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nures, and authority of Parliament. It must be observable, that if any prerogative can be inferred from these statutes, the ftatute fhould not be capable of being expounded any other way, but by the fuppofition of fuch a prerogative, namely, that of calling all men out of their counties on the appearance of a foreign enemy, without affent of Parliament; but this flature is perfectly intelligible, and applicable to the military tenures known and acknowledged to exist at the tirne, and therefore this act cannot prefume any fuch prerogative. No man is fo little read in the hiftory of this country, as not to know that, from the conqueft, the land was divided into 60,000 knights' fees, productive of 60,000 men, for 40 days military service, at the King's plea fure; and that this large military force continued in strict practical use by perfonal fervice, until Henry the Second's time, when a relaxation of perfonal fervice began to infinuate itself, and the introduction of substituted service, and gradually a commutation by efcuage certain by agreement, and uncertain when no fuch agreement was made, took place; and that the laft gave occafion to great oppreffion by the claim of unlimited penalties, which rofe to fo great a grievance, that in King John's time it was reprobated by Magna Charta in the words, if I remember right, "Nullum fcutagium ponatur in regno nostro nifi per commune confilium regni." So circumftanced the tenures with their fervices or efcuage continued till their abolition by the 12th Charles II. and the establishment of an extenfive militia under Lords Lieutenants of counties and their refpe&tive deputies, and that this continued until the existence of the prefent militia, with the occafional introduction of a more regular and permanent army. In all this period, nothing like the prerogative afferted has been acknowledged. The preamble of the 12th of Charles II. which reprobates the affumption of the command of the militia by Parliament in the preceding reign, and declares the King's right to command all forces raifed, does not infinuate the power of raifing fuch force by the King's prerogative on any occafion. I am at a lofs on this view of the military history to trace any ground on which fuch a prerogative can have taken root; but I am fure that the acts can be explained by reference to the facts known from hiftory, without having recourfe to an uncertain prerogative. The learned Lord is certainly more converfant in the channels through which information of this nature can be traced than I am,

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and he has been more successful in finding the commiffion of array which he has cited, which he fays paffed the Legislature in the 5th of Henry IV. No fuch ftatute appears on the statute book, though (on finding an affertion of fuch a commission) I have fearched for it. The commiffion of array, in what-ever words it may be couched, would not be convincing to my mind, as I am well aware that the times were productive of incroachments of that fort. The act of ift Edward III. chap. 7th, states, that commiffions have been awarded to certain people of thires, to prepare men of arms, &c. and enacts that it fhall be done fo no more. The act of the ift Edward III. chap. 15th, states, that by evil counsellors the King had bound people by writing, to raise armed men, and forbids it. Frequent attempts to raife an army by commiffion may have been inade, and perhaps fubmitted to at times, and at times reprobated. With refpect to that to which the noble Lord has alluded, and which I have not feen, I can only obferve, that by his own account of it, it must have derived its authority from Parliament, and not from prerogative. The execution of the ordinances of Parliament is always intrufted to the King; and it appears alfo on the face of the statement, that this commiffion in Parliament the 5th of Henry IV. was only the year following the act of 4th Henry IV. cited by me, which as diftinctly as words can convey their meaning, declares "that no man fhall be conftrained to find men of arms, hoblers, (horsemen) or archers, others than thofe who hold by fuch fervices, if not by common affent and grant of Parliament." The commiffion cannot therefore be fuppofed to contradict the parliamentary doctrine of the year before, and its being contained in an act of Parliament, is a proof that it was in conformity to the doctrine of the preceding year, and derived its authority from Parliament, and not from prerogative.

Lords Morton and Hobart called the noble Earl to order; to which he replied, that if he had been called to order sooner, he fhould have infifted on his right to put the House into a Committee, which the standing orders of the House permitted him to do, but that he had nearly finished all he had wished to fay, and fhould not trouble the Houfe further.

The clerk read the order, which was as the noble Earl had itated.

Lord King delivered his fentiments generally upon the meafure before the House, and cenfured the conduct of Minifters

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with respect to the volunteers. The bill itself he regarded as a mass of incongruity and abfurdities, which he thought to be the general character of all the measures adopted by Minifters upon the fubject. The point of view in which the bill was that night held out, was by no means a fair one; the injurious effects of the measure, as at prefent conftitu ed, were kept out of fight; it had the effect of counteracting, not only the regular army, but the militia force, and the army of referve: this was principally done by means of the exemptions; the militia, and the army of referve alfo, in a great degree, counteracted each other. In proof of the volunteer fyftem materially affecting the recruiting fervice, he referred to the ftate of recruiting in thofe parts of the kingdom where the volunteers were proportionably the most numerous, as in Kent, Surrey, and the metropolis. With respect to the bill, he repeated, it was a mafs of incongruity-every feparate part was jarring one with the other, and the whole was in the teeth of every fyftematic regulation.

