Tierney said, were the object of the day; and, was it probable, that a person, who had hitherto preferred capital to interest, should all at once change his plan, and prefer interest to capital, and that, too, precisely at the moment when the Chancellor of the Exchequer was assuring him, that capital would rise in value? It appeared to him also, (though he did not mean to infer that such a step, under some circumstances, might not be adviseable,) that the plan would be a violation of the act of parliament respecting the reduction of the debt, and consequently an infraction of faith with the public creditor: For, if these annuities were granted to a considerable extent, that part of them which exceeded the interest must diminish the disposable sum in the hands of the commissioners; and thus the effect of raising the fund, which their purchases produced, would be materially diminished. Mr Windham said, there was this obvious and fundamental objection to the plan, that it tended to vitiate the morals of the people :-too many parents would be willing to sacrifice the interests of their children to their own immediate gratification. This argument was enforced by Lord H. Petty. Wherever annuities, he said, had been encouraged by Government to any extent, they produced a direct effect upon the morals of the country; and he remarked, that this temptation to the lower and middle classes was to be held out at a time when an additional tax was to be laid upon life-insurances, provisions dictated by every principle of prudence and foresight. Mr William Smith also commented severely upon the immorality of Government in proposing such a plan, and in many other instances. In all cases, he said, when Government profited by the vices of the country, it connived at them. Thus it was that it was easier to procure licences for all the alehouses in the country, than to suppress one; and the country was deluged with quack-medicines, because of the profit derived from the stamp upon them. To these arguments it was replied, that, if the purchase of annuities was sometimes a vice, (and the improvident would purchase them now upon worse terms), it should not be forgotten that there were many cases in which it assumed a character altogether different. Would it not be proper for a man to provide in this manner for his children or his widow, if his property did not admit of any other provision? For, if small annuities were secured on land, the expences of settlement, and perhaps of recovery, would render the provision of no avail. No lure was held out. tions were every day offered without any security: and it might fairly be said of the proposed plan, that the balance of good greatly preponderated over any evil which might be likely to arise from its operation. An infraction of the act respecting the sinking-fund, Mr Perceval_admitted it was, in manner and in words, but not in spirit: on the contrary, it tended to expedite the redemption of the debt for which that fund was created. Greater tempta The navy estimates for the year, voted in a com- Jan. 29. mittee of supply, were:1. "That the number of 130,000 men should be employed for the sea service of the present year, including 14,000 royal marines. 2. That a sum not exceeding 3,126,5001. be granted to his majesty for the wages of the above men for 13 months, at the rate of 17. 17 s. per man per month. 3. That a sum not exceeding 3,211,000l. be granted to his majesty for victualling the above men for 13 months, at the rate of 11. 18 s. per man per month. 4. That a sum not exceeding 5,070,000l. be granted to his majesty, for the wear and tear of the navy, for 13 months, at the rate of 37. per man per month. 5. That a sum not exceeding 521,500l. be granted to his majesty for defraying the charges of ordnance for sea service, for 13 months, at the rate of 7 s. per man per month." The ordnance estimates Feb. 26. amounted to 5,300,000 l., exceeding those of the preceding year by nearly a million and a half. This arose from arrears of former years, exceedings not provided for, works at Chatham, Woolwich, and Dover, and the expedition to Copenhagen.--It was asserted by Mr Wellesley Pole, that the artillery of this country had attained a pitch of efficiency, under the auspices of the Earl of Chatham, not only unparalleled heretofore, but superior to any other train of ordnance in Europe. It consisted of 6000 men, with 4000 horses attached; and all in such a state of discipline and equipment as to enable them to oppose à force of artillery against any enemy who should land in this country, in one-third of the time, and with more than triple the effect that could be done at any former period. The army estimates were as follows: 40,969 13 10 329,619 9 2 40,495 10 6 652,000 0 0 22,125 795,647 3 2 21,525 17 4 Royal Military College,........ Royal Military Asylum............. Allowances to Retired and Offici 19,908 9 3 16,000 0 100,000 0 13,500 0 11,670,404 2 9 30,884 331,777 691,525 8 9 10,978,878 14 0 The Secretary at War said, he had the satisfaction to state, that the army, which the House was now called on to provide for, was, in point of discipline, equal to any army in the world; and, in point of number, superior to any this country had ever possessed till now. The amount was, in regulars and militia, not less than 300,000 men, and the effective force was within 10,000 of the establishment; an approximation scarcely ever known before. March 7. The present ministry had found the military, as well as the financial system of the country arranged by their predecessors; but the same motives which made them oppose the plan of limited service, when originally brought forward by Mr Windham, induced them now to adopt means for counteracting and defeating a measure which they could not call upon parliament openly to repeal. Accordingly, when the mutiny-bill was read a second time, Sir James Pulteney, the Secretary at War, gave notice, that his "noble friend" Lord Castlereagh would, on the morrow, move a clause, empowering the inlisting men for life. Mr Windham entered the house shortly afterwards, and asked, whether it was true that certain clauses were to be inserted in the mutiny-act, the effect of which would be to subvert the military system last adopted? He was answered, in a gentle phrase, that some clauses altering the system of recruiting were to be proposed. Upon which he declared his resolution March 8. of opposing them in every stage of the bill. On the morrow, when the house resolved itself into a committee, Lord Castlereagh prefaced his motion with ar guments worthy of so bad a cause: He highly approved, he said, of the inducements held out in Mr Windham's bill to certain descriptions of men, by the liberty to engage for limited service, and by the creation of additional pensions;-but what he complained of was, that the Right Honourable Gentleman considered his measure as prescriptive, to be preserved without addition or alteration; as if any military system could reasonably claim an exclusive and unalterable sanction. Why should limited service be in a manner enforced, to the total exclusion of unlimited service, even when the men were perfectly satisfied, and desirous to enter without limitation? He then proceeded to show the insufficiency of this system, which he had set out with commending. It was, he said, distinct from every other, in this respect, that it made no addition to the prior strength of the army. In the eighteen months preceding its operation, 30,748 men were raised: in the eighteen months during its operation, the number raised was only 26,040, being a diminution of 4000. The question however was, not how an army was to be raised, but how a very flourishing army already in existence should be maintained? And, with a view to this end, it ought to be seriously considered, what would be the consequence of making limited service the exclusive principle, with no less than 90,000 men now employed in foreign and colonial service. How could it be possible to maintain an efficient army in our distant possessions, if it would be necessary to bring home the men at the termination of a short period of time? It was matter also of very serious consideration to think, that the 36,000 enlisted this year would all be entitled to their discharge at the same time seven years hence. It was also very material to consider, how this principle would affect our peace establishment. Supposing a peace establishment of 100,000 men, and 36,000 of them to be discharged in one year, and a war to follow in that year or the next, what would be the state of the country? He contended, that the Right Honourable Gentleman's measure would not cover its own waste, and that of the army in general. There was indeed only one part of the plan which was not speculative, and that was the permanent burden of 450,000l. a-year, which it imposed upon the country in the shape of additional pensions, an incumbrance which must continually increase. (Yet this creation of additional pensions was what Lord Castlereagh had highly approved in the beginning of his speech!) It was, however, not intended to subvert the system of limited service; all that was intended was to allow a liberty of a larger engagement to those who were free and willing to make it ; all that he pressed upon the Committee, was the propriety of not de priving* such men as were inclined, of a fair option to enlist for life. The sophistry and inconsistency of this whole reasoning were too gross and glaring to need confutation. The statement of facts on which it proceeded was not less incorrect; and this Mr Windham proved from an official document printed at the end of the last session. The Noble Lord, he said, denied him the credit of having made any addition to the army; it was a credit that he had never claimed. His measures had been in full operation, not for eighteen months, as Lord Castlereagh stated, but for twelve. In the first quarter it had produced at the rate of 11,000 men a-year; in the second quarter, at the rate of 13,000; in the third quarter, at the rate of 21,000; and in the fourth quarter, at the rate of 24,000. It was certainly