail for it, one of the confequences would
be a deduftion from the amount of the Volunteer
force. With refpeft to the opinion, that it would be
advifable to employ the Volunteer among our Regu.
lar troops, he had the fortune to he fispportcd by the
ideas of Tome general officers of the higheil military
cbaraiter in reprobating that plan—a plan which
mutt be produelive of the very worn confequence.—
*While fuch ideas were entertained and propagated,
ho looked upon it that we were rehearfing the piece
which was performed in this country about too years
ago, under Harold—that we were preparing the coun-
try for fobjeElion. He trolled that this projeft would
uetfer be fated upon—that the fate of the country
would never be committed upon a battle to be fought
between the regular army of the enemy and an army
of our Volunteers, or one conftning of the to much
talked of mixture. The allufion to the peafantry of
La Vendee had been denied as applicable to the
cafe of an armed peafantry in this country; but he
was of opinion that the peafantry, conlibuted as
thole of La Vendee, would be more effeftual than
the Volunteers. It was true that the Vendean pea.
ratite), had been defeated, but principally becaufe
they had fought as regulars. T. beat an enemy
Was no doubt a good thing. There was an old re-
ceipt for winning a race, namely, o to take the lead,
and keep it ;" but as to the rational means of obtain-
ing fuccefs, the peafautry were almolt uniformly
fuccefsful in annoying the enemy until they embo-
died themfelves in regular array and marched to
Granville, in the hope of receiving Tome fuccours
from this country. That was the period when, and
the manner in which, thole peafantry were beaten ;
fuch an example would fence to thew how our Vo-
lunteers, or rather our Armed Peafantry, Ihould be
employed. The charafter of regular troops could not
fish of become Inch a force. It was folly to think of
In applying them. From every thing that he had
heard, Miniflers might as well think of dividing
the tt anfient air," es of fending forth the Volunteers
as a regular army. Theft Volunteers, however, he
conftdered as a kind (.1 mongrel inflitution, half re-
gular and haf irregular, which re/milled fumething
the Rate of the man fo ludieroullv narrated by Pope
to have been half citcunicifed, and therefore not co-
cumcifed at all. The fyllem of the Volunteers is
fuch as not to fit then, for any thing etralive. teli•
Triflers thought that they were Outs upon a wife
plan, becaufe Volunteer:. Mete laid tu have done fo
much slut ing the progr:rs of the French 'evolution.
But the lea was, that there was no parallel between
fuch Volunteers and ;flute which wete colle.ged in
this country—nu, not the !call analogy. Thc Volun
seers of France, who really relembleil tl.ofe of this
*c,otntry. namely, the National Cuatds of P.., is, and
'others tif that deCctiption,wercneverin anyone itttlance
v: :rtisd to the f,ontier. It never was attempted I,'
-onfiore them to an enemy as regular troops; but the
Volunteers who were really fo °piloted were the fame
m our resider troops, only that their pay was higher,
4oLi that they had the elctlion of their officers.—
they volunteered, to be fore; but then they were at
hall eighteen months under arms and receiving mi-
litary ioftruelion befute they were taLn to meet the
enemy. Such was the cafe with the French Volun-
teers %%lin fought at Jemanpe and other engagements.
efore, &limiters were much deceived if the mere
name of Volunteers in France fhould induce them to
deduce any argument favourable to the notion, that
any fimilitude did exit} between them and the Vo-
lunteers of this country, and that, becaufe men who
had received st: months previous difeipline weie
taken into the field as re!tttl,tf troops, that theretone
it would be prudent to htitig tors aril our Volunteers
in the lame may. To t„..kon on the Volunteer fyf
tem as a fource of pern.a..eirt dcf,:nc: he eindidcred
ockery, as it was A t atioe of zeal and circum
Ratan, which were sot likely to be poritsataan; aura

