114 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



recur to the old and regular me- 

 thod of ballot. — The earl Fitz- 

 william approved the bill, so far 

 as it contained a provision for 

 completing the deficiencies of the 

 militia, by laying the expence of 

 it not on the counties, but the 

 public. But he regretted that 

 the principle of the militia, in 

 modern times, had been so much 

 departed from, and that the 

 militia regiments should have been 

 made a recruiting, or perhaps, if 

 he might use the expression, a 

 crimping fund for the supply of 

 the regular army. It was not the 

 bill before them alone, that he 

 had in his eye on making these 

 observations. He saw the militia 

 more and more altered from those 

 principles on which that force was 

 first established. 



Lord Harrowbytookaviewof the 

 principle of the old militia acts, and 

 argued that there was no alteration 

 adopted in the present instance 

 which did not accord with the prin- 

 ciple of past alterations. — The mar- 

 quis of Douglas said, the disposable 

 force of the country, so much at- 

 tended to, might, be employed in 

 expeditions, to end like that termi- 

 nated by the convention of Cintra, 

 when the country might feel the 

 great want of an effective internal 

 force for its own preservation.— The 

 earl of Westmoreland said, that 

 if the old principle had been 

 attended to, and the men had 

 served only for three, four, or 

 seven years, and at that period 

 returned from the service, the 

 noble lords would have found 

 themselves without those men, 

 who had been so carefully taught 

 their discipline. That army which 

 had displayed its superiority on 

 the Tagus, and afterwards amidst 



the greatest difficulties, embarked 

 with honour and glory at Corunna, 

 was composed of men taken chiefly 

 from the militia. — The earl of 

 Rosslyn conceived, that there was 

 one objection to the present bill, 

 which had not been mentioned in 

 the course of the debate. It pre- 

 tended to raise the men for the 

 completion of the militia, by taking 

 the burthen off" from the counties, 

 and laying it upon the public. 

 This was a false pretence. It 

 would do no such thing. It pro- 

 vided, that men might be raised 

 by enlistment, at a bounty of 

 about 10 guineas, any time be- 

 fore June 1810. But if the quota 

 should not be provided before that 

 period, the old method of ballot 

 was to be resorted to, so that all 

 deficiencies should be provided 

 for before the October following. 

 It was well known, that there 

 was a fine of 20/. on the man 

 ballotted. If he should not choose 

 to serve in person, he gives the 

 10 guineas allowed to iiim by 

 government. And if it should 

 happen, that the substitute was 

 not procured before October, there 

 was an additional fine of 10/. for 

 each man deficient, on the county : 

 so that the bounty, after June, 

 would be from 30/. to 70/. a 

 man ; whereas before June, it 

 could be no more than ten or 

 twelve guineas. For, from the 

 nature of human reasoning, every 

 man would decline accepting the 

 bounty for enlistment, knowing it 

 would be much better for his 

 interest to wait till that period 

 should elapse. The most favour- 

 able point of view, in which the 

 present measure was contemplated 

 by the earl of Selkirk was, that it 

 was not likely to effect its object. 



For 



