52 
the éondition of the soldiers. He 
ae 
that none would be induced by it 
to enter the army, who would not 
have done so though it had not 
been granted. It would increase 
the annual waste of the army, and 
might create at cértain periods a 
still more alarming deficiency. It 
gras not a practice that had been 
followed by any of the great mili- 
tary powers, except by France be- 
fore the revolution, and by Austria 
since the peace of Campo Formio. 
After reprobating the indirect 
course, which he alledged the 
.¥ight hon. secretary was pursuing 
to: get rid of the volunteers, the 
noble lord concluded by a studied 
eulogium on the present greatness 
and prosperity of the country. ‘1 
do not hesitate to assert, said he, 
that on the essential points of the 
finances, the navy, and the army, 
compared with the difficulties and 
embarassments under which they 
represent themselves to have under- 
taken the government, the present 
administration may be considered as 
on a bed of roses.” 
* Onur limits will not permit us to 
give at length, and we shall not 
attempt to abridge, thespirited and 
indignant reply of Mr. Fox to this 
extraordinary assertion, that the mi- 
nisters with whom he acted had 
succeeded to a bed of roses, The 
right hon. secretary proceeded af- 
terwards to point out the numerous 
and striking inconsistencies in Jord 
Castlereagh’s arguments with re- 
spect to limited service, and in an- 
swer to his complaint, that, in re- 
pealing the additional force bill, Mr. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806. 
Windham substituted nothing in its 
place, he observed ‘¢ that it was 
the merit of his right hon. friend’s 
plan, that it proposed no compli- 
cated machinery to produce an 
effect, which would be gained by 
the simple mode of recruiting. All 
the schemes adopted for raising men 
had, as far as they were successful, 
only defrauded the ordinary system 
of recruiting, and that with a great 
expence and no inconsiderable op- 
pression. It was something that 
the market would be again left 
open to the government as the only 
recruiter. The noble lord might 
call this theory, and say that no 
more men would be obtained. 
<< Now I should think,” said Mr. 
Fox, ‘‘ that the theory which tells 
me that you have the best chance 
of being cheaply provided, when 
you are the only bidder, is prefer. 
able to the noble lord’s practical 
argument, that the more competitors 
you let into the market, the more 
recruits you are likely to obtain, 
and ata smaller bounty.” 
Mr. Fox concluded with expres- 
sing his opinion, that we should find 
it necessary to maintain’ a large 
army, even in time of peace, for he 
saw no prospect of any peace, that 
would exempt us from the necessity 
of watchful preparation and powere 
ful establishments. 
Mr. Yorke was averse to the 
plan of limited’ service, which he 
considered as a dangerous innovae 
tion ; and he argted that the sol- 
diers of our army could not be 
said to be enlisted for life, when 
the existence of the army itself de. 
pended on the annual votes of par- 
liament. He added that it was an 
invariable practice in our army to 
give a soldier his discharge after 24 
years service, 
Sin 
