Star.
London, England, 1820-05-17 00:00:00

duced. With regard to the Staff Corps, it contained
numerous well trained and valuable Officers, and
Gould not be dispensed with. Such skilful Officers
could not, without such a corps, be obtained in mo-'
ments of emergency. The Honourable Gentleman
was in a great error in regard to his notions about
the recruiting service; for, it would be very detri-
mental to the discipline of the corps, if Officers were
to be detached upon the recruiting service. The Hon.
Gentleman himself had said, that when he was on that

service the recruiting always went on better when he
was absent from the recruiting party —(A laugh).—
The Riding Schools were attended with great benefit,
because they introduced a new system of riding into
the Army. The Honourable Gentleman might re-
collect what had been once said by a General Officer
respecting a Regiment of Hussars :—that it had only
one defect, which was, that the men did not know
how to ride. But such a defect as this was removed
by the establishment in question. As to the Quarter-
master-General's' Department, the Hon. Gentleman
ought to know, that without it the internal arrange-
ments of the Army, and all the regulations respect-
ing the quartering of soldiers, could newer ba carried
on. With respect to the number of Officers employed
in Ireland, it must be recollected, that in that country
the force was much more scattered than in England,
and that circumstance incteased the difficulty of
communication, so as to require more Officers.—
The [lon. Gentleman talked of the number of Offi-
cers in the West India Islands; but the very same
reason as existed in Ireland made it necessary to have
those numerous Officers; namely, that of thelorce
being scattered abroad in small parties in various
islands. As to what the Honourable Gentleman said.
about the expenses of the War Office, feit* thany
years the number of persons in that Office was not.
sufficient for the accumulation of the business, and
the consequence was, a great enibarrassment in Cie
settling of the accounts, so that it becarr ^ abso-
lu:ely necessary to appoint more—(hear, hear).—
lie next took notice of the great convenience which
arose from the establishment of the lithograr
press, as well as the saving of time and expense to
the War Office. Ile also defended the establishment
of the Military College, in which a considerable
saving took place last year. There were about 200
vacant commissions every year; about 60 or 70
cadets were appointed to commissions. The Hon.!
Gentleman was in an error respecting the attend-
ance of Pr ofessows in the College ; for, by the new
arrangements, they were to attend six or eight hours
a day. Ile could assure the I lonourable Gentleman,
that the Army had derived great advantage from
the young men sent to it from the College.—lt was of
the utmost consequence that officers should be well in-
s!ructed in military discipline, on entering the Army ; for an
Army could litv,:r be gond, unless the thlicers were skilled in

th: theory and practice of their profession. Young men could
not be educated so well in private academies as in this College;
and without the College, young men intended for the military
profession would be obliged to go to the Academies of France and
Gerntany, a measure wine!! every Gentlenum who heard him must
disamlrove of; fur they must all wish to see British Officers With
Erin ,h edneetion, feelings, and habits ; or. the same principle that
a College was etablished in Ireland, for the education of those Ro-
rr le Catholic Caergymen who were to instruct the peasants of that
country, and to prevent them from going for education to foreign
countries, where they might imbibe notions different from what
should be their own national feelings and habits. As to the
Barrack Department, the lionoureble Gentleman's observa-
tions had no foundation whatever and he had laid no ground
for wttich the Ileum ought to grant the inquiry moved for by
There had been Committees and Commissions repeatedly
apeointed by the-House to inquire into affairs of the Army, and
th y had made the most luminous and satisfactory reports. The
persons composing those Committees had shewn as much la-
borious attention to the subject they entered upon, as any
Committee he could appoint; and if such Committee now
chosen, it would feud nothing which had not already been fully
irvestigated and cleared up. He therefore saw no reason wilem
ever for such a Committee as that now sought for. The Ho-
lm:treble Gentleman had alluded to our distresses and financial
e:r.berrassments,but in considering the amount of our burdens we
should not forget under what circumstances they were incurred.
Ereaged in an arduous struggle, single-handed and unaided, net
only against all the Powers ut leurope, but with the confederated
forces of the civilized world, our object was not inertly military
glory—not the temptation of territorial acquisition—r.ot even
what might be considered a more jiistiliable object, the assertion
of violated rights and the vindication of national honour, but we
were contending for our very existence as an independent nation.
When the political horizon was thus clouded—when no human
foresight could point out from what quarter relief was to be ex-
pected—when the utmost effort of national energy was not to
despair—he would put it to the Ito:mumble Gentlemen whether,
if at that period it could have been shewn that Europe might be
delivered from its thraldom, but that this cuntingent good must
be purchased at the price of a long and patient endurance of our
domestic burthens, we should not have accepted the conditions
with gratitude? lie lamented as deeply as the I letiourable
Gentleman, the burthens of the country, but it should be re-
collected, that they were the price which we had agreed to pay
for our freedom and independence—l./leer, hear, hear).
CALCRA FT said, that his Honourable Friend who
made this motion, had pressed upon the consideration of the
Clause various statements, which would induce him to take an 1
active part in supporting his motion. From the manner in
which the motion was treated by the Noble Lord, it would have
been concluded that the Honourable Mover eves seeking to do
something which was exceedingly injurious or disgraceful to the
Government. But the truth was, that he (Colonel Davies)
merely called upon the I louse to examiae minutely every item
of etpenditure in a certain establishment, with a view to dis-
cover where a possible reduction might be made of the present
enormous burdens of the country • and, if it appeared that
the.c burdens could not be lightened, to snake them more tole-
rable by Parliament's manifesting the wish to reduce them,
without agreeing to the propositions of his Honourable Friend
respecting the reductions of the Cavalry Officers, he would be
permitted to say, that he (Colonel lkivies) had taken a labo-
rious and detailed view of the whole subject ; and, after shewing
a probability of reductions, sought for a Committee to inquire
into the correctness of his statements. The Noble Lord had
slid, that nothing was more easy, where arguments could be
brought forward in support of any inquiry, than to state these
arguments, and to obtain the concurrence of the House to the
proposition. It happened, however, very unfortunately, that
'prepositions, when brought forward at his (Mr. Calcraft's) liie
of the House, were seldom successful ; and they who had ape
rienee in that House, would easily remember] that etymons,
however solid, when pressed by Gentlemen ea the Opposidoet
side, so far from producing conviction in their opponents, were
generally very quickly disposed of by the simple recipe of a
Ministerial majority. In the present instance, the Noble Lad
had advanced but little in confutation of the reasoning of
Honourable Friend. The Noble Lord spoke but once a-year,
and when he did speak, it was to be admitted that he made a
-eery good speech !—(lfenr, from the Minieteriai benches.) The
Noble Lord, however, proved the best paid orator of the day,
for he received several thousands of pounds for merely making
one speech in the year ! If, after the statements made by his
I lonourable Friend, and in the absence of any fact er reasoning
to weaken the efficacy of those statements, the House were to
refuse to the People an inquiry into the possibility of retrench-
ment, such a course would, he was sure, tend to the destruction
of all confidence in the disposition of Parliament to lesson the
burdens of the Country.
Sir 11. PARNELL said, that his Honourable Friend had
over-rated the eloquence of the Noble Lord, for in the last yeas
he had contented himself with submitting the Estimates without
ntakirg a speech ! In adverting to the immense increase of the
expense of the Civil Establishments connected with the Army,
he stated, that the salaries in the Conumander-in-Chid's Wines