Star.
London, England, 1804-03-01 00:00:00

have fupplied the place of difelpline. We need, in
confirmation of this, look no further back then lall
war ;—ln 1793 the troops of Flanders were (upplied
from the parochial levies; and there-troops made a
Molt refpeaahle figure in the hour of battle. In
June Li, ae are told, France had too,ooo troops,
and vents to waft them over for the cleftrudion of
thefe 'Sands ; and what has prevented not only this
catafirophe, but every attempt to produce it? The
vigour of our Councils, and the courage of our ar.
mies, this vall holt prepared by the government for
the day of tvial. I hope this Bill will devolve to the
•invelligatim of the Committee, where thefe obferva-
lions world he more appropriate. If ell parties
would join hand and heart. to fupport the govern•
ment, indeed of endeavottring to drive the Kniiters
from their fituations, the public fervice would be
much morc ettenfively promoted. than we can flat-
ter ourfelves it will be, under the prefent ryttematic
oppolltion."
Sir WILLIAM YOUNG—u The Ad is pro.
feffedly defigned not to interfere with the Bill which
enables his Majzfli to exercife his prerogative with
more effed for die organisation of the public force
of the country. But are not all your aseafures of a
tempor?ry kind ? and does not the Sate of the nation
require a permanent eftablifinuent of public force ?
The common law Foes further in confirming a
power in the Royal l4rfon than that you are now
promoting. Ninety thoufand Volunteers are railed
under the Ad of the 42d of the King ; two hundred
and forty-one thoufand under the Defence Ad ; fo
that you have this immcnfe crowd terving, not as
may be roof( convenient to the public fecurity, but
on their own conditions. And wherefore have they
entered into the military fitnation, but to relieve the
parillies from the burthen and duty impaled upon
them ? The confequence it, that the ballots have
fallen on the married men, and to one of two difr
culties thefe pet fons have been reduced. equally or
preffive to the individual and to the country : they
are confirained either to ferve and leave their fami-
lies to be maintained from the parochial fends ; or
they have been thrown on the parifh by the money
they have unavoidably expended in providing fob-
fiitutes. The Hon. Baronet entered into a great va-
riety of topics connefted with the legal fituatioa of
the Volunteers, and contended that a fatal blow was
given to the segular fervice by the exemptions which
had been ro freely and imprudently granted."
Mr. FULLER defended the general principle on
vrhich the Volunteer Sy Rem was eltablilhed, and ex-
relied his forprife how any realiming man could
prefer an armed pc:dainty to a body of men, who.
whatever the fiate of the weather was, whether good
or bad, expired themfelves to ail the inconveniences
and hardfhips of daily drilling. Although no prudent
General could think of putting them into the line,
yet they would not be without great utility. They
would anfwer the purpofe of the rear army of referee,
in cafe Ike' regular army of the country was defeated.
There was alto another point inwhich they would be
eairemely 'ireful. When the French fhould come, if
they came at all. they would bring a fwarm of (harp
thouters wuh them, which it would be necaary to
orpote with troops of a fimilar defcription ; and to a
warfare of that kind, the Volunteers, from their local
knowledge, would be of incalculable fervice. He
objeficd zo the Speaker's leaving the chair, on the
grounds, that he could fce no neceffity fur any filch
Bill. He approved of the demon in the-Court of
King's Bench, and was apprehenfive that the prefent
measure would only tend to excite fulpicior, in the
Volunteers. Ile laniented that the Volunteers had
been I:,metimes treated with unbecoming levity in
that HJufe, and particularly by an Hon. Gentleman
below him (Mr. Windham), wh•im he was proud to
call his friend ; but who, as much as he admired his
great a various talen:s, he feared was one of thole
who Ihniied none than his judgment ripened into
execution. With regard to Committees, he, for his
part, knew of none ; butt if any did exist, he thought
it adshable that they thnuld be tuff:: ed to continue, 4
lot he c•inld lint f4efee any 1111:.C111C1 that was likely,
to veiult fioni their existence.

Mr. FOX—" Sir, it was my intention to have
rife:, immediately after the Hon. General, and a
friend of mine, whom I do not now fee in hi, place,'
for the papule of replying to fame Ole: ration,
thrown out by an Hon. Gcniltman under the gallery,
which, in my conception, amounts to nothing lifs
than an open unqualified accufation againa the
c,,untry. The Hon. Geinleman has ventured to ,
(late, that it was the objea of a refpeelable O.
cer who preceded 11:m in the debate, to depreciate the,.
