as fit to act with any regiments of the line, many more as fit for actual service, and the remainder as gradually improving in discipline. Among the number of more than 300,000 men, there must be some, either from accident, from want of opportunity (from any thing but want of zeal), who have not made so great a proficiency as others; but in all the mass of zeal, spirit, and perseverance, which is contained in these reports, there are few, indeed, like those under the command of the right honourable secretary who are too bad to be reported on at all. If government had abolished these inspecting field officers from motives of public economy, he certainly applauded the principle, but he lamented the application of it. The number might perhaps be reduced with advantage, but he was confident, that days of inspection contributed very essentially to excite the emulation and continue the zeal of the volunteers. They did not consider them, as had been said, as a hardship, but always, as far as he had seen, looked forward with great anxiety and eagerness to the reports of those officers to whose inspection they were subjected; and as to their having become remiss in their attendance on such occasions, he must beg to doubt the fact; he had never found it; those under his own command had invariably mustered four-fifths of the effective, on days of inspection, ever since the volunteers had been formed, and he knew the same of others. He understood that the present plan went to place the volunteers under the command of the general of the district, who was to inspect them three times a-year. For this he thought a fresh act of Parlia ment necessary, as the volunteers were at present subject only to the lord lieutenant and inspecting field officer, and it would place a vast additional trouble and responsibility on general officers, and he doubted whether it was possible for men to accomplish it, at least to any good purpose. If the generals of districts who were cavalry officers were to inspect the infantry, and infantry officers the cavalry, he very much doubted whether great confidence could be placed in such reports. There was also another part of the new system to which he had even stronger objections, namely, the abolition of permanent duty. Permanent duty was the vital essence of the volunteers, the mainspring of their discipline; it would be invariably found, that those who had been most out on permanent duty were in the highest state of discipline, and those who had been least least out were the most deficient. To bring the volun teers to that state of perfection of which they were capa ble, and to which they were fast approaching, permanent duty should be rigidly enforced. He could hardly help' thinking that destroying permanent duty was one of the indirect means by which it was intended to disband the volunteers. The effect of many of the late regulations went to damp their zeal, to destroy their emulation, and to impair their discipline; and, coupled with the language of disapprobation and the expressions of derision which had been used towards them, could not fail to excite di ap pointment and disgust amongst them, and become fatal to the system. If ministers disapproved of the volunteers, and thought that they could direct the physical strength of the country into a channel more conducive to the public interests, they were quite in the right to abolish that system. It would be more fair and manly, if such be their sentiments, to say at once to the volunteers, "We thank you for your zeal and perseverance; you have done the state some service, and they know it, but we have no farther occasion to make use of you." But, if they really mean, as they sometimes state, to continue the volunteers, they are singularly unfortunate in the means they re ort to. It is not to be effected by weakening their emulation and impairing their discipline; let the field officers and drill serjeants be continued; enforce permanent duty; retract some of the late steps which have been taken to make some few alterations in the former system, and the country will, in a very short time, have a force on which it may depend for purposes of internal defence, which would let loose the regular army for any foreign service, which would be ready at a moment's warning if required; and, full of zeal, spirit, and discipline, would be sufficient to repel the attack of an enemy, or any other home service which the immediate exigence might call for, and of far more value to the country than all the reluctant conscripts which were to be raised under the late bill. The resolution which he meant to submit was not unprecedented, an example had been afforded on the same subject hea first the volunteers were raised. A motion was then made, and passed unanimously, to thank them for the promptitude and zeal with which they had come forward's It was brought forward by a gentleman, now a member of his Majesty's govern ment, and accompanied by a speech which he well recol lected lected, to have done much towards animating the spirit of the volunteers. That vote was grounded on the alacrity and zeal with which the volunteers had embodied themselves, as affording a pledge that they would not relax their exertions till they had rendered themselves fully equal to the defence of the country. They had now redeemed every pledge, they had fulfilled every promise; they had continued for more than three years struggling with all the awkward difficulties which they had to overcome before they could attain the state in which they are. They had not only given up time and trouble to the service of the coun try, but had cheerfully incurred great expences; they had shewn zeal, alacrity, and perseverance, beyond all example, and they had the satisfaction to think, that they had been the means of saving the country from invasion. What had they received for all this exertion but sarcasms and reproaches from the present government; but it was to Parliament, and not to the right honourable secretary, that men asked for approbation as the reward of their services, and to them for their