210] ANNUAL REGISTER, rsi4. 



upon the act would convert tlie 

 militia into a standing army. He 

 looked upon it as a great constitu- 

 tional question, and wad sorry to 

 tind it reserved for those times that 

 ministers should advise the crown 

 as it had done. 



Serjeant Bent supported the So- 

 licitor-general by recapitulating 

 some o+' his arguments. 



Mr. Ponsonby declared himself 

 greatly surprised that the Solicitor- 

 general had asserted that he did 

 not know what the spirit of the 

 law meant : it was, however, the 

 duty of that House to know the 

 sfiirit of the law ; and courts of 

 justice constantly declared that 

 they decided according to that spi- 

 rit. It was said that the time when 

 the crown should disembody the 

 militia was not specified ; but the 

 sole discretion vested in the crown 

 was this — whether it was fit to 

 contiime the militia on foot, with 

 reference to the causes which made 

 it legal to embody it. He was of 

 opinion that it was now unlawfully 

 retained. 



Mr. C Grant argued in favour 

 of the retention; and said that 

 there was enough in the state of 

 Europe, and while such a demand 

 existed on the continent for our 

 regular army, to explain the rea- 

 sons and policy of still tnaintain- 

 ing a portion of our domestic force 

 embodied. 



Sir S. Romillif made a recapi- 

 tulation of the arguments that had 

 been employed on the subject ; 

 and said that the real question was, 

 Avhether the crown had an indefi- 

 nite power to keep the militia on 

 foot as long as it thought fit, con- 

 trary to the express tenor of an act 

 of parliament. On this question " 



he would divide the House, though 

 he should stand alone. 



A division then took place— For 

 the motion, 32 ; Against it, 97 r 

 Majority, 65. 



It is observable that none of the 

 ministers spoke on this occasion. 



In a subsequent debate on the 

 army estimates, a sura being moved 

 for the expenses of certain mditia 

 regiments not disembodied, the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer said, 

 in explanation, that the war with 

 America, and the keeping up of a 

 considerable body of troops on the 

 Continent, requiring the mainte- 

 nance of a large military force, 

 government, on the most mature 

 deliberation, thought that such 

 force would best be rendered dis- 

 posable by keeping embodied a 

 part of the militia. 



liJr. Whitbreud affirmed that no- 

 thing could less have the appear- 

 ance of a deliberate measure, since 

 the Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire 

 militias were stopped when ou 

 their march to be disembodied. — 

 Mr. Bathurst allowed that the re- 

 tention of part of the militia was 

 not a systematic plan on the part 

 of government, but was dictated 

 by the demands for the employ- 

 ment of the regular forces abroad. 



The result of the Court Martial 

 held on Colonel Quentin, of the 

 10th Light Dragoons, (see Trials, 

 &c.) was the cause of a parliamen- 

 tary debate, of which it may be 

 interesting to give a brief sum- 

 mary. 



On November 17, Colonel Pal- 

 mer rose, pursuant to notice, to 

 call the attention of the House of 

 Commons to the subject, in which 

 he'-was particularly concerned, as 

 being, by his rank in the regiment. 



