Star.
London, England, 1818-09-24 00:00:00

THA 4,101 Y;

....•r..

TO TUX EDITOR. •
Sue—Deprived as I iiin by age of ictively serving
slay countt7, yet I will exert my poor abilities id their
utmost extent, by warning 'my country of an error,
which, if persisted in, wff unavoidably, ere long, be
severely repented of. The very extended reduction
of our army alining home from the Continent, which
is now in contemplation, should be well considered
and seriously weighed before it is put in force. Eco-
nomy is now the ruling passion •of the day ; but in
this respect we may find that we are penny wise and
pound foolish. I first state my humble opinion
how a reduction of the army should be effected.
without absolute ruin to that army, by depriving it
of being restored in a very short to its pristine
vigour, force and efficacy. he American.
French and Spanish war- so many new regiments
had been raised, that it became necessary to reduce
some of them totally. But the ease is quite different,
at present ; there is no necessity whatever of reducing
any one regiment entirely, and if that be done, you
will destroy the root, the spring of the regenerative
force of the British Army. No whole regiment should
be disbanded—provided it be judged absolutely ne-
cessary, that a considerable reduction should take
place of the army, I presume it may be thus effected,'
without destroying it root and branch. I shall not pre-
same to dictate the numbers to which each regiment
shall be reduced, but only state an opinion for argu-
ment sake. Supposing a regiment be reduced to 400.
privates—it may be said that there will be too great
a number of Officers to so small a body of men ; to
this, I reply, in every regiment of ten companies, let
five Captains, five Lieutenants, and five Ensigns, be
reduced (although I think that number too great).l
Every military man must acknowledge, that at the
breaking out of a war, provided 800 recruits be sent
to this old stock, of 400, replete with Officers 'who
understand their duty, that in so short a time as three
months, that regiment, containing twelve hundred
men, will be able to take the field. I will leave it to
better judges than myself to determine how long
time it will take to discipline 1200 raw recruits, and
make them, fit to take the field, particularly provided
the greater part (considerably) of the Officers are also
young and inexperienced ; •and this is what, gene-
rally speaking, cvll be the real tact; for surely it
would be great injustice not to allow the former re-
duced Officers to return to their former regiments,
unless an advanced step in rank was given to each
of them. By the plan I have above stated, every re-
aliment in the army may be completed to IWO pri-
vates (a strong regiment), and be able, in so short a
time as three months, to take the field on active ser-
'Vice ; and in my opinion, that regiment, so constitu-
ped (with able Officers who have seen service), in
some respects, is preferable by far to an old regi-
ment, which has seen seven or eight campaigns ; for,
in. my opinion, though an old Soldier knows well his
duty, he also knows well the danger, and oftentimes too
well. The bravest actions of our army have been
performed by regiments well disciplined, who never!
had before seen a single shot fired. :A private soldier,
who has seen one active cantp,s'ern, is a soldier old
enough for me. It is absolutely necessary that an
old stock be kept, on which the new may readily be
grafted : and if this be not done, that British army
will (for a time) be destroyed. Much as been said
,
against it • and great objections have been made to a
standing force in this country ; but I will ask .any
liberal man, how this country would have been situa-
ted at present, provided we had not had a sufficient
force in this country during the time our main atmv
was on the Continent ; when so m toy setious and
alarming riots did take place, not o sly in the coun-
try, but in the metropolis also ? I will ask the
staunchest Republican, how any Government can be,
or ever was, supported, except by tlm bayonet? Was
not the reduction of the French Guar& the absolute
overthrow of the French Government? Again—did
not the distant Legions march to Rome, and gave
away the Empire ? So will other Legions do when a
necessitous occasion offers. Look to Lord George
Gordon's riots ; will not every man who possesses the
smallest property rejoice that we had a military force
to suppress that insurrection, which, to the disgrace
of the then existing Administration, was scandalously
allowedto exist for too long a period? By*what I have
written, I request it may not be supposed that I
am for a militai y Government. No, no, it ,is far
distant from my thoughts, and I will be. one of the
first in this country who will stake his lye t., oppose a
military Gfr,.e; ::..sent. No Military Martinet Magis-
trate for use : no Tiptop Military Adjutant in the
Chair of Justice. Away with such wretches! Yet I
declare my sentiments to be, for a military force to
assist the Civil Magistrate in, the execution of the laws
of the land made by our Representatives, in direful
time of absolute necessity, when, without such assis-
tance the Civil Magistrate might be overpowered,
and prevented from putting the laws of the land in
force. In truth, all Governments, whatever be their
construction, must be supported by cold iron, in spite
of the old or new fangled doctrines of mistaken phi,
losophy. This is a plain-sailing doctrine, though it
may not be palatable to those who would rather use
their tongues than their swords, and live on the fat
of the land. The prtsent peace will just last long
enough for our trcops to be disbanded, and then
shortly we shall have to enlist others. It is rumoured
that the '25,000 troops now on the Continent, on their
' arrival in this country, are to be disbanded. The prir.-
ciple is false, ruinous, and disgraceful ; and will in-
fallibly weaken our military power in another war,
which we shall repent of, when it is too late to be re-
called. GEORGE HANGER, Mijor-General,
Sept. 50, 1818. commonly called COL/mama.
• E. S. I cannot help making two more observations. The first
relates to the reduction of the Royal Artillery ; the second to
the reduction of the Royal Artillery Drivers. As to the first, it
should be well considered what time it will take to train a raw
and unerperieneed recruit to the service of the great guns. Ai
to the 10).4 Artillery Drivers, having had the honour of com-
manding a troop in that most efficient Corps, so acknowledged
for their celerity in action by the Duke of Wellington, it is only
rbtalhat.obbeilee tha
een dt i
In trestH
eknowu s t
of hey can
sphearlflorm,
take on me to state bow our guns were brought into action
in
.the Anierican war, and how they were brought into action in the
last war. In the American war we never carried more than a
la-pounder with the army, and this, 12-pounder was drawn by
eight or ten horses, I forget the exact number, all In a siring,
with two drivers, with long whips, eryingiee-up and gee-whoa ;
and the most that could be done was to sling that gun to a par-
ticular point, directed in a slow jog Mot—whereas the Royal
Artillery Drivers can now take up the heaviest ‘lece of ordnance
at full gallop. and how is all this to be bugt at a atomizes
notice, and at the slitiden breaking out Of a war : • .