75 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



only found fault -with those coali- 

 tions which went to disturb an ad- 

 ministration, of which he himself 

 formed a part. AV'hen he was so li- 

 beral of his advice to Mr. Pitt and 

 Mr. Windham, he should have con- 

 sidered what his advice was worth, 

 before he was so lavish of it. As 

 for himself, there was no sort of 

 coalition between him and Mr. Pitt. 

 JS'othing had past between them 

 which might not be published at 

 Charing-cross. They both of them 

 agreed in thinking the jjresent mi- 

 nisters incompetent to discharge the 

 duties of their situation, with honour 

 cither to themselves or to the coun- 

 try, they therefore agreed in wishing 

 them turned out : but as to the 

 question, of who should be their 

 successors, that remained altogether 

 the prerogative of the crown to de- 

 termine. The house then divided on 

 Mr. Fox's motion. 



For the motion 204 

 Against it 256 



Majority 52 

 The next day, in the house of 

 lords, the " Irish militia offer" 

 bill was past by a majority of 91 to 

 49, and the " Irish militia augmen- 

 tation" bill by 94 to 62. 



On the 25th of April, Mr. secre- 

 tary Y'orkc moved, that the speaker 

 should leave the cli;!ir, in order, that 

 the house should go into a commit- 

 tee, on the army of reserve suspen- 

 sion bill. 



Mr. Pitt opposed the motion : he 

 considered the suspending the ope- 

 ration of the army of reserve bill a 

 most unwise measure, especially at 

 a time when government proposed 

 to make a considerable augmenta- 

 tion to the Irish militia. He thought 

 the army of reserve, had already 

 doae considerable jiood in increasing 



the regular array : and he was con- 

 vinced, that much more good might 

 be derived from it. It was the best 

 nursery for recruiting the army, and 

 it was perfectly well known, that 

 many persons who could never 

 bs tempted to enter into the regular 

 army at once, could be tempted to 

 enter into a body for limited ser- 

 vice, and, after a short time, they 

 contracted military habits, and were 

 willing to extend their services. — 

 Mr. Pitt then stated, at very consi- 

 derable length, the outlines of a plan 

 for diminishing the militia, and in- 

 creasing the army of reserve, in such 

 a manner as he thought must con- 

 duce much to the augmentation of 

 our regular and disposeable force. 



Mr. secretary Vorke said, that 

 all the measures which ministers had 

 taken, had for their objects, 1st, to 

 seciye the internal defence and se- 

 curity of the kingdom, and 2dly, to 

 augment the disposable force, so as 

 to be able to attack the enemy in 

 their own possessions. The first ob- 

 ject had been obtained, the second, 

 was what now remained to be con- 

 sidered. As to the plan which was 

 proposed by Mr. Pitt, it was onij 

 to be considered as among the per- 

 manent means of recruiting th« 

 army, whereas the object of tho 

 present bill, as connected with the 

 other measures proposed by govern- 

 ment, was to add immediately 1 3000 

 or 14000 men to our regular force. 



Mr. Whitbrcad, thought the in- 

 consistency of ministers, in coming 

 forward now to suspend the opera- 

 tion of their own bill, was a proof 

 of their incapacity. He approved 

 of the plan suggested by Mr. Pitt, 

 in preference even to the army of 

 reserve act of tlie ministers, but he 

 was decidedly of opinion, that that 

 plan ought to be discussed prior to 



the 



