HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



33 



serve. The third was by ordinary 

 recruiting, which the present mea- 

 sure was calculated not to impede, 

 but to assist, by the personal inllu- 

 fence of all the principal inhabitants. 

 After much professional experience, 

 <uid much rellectioii on the various 

 modes of recruiting the army, he 

 thought this plan deserved a larger 

 trial than that which marked its ori- 

 gin and progress ; if, after that 

 trial, itshould still appear inefficient^ 

 he should be as willing as any man 

 to agree to its repeal. He thought 

 it unfair to poison the minds of the 

 people by throwing on this measure 

 the odium of being a money bill, 

 when all must agree that every mea- 

 sure of this kind must operate, in 

 some degree, as a tax, and that there 

 never was any plan for recruiting 

 the army which Avas not liable to 

 this, as well as many other objed- 

 tions. 



Lord Grenvillesaid, that, though 

 he was never fond of enquiring after 

 public measures, with reference to 

 the character of the individuals who 

 Supported or opposed thcm,hecould 

 not avoid being struck with thesingn- 

 lar reason, assigned by a noble vis- 

 count (Sidmoiith,) for his wishing to 

 continue a measure, of which he ori- 

 ginally, and even still, disapproved, 

 of a measure so unproductive in 

 Jnen, and, if productive, so unjust 

 in the levy of the pecuniary penal- 

 •tics. When the bill was originally 

 intrdduced, it met with the strong- 

 est opposition from the noble vis- 

 Count and his friends, whd recoin- 

 mended a difl'erent plan, which, 

 upon comparison, they concluded to 

 be infinitely superior. What, then, 

 was become of that opinion now, 

 when nothing had since occurred 

 which could fairly account for their 

 departure from it, and when ex- 



VoL. LXVII. 



perience should rather serve to 

 strengthen the preference they be- 

 fore gave to their own plan ; The 

 bill had eight months of undisturbed 

 operation, and ) et proved as un- 

 productive as had been foretold 

 by him, as well as by the noble vis. 

 coutit and others of his present col- 

 leagues. For himself, he used his 

 best endeavours to prevent the pass- 

 ing of that bill, and he now, with 

 perfect consistency, after a full ex^ 

 perience of its inefficiency, called 

 upon their lordships to put an end, 

 at once, to that mischievous tamper- 

 ing with our military system. He 

 deprecated, of all things, the idea of 

 raising men for rank ; a system of 

 Avhich he spoke with the most pain- 

 ful sensations, because experience 

 !;ad convinced him of that which he 

 i'clt it his duty to acknowledge, that, 

 in the share which he bore in 

 his majesty's councils, in advising 

 the adoption of that measure, he 

 acted extremely wroHg. He strong- 

 ly recommended the plan of enlists 

 ing for limited service, which never 

 had and never could have a fair 

 trial, until it was established as a 

 general principle, that such was the 

 condition of enlistment. He hoped 

 that a plan, recommended by so 

 many men of great military ex- 

 perience, and by the obvious prin- 

 ciples of human nature, in conjunc- 

 tion with the old and simple mode 

 of recruiting, may, and it was his 

 firm conviction that it would, be in- 

 finitely more eficctual, than all the 

 complicated machinery iiitroduecd 

 into the hill under discussion. He 

 was ivilling to rest the whole ar- 

 gument upon this point: Was an 

 additional force necessary, or was it 

 not ? If it was, this bill was useless 

 towards obtaining it : if it was not, 

 to allow this bill to continue, was 

 D pregnant 