Volunteers. I fillened with attetui:•ll to that enlight
cited and intelligent Officer, and I call upon the
Hon. Gentleman to point out unc argument, one I
phrate, or one ward delivered by bim, in the courfc '
of his admirable fpeech, that will bear out the Hon.
Gentleman in the aliertion he has had the !Alma's
to nuke. The Hon. Gentleman deprecared the ex
iltence of what he has been pleafed to call a party in
this Houk, and calls upon all ranks, upon every de-
fctiption of perfons, to unite and rally round the Ge-
vernmcnt. Unite. Sir I When, or upon what occa
finnt has there ever appeared fu ;rale& and general
an union in favour of the Governmnt ? Have not All
rank*. have notall claire', from the peer to the pedant,
have not men from all parties, even from parties who
had no common principle of concord in any thing
elk, come forward, and with a patriotitin worthy of
Erflabmen, devoted thantel yes to the rapport of the
Government of their country. I am not fond of fe.
leaing a particolar inflance from among the numerous
examples of patriotic virtue with which this nation
Abounds. and elpecially as that inftance proceeds
from a Nobleman with whole friendlhip I am ho.
nouted, and who in the general line of political opi
Mon proceeds with me. But when an Honourable
Goldman talks of union. of an union del parties,
I would call upon him only to direa his attention to
one point : let him look to the North, there he would
fee a Duke of Northumberland (fuch inflances of
patriaifm thould.be mentioned. and mentioned to be
honoured) clouting. equipping, and paying fifteen
hundred men, with no sthillance from Government.
but a bare fulliciency of arms ; what union then is
wanted ? Is not all the virtue, is not all the talent,
is not ail the fpirit and all the wealth ct the country
trit;:ed in fupport c.f the Government In (upper%
tit the Gown-nand. I lay, but not in fupport of the
; in fupport of a Government brought
by the mifehief of their council, onto thole dangers
and A; vrellenfions with which we are furrounded,
and v tocl. ars fulcient to app..l the brasca of us.

Has not their incamichy Atha 111104 which ;be
ta-
lents of the greaten of their medeeeiffirs never could
accurnplifh f This Hook. Sit, the coOntry!ll !Pr
t shibits at this moment the extraordinari qtrfai
of friends and firm of men of p•rties, veld' MO if
no parties, united in fopport of Agit
Government conduCted by an Ad •
„As
moll weak and incapable that ever Met
the Were& of* gram State. Of union, SW. &if •
it to fatiety; and I troeove Shall hear no nano chat
plaints on that inkjet?. An Hon. General 110-1111 6,
marked wish confiderable freedom, pa the rpeeds •
an Hon. Gentleman who fpoki_front 'this lillo
the Honig. I own that I was much filaw=l
the tone and Manner in which be
obfervations. The Hondbrable General. mitt
I underflood him, feemed to fay to my
ble Friend, " This is no place for any tnalike."4.:,
from you—this is no fubjec't On which you=
re
give an opinion, you a But a Simple
you mull leave matters of Such high import to be d&
cuffed sod decided on by Major-Generals and Lice.
tenant-Generals. Yon have not (efficient rank Co en-
title you to give an opinion." This is the tenor at-
what the Hon. General has laid, and I feel ittnebtrit.
ficulty, I acknowledge, to reconcile it with his toadish
on an occafion that occurred:on a former Parliament.
I remember that the Hon. Gen. tßen a ample Major,'
and freibfrom the Scene of aftion, criricifed with all din
severity be is capable of the conduit of two General
Officers (Generals Meadows and McCraw. I be.
'litre) for which he received a very revere haste in
this Hoare -when I defended him as well as I emit,
and ptecifely opon the fame principle that I noted*.
fend my Honourable Friend. I wi11...t0 anderennil
the llonoinable General—l with him to late plainly
what he means. Does he mean to alert, that Opi-
nionsare not to be given by fulsalterws on fables
that are within their comprehenfion and information ?
Will be go the length of foring, that we are to de.
bate nothing military in this Houle tor does the Ho.
nourable General confider it as preheat to be Shiti
becaufe an opinion delivered here may pollibly Ater
from the opinions ur cc, rata pertaii'vrherwra
chic hereafter ? The Honourable Genera hat el ea.
vowed, with very little comers, in my opissloa, to
combat in detail fome of din Statements contained in
the luminous and comprehenfive Speech of my
nourable Friend ; a Speech which, for Inikarytt4
formation and argument. hat never bow nuoindwilies,
this Hook, and for which. in my eflimatisikhr Inc
Inferves the thanks of every man in the country. VW.
