50 
nished for general service 1,960 
men, but the defalcation in the or- 
dinary recruiting had amounted, in 
the same time, to 1,898 men, leav- 
ing a small balance: of 62 men, in 
‘favour of the biil. 
Lastly, the cha- 
_-yacter and description of persons 
i 
“Increase of the gross force 
Hdeyease*. | shoe yet" 
“yaised by this bill, were adverted to. 
~Of 11,453 men, who had been 
raised by means of it for limited 
service, mot less than 2,116, or 
nearly one fifth of the whole had 
deserted. It was, therefore, con- 
tended, that whatever might be sub- 
stituted in its place, the getting rid 
of this bill was getting rid of a loss. 
In the course of this debate Mr. 
Hawthorn complained of the false 
impression, which lord Castlereagh’s 
statements on a former night were 
calculated to convey, of the ser- 
vices of the last administration in 
recruiting and augmenting thearmy ; 
‘and to shew how inferior in that 
respect their exertions had been to 
those of their immediate predeces- 
sors in office, he read the following 
statements, which, as we have given 
Jord Castlereagh’s statements, we 
* shall also insert. 
ist. increase of the gross force of 
“the army, during eighteen months, 
when the late’ ministry were in 
effice. as 
Amount, Ist July, 1804, 246,419 
Ist Jan. 1806, 259,952 
of thearmy . - 13,533 
/ Qdly, Increase of the disposable 
force during the same period. 
Amount, ist July, 1804, 125,000 
Ist Jan. 1806, . 161,541 
—— 
. 36,541 
NNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
‘Jast' six months, where the bill had 
been most productive, it had fur- 
‘variation in the line of argument on 
This increase of the disposable 
force, according to the statement of § 
the honourable member, proceeded 
from the following sources, viz. - 
Volunteers from the militia 
to the line a Xie 
From the army of reserve 
From the additional force 
Di: 6-555) eon warts 
14,685 
6,000 
- 3,154 
23,839 
The remaining 12,702, he could 
not trace to their source with the 
same minuteness, but he asserted in 
general, that they were obtained 
from the Irish levies, from the fo- 
reign corps, the augmentation of 
the additional cavalry, and a the 
ordinary recruiting, 
3dly, Increase of the gross 
amount of the army, during eighteen | 
months of Mr. Addington’s admi-. 
nistration. 
Amount, ist Jan. 1803, 
ist July, 1804, 
104,911 
246,419 
Increase. 141,508 
So pertinacious were the opposi- 
tion in resisting the repeal of the 
additional force bill, that the de- 
bate was resumed at great length on | 
the 6th of May, on a motion for 
going into a committee on the re« 
peal bill. But, as there was little 
either side ; as the opposition rested | 
the defence of their bill Jess upon 
its own merits, than upon the al- 
leged inferiority of Mr. Windham’s 
new plan; while the ministers con- 
tended, that the bill which they pro- 
posed to repeal, was positively in~ | 
jurious to the service, as well as | 
vicious and unjust in its principle; | 
we shall not enter further into the 
debate, than merely to remark, that | 
some of the heaviest charges against 
the 