Lord Boringdon faid that he would give no opinion as to the legal point at iffue between the noble Earl and the noble and learned Lord, relative to the afferted right of the King to call for the military fervice of all his fubjects in cafe of invafion. He did not know that Minifters had put forth this right at the end of the last feffion, with a view to compel men to enter into the volunteer service; but he could confirm from his own obfervation the statement of the noble Earl, that fuch in many cases was the effect of that doctrine. He differed materially in opinion from the noble Lord who spoke first as to the prefent efficiency of the volunteers, and as to the danger which might be apprehended from the volunteers being difpofed to difband themfelves in cafe of a protracted conteft. The dangers to be incurred in fuch a conteft would, he thought, arife from the character and complexion of his Majefty's prefent Government, and not from any want of patriotifm or perfeverance on the part of the volunteers, whofe conduct was beyond all praife. He thought the prefent bill wholly inadequate to the circumftances of the country, and to the evils which it pretended to remedy: nevertheless he should not oppofe it, as it contained Tome provifions which must have a falutary operation: the provifion giving the fame allowance to the families of volunteers on fervice, as was given to thofe of militiamen, and that which gave to the commanding officer a control over his men at drill, deferved commendation, and no time fhould be

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loft in carrying them into effect. After the numberless blunders and contradictions of his Majefty's Minifters in carrying this fyftem into effect during last year, no great hope could be entertained, that a bill containing in it as little as the prefent bill could enfure us from further difficulties.

The Bishop of Landaff spoke as follows:-My Lords, I have no intention of troubling your Lordships at great length; I have little, or to fpeak more properly, I have no military knowledge; but I love my country, and I cannot fee it tottering on the extremeft verge of deftruction, without uttering a cry however faint, without ftretching out an arm however feeble, to prevent its fall. The die, my Lords, is in the air, may God direct its fall in our favour! The die is in the air which, by its fall, will indicate the ruin of Bonaparte or of Britain; which will indicate the confequent reduction of France within its ancient limits; or the confequent reduction of all the ftates of Europe under the military yoke of the French Republic. To avert this cataftrophe from outfelves requires, not fo much, I think, the co-operation of certain individuals, however honourable in principle, however eminent in ability, (and no one thinks of their honour or of their ability more refpectably than I do) but this co-operation is not fo much required in the prefent circumstances of the country, as an entire, cordial, difinterefted concurrence of all the talents in the empire: I am far from infinuating, my Lords, that thofe who may thus co-operate are influenced by any selfish views, by any ambitious profpects of place or power; no, on my confcience I am of opinion, that their primary object is the falvation of the country. Nor, on the other hand, do I take upon me to impute to the Adminiftration, what has been fo abundantly laid to their charge, inability—I at least have no public document, no private knowledge of them, which enables me to form a proper judgment. But if they have been guilty of mistakes, furely the novelty and unparalleled difficulty of their fituation will with many, at leaft it will with me, plead their excufe.-With refpe&t to the volunteer bill now before the Houfe, this is not the time to enter into any difcuffion of its feveral provifions; nor is it now a queftion to be debated, whether the volunteer fyftem is the beft poffible fyftem which could have been devifed for the defence of the country-it is the fyftem which has been adopted, fo it cannot now he abandoned with fafety. I own I have always confidered it as a fyftem moft noble in its prin

principle; most difficult in its execution; and most fuccefs ful, I truft it will be found, in its operation. No country in the world has ever given a ftronger proof of the patriotifm of its inhabitants, than the volunteers of Great Britain have given. They confift not of an indebted, difcontented, mifer able rabble of the country, but of men of rank, of men of letters, of men of property, of refpectable yeomen, tradefmen, manufacturers, of all descriptions of reputable perfons, from the peer to the peasant, from the enlightened statesman to the political perufer of a weekly newspaper or monthly magazine-all are animated with an ardent zeal to defend their country. And why, my Lords, are they all animated with this zeal? because all know that there is not now, nor ever was a country on the globe, in which all enjoy, in their several stations, the various bleffings of civilized fociety, fo fecurely and fo abundantly as every individual enjoys in this. This is the knowledge which has excited and carried to an unexampled height the spirit of volunteering. This spirit is not a vain, frivolous, holiday,kind of fpirit delighted with military parade-it is not a four, faucy, capricious fpirit, difdaining reproof, regulation, and restraint-No, it is a manly spirit of enlightened patriotifm, which is fenfible that to produce its proper effect it stands in need of, and ought to fubmit to inftruction, difcipline and direction. But fuppofing the volunteer fyftem to be brought by the wisdom of your Lordships and the other House of Parliament, united with that of his Majefty's Minifters, to the utmost degree of perfection of which it is capable, another question presents itself,--is it fufficient for our protection? I am not able to anfwer this question, nor, fo precarious are the events of war, is any man able to answer it with certainty; but fuppofing that it is not fufficient, what need is there for our defpair? There are abundant refources to fupply the deficiency of the volunteer fyftem. Do you want arms? Why not put all the gunfmiths, fword cutlers, and blackfmiths in the empire into requifition, till you have procured all the mufkets, fwords, and pikes, which are wanted? Do you want men? Why not call out (for I am clearly of opinion that the King has a right to call out) every man in the country, not already enrolled in its defence, and capable of bearing arms, putting into the hands of thefe men the arms which you fhall have prepared? Do you want horfes? Why not put in requifition every coach and faddle horfe in the empire, to be trained and

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