Hos. General, in oppofitirlb to my Hon. Friend, Lou
laboured to fopport the principle of exemptions. In. •
anfwer tolsim I would ark, why is the army defehive
Why is there a deficiency in the Militia! The ballots
are exhaufled, and why Beeaufe the principle at
cxemptionlas (cartely left a man in the country that
you have a right to call upon. This principle: to
radically vicious, and fo fatal in its operation, wee
never demanded by the Volunteers, far from it. It
was " thrall upon them as it were." When the Vo-
lunteer Bill was paired lan rummer, the principle of
exemption was fo little thought of or expeeed, that
the Volunteers genii-ally entered into fuhfcripbono
to indemnify each other aping the chance of being
hallooed to Serve in the Militia, or the Army a
Referee. But the AR upon this fubjca teemed to ,
have been framed with fiudied obfctirity, as if, to
(peak lightly on rave winters, it were the object •
of the makers to envelope it in inconfideori and
cord-aims. Ig What does the ATTOLIIIIT
eat think of this ? ! never mind him—let
him alone, you Shall fee how we (ball puzzle him
by and by!" Such, he prefumed, or frassathing
like it, was the converfation of the enlightened frank
ors of that Bill. Sir, in regulating the mutants of
the Volunteer Fence, Ministers prneeededrubas an
abfiird and fenfelefs principle. They limited if,
1 believe, to fix times the number of the Militia
in the refpeEtive Counties. This, as a general
principle, is faulty in the extreme. What, Sir,
are you to affemble your Volunteer Porte in Kent
and in Sultex, with the fame relative proportion to
the Mi,itia that yru would in the counties of Staf-
ford and Warwick? I do not mean to depreciate the
(pink or the fervices of the Volunteers, when I pea.
fer an armed peafantry to them, numerous as they
are. They are worfe than an armed peafantry, and
why Beca,lie they are not Gs numerous. Yon
have, as I am informed,foar Lomb?! theV;nielVolun•
teen; whereas, if Government had done their duty,
and given a true direetion to that ardent fpirit which
pervaded the country, you would have hail two mil-
lions of armed peafants. I know that confidemble
dick has been laid, and much expo :Ration formed,
from the degree of difciphine the Volunteers have ob-
tained; but I fear, that if ever the occafion Should
arife, it will be found ins tiny, as well as in other in.
fiances, that a little learning is a dangerous thing.'
There is a great proportion of them who have not
had a moth tin their hands not it the loft five months
and a din greater, that have never yet fired with ball.
cai ttiJise. Such men. Sir, men fo difciplined, if dif-
cipline it can be called, are not It to meet the exi-
gency of the moment. They have been taught to do
what they Should not do; and have set been taught ro
do, what they Should do. Whenever they (hall come
into the field, they will find the [mattering of mili-
tary education they have had, of little, cm indeed of
no ufe to them. So tardy has been the Government.
that von were a long time expelled to intrafion.
fore they had an opportunity afforded them of learn-
ing any thing. There was a deficiency of arms, it is
laid If you had not arms, why not give them fano
other weapon ? An Hon. General has Aid that pike.
men are welds: for what purpofe then has Govern.
n: • it iffued r.ne hundred thoutand Hand of pikes
It is laid, by toe fly:l.4meg of this fyilent, that it
was the apprehenflon of 1::2 Volunteers that pros
vented the French from invading us lan June. What,
from invading us in June; at which time we had
none ! What did they flop Gel ! Oh, to give them an
opportunity of getting dolled. I prefume. Really.
Mr. Speak.r, 1. for one, thould not be lorry, that
the enemy Should mend hi, complaifanee a little
further. and wait usi• tSe Volunteers had become
mike is difeipline t in that case. I Should not be
very uneafy at the profped of immediate loyal-ion,
Now. when I (peak of the advsmiapes of an armed
peafentry, I would tense* tit le Gentlemen who
treat with contempt that (penes of force, to confider
what has been atchicved by is irel.a Vender. in Anse..
rica. and in Switzerland, and the United States of
Holland. at the forindailow of their liberties. From
all that I have ciiiisi2cd ay* ',num umiak. itimb