32 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



gressive state of discipline. As to 

 tii'^ bill in question, the opinion he 

 liad expressed of its inefficiency, re- 

 uiaintd yet unaltered ; but notwith- 

 standing that, and though lie had 

 no sanguine hopss of its success, he 

 thought tie step ought to be taken 

 to repeal it, before it could be 

 ascertaiutd whether it would be 

 successful or not, or before some 

 other more efficient measure was 

 ready to be substituted for it. 

 I'hinkins; therefore that this was 

 not the moment to repeal it, he 

 would give his negative to the mo- 

 tion. 



His Royal Highness the Duke of 

 Clarence heartily coincided with 

 many of the sentiments of the noble 

 lord who spoke last, and highly 

 complimented the spirit of the vo- 

 lunteers, amongst whom he had the 

 honour of being himself an officer. 

 As to the present administration, he 

 thought there was a great iucon- 

 «istcncy in it. A great part of the 

 pri'sent had charged the last with 

 being imbecile, and incapable of 

 carrying on the governnient well. 

 The government was changed, a»d 

 all their successors did, in conlir- 

 niation of their mighty promi.ses, 

 was to produce this measure, which 

 answered no one purpose for w hich 

 it was intended. The lato adminis- 

 tratlon was charged with having 

 neglected the volunteer force, but 

 so far was it from being benefited 

 by the attempts of a great volunteer 

 colonel (Mr. Pitt) to remedy all 

 delects, that, compared with what 

 it had been, it was absolutely gone 

 by ; andif the attention of parlia- 

 ment was not speedily directed 

 to it, it would shol-tly disappear. 

 It was therefore the more requisite 

 to attend to the military part of our 

 defence, tlje regular army. His 



royal highness then contended, thaf^ 

 dividing it into its integral parts, 

 such as militia, cavalry, British and 

 foreign, and artillery, it was in the 

 numbers of all of them alarmingly 

 deficient, but less so 'n the ariillery 

 than tiie other branches. Ileferring 

 to the estimates, he stated that of 

 26,195 men, which the cavalry 

 should consist of, it was 8000 de- 

 ficient : the infantry were 18Go less 

 than in the last year ; the deaths in 

 the infantry, since Angust, were up- 

 wards ot 2000, and the recruits only 

 so much btfyoud that as made the in- 

 crease no more than 110. Uijon 

 the whole, the total deficit in the in- 

 fantry was not less than 86,363, a 

 number which would constit'ile aa 

 immense array. Such was our mi* 

 litary state at the moment that the 

 ministers brought us into a new war, 

 which they commenced with tarnish- 

 ing the annals of our navai glory, 

 by making the first efforts of our 

 fleet consist of an act of piracy ! — 

 They talked of disposable force, 

 when tiiey knew they had not any; 

 though engaged with an enemy who 

 possessed immense forces and re- 

 sources, from the mouth of the Elbe 

 to Malta. He asked how, with so 

 glaring a deficiency, ministers could 

 dare to send a single man out of the 

 country ? Looking, as he did, on 

 this bill a.=! the principal cause of 

 that deficiency, he should certainly 

 vote for its immediate repeal. 



Lord Mulgrave said he knew but 

 of three ways of raising a large mi- 

 litary force: first, by conscription, 

 which was contrary to the genius 

 and habits of this free country. — 

 The second was by ballot, allowing 

 a substitution for personal service ; 

 but this was resorted to, and already 

 produced all the effect shat could ba 

 expected from it, in the army of re- 

 serve. 



