Page images
PDF
EPUB

during the whole course of the last general war. The national troops now subsisting (exclusive of those in Ireland) amount to 51,515 effective men; whereas our greatest number of national troops, in the last war, was but 67,000 men, including the noneffectives; which, reduced to the foot of the present establishment, makes but 57,000 effective men; and the present intended augmentation of 10,325 men, is such an exceeding as can only be authorized by the like public dangers; which dangers not appearing to us, either from the debate, or from any information we have obtained, we are unwilling to trust more force in the hand of an Administration, which, as far as we are able to recollect, have not hitherto employed any they have been so trusted with to the honour and advantage of the nation. Extraordinary trust and confidence ought, as we apprehend, only to be placed in such, who, by the experience of their past conduct, have justly established their credit, and entitled themselves to be so trusted. But when we look back upon the several augmentations within these last twenty years, demanded and granted upon causes more strongly asserted, than clearly proved, but visibly without any good end ever attained; and particularly when we reflect that by a most unaccountable fluctuation and contrariety of measures, a very great augmentation was made in the year 1727, to act in conjunction with France against the House of Austria, for whose defence the present augmentation is said to be principally intended; we thought it our duty to endeavour to prevent any unnecessary increase of our land forces; not being influenced either by the pretended apprehensions or real fears of an administration, the boldest in domestic, but, as we apprehend, the most pusillanimous in foreign transactions.

2ndly, Because we conceive, that dangers alleged from disaffection at home, are, in a great measure, groundless; no symptoms of such disaffection having appeared for many years, and the principles upon which it was formerly grounded, being almost universally worn out and exploded. And we think it highly necessary to distinguish between disaffection arising only from the conduct of the Administration, and disaffection to his Majesty and his royal family, though some may desire to blend them. For had the present general dissatisfaction at the inglorious, though burthensome measures of the Administration, been, in

truth, disaffection to his Majesty, as hath been often falsely suggested by those who desire to confound his cause with their own, twice the number of troops now proposed would not be sufficient to secure the peace of the Kingdom; but, on the contrary, we are persuaded, that the duty and loyalty of the nation to his Majesty and his royal family, and their hopes from his virtues, have checked and kept the dissatisfaction against the Administration within the due bounds of concern and lamentation.

3rdly, Because, considering the advantage of our situation as an island, and our superiority at sea, it is impossible for us to think ourselves in any danger of an invasion from Spain, even if those fleets were now in their ports, which we suffered them to send to America. Nor can we conceive, that about 28,000 effective men, not actually in this Kingdom, with all the advantages of horse and artillery, is not force sufficient to secure us from any body of foot, that any other power could possibly land on our coasts by surprise. And as for any great embarkation, it can neither be made on a sudden, nor in secret; we must have timely notice to provide superior fleets (which, in such a case, we presume, would be allowed to act) to strengthen our own corps, and render such an attempt wholly impracticable. In which opinion we are the more confirmed, because that in the most glorious year of the last war, when the Duke of Marlborough and his army were in the middle of Germany, out of the reach of giving us any assistance at home, it was not thought necessary, by the wise Administration of that time, to keep above 9000 men in this island, for our defence against France, then irritated by our successes; and surely, three times that number must be now abundantly sufficient, unless more are wanted for purposes not thought of by former Administrations, nor yet openly avowed by this.

4thly, Because, whatever demands may be made upon us by our allies on the continent, we conceive may be answered by the foreign troops now in our pay; and should any further assistance to them be necessary, it will not only be cheaper and safer to us, but more advantageous and agreeable to those Powers themselves, that we should furnish our quotas in money, with which they may raise a greater number of men than we are obliged to supply.

5thly, Because it has been undeniably proved, that this method of augmentation by new corps, is by one-third more expensive than that of adding private men to companies; the expense of raising those 5705 men, amounting to £116,322 148. 2d., whereas 5780, raised by additional men to companies, with a second lieutenant to each company, would have amounted but to £86,992 158., which would be not only a present saving of £29,329, but a future saving of 10,134 per annum, upon the half-pay of the officers of those seven regiments, the few officers taken out of the half-pay only excepted. And we think, that at a time when the public expense is so very considerable, the strictest economy is requisite, the better to enable a burdened and indebted nation to continue those expenses, that may be more necessary to be borne, than easy to be supplied. And, as to the advantage of the service, the facts plainly proved in the debate, together with the practice of most other nations in Europe, and, in particular, of his Majesty's electoral dominions, convince us, that if this augmentation was made by additional men to companies, with a proper increase of sergeants and corporals, the military service, at least, for which alone it ought to be intended, would be better carried on than by the method now to be pursued.

