54, ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
order, as he said, that the new 
military plan might first be taken 
into consideration. The house di. 
vided on the question that the bill 
be now read ; ayes 235 ; noes 119; 
majority 116. 
This debate was distinguished on 
_the side of opposition, by a very 
brilliant and able speech of Mr. 
Canning, which was, however, ra- 
ther a genera] review and examina- 
tion of Mr. Windham’s military 
plans. than a defence of the addi- 
tional force bill. Jn this speech 
Mr Canning argued at great length 
for the practice and policy of com. 
pulsory service in certain parts of 
our military establishment, and ex- 
pressed his fears, that if that prin- 
ciple were abandoned in the militia, 
as seemed to be in the contemplation 
of the right hon. secretary, that 
species of force would cease to be, 
what was intended by it, a consti- 
tutional check on the standing 
army. If limited service was a 
boon to the army, the right hon. 
gentleman contended, that the pro- 
posal of it should have come from 
the crown and not have originated 
with the commons. He had no 
dislike to the trial of limited service 
on asmall scale, but he objected to 
the whole of our army being put 
upon that footing. He was no 
enemy to variety in our military 
establishments. He then_enlarged 
on the danger of soldiers being en- 
titled to’ have their discharge in 
time of war, on the inconvenience 
that must result from limited ser. 
vice in our foreign and colonial pos. 
sessions, on the discontents that 
were to be apprehended in the ex- 
isting army, when they saw the 
new levies placed in a situation so 
infinitely preferable to their own, 
He ridiculed the additional six-pence 
a week that was to be given as an 
equivalent for the present high 
bounties, and he reprobated strongly - 
the language held on the other side 
of the house, against the employ- 
ment of crimps, and the other arti- 
fices used in recruiting. He re- 
peatedly called upon the house to 
maintain consistency in its proceed- 
ings, and not to abandon a measure 
to which it had formerly given its 
sanction, at the very moment when 
that measure was about to realize 
all the expectations that had been 
formed of it. He insinuated strong- 
ly, that the repeal of the present 
bill was urged Jess froma conviction 
of its defects, than from the desire 
of throwing a slur on the memory 
of his late right honourable friend, 
whose measure it had been, and 
upon that ground he endeavoured to 
interest the feelings of the house in 
support of his amendment. Aftera 
long and able speech, he concluded 
by a comparison of the volunteer 
system with the right honourable 
secretary’s plan of training the pea- 
santry, and gave of course a decided 
preference to the former. 
It was contended on the other 
side, that the bill the repeal of which 
was the only question then before 
the house,*had failed to accomplish 
any of the objects for which it had 
been enacted. Justead of raising 
41,415 men, in the whole United 
Kingdom, as by the several acts for 
raising the additional force it ought to 
have done, before the 1st of October, | 
1805, it had furnished only 12,925 
men, on the 14th of March, 1806; 
that is, it had raised less than one 
third of the number which ought to 
have been procured by it six months 
before. Of the men obtained by 
its operation, only 8,975 had been 
raised really or nominally by the 
parishes, and the rest had been pro- 
cured by regimental recruiting ; so 
that 
