1831.] Affair* in General. 71 



was considerably alive to the appearance of a substitute for Miss Paton, 

 and it was fully answered. Her debut was one of the most successful 

 witnessed for many years. She has a fine, clear, and flexible soprano 

 voice, of an extensive compass, and the articulation of her notes is 

 remarkably distinct. Her musical education has evidently been formed 

 in the Italian school, though we understand her studies were completed 

 in Scotland. With the advantages of a fine voice, and considerable 

 powers of execution, Miss Inverarity possesses those of a handsome 

 figure and an agreeable countenance. Her motions and gestures were 

 deficient in ease, but this was probably occasioned by the embarrassment 

 of a first appearance. 



There is often a singular contradiction between the speeches and the 

 actions of governments. All the Continental powers are declaring that 

 nothing was ever so complete as their amity, yet all are raising every 

 soldier and buying up every horse, musquet and cannon, that they can 

 lay their hands on. Austria is sending her 120,000 men into Italy. 

 Prussia is mounting 20,000 cavalry. Russia is moving her half million, 

 and rousing her wild men and her deserts to the sound of the drum. 

 France declares in the meekest spirit that she will have 300,000 men on 

 foot in three months, and will in the mean time continue drilling a mil- 

 lion and half of national guards. But of all those deprecatory powers, 

 not one deprecated the idea of stirring a soldier, or burthening herself 

 with additional expences so much as England. Yet, in the very teeth 

 of the declaration, we have the following. " The regiments of the line 

 are about to be filled up to their establishments of 7^0 men per regi- 

 ment, which will produce an addition to the army of about 10,000 men. 

 The increase of vigilance rendered necessary by the aspect of affairs, or 

 rather the existence of strong excitement at home and abroad, both real 

 and artificial, is quite sufficient to account for this addition to the dis- 

 posable force of the country." We confess that this raises our surprise. 

 We have already an immense standing army, no less than 81,000 men, 

 besides the whole establishment of ordnance, commissariat, hospitals, 

 half-pay, invalids, &c. &c. the whole amounting to the revenue of a Con- 

 tinental kingdom ; and to this we are called on now to add 10,000 men. 

 No distinct ground has been assigned, but it is hinted that the popular 

 disturbances and the state of the Continent alike require it. To this we 

 answer without hesitation that, for the popular -disturbances the true 

 force is a yeomanry, and that ten regiments of the guards, horse and 

 foot, would not be as efficacious in putting down the night gatherings of 

 a populace, as a thousand stout yeomanry cavalry raised in the district. 

 In the next place we say, that the 10,000 men will be altogether trivial, 

 on the great scale of European war. The fact is, that our whole mili- 

 tary system is an error. Our diplomatists and ministers have been of 

 late years dazzled by the whiskers and epaulettes of the loungers about 

 the foreign courts, until they are all army mad! But the true force of 

 England is her FLEET ! an arm in which no foreigner can ever rival her, 

 which belongs to her almost exclusively, and which, without the uncon- 

 stitutional and hazardous effect which the presence of a standing army 

 always produces, does ten times the work at a tenth of the expense. 



But we are told, Ireland is to be kept in order. We answer; it was 

 kept in order before by the militia and yeomanry, safe forces, which 

 costing infinitely less than the standing army, are infinitely more suited 

 to the ideas of Englishmen. But we have the West Indies to watch. 

 If the negroes are turbulent, there is no force adequate to the service 

 but a West-Indian militia, which the planters could easily raise, and 

 which, by being inured to the climate, would outlast twenty of our bat- 



