llO ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



hundred and twenty-six battalions 

 of infantry, whose numbers ex- 

 ceeded six hundred, and there 

 were fifty-six that fell short 

 of that number. It was well 

 known, that battalions not amount- 

 ing to six hundred, were con- 

 sidered as inefficient, and not 

 fit for service. If the measure 

 proposed obtained twenty-seven 

 thousand, it would complete all 

 the battalions of our infantry up 

 to nine hundred men. — Lord 

 Castlereagh entered, now, into a 

 comparative view of his own plan 

 for recruiting our military force, 

 and that of Mr. Windham : a to- 

 pic become trite, though still wor- 

 thy of serious consideration, by the 

 prolonged and protracted debates 

 on that subject in the two pre- 

 ceding sessions of parliament.* 

 On the whole, Lord C. thought it 

 evident, that men generally pre- 

 ferred the unlimited to limited 

 service. He did not, however, by 

 any means wish to exclude men 

 from limited service. Lord Cas- 

 tlereagh said, the fact was, that 

 whatever was the system of re- 

 cruiting, the country regularly 

 produced about 1,200 men in a 

 month. How the number came 

 to be so exact, he could not say. 

 But even in the halcyon days of 

 high bounty, and no ballot, it was 

 not found that the number of 

 recruits exceeded the regular by 

 a hundred, nor under any other 

 system of recruiting did they fall 

 short to that amount. He trusted 

 that the house would not be dis- 

 couraged by the present aspect of 

 affairs, but that they would see 

 the necessity of increasing rapidly 

 our disposable force. 



The Earl of Temple said, that 

 when Lord Castlereagh laid his 

 cold fingers on Mr. Windham's 

 plan, it was producing at the rate 

 of 24,000 men a year, instead of 

 the 13,000 produced by Lord Cas- 

 tlereagh's. The bill was then read 

 a second time. 



On the Mth of February, the 

 third reading of the bill was moved 

 by Lord Castlereagh. Some new 

 clauses were proposed by Lord C. 

 and agreed to. But upon the 

 question being put that the bill do 

 pass — 



Lord Milton rose to object to it 

 altogether, as being a measure in- 

 troduced in direct violation of 

 what he always understood to be 

 the positive pledge of the noble 

 lord on the introduction of his 

 former bill ; namely, that it was 

 not to be adopted as a regular and 

 permanent system, but only to be 

 resorted to on great and urgent 

 occasions. After so recently car- 

 rying into effect a militia ballot 

 throughout the country, he was 

 decidedly adverse to the resorting 

 again to another. He could not 

 give his support to the noble lord 

 in coming forward year after year 

 with a measure like this, totally 

 subversive of the original intent 

 and constitution of the militia, 

 and converting it into a mere ve- 

 hicle for recruiting the line. Sir 

 George W^arrender, though wish- 

 ing an increase of the disposable 

 force of the country, thought the 

 means proposed by this bill cir- 

 cuitous, inefficacious, and hostile 

 to their own operation. The bill 

 was passed, and ordered to the 

 Lords ; where the order of the day 

 for reading it a second time was 



moved. 



" See Vol. XLIX. Hist. Eur. Cbap. 4. and Vol. IV. Chap. vi. 



i 