6thly, Because arguments drawn from the usage of France, we conceive, do not hold with relation to us, it being well known, that the expense of 150,000 French troops do not amount to more than 50,000 English; that their Government, though once limited, is now absolute and military; that the poverty of their numerous nobility forces them into the army, where the court is glad to engage and keep them in dependence; and that no danger can arise to that constitution from the civil influence, which may attend such an establishment, their Parliament being only nominated by the Crown, and long since reduced, by ministerial arts, from their original power and dignity, to be no more than courts of justice and revenue.

7thly, Because we apprehend, that this method of augmentation by new corps, may be attended with consequences fatal in time of our Constitution, by increasing the number of commissions which may be disposed of with regard to parliamentary influence only. And when we look back upon the conduct of our Ad

ministration, in relation to military affairs, we have but too much reason to suspect, that parliamentary considerations have of late been the principal causes of favour and disgrace. We have lately too seen new-raised, raw, and undisciplined regiments sent abroad upon the most important services, and others, seemingly much fitter for such services, peaceably encamped at home, for no other reason, as is generally supposed, than the different situations of the respective officers of the several corps. But this, at least, is certain, that in all the new-raised regiments sent to America, there is but one single member of Parliament, which could hardly have been the case of any equal number of regiments in the whole service. And what further induces us to entertain those suspicions is, that this method of augmentation, by one-third the most expensive, and by no means proved to be the most conducive to the service, should be preferred at this time, when an economy, proportioned to the greatness of our expenses, seems particularly requisite; since the war, by our inaction hitherto, and the advantages thereby given to the enemy, may now probably be of long duration, if not of doubtful success. Our distrust of the motives of this augmentation, which creates at once 370 officers, which, by the removals in the army may occasion three times that number of new commissions, ought to be the greater, and our care to prevent the ill effects of it the more vigilant, so near the election of a new Parliament; a crisis, when any increase of influence gained to a minister, may give a decisive and incurable wound to this Constitution. And we cannot forget that an augmentation of 8040 men was likewise made the very year of the elections of the present Parliament, by bringing over eight regiments from Ireland, and by additional men to corps in Britain, which time has since shewn were never intended for foreign service, though they were said to be designed for the preservation of the dominions of the House of Austria, which we then lay under the same engagements both of interest and treaties to defend. The number of officers in Parliament has gradually increased, and is now more considerable than ever; and though we think the gentlemen of the army as little liable to undue influence as any other body of men, yet we think it would be very imprudent to trust the very fundamentals of our Constitution, the independency of Parliaments, to the uncertain

effects of ministerial favour or resentment. And as it is well known that the four eldest officers of the army (the only officers who have served in any high rank abroad) are now displaced, without any crime having ever been alleged against them, we have great cause to dread that an army thus circumstanced, and thus influenced, would, in each capacity, be fatal to our liberties, since ministerial art in Parliaments can alone destroy the essence of our Constitution, and open violence alone the forms of it.

John Ward, Lord Ward.

Francis Scott, Duke of Buccleuch.
William Feilding, Earl of Denbigh.
John Fane, Earl of Westmorland.
Scroop Egerton, Duke of Bridgwater.
Brownlow Cecil, Earl of Exeter.

John Campbell, Duke of Greenwich (Duke of Argyll).
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury.

Henry Howard, Earl of Carlisle.

Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham.

Thomas Foley, Lord Foley.

John Hervey, Earl of Bristol.

Henry Bowes Howard, Earl of Berkshire.

Allen Bathurst, Lord Bathurst.

Hugh Boscawen, Viscount Falmouth.

Robert Ker, Earl of Ker (Duke of Roxburgh).

Sackville Tufton, Earl of Thanet.

George Henry Lee, Earl of Lichfield.

Price Devereux, Viscount Hereford.

Montague Bertie, Earl of Abingdon.

Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort.

Thomas Mansel, Lord Mansel.

Herbert Windsor, Lord Montjoy (Viscount Windsor).

George Parker, Earl of Macclesfield.

Richard Reynolds, Bishop of Lincoln.

Heneage Finch, Earl of Aylesford.

Charles Bruce, Lord Bruce of Whorlton.

Samuel Masham, Lord Masham.

Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield.

John Russell, Duke of Bedford.

William Talbot, Lord Talbot.

John Leveson Gower, Lord Gower.
George Montagu, Earl of Halifax.

Maurice Thompson, Lord Haversham.

« PreviousContinue »