Star.
London, England, 1820-06-15 00:00:00

said that in angmilitaticin o '
the army in dint
peke w4s agarnst the law, he (Lord Parmerstoti)
eOrietirred 'With him ; but he should recollect that
the Parlianient, the first day it assembled, in ad
Addtess to the Throne, had sanctioned alsd Ifni-laved
of the nieasute of calling out the Veteean Battalionis
As to the policy of the measure, he Might say that
it w4_justilled by notorious facts, by The alarming
state of the country. He would forbear to advert to
the late conspiracy in London —(A laagh). No doubt
a plan to burn London, and to overturn the Govern-
ment, Was unworthy of notice ! The lion. Gentle-
man should know that a Special Commission was
about to be issued for Yorkshire and Scotland, to try
a conside e number of persons charged *with the
crime of 'High Treason-for-acts committed too in
the months of March and April last, by armed bodies
of men, in different parts of the country. Did the
Noble Lord opposite see the Proclamation posted up
in Glasgow, declaring a Provisional Government,
and stating that the object of the persons concerned
was to effect, by force of arms, what they considered
to be their rights? Under all the circumstances, was
it possible that any person, fairly considering the
events of lgarch and April last, would ask to remove
from the hands of Government the means by which
they %sere enabled to meet the threatened evil? He
certainly did not mean to speak of the Noble Lord
in any other terms than those of respect; but he
must say, that some parts of his speech were more
worthy of the audiences of Southwark, Covent-
garden, and Palace•yard, than for the ear of the
Parliament to, which they were addressed—(Hear).—
If any man could bring himself to believe that his
political opponents could be so senseless as to wish to
establish a military despotism on the ruins of that
Constitution under which they possessed all that was
dear and valuable to man, he did, from the bottom
of his heart, pity the political bigotry of such a per-
son—Wear, hear).—But if there were persons who
I.were likely to drive them to a Military Government,
it was those self-called and mis-named Reformers,
'whose object was to promote anarchy. They were
the real enemies of the country, in the commotion
they occasioned, in the fears they awakened. They
banished public confidence, interrupted industry, and
destroyed public happiness and public prosperity.—
The Noble Lord concluded by saying, that he hoped
the country would prosper under the Laws and Con-
stitution which the people had inherited from their
fathers, and which he hoped they would hand down
unimpaired to their`ehildren.
Colonel DAVIES said, the House must be aware
that his opinion was that our Military Establishment
was much greater than the state of the country res
quired ; and that every part of oar Army, and all
connected with it, was so extravagant, as to require
the immediate attention of Parliament. The corn.
motions in the country were made up of the lowest
dregs of the populace; and might have been put
down by the laws, and the sensible part of the com-
munity, without the assistance of a single soldier in
the country. If Ministers, with the Legislature, and
the whole people of property in the country, could
not have put down such petty insurrections, alone
caused by distress and starvation, they were unworthy
of their situations--(llear, hear). He was, at all
events, convinced, that our Army, as it stood in
1819, before the augmentation of 11,000 men, would
have been sufficient for every purpose ..rlf
.internal
tranquillity. Besides, that augmentation could not
have been required by any addition to our Colonies.
So far from armies regulating public opinions, the
history of all countries had strewn that the armies
had always followed the opinions of the people. If
the people were loyal, employ them to keep the
peace; if they were tainted with revolutionary prin-
ciples, armies would be able to stop them. In order
to put the motion in.a shape as little exceptionable -
as possible, he should propose an Amendment on-
the Amendment, to move that the number should be
80,479, instead of 77,224, as proposed by the Noble
Lord (Nugent).—The Motion and the two Amend.
ments having been put,
General Sir 11. VIVIAN said, that the circum-
stances of the country, in the last autumn, bad been
so dangerous and peculiar, that the increase of the
armed force was a wise and necessary measure. The
Army was then redirced to its-lowest state. He had
at that time an appointment on the Staff in the west
of Scotland, and he should state a few of the facts
which, in his opinion, justified the increase of the
Army. In a very short space round,Glasgow there
were 800,000 people. The effect of blasphemous •
and seditious publications, and of artful instigations
upon the population, had been such that they had
forgotten their duty to their Magistrates, and he
might almost say, (which was strange in a country
where the religious habits of the people had been so
exemplary,) their duty to their Gon. Id Paisley, for
instance, in the course of a tumult the pedple pur-
sued the Magistrates, and broke into a Church where
they bad taken refuge. He• had learned from a
friend of his wbo had witnessed it, that a Meeting of
25,000 of the disaffected took place, where they as-
sembled and dispersed jn a manner which would have
done credit to eny-regular Army. The unfortunate
-accident at Greenock would never, he was convinced,
have occured if the prisoners had been.escorted by
regular troops instead of volunteers.. Whough he
was well aware that a small regular force could dis--
perse a large mob, he thought a larse.force more
likely to inspire that awe which might . prevent a
great ultimate expense and bloodshed. What right
had they to suppose that-the spirit which actuated
the persons concerned in The insurrection:of the Ist
of April, was now subdued, or that the people who
had then risen in rebellion against the Government,
had in a few months become loyal subjects? (Hear).
Mr. HOBHOUSE said, it had been observed by
the Noble Secretary at War, that the arguments
which had been urged against the present amount of
the Army, were only fit for the Meetings of Palace-
yard and Covent-garden. The Noble Lord, though
an inhabitant of the Metropolis, seemed not to know,
that by the measures of his colleagues, the People
were preventedfrom having hustings in Palace-yard,
and could only have them at stated periods in Co.
vent-garden—(d laugh).—He should take the liberty
to say, that if the arguments .26:diet the Standing
Armyre
i rwfe v Ywfiert for
e o ltyh. efi tßfeofro tirmroesers' thearsuments
in
be they what they might. 'The disuse oethe situa-
tion of the country4ttrintlee refty, *as said to
O
have been a sutffcient juncati, fir 'the increase of

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