GENERAL HISTORY. 



[203 



men, and to give due encourage- 

 ment to them, without doing any 

 thing that would be incompatible 

 with the interests of the mili- 

 tia, or the general good of the 

 service. 



In opening his scheme he said, it 

 was intended that in every militia re- 

 giment a suflScient number should 

 always be left at home to form 

 its basis, and recruit it to its full 

 strength ; the number of volun- 

 teers, therefore, was not to exceed 

 three fourths of the whole. As it 

 was advisable that the disposition 

 to enter into the line absolutely 

 should be encouraged, as the most 

 useful mode of rendering addi- 

 tional service, it was proposed to 

 promote this disposition, first, by 

 an additional bounty to the men ; 

 secondly, by providing that when 

 they went, their officers should go 

 with them. The encouragement 

 to the officers was proposed to be, 

 that from the period of their vo- 

 lunteering, they should, up to 

 captains inclusive, be entitled to 

 the half-pay of the line, and, after 

 serving one campaign, be entitled 

 to hold permanently in the army 

 the same rank which they now hold 

 in the militia. The proportion be- 

 tween officers and men to be one 

 captain, one lieutenant, and one 

 ensign for every 100 rank and file. 

 As it was probable that the whole 

 number required could not be ob- 

 tained on these conditions, it was 

 proposed that the men should be 

 allowed also to volunteer their ser- 

 vices still as militia, with permis- 

 sioa to return, after their foreign 

 service, to their county militia, 

 iheir families in the mean time 

 being supported as those of militia- 

 iren ; in this case, however, the 

 officers to be entitled to army half- 



pay. With respect to the organiza- 

 tion of the force so raised, the in- 

 tention was, that they should be 

 formed into provisional battalions ; 

 those who volunteered from the 

 militia, to be commanded by a 

 militia officer ; their services being 

 in all cases limited to Europe. This 

 being the general outline of the 

 plan, his lordship next adverted 

 to some particulars ; and, first, the 

 bounty to be given. It was pro- 

 posed, that for those who trans- 

 ferred themselves as militia from 

 home to foreign service, it should 

 be ten guineas; for those who en- 

 tered the line for limited service, 

 twelve guineas ; and for those who 

 entered the line for life, sixteen 

 guineas. Next, as to the amount 

 of force to be taken in this way 

 from the militia, he would propose 

 that it should consist of the quota 

 of the present year, and that the 

 quota of the next year should be 

 anticipated ; also, that what were 

 called the arrears of each regiment, 

 should now be made up. By this 

 operation it was calculated that a 

 force might be procured for fo- 

 reign service from the militia of 

 from 26 to 27,000 men. Reckon- 

 ing, therefore, with these, 16,000 

 men as the produce of the ordinary 

 recruiting service, there would be 

 the number of about 40,000, from 

 which, if a waste of 25 or even 

 30,000 were deducted, an addi- 

 tion of 10 or ]5,(X)0 would be left 

 to the disposable force of the coun- 

 try. Lord Castlereagh concluded 

 liis speech with moving for leave 

 to bring in a bill to enable his 

 Majesty to accept the service of 

 a portion of the militia out of 

 the United Kingdom, for the 

 more vigorous prosecution of the 

 war. 