opinion, whether the continuance of their services would be advantageous and desirable to the country. He therefrom moved to resolve, "That the House doth thankfully acknowledge and highly approve of the services of the different corps of yeomanry and volunteers of the united kingdom, and doth think it necessary to record is decided opinion, that the due encouragement of the zeal and patriotism which the yeomanry and volunteers have so eminently displayed in the maintenance of their establishment, and the preservation of their discipline, would contribute, in an essential degree, to the defence and internal security of the country." Mr. Dent seconded the motion. After a general panegyric of the volunteers, he took notice of several expressions which were made in contempt and derision of them. He particularly dwelt on what had been advanced by an hon. member (Colonel Craufurd), respecting the trade of Colonel Birch, as if, because he made pies and jellies, he was on that account to be excluded from the service of his country. After repeating many of the expressions which had at different times been imputed to Mr. Windham, he concluded by stating his opinion, that ministers dare not move the previous question upon this motion of thanks to the volunteers; for that, although minorities in that House must must yield to majorities, yet it was not always to be expect ed that the public should remain quiet. Sir R. Milanke was anxious to bear testimony to the spirit and zeal he had always found among the volunteers, particularly in the alarm that prevailed in Yorkshire. If it had been a simple vote of thanks he should have agreed to it; but in the manner in which the resolution was worded, he saw many things that he could not agree to. General Phipps said that he was one of those officers who had reported the volunteers as fit to serve with regular troops, although he would not say altogether equal to regular troops. As to the London volunteers, many of them were fully equal to several regiments of the militia. He still considered, that the London volunteers were, in general, fit to serve with troops of the line, and he had a very high opinion of them. As to the country volunteers, he was not so well acquainted with them, and could not speak so much from his own knowledge. When he was commander of the garrison of Hull, he very much approved of the state of the full volunteers, and the pains which their commander (the mayor) had taken. From his general experience with respect to volunteer corps, he must say, that he considered, that depriving them of their inspecting field-officers and drill serjeants would be a very material injury to them. Mr. Secretary Windham stated, that the drill serjeants were not to be taken from the volunteers, but that the alJowance to them, which was now considered extravagant, would be reduced to what was reasonable. Although the volunteers might be equal to some of the militia regiments in expertness and precision, yet he was still of opinion that the regular regiments had a vast advantage over both, in that mechanical sort of courage that proceeded from the discipline of martial law, and the traditional character of the regiment. As to those expressions that were so often imputed to him as hostile to the volunteers, he really wondered that gentlemen were not ashamed of repeating them so often. What fairness was there in taking detached sentences and words without the context? It was comething like Lord Peter, in the Tale of a Tub; he could pick out what meaning he pleased from the will, if not in sentences, in words, or at least in letters. As to the permanent duty among the volunteers, gentlemen did not appear aware of the expence of it: it cost near half a million annually; and if a smaller sum would produce greater effects, supplied in another manner, it was the duty of ministers to discontinue it. The resolution which was proposed to the House was drawn up with so much ambiguity; and that, which every body must allow, was so blended with what he must deny, that he could not agree to its adoption. As to the first part, he should readily agree that he highly approved of the services of the volunteers; he also highly approved of the services of the army, of the navy, and of the mili tia; and yet, if any one proposed a vote of thanks to any of those branches of public service, it would be at least incumbent on the mover to shew some reasons for the motion; and, on the other hand, it would be absurd for the House now to pass a resolution in favour of permanent duty among the volunteers, when they had already rejected that principle. As the hon. gentleman had, however, said it would be so daring a thing to move the previous question, he should leave that task to somebody else. Mr. Fuller recommended it to the right hon. secretary to make up his breach with the volunteers by assenting to this motion. Mr. Windham explained. Lord Ossulstone moved the previous question. Mr. Bankes approved of the first part of the motion, but rather disapproved of the other, as it seemed, by impli cation, to convey a censure upon the conduct of the majority of that House who had voted for certain measures re lative to the volunteers in the course of the present session. The honourable member, therefore, recommended that a more acceptable motion should be proposed. Sir Robert Williams was surprised that any opposition was given to a motion, the design of which was to render thanks to a body of men so meritorious. Mr. Wilberforce thought that the only way in which any return could be made to the volunteers, was by such a mark of Parliamentary approbation. If any particular expressions were exceptionable, he should wish that the honourable mover would accede to some alteration, but none which would diminish the force of any language indicative of the favourable sentiments that House entertained of the conduct of the volunteers. General Tarleton contemplated the volunteers with respect. Twenty-five thousand were ready to defend the metropolis of the empire, and he thought, with no troops, VOL. III. I805-6. whether AK |