to fallible were. Minlflers of this, that they held (Intl
exemptions—they excited hope and fear, in order to,
keep she Volunteers together. They attached a pe-
'laity to any man who Should leave a Volunteer
Corp,, and gave a bounty to any man who entered
one. He was aware tliat a confider:dile number of
the Volunteers had engaged %%idiom any view to ex
emotions from ballot. Some, too, had entered from
that confederation :thine. To take away the exemp-
tion from the former could not be deemed a harlh
proceeding, for, in their original engagement, being
influenced by their patriotilin and public fpirit, the
fame motives would immediately reconcile them to
a meafure evidently fuggefted by a defire to Supply
the other members of our national force ; while to
deprive the latter of thole exemptions could not be
much complained of. He did not mean to blame
thofe who had a view to the exemptions when they
became Volunteers; he only blamed Minillers and
their advocates in this fyflem, who were In imprudent
as to hold out fuch a boast to them, a beast In coati•
derable, that in his judgment it was quite fufficient
recumpence to the Volunteers for their attendance at
exercile, and therefore he highly difapproved of the
propofed allowance of pay. A great deal had been
Paid about the friends and enemies of the Volunteers;
but fine he was, that thole perfons could not be their
friends, who infinuated that the Volunteers would re-
fign in crowds, if the exemptions were taken from
them; for fuch a fuppofition was a reproach to the
Volunteers, the Mice of which he never would ad•
mit. It was impoflible that men actuated by fuch
gallant notions as evidently infpired the refpeetable
body. would tenacioufly demand a privilege which
interfered fo much with the recruiting of the re•
gular army, and which had fuch influence on the
progrefs of balloting, that the Army of Referve
was now literally at a Rand, and fourteen thottfand
men wort of the complement voted by -Parliament.
—That in fad the burthen of the hallotting was in
confequence of thofe exemptions, thrown upon thofe
leaft able to bear it—upon poor labourers with (mall
families, &c. and that at this moment there are not
left than fifty guineas offered for fubtlit ittes--fuch is
the fcarcity of men occafionerbby the claule of exemp•
lions. To demonftrate the probability of the effeffs
loch as be had mentioned with refped to the predtire
of the ballot on the poor, for whom Parliament (horrid
particularly interest isfelf, he had only to Wave,
that every Volunteer Corps was a felt elected tribunal,
which had the power of rendering any man within
the diarist/ it belonged to, liable to, or to releafe him
from the operation of the ballot. Now, as the Vo-
lunteer Corps were in general compofed of the wealthy
tiadefman, the probability was that they would ad-
mit thofe of their own clefs to their privileged bodies,
and reject the labouring poor fubjedt to the ballot.
This was a cafe which appealed to the jtillice and
humanity of the Houle. and was particularly entitled
to attention. The Right Honourable Gentleman
noticed, among the evils of the Volurreer Syitem,
the contrail that Inuit arife between Volunteers and
the regular army, particularly on the (core of midi
tary dininaion, which was a thing ever to be re•
garded, for military diflinaion arofe out of the nature
of things, and was effential to the &name of an
army. It was a diftindion of which Parliament
lhould be more tenacious than of any other which arofe
out of taditious notions. Military diftinaion he felt
was grown cheap of late, and officers were not by
any means Co ambitious of entering into, or acquiring
rank in the line, while they could obtain confequence
and better prosifion. for their families, by engaging
in the Militia, the Army of Referve, or the Volun-
teers. This he knew to be a very general fentiment
among the Officers, particularly thole who belonged
to the Army of Referve. They confeffed that they
had no ohjeaion to the regular army, but that a So-
licitude for their families in...uced them to prefer that
force in sshich their families would be better provided
for. This was very nttural ; and our regular army
had from this and other caufes, obtained, for fome
time hack, no acceffinn of strength, • it was it likely
to obtain any. He was lorry, however, that its me-
rits (hould have induced a recurrence to the plan of
railing men for rank. He thought that the expeti
ence of that abominable fyaem, in the courfe of the
laft war, was fufficient to forbid the idea of ever re-
forting to it again. The Right Hon. Gentleman
expretfed the fatisfaaion Ire felt that his opinion on
this queftion was fupported by his Han. Friend nn the
fame bench with him (Mr. Fox) ; and he hoped he
might be permitted to call him his friend upon a fob-
jet on which they agreed—to whom he could fcamely
refrain to apply that term even upon fubjeds in which
they difagreed Ulm Mr. Fox hawed). The Right
Hon. Gentleman purfued his cenfutes of the Volun-
teer Syllem. It was an Inflitution containing the
feeds of future and incalculable mifchiefs. In the
words of the Poet, it
Hath nature whkh In time wlO vipers breed :
" No tooth for prekrt."
Minifiers and their fupporters would find this to he
the refult, and they night have reafon molt to re-
pent the introdu6ion of this fy Item when it would tarn
nut difficult to overcome—when they would feel it
m•t as the ferpent which Hercules could deilroy, bitt
as the ferpent dearnying the Herculean Minitier
lawgi). The Right Hon. Gentleman flrongly
reprobated the hue and cry which had been excited,
I and principally by the Gentlemen of the Treafury
Bench, againit all thole who had freely delivered
their opinions in condemnation II the Volunteer qt.
tem. Such an outcry, he had no hefitation in raptor,
was difgraceful to any man who contributed to taiie
it, and would be almoll eigrally dttgracetul to any
' man who (offered his condod to he influenced by it
but it was evidently one of the col: table dimmer' if
tics of the present Adminifiratior, that they had too
much a view to that popular favour, which, unlo's
under certain modifications and rentietions, Mould
not operate upon the proceedings of Government.—
They fancied, perhaps, that if they could Inccced in
exciting popular clamour atraind a Member, they
Should reilrain him from deer.: ing opinions both!: t
their ',realism ; but they were excessively millaken if
they liippoled. that herald': that fear had lo much
Oka upon thensfelves, that theref ire it sro.tild base
an equal effect upon the minds and conduit rf others.
There sat another topic to thought is pc.
cet!a: y to allude, it was an intchti a. nil!, h P:r r•I
Mg to rumour exilled, of miring the Vtti-titters e.i
the Regulars in the event of inraflu:l ; aad Inc

