Gentleman has contrived to mix with it. The object of his motion is to appoint a Committee, to revife the acts that have been paffed for the defence of the country, and to confider and provide adequate means for the protection of it in future. Sir, there is no man in this Houte who more highly values the privileges of Parliament than I do, there is no man in the Houfe who will be more ready to affert and maintain them. I know that by the conftitution it is invefted, and it is fitting it thould be, with very great and extenfive powers, and I will not deny its right to inftitute a Committee for the purpofes that are propofed. But, Sir, while I admit the power of the Houfe to do this, I think I may fafely apply to the difcretion of Gentlemen, that they will not, by fupporting the motion, countenance the eftablishment of a Committee, which, in its proceedings and refult, muft terminate, and become, to all intents and purposes, a Committee of a purely military nature. Such a Committee would be rather a novel and uncommon mode of manifefting either the authority or the prudence of this House, and one to which, I am perfuaded, it will not easily recur, except upon much stronger grounds than the hon. Gentleman has brought forward in fupport of his motion of this night. There is fomething peculiar alfo in the matter of the hon. Gentleman's motion. For reafons peculiar to himself, no doubt, but which the House will have little difficulty in gueffing at, he has totally omitted all mention or allufion whatever to the navy, and has wholly excluded from his confideration the four hundred thousand volunteers, compofing fo effential a part of our means of defence But this peculiarity is not to be exclufively appropriated to the purport of his motion, or the various details that it is intended to embrace. He has fo worded it, as to take in all defcriptions of persons in this Houfe, with all their floating and contradictory opinions; one man object ing to too great an extenfion of one part of our force, ano❤ ther lamenting any attempt at its diminution; fome recom.. mending a greater and fome a leffer addition to the regular army, and others, who differ as to what particular species of naval force we fhould employ; fome preferring a large number of fmall veffels, and fome a fmall number of large veffels; all, all thefe the hon. Gentleman has found means to gratify, in their individual caprices and opinions, and to include them all within the compafs of this sweeping and general motion. I come now to another part of the hon. Gentleman's argument, in which he has faid that he did

not

not attach much credit to the apprehenfion of invafion. The hon. Gentleman, as I ftated before, has been pleased to declare, that the prefent unanimity arofe entirely from the actual danger of the country. I know not by what dexterity of argument the hon. Gentleman will be able to reconcile those two obfervations, that, as he fays, there is no danger of invafion, and again, that our unanimity is entirely owing to it. Nor am I very folicitous on that head, when I recollect, that during the laft war, that hon. Gentleman continually afferted, that it was the injuftice of that war which prevented us from being unanimous then. During that war, I believe it cannot be imputed to that hon. Gentleman, that he ever came forward with any propofition to avert any danger with which the country might have been menaced; nor during the actual hoftility, has he ever favoured his Majefty's Minifters with any project or fuggef tion of his, or given them, in any way whatever, the advantage of his great talents. Indeed the hon. Gentleman has faid, that if Minifters had frankly communicated to him that they were really apprehenfive of danger, he would have concurred in any augmentation to the public force they might have thought neceffary for the public defence. But, Sir, was it neceffary that this fhould have been made the subject of particular and fpecific communication to him, or to any thinking man in this country? Is it poffible that hon. Gentleman would have shut his eyes, and clofed up his enlightened mind against the active, unceafing, and immoderate ambition of France, ftimulated and invited to the exertion of that ambition, and poffeffing the means of gratifying it, in the poffeffion of fo many hundred leagues of fea coaft, extending almoft from the Texel to the Adriatic? In the courfe of the hon. Gentleman's fpeech he has adverted, but with a partiality I have reafon to complain of, to the declarations of Minifters refpecting the probable duration of the peace of Amiens. Sir, we never did pledge ourselves for the continuance of that peace. On the contrary, we always thought, and omitted no opportunity of declaring fo, that the heft fecurity for the continuance of peace, was to imprefs France, and not only France, but all Europe, with a conviction that our ftrength, our fpirit, and our means, were whole and inexhaufted; and that although we were willing to adhere to the peace we had made, we were ready for war, whenever infult or aggreffion, on the part of any power, fhould compel us to it. It was, Sir, from thefe motives, that our peace eftablishment fo greatly ex

ceeded the peace eftablishment of 1792, an augmentation which brought down on us the cenfure of the hon. Gentleman. I come now to the hon. Gentleman's motion, narrowed and restricted to a degree inconfiftent with his ufual candour, and unworthy of his great mind. He has directed his obfervations principally to the regular and militia force, omitting the navy and volunteers, and has recommended, with his accustomed zeal and perfeverance, the adoption of his favourite project of adding an armed peafantry He has chiefly relied upon two points for the appointment of this Committee, from which he affects to fuppofe, that fo many advantages may be derived: one is, that the pernicious principle of recruiting by competition may be abolished in it, and next, that the extent of fervice may be altered from life to term of years. I truft I fhal! be able to prove, to the fatisfaction of the Houfe, that it would not be justified, that it would not be prudent nor advisable in it, to proceed to the formation of fuch a Committee, upon fuch flight and infufficient reafons as have been mentioned. My noble Friend who fits near me (Lord Caftlereagh) has ftated, from authentic documents, that although the recruiting for general fervice was not fo great at prefent, as it was on former occafions, yet that it was as great as circumstances gave us right to expect. When Gentlemen, Sir, are informed, that the perfons who are entrusted with his Majefty's Government, were compelled to collect and take out of your population no lefs than 200,000 men for the purpose of recruiting your army and your navy, and that within the fpace of little more than twelve months, they will ceafe to exprefs any furprife that the recruiting fervice should have experienced a momentary ceffation; when I declare to this Houfe, on the part of that Government, that there is at prefent a regular force, in this country and in Ireland, conpofed of troops of the line and militia, of no lefs than 184,000, I trust it will be acknowledged that his Majesty's Minifters have not been remifs or improvident in making adequate preparations for the defence of the country. When Gentlemen reflect upon the difficulties we had to encounter, that we had the militia to raife, that we had the army of the line to recruit, that we had the army of referve to eftablish, that we had the defence act to prepare, and that we have a regular army, line and militia, of 184,000, that we have 400,000 volunteers, that we have 27,000 sea fencibles, independent of troops in other points, in garrifons and in colonies, making in the whole a force little thort of

