and Pruffian States, it can be carried into execution with more punctuality, where it is not fruftrated by exterior caufes. The right hon. Gentleman next proceeded to his contrivance for maintaining the force he projected, and this, he said, was to be done by ballot; a ballot, it is true, fui generis, but ftill it was to be by ballot. If the individuals on whom the lot devolved would not ferve, they were to pay a fine; but if they ferved they were to receive the fame amount they would otherwife pay, as the reward of their compliance. The object of this propofal was to put an end to the competition; but I doubt very much if it would have that effect, or whether it would fuperfede the fubfcription clubs of which the right hon. Gentleman complained. I am confident nothing but an act of Parliament could prevent the latter, and, if it were enacted, I very much doubt its utility: it would occafion many afflicting examples of private diftrefs, and answer no valuable purpose, perhaps, to countervail their difadvantage. The right hon. Gentleman fays no one shall be felected as a fubftitute, but a perfon provided from the particular hundred to which the lot falls. It furely must be well known to many Members of this Houfe, that this limitation would in many parts of the country be wholly impracticable. The other plan is feasible, which provides that no man shall be a fubftitute who does not belong to the county where the ballot takes effect, or in fome adjacent district. It is, perhaps, a painful fact that we are conftrained in many cafes to have recourfe for the principal fcene of recruiting to the great manufacturing towns of Leeds, Halifax, Manchester, and others, which it would be eligible to referve as much as poffible for the regular fupplies. Without entering more at large into the fubject, what I have advanced will be fufficient to fhew that the plan of the right hon. Gentleman, however it might be remotely and ultimately effectual, is not calculated to answer the prominent object, which is, to augment the army to a confiderable extent in a very fhort space of time. On the contrary, the expedient, to be fubmitted to the Houfe is confidered by the highest military authorities adequate to the completion of this important defign. If it fhould be thought that we are too fanguine in the degree of fuccefs we anticipate, none will deny that in fome degree the end will be obtained; and in proportion to this will be the capacity of his Majefty to apply the difpofable force to offenfive operations. I have troubled the Houfe too long on a question which is reducible to fo narrow a point; but it seemed im proper proper to leave the right hon. Gentleman's propofition wholly unanswered. On a question that regards the permanent fyftem of the army, it may be very fit to enter fully into the merits of his plan, both in a partial and a collective view; but I have, at this time, reluctantly embarraffed the present inquiry with these confiderations. Mr. Pitt role to explain an error into which the right hon. Secretary had fallen, as in the event of a difficulty from the locality of the levy it was provided for in his plan. In certain cafes the bounty was given to the Colonel to procure the recruit, and all that was material to guard against was, that the bounty for the limited fhould not equal the remuneration for the unlimited fervice. This alfo was provided for. Mr. Whitbread was glad that the right hon. Secretary, in anfwer to the right hon. Gentleman under the gallery, had condefcended to explain, in fome refpects, the bill which he now proposed to offer to the confideration of the House. By the explanation, fuch as the right hon. Gentleman had been pleafed to give, he had certainly juftified the charge that had been fo frequently brought against Minifters, that they had adopted no fixed or confiftent plan in their operations. By the measure now intended he tells us that he means to fufpend the army of referve, as he calls it, though no mifnomer could poffibly be more glaring than the appellation applied to this fpecies of force, as the refult has proved. Have we not been repeatedly told in justification of the army of referve, that it was one of the great means of recruiting the army? Have not comparative statements been given of the recruiting service at different periods; and have we not been told that the fuccefs of the recruiting fervice, fuch as it has been, has been owing to the army of referve? Such are the advantages which that Gentleman has boasted of deriving from the army of referve: and yet he now comes forward to fufpend this act which he has formerly stated to be produc tive of fo many advantages, He comes forward to remove, by this fufpenfion, the pernicious effects of that competition which has been fo often complained of, but which has never been till now admitted by the right hon. Gentleman. He 'could not, however, allow the acknowledgment of the right hon. Gentleman to be a fufficient answer to the objections offered to the prefent bill. He could not allow the acknowledgment of their paft errors to be a fufficient proof of the capacity of Minifters to conduct the affairs of the country, particularly particularly in fuch a crifis as the prefent: he would allow it to be a fufficient proof that they had no vigour nor confiftency in their measures; but he could never allow the perception of paft errors, fo long and fo obftinately persisted in, and ftill profeffed to be adhered to in regard to principle, to be a proof of greater wifdom in new arrangements which were fo clofely connected with the former, that they must partake in a very confiderable degree of their general complexion. The measure now propofed, does not go to abolifh the army of referve, which, if that fyftem had been found inefficient, it ought to do; but goes only to fufpend for a time its operation. Either the army of referve is a good or a bad fyftem. If it is a good fyftem and poffeffed of all the advantages which have been profeffed to be derived from it, why fufpend it? And if it is a bad fyftem, and by creating an unfair competition, operates in hoftility to the increase of the regular army, can any reason be given why it fhould not be totally repealed? But Minifters perhaps are afraid to confefs their weakness. They fee at laft the inconveniencies attending the prefent army of referve fyftem, but are reluctant to acknowledge in proper form the inutility of a fyftem they have fo often fupported, and from which they have profeffed to derive fo many advantages. They