inducement to every honourable mind to rectify what is amiss. What the noble lord means I cannot tell; but I see very well, not only that the proposed regulation has a tendency to remove an objection to the service, but that it has been adopted, in practice, for that end. In part of the Prussian army, contrary to the broad assertion of the noble lord, it was the custom to enter for a limited term. It was said, indeed, that Frederick the Great was not very scrupulous in executing the contract, though it was clear what was considered the tendency of the regulation; and I am convinced that with a government like this, scrupulous in its faith, the regulation would most powerfully operate as an inducement to the service. Besides, the noble lord is mistaken in his statement. All the troops of the continent were not engaged for life. Those of the elector of Hanover were for a limited service. The German corps in our own service are all for limited time, even the 60th regiment. As to the case of the East India company, put by the noble lord, it proves too much; for it is absurd to say, that men will inlist more willingly for life than for a limited time. Now with respect to the volunteers, the noble lord says, he remembers my right hon. friend having, on former occasions, said so and so of the volunteers; but I fear the noble lord only remembers his own misrepresentations of what was said. As soon as the noble lord got up I anticipated what we have heard; day by day, week after week, year after year, the same eternal repetition of the same confuted misrepresentation. Indeed he has repeated this so often, that I verily believe he has

brought himself to imagine tha his own answers to my right hon. friend were really the arguments used by the latter. But what was the proposal of my right hon. friend? Was it not to retain, as volunteers, those of a superior class, those able to defray their own expenses? while those who could not were to be subject to the general training. And this was the principle which seemed universally agreed upon when the levy en masse act was first considered, and it was thought an objection to that measure that all classes should be blended without distinction. Now, what is the proposal of my right. honourable friend as to the general training? It is to invite, or compel, a certain portion of the whole population to be trained. twenty-six times, each person having one shilling for his trouble each time; so that, if the training hap pened on a Sunday, it would be so much gain. Those, however, who chose to defray their own expenses as volunteers, are not to be compelled to be trained. The noble lord however asks, Will you put all those men so trained into the ranks to defend London? I answer No, because the thing must be impossible; and I apprehend that in the neighbourhood of London a sufficient number of trained men would be found to annoy the enemy, or fill up our own ranks, without calling up those from the distant counties. The effect of the training would be to give us a greater number of men, better ht than they would otherwise have been, to recruit the regiments, or to contribute in other ways to harass the enemy. It is said, But: could these men defend London? Could they stop the enemy before they reached Chatham? Should

the

the enemy land on our shores, we ought doubtless to fight every inch of ground; but are we to act as if that were all, and as if the whole were lost if the first stand were not successful? We must provide, however, not only to withstand the enemy vigorously in their first progress, but to have all the means of maintaining the contest with them in the worst event. Nay, I am convinced that the English people would, on such an occasion, display an energy, perseverance, and fortitude, surpassing what any nation on the continent has shown. They are in a different situation, to be sure. They are unaccustomed to the presence of an enemy in their country, and could not bear it patiently they feel every motive of attachment to their country and their constitution. They are unshaken, in their affection to their government, by those changes of master and of companion which tend to unhinge every principle of allegiance; and they would therefore, I am convinced, give a new example of constancy, and would show that the fate of their country did not depend on the event of a single battle. Even if the first advantages were gained by the enemy, they would find hundreds of thousands, nay, perhaps millions, of Englishmen determined to main tain their liberty and independence. That the enemy would be resisted by an armed and trained peasantry, capable of harassing their progress or of serving as recruits to the regular army, I am perfectly satis fied, and I am convinced they will do it far better than any number of volunteers on the present system. Indeed the employment of volunteers as regiments and as reinforcements would be full of danger; and no friend to the vo

lunteers would advise the experi ment to be tried. It is alleged, however, that no immediate in. crease of the army will result from this measure, because it substitutes nothing. But, in truth, the merit of the plan is, that it proposes no complicated machinery to produce an effect which will be gained by the simple mode of recruiting. All the schemes adopted for raising men have, as far as they have been successful, only defrauded the ordinary system of recruiting, and that with a great expense, and no inconsiderable oppression. Is it nothing that the market will again be left open to the government as the only recruiter? The noble lord tells us, too, that it was the intention of the late Mr. Pitt to make an addition of 20 or 25,000 men to the army. And in fact, I have no doubt that my right hon. friend will propose, not only to leave no deficiency in the effective force already considered proper to be kept up, but will suggest any further increase that may appear necessary. It ought to be remem bered that, with the exception of Russia, a power, however, whose alliance, desirable and important as it is, must be confessed to be too remote for producing a deci sive impression on the continent,we have no ally whatever of any consequence, willing to fight for us. Such is the prosperous situa tion the noble lord describes. When this is considered, and the state of the continent is taken into view, it must be allowed that it is time to think of increasing our army. Both for the purpose of war, and what must be the establishment of any peace likely to be obtained, it is proper that the subject of the army should be maturely weighed. Indeed, by the circumstances

bates

ALTHOUGH we have not, as

it will be seen, entered much at large into the discussion of bills that have been ultimately rejected by parliament, yet we have thought it right to deviate from the general rule with respect to Mr. Tierney's motion for explaining and regulating the "Treating Act," because we apprehend, that though it has been now rejected, yet the evils attending contested elections are still so great as must finally lead to some regulations on the subject: we have therefore given the arguments on both sides of the question. The discussion on the woollen manufacturers' suspension bill will interest many of our readers; the subject must, however, be resumed in a future volume. In the plan and debates on the budget all are concern. ed; it is right, therefore, that an ample view of its several parts should be found in our pages: nor have we been less anxious to collect the arguments of the various speakers on the bill for legalizing the intercourse between America and the West India islands, which met with considerable opposition from the commercial interests of the house.

March 10.-Mr. Tierney, pursuant to the notice he had formerly given, rose to bring forward his motion for leave to bring in a bill to explain and render more effectual an act passed in the reign of William III., for lessening the excessive ex

penses to candidates at elections for members to serve in parliament. Every gentleman with whom he had conversed on the subject agreed with him on the necessity of some measure for giving effect to an act of parliament, which had been found, by uniform experience, to fall in most cases greatly short of the object it avowed; but many were of opinion the attempt would be attended with difficulties scarcely surmountable. The object of the act in question, was to exempt candidates from the enormous demands to which they were liable, under the head of charges for the conveyance and travelling expenses of voters not resident at the place of election; and to prevent the system of bribery and corruption, which, under the pretence of such charges, might be and actually was carried on. The evils in those cases could not arise in places where the voters were all residents of the town or vicinage, but where persons claiming a right to vote at such elections resided at a distance, often at the extremity of a county, which constantly gave rise to scenes of confusion and enormous expense; for, in coming to give their votes at such elections, they uniformly claimed the expenses of their conveyance and travelling charges, and those upon the most extravagant scale, from the candidates for whom they chose to vote. Perhaps there might be no very

great