eight hundred thousand men, and greater in number by 200,000 than the greateft exertion of the enemy can bring forward; I fay, Sir, when fuch difficulties and fuch fucceffes are weighed against each other, I truft the House and the country will admit that we are not that incapable and incompetent defcription of men the hon. Mover of the queftion before you endeavours to reprefent us. This, Sir, could be proved by documents the moft authentic and irrefragable; and though, for many realons which will be, obvious to Gentlemen, I feel ftrong objection to the production of fuch information, yet I will confent to give thofe Gentlemen, who make the want of it a ground of complaint and accufation against Minifters, an account of the military and naval force of the country as it actually is, but upon the express condition that they do not afk for the diftribution of it. I am perfuaded, Sir, that if fuch an account were laid on the table, it would be the best, I will go farther and fay, it would be a decifive answer to the best argument the hon. Gentleman has urged in fupport of his motion. The hon. Gentleman has gone at confiderable length into the confideration of that principle expreffed in the defence act, that it is his Majesty's prerogative to call upon the fervices of all ranks of his fubjects capable of beating arms, in cafe of invafion. Sir, in difcuffing that bill, that principle was frequently alluded to in debate, but never oppofed; for it was admitted, generally admitted, that his Majefty poffeffed fuch a prerogative in cafe of invafion, and the only queftion was, I well remember, whether he could not refort to it before invafion. The hon. Gentleman affects to acquit Minifters of any blame in introducing the affertion of that particular prerogative into that bill, by prefuming that in their anxiety to prepare for the defence of the country, a folitary inftance of recognizing it might have efcaped. their obfervation. Sir, I deiire that principle may be thoroughly examined and inquired into; I defire that it be not taken pro admiffo, but that it may ftand on its fair, and general conftitutional grounds. With refpect to the, hon. Gentleman's motion, I am to look for other motives, than thofe he has thought prudent to avow, for propofing it. I am to feck for other reafons, for a motion peculiarly calculated to collect all the floating opinions of the Houfe, and to, create fuch an oppofition to his Majefty's Minifters as would tend to produce a change of Adminiftration. If that be the object of the hon. Gentleman's motion, let him ftate fo, broadly and unequivocally; let him produce fome ipecific

arcu

accufation; let him bring forward fome direct, explicit charge; and let him take the fenfe of the Houfe on it, but let him not bring it forward in this covert and underhand mode, and by a detour endeavour to ftigmatize thofe he has not the courage to accufe boldly and manfully. Let not the hon. Gentleman, I fay, have recourfe to a paltry expedient of this nature; it is unworthy of him. If we are fairly attacked, if we are accufed upon fpecific grounds, we are ready and willing to meet the charge, and we fhall find, I truft, no difficulty in defending and justifying ourfelves upon fair, open, and conftitutional principles. To the motion of the hon. Gentleman I feel the ftrongest objections, and I am bound to refift it upon every confideration of prudence and of public policy. I call upon every Member of this Houte to look at the ftate of the country, and to fay, whether fuch a Committee is practicable or advifable. To accomplish all the objects propofed by it, you must bring officers from their duty, with great inconvenience to the public fervice, and poffibly with greater danger to the public fafety; you must collect documents and information from various quarters; you must have all the records and accounts, the plans and the proposals that are poffeffed, or have been fubmitted to the different departments, laid on that table, and examined, and, what is no trivial objection, made public, before you can come to a right, or indeed to any conclufion, as to whether the naval and military force of the country has been properly employed and administered. I do not mean to fay, that a great ftate neceflity may not juftify the appointment of fuch a Committee; but I leave it to the wifdom of the Houfe to determine, if any proofs of fuch neceffity have been advanced in fupport of the present dangerous and extraordinary meafure. It is upon these grounds I oppofe the motion of the hon. Gentleman, and I hope a great majority of this Houfe will agree with me in opinion, that no found reafons have been urged to recommend it; that no neceffity has been proved to juftify it; and that as it has been brought forward from motives different from what are profeffed, it is unworthy to be entertained or adopted by the House.

Mr. Pitt-Before I proceed to explain to the House the reafons which induce me to give my cordial and zealous fupport to the motion of the hon. Gentleman oppofite, I cannot help faying a few words upon the mode of argument purfued by the right hon. Gentleman who has juft fat down. The right hon. Gentleman fays, that the mo