GENERAL HISTORY. 



f^ 



their rank among the niilitary 

 states of the continent ; to aljan- 

 don the wise policy of tiieir fore- 

 fathers, and turn seivile imi- 

 tators of tiie system which had 

 biouglit so miicli calamity on 

 those nations wlio liad adopted 

 them ? He pledged himself to 

 their lordships and the country, 

 that he would never fail to give 

 the most strenuous oj)position in 

 his power, to any attempts to en- 

 tail such a monstrous burthen on 

 the nation, and to lay the foun- 

 dation of suc-li ruin to the consti- 

 tution as must result from it. 

 His lordship then called the at- 

 tention of the House to the pe- 

 riod between 1783 and 179'2, dur- 

 ing which the subject of the ex- 

 pense of the military establishment 

 had been much discussed, and in 

 the last year of which it had been 

 reduced to 1,S00,0(X); and he 

 made some remarks on the as- 

 sei'tion, that Mr. Pitt (with whom 

 he then acted) had blamed him- 

 self after the war with the French 

 revolutionists had commenced, 

 for having promoted so low an 

 establishment. Lord G. con- 

 cluded with moving, " That an 

 humble address be presented to 

 the Prince Regent, praying that 

 his R Highness would l>e pleased 

 to give directions for laying be- 

 fore the House the estimates for 

 the military service of the pre- 

 sent year." 



The Earl of Liverpool said, 

 that he should be so far from op- 

 posing the motion, that he was 

 ready and anxious to supply all 

 the information required; and he 

 was willing that the question 

 fihould be put upon this issue, 

 whether a ])ublic necessity, or at 

 least a pul)lic urgency, had not 



existed for every nieasuie adopted 

 in the formation of the peace es- 

 tablislmient. After some preli- 

 minary ol)servations, in which he 

 endeavoured to confirm the opi- 

 nion, that Mr. Pitt thought, that 

 in 179-^2, he had too far reduced 

 the peace estalilishment, he pro- 

 ceeded to form a contrast be- 

 tween the circumstances of the 

 two periods, which he divided 

 into the three heads of the esta- 

 blishment for the colonies, for 

 Ireland, and for Cire;it Britain. 

 His Lordship then went through 

 the items under each head, as 

 first stated by the Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer, and advanced rea- 

 sons in justification of the new or 

 increased estatjlishment in each. 



The Marquis of Lamdou-ne rose 

 to controvert several of the ar- 

 guments of the last speaker, es- 

 pecially those in which he made 

 increased population a reason for 

 an increased military establish- 

 ment. He w^is followed by Lord 

 King, who asserted his belief, that 

 the proposal of an establishment 

 of such magnitude, was neither 

 more nor less than an attemj)! to 

 place this country on a level with 

 the great military powers of the 

 continent. 



The question being at length 

 p\u, the motion was agreed to. 

 It will now be advisable to carry 

 this subject to its termination, 

 rather than break the thread of 

 narrative by interposing another 

 topic. 



An abstract of the estimates of 

 army services having been pre- 

 sented to the House of Commons 

 on Feb. 19th, " the Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer op the 26th, after 

 tlK> order of the day was read for 

 a cojnmittee of the whole house 



to 