no little praise that it so soon equalled the effect of the ordinary and extraordinary recruiting, which was in force before it; and the manner in which it effected its purpose was, in itself, sufficient to give it a superiority over the measures which were now brought into comparison with it. It was the merit of his measure, that it * There are, perhaps, but two instances upon record of so gross an abuse of language, before a legislative body, as that which is contained in these phrases of Lord Castlereagh. The one occurred in the House of Assembly at Barbadoes, when, in consequence of some instances of atrocious cruelty towards the slaves, which had recently been perpetrated with impunity, Lord Seaforth recommended to that Assembly, that the murder of a slave should be made felony; the present punishment being only a fine of eleven pounds four shillings sterling. And that Assembly, at the motion of Robert James Haynes, Esq. returned for answer, That they understood their interest, and knew how to repel insult, and assert their rights; i. e. the right of murdering slaves at eleven pounds four shillings a-head!The other instance occurred in the examination of the Liverpool delegates in support of the Slave Trade, before the House of Commons. In describing the tenderness with which the slaves were treated upon the Middle Passage, they said, that, among their other amusements, dancing was promoted. When the meaning of this phrase was wrung out of them by cross-examination, it proved to be, that after meals the slaves were made to jump up in their irons for exercise, and whipped if they refused to do it. These Barbadoes rights, and this promoting of duncing, are to be classed under the same figure of speech as Lord Castlereagh's liberty of a larger engagement, and his fair option. raised the men by the ordinary recruiting alone, while the measure with which it was compared procured them by means expensive and violent, and which exhausted the sources of recruiting in future. The comparison between the extraordinary measures of other administrations and his measure was just the same as that of a man with 100,000l. capital with a man having 40,000l. a-year. The former could exceed the other for a period even of a couple of years, by 10,000l. a-year; but, at the end of that time, the capitalist would be in jail, while the other would remain with the same undiminished means of expenditure. Mr Windham, after this convincing argument, reprobated the mode in which it was intended so basely to undermine the system which, after such long and deliberate consideration, had been established by that House; and especially after a clause of the same kind had been rejected in 1806, because it went to counteract the general effect of the measure. That system proceeded on the principle of ameliorating the future condition of the soldiers, by the prospect of future advantages; it was necessary, therefore, that confidence should be inspired into the people to give it its due effect; but the clause now proposed went to destroy confidence, and to diffuse distrust. And if, as had been hinted, it was intended eventually to allow those soldiers who had enlisted for a term of years, to change that term for life, this would be an atrocious breach of faith; for the prohibition which now exists was the protection of the soldier; and, were it to be removed, he would be exposed to the solicitations, and ultimately to the vengeance, of his officers. He concluded by expressing a hope, that the house would rise, with one common feeling of indignation, against the insidious attempt which was made, without any plausible pretext or object, to destroy that, which, after deliberate and repeated discussion, had received the solemn sanction of parliament. The subject was resumed upon the third reading of the bill; when Mr Windham affirmed, that it was the plan of March 14. the present administration, secretly, covertly, and clandestinely, to undermine the system of limited service. Was it fair to the house, he asked, was it decent to the public, to require the present parliament to reverse the measures already established, by admitting a proposition which had been twice negatived in two former Parliaments, and thus making the Legislature eat its own words?-Such an appeal was of little avail against the will and pleasure of the ministry, and the innovation passed by a majority of 189 to 116.-When the clause was discussed in the House of Lords, it was resisted March 18. by the Duke of Gloucester, a prince who, on all occasions, manifests the best and most honourable principles; and it was defended by Lord Melville, in a most extraordinary manner. Armies, he said, were not to be raised by metaphysical recruiting, and a philosophical investigation of the moral propensities and habits of men. He treated, with scorn, the whole maxims upon which Mr Windham's bill was founded. "It was pretended," said his Lordship, "that it would introduce a better description of men into the army;-what was meant by a better sort of men? -Was it that they were taller or |