STATE PAPERS. 



SSi 



of the country, neither erring on 

 the side of absolute confidence on 

 the long duration of peace, nor 

 giving way to unwarrantable 

 apprehensions of danger and ag- 

 gression. 



And your committee further 

 submit, that as the duration and 

 magnitude of the astonishing exer- 

 tions made by this kingdom during 

 the late war must mainly be attri- 

 buted to the pecuniary resources 

 then brought into operation, which 

 could never be more justly deemed 

 the sinews of war than during the 

 whole course of that eventful con- 

 test ; so these can be renovated 

 and strengthened in no other way 

 than by retrenchment and eco- 

 nomy during the opportunity af- 

 forded by a return of peace. 



At the same time, this most im- 

 portant consideration must always 

 be kept in view — that if our mili- 

 tary establishments should once 

 be suffered to fall below the stand- 

 ard of efficiency and discipline, to 

 which they are now raised by 

 great exertions founded on expe- 

 rieni e, it will not be possible to 

 restore them again to the same 

 height' without great waste of 

 time, however urgently their best 

 services may be required. 



LAND FORCES. 



p. 1, in the Estimates. 



The first of the returns com- 

 pares the numerical force main- 

 tained in the year 1816, with that 

 intended to be maintained in 1817; 

 both as to the diffeience of actual 

 establishments in those two years, 

 and of the force on account of 

 which a charge is incurred by the 

 public, distinguished from the 

 force in France and in India. 



Vol. LIX. 



The second gives the comparison 

 of the total numbers in the yean 

 1814 and 1817. 



The third shews the compara- 

 tive expense in the years 1816 and 

 1817, and also the expense in- 

 curred in the year 1815. The re- 

 duction of that great establish- 

 ment which the war had occa- 

 sioned was begun in 181G, and 

 has been carried considerably fur- 

 ther in the present estimates ; the 

 difference amounts to no less a 

 sum than 1,738,496/. upon the 

 net balance j althougii several 

 charges, such as half pay, the 

 Compassionate List, and other 

 allowances of a similar kind, are 

 necessarily augmented by the ter- 

 mination of the war, and a dimi- 

 nution of the numbers maintained 

 on active service. 



Besides the mere numerical re- 

 duction, a principle of economy 

 has been applied to the cavalry, by 

 a diminution of the number of 

 horses kept for the service of each 

 regiment, to the extent of 20 in 

 each troop ; in the last year there 

 were only ten men dismounted in 

 each troop, and that number is 

 now doubled, by wliich a consi- 

 derable charge is saved, without 

 too far breaking down the effici- 

 ency of the regiments. 



The particulars of the charge of 

 a regiment of infantry in the years 

 1792 and 1817 are annexed, for 

 the purpose of showing the ge- 

 neral establishment of each sepa- 

 rate regiment which prevailed at 

 that period, compared with the 

 present ; and also for giving at 

 one view Ihe relative charge of 

 maintaining the same numerical 

 force, in the two periods, which 

 bears the proportion of very nearly 



Y two 