. . ..... .
purp,•fe of rendering the former t fc,"t .r.h;i);
c.;:phl;ngthcnon-conintithoned 1

—indircnJentlyi.f!he reat•,ns he h.!,i

svicat awl a plane he h.ad to ni.ntioa al at tt.tt►

an employment of the regular non-eoulmiffinned
fives would be produdive of much eonfulion. In the
firlt place, lie underllnod, the regular regiments were
by no means over fupplied with thnfe very tile& of-
ficers, and even if they were it would, in his judg-
ment, tend much to injuie the ditelpline oldie regular
army to putfue this plan. Indeed it' the Serjeants and
Cnrporali were to be thus withdrawn necalionally
from their own corps, it would be folly to think of
preferving difeipline among the regulars. It would
in fait be rowing!gainft the Bream--

" 3l giachla father trabun."
With all the confidence that he had in the difpofitien
of our regular army, the Right Hun. Gentleman Jr.
Oared, that he would not with to try tilde) by fuels
connexion. It would be rather a dangerous caper r
resent upon their difcipline and their habits. The Vo-
lunteers had the fame feathers and the fame appear-
ance, with however better cloaths and more m inev.
They were to have alfo, to be lure, their new mutiny
bill ;minted on fain. But what was to be the conk-
quence of the propofed intermixture ? How were the
.ferjeants and corporals in fuch a cafe to ad ? They
molt (peak in two different languages. one to the
Volunteers, and the other to their own regimoos.—
They mull addrefs each from different fides of their
mouth, or very unpleafant contequences.may enfue
among Volunteers, fuch indeed as he under flood had
nearly arifen in a recent inttance, in confequence of
tome rough eaprefGons ufed by a military officer in
drilling a certain Volunteer Corps. Of thole rough
exprellions, or of (wearing upon any oceallan, &c.
too often refinted to by the lower dales of military
men, he highly difapproved ; but the habits of men
were not to be fuddenly changed, and perhaps there
were tome to whom rough language was necelfary.
How then were ferjeants and caporals, tiled from
neceffity to (itch language, to behave when intim:loc.
ed to the Volunteers ? When talking to them be
mutt be courteous and polite ;—and if, upon ye-
turning to his men, he thould addrefs them in fuch a
(train, how would they feel? Why, it would probably
be as ftrange to them as the behaviour of Nell
to the fervants in the Farce (a laugh). But, to be
ferious, continued the Right Honourable Gentle-
man, this fyftem would tend to the worft effects.—
Jt would, in taft, drive dircipliae out of the regular
Army, without transferring it to the Volunteers—it
would be tnfpoil thecae without improving the other,
The Right Hon. Gentleman repeated, that the whole
fyftem which this Bill was meant to continue way in-
' curably bad, and yet it teemed to be the refe*ution
to purfue it ; and principally beeaufe it had began,
and gone on fo long. We were thus proceeding in
fomerhiog like the career of a fpendthrift, who got
fo deep in extravagance that he had thought it of,
no life to alter his career. We teemed to be in the
fituation of a horfe in a Lille gallop. We were, in a
word, fo elisions to get on, without puling, that
he knew nothing to compare it to but the mit.
taken direiFtian to force meffengers, that they
(horrid make filch hate. that if they thould fall
down they (horrid not flay to get up again."—
The Volunteers which exitled under the relent fyf-
tern the Right Honourable Gentleman knew not, or
never heard of any force to refenible, except the
Federes of France, which were fuch as every General
wifhed to keep away from his camp. They formed,
in his opinion, a drea,'.ail intlitution, and all the fo.
lids that could be paired in that Houle could nor
render them un ctfl..irrit force under their prcfent
crinflitioion. They were quite unparalleled in mi-
litary hideay ; niece Wettroiniler Hall f.ldiers,
where the Attorney General and the whole fmithery
were let to work to hammer out their duty (a gene.
rat langl). If this new military code were merely a
fubjeet of laughter—if it were nothing more than a
fooling away of the time of Parliament to contiruh
or even revile it—if it were only expiating Parliament
to the ridicule of Europe, to doer it might be fume-
what tolerable, but it was fomething more—h threat•
coed cLegerous.effeas hereafter _

