36 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804 



promote the regulation of the diffe- 

 rent volunteer corps. Althougli he 

 thought far less had been done, 

 than ought to have been done, in 

 bringing the volunteers to a high 

 state of discipline, yet he felt no 

 fears respecting the result of an in- 

 Tasion. lie thought it, however, 

 necessary, not only that the coun- 

 try should repel invasion, but that 

 they should repel it in such a man- 

 ner as would make a lasting impres- 

 sion on Europe, and set a bright 

 example to posterity. Our triumph 

 should be signal and decisive, but it 

 should be gained with as few sacri- 

 fices, with as little waste of British 

 blood, as ])ossiblc. lie then pro- 

 ceeded to state those measures 

 which he thought necessary to make 

 fheni as eftkient as possible, which 

 were, principally, as to the opportu- 

 nities of receiving regular instruc- 

 tion, the securing regular attend- 

 ance at drill, and steadiness when 

 at drill. lie recommeiuled encou- 

 raging the volunteers to go on per- 

 manent duty; pointed out the 

 means which appeared to him tlic 

 anost cli'eftual for the permanent 

 supply of the regular army ; recom- 

 jr.ended that fordilcadons should be 

 more attended to ; and declared 

 that he consid(>red our naval defence 

 a? very defecVlive. 



Mr. Windham thought the bill 

 inadequate to the objett it profess- 

 ed, and that it would end in smoke. 

 lie thought, that ])arlianient were 

 called on to provide not only against 

 the danger of the present moment, 

 but against those dangers which the 

 country would be exposed to in fu- 

 ture. It was probable^ that the at- 

 tempt of the enemy wcnild not be 

 made immediately, but at some fu- 

 ture tin»e. He certainly did not 

 wish for such a precipitate step, as 



immediately to disband the volun- 

 teer force, but he wished, for the 

 permanent defence of the country, 

 that the resources and strength of 

 its population should be arranged in 

 a manner more efficacious than un- 

 der the present system. His great 

 objeftion to the system, as it now 

 stood, was, that the numerous ex- 

 emptions from service in the militia, 

 and army of reserve, narrowed the 

 field of recruiting, and occasioned 

 the enormous bounties which are 

 now paid for substitutes. The con- 

 sequences of it, therefore, certain- 

 ly did prevent the recruiting for the 

 army. He then adianccd some rea- 

 sons to justify his preference of an 

 armed peasantry, and concluded by 

 strongly urging the necessity of 

 looking J)eyond the present Mo- 

 ment, and \)roviding a force which \ 

 the country could rely on for its 

 permanent security. 



Lord Castlereagh observed, that 

 the armed peasantry of Suabia had 

 certainly given the French a good 

 deal of annoyance, but that the 

 French Icvce en masse, M'hich bore 

 a greater resemblance to our volun- 

 teer force, was much more effica- 

 cious. Some of the generals who 

 commanded the French soldiers of 

 the levi'e en masse, gave it as their 

 opinion, that our volunteers are 

 equal to them. He then, in answer to 

 Mr. Pitt, gave a very llattering state 

 of the naval defence of the country, 



Mr. Whilbread thought it ex- 

 tremely injudicious to attempt to 

 introduce amongst the volunteers, 

 strict discipline in minute things. 

 Their days of drilling should be re- 

 gulated by their own convenience. 

 If the country were actually invaded, 

 every other avocation would be at 

 an end, and the only business would 

 be, to repel the enemy. But. in 



the 



