65 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



sure to a ijreat number of individu- 

 als. Besides tiie breach of faith, 

 he did not like the idea of asking 

 favours from mditary bodies of men ; 

 he thought it was subversive of dis- 

 cipline : he also thought that Ire- 

 land was in full as great danger as 

 Great Britain, and ought not to be 

 stript of such a large portion of her 

 natural means of defence. lie cer- 

 tainly agreed with a great deal of 

 what had fallen from the right ho- 

 nourable secretary, as it was only 

 a promise of adopting many of those 

 measures which he had been recom- 

 mending for these twelve months 

 past, for the improvement of the 

 recruiting for the regular army. — 

 He wished, however, that the house 

 might not be tied down to adopt 

 the plan proposed, of accepting 

 this offer of the Irish militia, as it 

 appeared to him a measure worthy 

 of the most serious consideration. 

 He then concluded by moving, as 

 an amendment, that parliament 

 should take the offer into its most 

 serious consideration. 



Lord Castlereagh con^dcred, that 

 the offer of tlie Irish militia pro- 

 ceeded from a wish to discharge the 

 debt of gratitude which that coun- 

 try owed to the English militia, for 

 extending their services to Ireland 

 at a very critical period. The aug- 

 mentation of the Irish militia was 

 easy, as recruits could be got for 

 four guineas a man, whereas the 

 price of substitutes in this country 

 was tliirty or forty pounds. 



Dr. Lawrence was surprised at 

 the idea of withdrawing ten thou- 

 sand disciplined troops from Ire- 

 land, which he always conceived 

 to be the most vulnerable part of 

 the empire. 



Colonel Hutchinson disapproved 

 t>f withdrawing ton thousand dis- 



ciplined troops from Ireland, in its 

 present situation ; he thought that 

 the loss would not be at all suppli. 

 ed by an equal number of raw le- 

 Tics. If, indeed, the plan were to 

 exchange a certain number of the 

 English militia against an equal 

 number of Irish, he should rejoice 

 at the exchange. The gentlemen 

 of the Irish militia would probably 

 be struck with the habits of indus- 

 try and the comforts that they Avould 

 see in this country, among the lower 

 orders, and might possibly wish, 

 upon their return, to introduce si- 

 milar habits and similar comforts 

 among their tenantry : while th« 

 olhccrsofthe English militia, that 

 should go over to Ireland, would 

 probably witness so much spirit and 

 zeal there, as would convince them 

 that that country ought not to have 

 been so much negle6ted. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 opposed the amendment. He said, 

 it never was intended to take the 

 ten thousand men from Ireland at 

 one time, but he conceived the a- 

 dopting the measure would set at 

 liberty a consderable number of our 

 disposable troops. At the same time 

 it was by no means the intention of 

 government to diminish the strength 

 of Ireland. 



Sir John Newport was proud of 

 the offer which had been made by 

 the Irish militia, and felt convinced, 

 that the great majority of the people 

 of that country would be found 

 ready, zealously to concur in the 

 defence of the empire. 



Lord de Blaqnierc supported the 

 original address, and approved of 

 the plan which had been proposed. 

 He could not help recollecting the 

 signal service which the English mi- 

 litia had rendered, in going over to 

 Ireland,* during the rebellion. It 

 1 wa» 



