ANNUAL REGISTER,, 1804. 



only considered about the best way 

 of repelling it. That considerable 

 danger did exist, appeared not only 

 from the papers on the table, but 

 from the preparations ministers had 

 already made. He might say, with 

 tiic man in " the Critic,'' 



" Oh pardon mc, if the conjecture's 



rash, 

 " But I surmise — the state 

 " Some danger apprehends " 



He neither approved of the opinion 

 of those who wished to be invaded, 

 nor of those, who considered the 

 plan of invasion as given up, be- 

 cause it was not as yet carried into 

 execution. If the enemy had well 

 calculated the diihcuUies of the en- 

 terpiizc, it was of no consequence 

 ■whether it were carried into execu- 

 tion the third, fourth, or fifth year 

 of the war, buttiie longer it was de- 

 layed, the more formidable it would 

 appear. It, therefore, was necessa- 

 ry to adopt a system of defence, 

 which would be adequate to repel 

 invasion, at whatever period it 

 might take place. Ilis ideas of 

 the best military defence of the 

 country depended principally on 

 the regular army, and on what 

 might be obtained from an armed 

 peasantry. Upon the aftual state' 

 of tlic regular army, the house had 

 no sulVicient documents. It was 

 absurd to say, that it had not been 

 injured by the competition of high- 

 er bounties given to persons for 

 recruiting for a limited service. It 

 was almost inconceiveablc with what 

 obstinacy government persevered in 

 the plan of raisins; soldiers for life, 

 when other powers tliat were pure- 

 ly military, rccruiteti only for a 

 term of years. It was strange, that 

 it should be only in that country 



that boasted of its superior liberty, 

 that the soldier was a slave for life, 

 and that, at a time of life, when a 

 boy is not permitted to dispose of 

 his person in marriage, or his pro- 

 perty by contract, he could be al- 

 lowed to dispose of his personal li- 

 berty for ever, by entering into the 

 army ! He considered an armed 

 peasantry as the' best permanent 

 means of security to the country, 

 and he feared that even tlie enor- 

 mous expence attending the volun- 

 teer system, would, in a short 

 time, diminish its numbers. He 

 thought the preamble of the general 

 defence aft, asserted a prerogative 

 in the crown, wh-ich it would be 

 monstrous to suppose it really did 

 possess ; and yet it was in conse- 

 quence of this asserted prerogative, 

 that many had been terrified into 

 becoming volunteers. When he 

 proposed an armed peasantry, it 

 was not in substitution for the vo- 

 lunteer system, but as an additional 

 force. He concluded by moving, 

 " that it should be referred to a 

 committee of the wh(;le house, to 

 revise the acts past for the defence 

 of the country, and to consider 

 what further measures wore neces- 

 sary." 



i'he Chancellor of tiie Exchc- 

 qner resisted the motion. He said, 

 that ministers had been sanctioned 

 in declaring war by the almost una- 

 nimous vote of that house. The-re 

 was no precedent for the house of 

 commons resolving itself into a mi- 

 litary committee, as had been pro- 

 posed by the honourable gentle- 

 man, and it would be a step ex- 

 tremely dangerous. He denied, 

 that ministers had ever pledged 

 themselves for the duration of the 

 peace of Amiens. It was because 

 they thought the ambition of France 



might 