“ Hz nut= feria docuat is mah.”

The P.ight Honovurable Gentlemtn, after a few
more obfervations, concluded by declaring, that the
Bill was not of a nature which c'uld give fatisfee•
lion to the Volunteers, or to the Country.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
(poke nearly as follows :.."Confidering, Sir, how
incetantly this fubje) has been sufeuffed for upwards
of three weeks pall, it is with evieme unwillingnels
that I tale up the time of the Houle in offeritig a
few obfervations upon the fpeeeh of the Right Hon.
Gentleman who has just fpnken. He has this night
comprefted into one fpeech, the various opinions
which, dining the whole of the preterit &c on. and
part of the Lift, he took ftteceffive opportunities of
espreffing againtt the Volunteer tyllem, with one
exception only, to which I (hall hereafter take MCA-
linn to advert. He wiihed his (perch to be couti•
&red as his protefl againft a fyflem which is to lead
to nothing lhort of the atifolute dcftruCtion of the
country. It will he recollened, however, that the
Right Hon. Gentleman has appl'ed this nbfervati•in
to a Syttctn, which, at the Joie of bit Sefrn.n,
during the ditcuffioss of tl:e D,ltuce fill, he pro-
n•airced to be Inch apt. in as the country mull rely
upon for it. (mirky. Sir, I cannot hot exprcis
ray allonilhment when I reenliel that the Right
ilon.Gentieman, din int! the period I hare mentioned.
has attackei liie rfCir,t itlrilure of the army, and
made it the of hi, i7ivenive ; it Lein:: the aety
lime tiro/:tire ill it was adivcd s, hen lie itimlrlf wa!,
ticeretitv a! \Var. ilc his ri,!iz,:lcd tht• ide.i
in:: tl:c Nth,: a ciainitnti,,rAl and o!ici-t:: t••,cc—

he Wilt). when he was n, of F.; ia' I t cocfd.ti
I LAI femurs, approv..-clani erccu. aged that I.:cr. at
which lime we heard nn wl.ates.cr Vatesl
again:f it. The Militia stl i, a rails it the vtif,..ut
d.ty, i.that fame fyilem net ic.ly
csilled dui in his own b.,1 wet (4r.
tied to A much gre.r,.r ft.Alies this, we
licee heard him mike an :m.0... .n the A:obi:lV:et
fyilt-m, which :1110 piiigit it,l vi pi- he W3C in I
Let me ;i:r, what i. the ;esti n th.it has induced
hint t.• thif fylicm ? It i.Jeca..int he confiders
it as 111614: Kra to TC11:1 the OK 10: n ith which we it.
thiCAlllled ; and that it i, fuhllittitc for
t!..it force t‘h;eli the t:c•• nit y might at plefent
ci.trmind. Sir. i. t! i• the 1.1.1? Can lie
incl. A Ili:, mew, and flew that, in eel.-
cf the ac' '•i••1 Vt.l.l.lter I fiern,
the regul..t f-tec II the c• ar.tty h.,. hecu, ta the
1.. cord, tS..s
being the CAE', it IA?)
rry has been incr..:a:c
AtcL, t /

r) .t Ole t.1;,,r
ra;'eiy, a:.,!