wish to abolish it therefore imperceptibly, and to avoid, under the pretence of a temporary fufpenfion, the noife and eclat of a recantation. They with to abolish it by a fide wind, and at the expence of the people. As if the former fyftem had not been fufficiently expenfive, the prefent plan now propofed to be fubmitted to the Houfe was no less calculated to empty the pockets of the people. That men could be raised in a fhort time upon any fuch fystem was an erroneous idea. In the counties with which he was acquainted, he could fav, from his own observation, instead of raifing the men in a fhort time, they were obliged to act illegally in order to raise them at all. Had they acted legally indeed, they would have neither found men nor money. But if it is now allowed that men cannot be raised by the army of referve, which was formerly flated to poffefs fo many advantages, and which is ftill allowed to be efficient, inasmuch as it is not intended to be repealed, to what quarter shall we apply for the fupply of men required? If Government has not been able to raife the neceffary fupply of men by the operation of the army of referve act, how fhall they be able to raise the men wanted, if the field is fo exhausted as to render that act ineffectual? If it was really necellary to go into a Committee Committee on this fubject, it must be regarded as a proof, and a very undeniable proof-a proof which thofe gentlemen themselves recognife-that all former meafures have been ineffectual. But if this be really the cafe, if the proper mode of augmenting our army be yet unafcertained, upon what principle could the late motion of his hon. Friend (Mr. Fox) have been rejected? Did not that motion go to the adoption of vigorous and adequate measures, and to the correction of paft inadvertencies? Was it not the design of that motion to employ the collective wifdom of the Houfe in adopting meafures fuited to the exigencies of our prefent circumftances? But Minifters, by rejecting the offer, had declared the prefent fyftem to be complete, and yet they came forward that night and ftated it as neceffary to go into a Committee on one of the most important departments of the fervice, and what was ftill more, placed this neceffity on the very grounds urged by his hon. Friend in favour of his motion. Had that motion been carried they fhould now have been fitting as a Committee, not only for inveftigating the best means of augmenting the regular army, but the best means alfo of arranging and difpofing of every fpecies of our force. It would appear, therefore, from the arguments of thofe Gentlemen that night, that they did not reject the measure proposed by his hon. Friend, from a conviction of its impropriety; but merely to try their ftrength, and to afcertain whether it would be prudent for them to continue longer in their places. But now having ascertained that important point, they come for ward and tell us, without reflecting a moment on their former arguments, that it will be proper to go into a Committee. There is certainly a grofs relinquithment, both of principle and duty, not to call it by a worse name, in the conduct of the right hon. Gentleman this day. But if you do not allow them to carry this measure into effect, they will tell you, you may as well deny them the fupply, for in the prefent circumstances the one grant is as neceffary as the other. Without raifing men, they tell us, it is impoffible to go on, and it is no longer poffible to raise men on the old fyftem. It was for this very reafon he was against the meafure. If the army of referve act was no longer useful, it ought to be repealed. He would therefore very willingly vote for its repeal; but would by no means encourage partial measures by voting its fufpenfion, when upon the declaration of Ministers themselves, it ought to be entirely abolished. According to the statement fo repeatedly made by Ministers, they they intended the army of reserve as a fupply for the regular army. This admiffion was allowed them, and they claimed no inconfiderable credit from it. If their ftatements then in this refpect were true, why would they wantonly cut off those refources, and fufpend a fyftem which had for its principal object the fupply of the regular army? A difpofable force, and to a confiderable amount, every man will allow to be neceffary; any measure, therefore, for the increase of fuch a force, muft meet with general approbation, though, at the fame time, he, for one, fhould not wish to see any great disposable force put into their hands, from a conviction that they would be very ill qualified to make a proper ufe of it. But if the army of reserve act was calculated to create this difpofable force, why fufpend it, and if it had a contrary tendency, why not immediately repeal it? But in fufpending the army of referve act, they propofe, it seems, to create a number of infpectors in the different diftricts. What confequences could be expected from fuch an arrangement? The Lord Lieutenants of the different counties are certainly fufficient for all the purposes intended by infpectors, and even in most cases better qualified than fupervisors of any description. But the Gentlemen oppofite, perhaps, with at the prefent critical moment to create a greater number of places, and thus, independently of the general ftrength of the country, add at least to their own forces. Such an acquifition of ftrength was no doubt defirable, and at the prefent moment, perhaps, abfolutely neceffary. Inefficient, however, as the army of referve act would now feet to be, its provifions had not been carried into execution, which was ftill a farther proof that Minifters were ill-qualified either to adopt new measures, or to carry existing ones into execution. They enacted without thought, and were equally anxious to fufpend without reflection. By the army of referve bill, they had required the quota of men to be raised at a certain time, or a fine to be impofed, fhould any county or diftrict be deficient in their number. He should not fay at present whether this provifion was wife or not, but he was certain it had not, and perhaps could not, with any propriety be put into execution. In the county with which he was particularly connected, the number of men had not been found, but at the fame time no fine had been imposed by the quarter feffions, as it was found the men could not be got. In reply to this, they will tell us most likely, they could not know the precife circumstances of the different counties, and might therefore, in |