i08 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



men could not be had; but then 

 there was the expedient of a little 

 ballot, in case the bounty should 

 fail, to be inflicted on the county 

 where the quota of men could not 

 be induced to list within a given 

 period. And then, as a remedy 

 to the balloted men, who could 

 not find a substitute at half price, 

 ten guineas were to be given in 

 aid. But this ballot, coming on 

 the heels of that for the local mi- 

 litia, could not fail to create gene- 

 ral discontent in as much as it was 

 not a regular tax, but must weigh 

 oppressively on individuals. — Mr. 

 Elliot compared the effects of 

 Lord Castlereagh's plan with that 

 of Mr. Windham's which proposed 

 to recruit men for limited ser- 

 vice, instead of service for life: a 

 plan, the principles of which, was 

 founded on the feelings of human 

 nature. He was ready to admit, 

 that, for the first four or five 

 months it was in operation, the 

 preference for unlimited service 

 preponderated. But, it was a fact, 

 that, out of 27,000 men, raised in 

 1807 for general service, about 

 19,000 were for limited service : a 

 clear proof that, had that princi- 

 ple been adhered to, the country 

 ■would not only have avoided all 

 the evils experienced both by the 

 country and the army, under the 

 balloting system, but that the 

 force of the line would have been 

 increased to any extent necessary, 

 with a saving of nearly one half of 

 the expence. 



Sir T. Tinton -vished to know, 

 before he could agree to augment 

 the disposable force, what it was in- 

 tended to do with it. Unless we 

 meant to repeat such scenes as the 

 convention of Cintra, and the re- 

 treat in Spain, we stood in no 



need of additional force. For it 

 was childish to talk of danger of 

 invasion with our superior navy. 

 He objected to the measure also 

 on the ground of its changing the 

 constitutional principle of the mi- 

 litia. Mr. Bastard said, that the 

 former measure of allowing a trans- 

 fer of men from the militia to the 

 line, had been a plentiful source 

 of mutiny, drunkenness, and in- 

 subordination. The secretary at 

 war said, that it might be neces- 

 sary for this countrj', in the pre- 

 sent circumstances of the world, 

 to act a great part on the conti- 

 nent. This was to be done only 

 by increasing the amount of the 

 regular army. But no other means 

 than the present for answering this 

 purpose could be found, than a 

 military conscription. Mr. Cal- 

 craft observed, that the papers 

 presented last year, showed, that 

 the army then consisted of nearly 

 240,000 men, while the papers 

 then on the table showed its pre- 

 sent amount to be only 210,000. 

 How had this diminution taken 

 place ? He defended and praised 

 the military system of Mr. Wind- 

 ham, which had produced, while 

 in force, a supply of nearly 24-,000 

 men annually ; a supply as great as 

 the circumstances of the population 

 of this countrj' would admit of. Mr. 

 W.'s system had not had a fair trial. 

 He did not look to our acting 

 any great military part on the con- 

 tinent. This was the fourth in- 

 stance in which the militia had 

 been drafted to supply the army : 

 a practice which had driven quali- 

 fied officers out of the militia. He 

 did not think it possible to recruit 

 the militia by the bounty proposed 

 by Lord Castlereagh. If men were 

 wanted for the public service, they 



should 



