79 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



pay, was, that when ministers came 

 forward to repeal their own acSls, 

 he had no doubt but the repeal was 

 TieOessary. As to the diliicuides of 

 our present situation, he thous;(it 

 •they naturally followed from minis- 

 ters choosing to go to war upon a 

 ground, that made it impossible for 

 "US to have an ally on the continent. 

 Ministers appealed to be very sore 

 whenever they were accused of 

 want of energy. He allowed, that 

 they had plenty of energies in do- 

 ing mischief, and he might apply to 

 them what the king of Brobdingnag, 

 said to Grildrig, " If your power 

 of doing mischief was but equal to 

 your intlination, you would be the 

 most mischievous little animals that 

 crawl upon the face of the earth." 



The Chiincellor of the Exchequer 

 (Mr. Addington) replied, that it 

 was not his wish to weaken the de- 

 fence of Ireland, but his objecl Avas, 

 to liberate a considerable portion of 

 the disposable force of the country, 

 which could then be applied as the 

 exigencies of the country might re- 

 quire. The increase of the dispos- 

 able force was the very measure 

 which gentlemen on the opposition 

 benches so strongly recommended, 

 and yet they objected to every plan 

 that was proposed for that purpose. 

 After taking a general view of the 

 defensive force of the united king- 

 dom ; he concluded, by expressing 

 his warm approbation of the bill 

 then before the house. 



Mr. Francis strongly opposed 

 the bill, as did Dr. Lawrence and 

 colonel Vereker : it was as stre- 

 nuously supported by serjeant Best, 

 colonel Hutchinson, and Mr. Alex- 

 ander, when a division took place, 

 the bill was committed by a majori- 

 ty of 67, the noes being 37. 



On the 13th of April, Mr. secre- 

 tary Vorke moved the third reading 

 of the. " Irish militia olfer" bill, 

 when a short debate took place, 

 during which Mr. Fox took occa- 

 sion td observe, that local attach- 

 ments ought not to supersede gene- 

 ral principles, yet, on the oilier 

 hand, general princ-ples should not 

 destroy local attachments. The 

 feelings of mankind were regulated 

 more by habits, than by aCts of par- 

 liament, and it would be vain to ex- 

 pert that Irishmen should not feel 

 a peculiar attachment to that part 

 of the united kingdom. He sug- 

 gested a clause, to prevent the ca- 

 tholic soldiers, -who should come in- 

 to tills country, in conseriuence of 

 this bill, from being compelled to 

 attend at protestant places of wor- 

 ship : — vvhich was reje(^ted, and the 

 third reading v.as carried by a ma- 

 jority of 58. 



On the sixteenth, a discussion 

 arose on the question for the third 

 reading of the bill, for augmenting 

 the Irish militia. 



Mr. Pitt strongly objected to it, 

 as it appeared to him, that ministers 

 had forgotten, that, in every force 

 to be raised, it should not only bo 

 considered, how it would add to the 

 defervce of the country, but also 

 how far it Avoukl contribute to the 

 increase of an ellicient and dispos- 

 able force. He, therefore, much 

 preferred the arm v of reserve to the 

 militia; and considered that minis- 

 ters had too h;isti!y abandoned that 

 system, and on no other ground, 

 than, that it did not fill quite as 

 fast as they calculated. 



liOrd Castlereagh said, the rea- 

 son that an angnientation of the 

 militia was proposed in Ireland, was, 

 that it Mas found much easier in 



that 



