HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



35 



sion of the royal authority ; and 

 that this information should come 

 from a report of the privy council, 

 or at least, that thp medical gentle- 

 men should be examined at the bar 

 of thj house. The information 

 ought to come from the best autho- 

 rity that could be had, and not 

 from the "confidential servants" of 

 his majesty. 



The motion for the adjournment 

 was then negatived, and, upon the 

 question being put for the second 

 reading of the volunteer consolida- 

 tion bill, 



Mr. T. Grenville approved of the 

 volunteers in one sense, and he 

 disapproved of them in another. — 

 He approved of that general display 

 of British spirit, which, if arrayed 

 and supported by a proportionate 

 regular army, would be impregna- 

 ble. On the other hand, when he 

 heard, from the secretary of state, 

 that there could be no great increase 

 of regular troops, and that the vo- 

 lunteers must be made as like regu- 

 lars as possible, he disapproved of 

 that system, which would go to ex- 

 haust that spirit, which ought to be 

 husbanded, at least as much as our 

 finances. As to the exemptions, he 

 was sure, that, in the part of the 

 country he lived in, the volunteers 

 would have come forward very rea- 

 dily without any exemptions ; and 

 he understood the same spirit was 

 very general in the country. He 

 thought ministers had shewn great 

 incapacity in the contradictory 

 measures they had pursued with re- 

 spect to the volunteers, and in not 

 providing a sufficiency of arms, when 

 they had abundant notice of the 

 hostile designs of the enemy. 



Mr. secretary Yorke said, that, 

 at the time the volunteer system was 

 adopted, it had become CTident, 



that either a voluntary, or a com- 

 pulsory system must be resorted to 

 for the defence of the country, and 

 the former was adopted with the 

 most general concurrence. He con- 

 sidered, that the volunteer system 

 assisted the recruiting service, by 

 giving military habits to persons who 

 otherwise would not have thought 

 of enlisting. He then stated the 

 numbers w^ho had enlisted from vo- 

 lunteer corps. A grand objection 

 to the volunteers recommendmg of- 

 ficers was, that, in case the corps 

 should be called out upon duty, aji 

 immense deal of time would be lost 

 in canvassing and balloting. He then 

 entered into a comparison of the 

 quantity of arms in the tower at 

 diirerent periods, in order to prove, 

 that there never was a time when 

 government wpre so a6tive as at that 

 time, that some gentlemen supposed 

 ministers to tic remits. He conclud- 

 ed by panegerysing the spirit and 

 elficiency of the volunteer force. 



Mr. Pitt took i.otice of the cala- 

 mitous destinits of the present times, 

 when a gigantic power threatened to 

 disturb the world, and desolate a 

 great portion of Europe. It was 

 the fate of this country to make re- 

 sistance to that pouer, and he trust- 

 ed it would he its glory to resist it 

 cfieclually. Whatever might be the 

 original imperfections of the volun- 

 teer system, it could not now be 

 dispensed with. The danger was 

 pressing, and did not admit of time 

 to change it; and, tnerefore, the 

 only questioQ was about its improve, 

 mcnt. The idea of disbanding 

 400,000 men could hardly be enter- 

 tained ; and, therefore, it was only 

 necessary to consider, how they 

 might he rendered as effedive as 

 possible. He thought ministers 

 should have been more attentive to 

 D 2 promQt^ 



