HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



107 



CHAP. VI. 



Measures for the Augmentation of the Regular Army. — Militia Comple- 

 tion Bdl~The Effects of Lord Castlereagli's Plan, for this purpose, 

 compared with that of Mr. Windham^. — State of the Regular Army 

 at the present moment. — Deficiency of Numbers in the Second Batta- 

 lions — To Supply this Deficiency, the Object of the Militia Completion 

 Bill^This Bill passed.— Marine Mutiny Bill.— The Corps of Ma- 

 rines recommended to Public Notice and Favour, by Sir Charles 

 Pole. 



IT had been recommended, as we 

 have seen in the speech from 

 the throne, to both houses of par- 

 liament, to proceed with as little 

 delay as possible, to consider of 

 the most effectual measures for the 

 augmentation of the regular arm}'. 

 So early, therefore, as the 2nd of 

 February, Lotd Castlereagh rose in 

 the House of Commons to move 

 the order of the day, for the se-. 

 cond reading of the miUtia inlist- 

 ment bill. But, as this bill dif- 

 fered nothing in principle from the 

 bill of last year, and as he had 

 already given his opinion at length 

 on its various details, he should 

 abstain from troubling the house 

 with a repetition of those details, 

 and reserve himself for any objec- 

 tions that might be made to it. — 

 Mr. Elliot wished to know the rate 

 of bounties proposed by his noble 

 friend. Lord Castlereagh answer- 

 ed, from six to eleven guineas. 

 Mr. Elliot said, that this bill af- 

 forded a striking lesson to the 

 house and the country, of the 

 evil consequences of adopting a 

 bad precedent. Heretofore, pre- 

 viously to the introduction of a si- 

 milar bill, there was much of de- 

 tail and preparatory communication 

 with colonels of regiments; but 

 the former measure of his noble 



friend having been adopted, he 

 relied that, in this too, he should 

 be successful. His majesty's speech, 

 at the opening of the session, cer- 

 tainly recommended to parliament 

 every attention to the increase of 

 the disposeable army of the coun- 

 try, that was practicable without 

 impairing the means of home de- 

 fence. But he thought it impossi- 

 ble to accomplish the former by 

 means of this bill, without materi- 

 ally injuring the latter. He did 

 not condemn the colonels of the 

 regiments for their anxiety to 

 adopt the readiest means for filling 

 up the ranks of their corps. But 

 he did most decidedly condemn 

 the principles of a bill, the opera- 

 tion of which would inevitably 

 tend to the dissolution of all disci- 

 pline, both in the regular army 

 and militia, as well as to the injury 

 of morality throughout the coun- 

 try : for such would be the effect 

 of high bounties, given to the re- 

 cruits from the militia to the line, 

 and to the substitutes who were to 

 fill their places in the -militia, as 

 had been fully evinced by experi- 

 ence. — By the present bill, the mi- 

 litia officers were required to re- 

 cruit at a bounty of ten guineas, 

 for which, it was obvious, that, un- 

 der the present system of bounties, 



men 



