The next head was that of General Staff and Garrisons, and in this there was an increase of 41,000l. owing to the augmentation of the staff serving abroad, particularly in the medical department, and to the transfer of 15,000l. which had heretofore been charged in the army extraordinaries, for the deputy quarter master general, &c. but which was now placed among the army estimates. This addi tion also arose from the pay of a commander-in-chief in the Mauritius, and the appointment to several new commissions in the West Indies. It was customary to allow the commander of the forces 1,000l. to equip himself, and this sum with the other items he had enumerated, made up the total increase of 41,000l. The next head was that of Full Pay to Supernumerary Officers, which exceeded the estimate of last year 20,000l. in consequence of the greater number of these of ficers, whose services deserved so well of their country, having retired. The eleventh head was that of Widows Pensions, and in this there was an increase of 1,250l. owing to there being more deserving applicants put upon the list than there had been money fallen in from deaths or marriages. In the next head, the Volunteer Corps, the expence was 55,000l. less than in the former year; and a further reduction of 8,300l. had taken place in the local militia, from the reduction of their numbers, in consequence of the act of last session. The next bead was the Foreign Corps, and included the Supplementary Estimate. Here there was an increase of 2,500 men, and 90,000l. expence arising from the additions to the German Legion, and the formation of two foreign veteran battalions, in which to employ these men, worn out in our service, instead of sending them home as before. This system had been altered, and the new mode adopted in consequence of the present state of the continent, which subjected these brave The next, was the Public Department men to danger inconsistent with the chaAllowances, in which the increase was racter of this country; and the protection 28,000l. arising from a larger sum being we were bound to bestow upon those who necessary to the pay-office for exchequer had served us. The amount was also infees. The salary of the head of that office creased by the formation of seven indewas also augmented to 2,500l. and there pendent companies, or companies comwas also an increase of 600l. in the com- posed of Frenchmen. At the beginning mander in chief's office, from his secre- of hostilities the desertions from the enemy tary's becoming entitled from his length in Spain had been confined to Germans, of services to a larger salary, viz. 3,500l. &c. but within the last year and a half, The war office was nearly the same as last the privations to which they were exposed year. The adjutant general's office re- had induced many Frenchmen to come quired 9351. from an arrangement being over to the other side. These could not made that the deputy adjutant-general be incorporated with our foreign corps; should receive the full pay of his rank; the and in order to obtain useful and military office pay of 198. per day being considered service from them, it was determined to inadequate. And a similar arrangement form them into these small troops or comhad taken place in the quarter master ge- panies, as the nature of their services neral's department, in which, however, might be, rather than embody them altothere was a diminution of 500l. The gether into one mass of force. Each indicharge for the depot for military know-vidual was placed in the same rank which ledge amounted to 1,500l. which was paid he had held in the French army. over to the deputy quarter master general for the purchase of maps, charts, &c. There was nothing more worth notice under this head. In the next, that of the In-pensioners of Chelsea and Kilmainham Hospitals, there was an addition of 1,300l. from the pensioners this year receiving full clothing, which they only did every other year. In the next head, the Out-pensioners of these establishments, there was an additional claim of 38,000l. as arrear of pensions of former years in Ireland, but this would be met by sums already voted and unexpended. The next head was the Royal Military College, in the expence of which there was an increase of 18,200l.; but, a balance of 8,800l. left last year would reduce this item to only 9,400l. including 2,800l. in the civil department, expended in the purchase of a house at Farnham, rendered necessary by the establishment at Sandhurst, and also including the expence of two new companies of cadets. In the next head, the Royal Military Asylum, there was a small increase. In the allowances to retired chaplains, &c. the estimates were nearly the same; and in the medicines and hospital expences, there was a diminution to the amount of 2,500l. The following head was the Compassionate List, in which there was an increase of 4,700l. in consequence of there being more claimants upon the fund, whose merits demanded compliance with their applications. who accepted the task rather as a leave of absence than as a service. The experiment had first been tried in the Gloucester district, and from its success extended to four or five other districts, in all of which still proving productive and beneficial, the system would now be generally resorted to. The continuance of the officer in the district depended on his success, and the plan would, in the first instance, have the good effect of disengaging seven hundred officers, and joining them to their several regiments. Another of the improvements was to allow a larger share of the reward to the non-commissioned officers, upon whose exertions the success in recruiting must in a great measure, depend, however active and diligent their superior officers might be. The number of recruits raised last year was 14,432, by On the next head, the Irish Barrack Department, there was an increase of 9,500l. occasioned by the transfer of an item which had been placed under another head, and by the rise in the price of necessaries for the troops. The Commissariat Department of Ireland exceeded the last year's estimate by 28,000l. in consequence of the increase of forage money for the cavalry, and the delivery of great coats, and 15,000 pair of shoes to the men. The last head was that of Super-ordinary recruiting. This was a great inannuations; and in this there was a diminution of 5411. from the death of the late Mr. Lewis, although the retirement of colonel Paterson from office, with a pension, had been added to the charge. The general view as he had already stated would give an increased expence of 399,000l.; but a deduction of 18,000l. from this would leave the correct total about 381,000%. With respect to our force, it was satisfactory to state, that the difference between the effective strength at the end of 1811, and the end of 1812, was very favourable, notwithstanding the extent and magnitude of the services in which our armies were engaged; notwithstanding the casualties of long, active and harassing campaigns; marches, disease, and losses in battle. Surmounting all these obstacles we had an actual increase of 10,200 effective men. Of these a considerable portion, indeed, were of the Foreign corps; but in British alone, there was a clear augmentation of 2,000 men, besides 400 Spaniards, who had been incorporated with them in the peninsula. crease, as in the preceding years it had been rising from nine and ten, to eleven and twelve thousand. The volunteers from the militia were nearly equal to the full number allowed, namely, 9,900, making a total to the army of 24,335. The place of the volunteers from the militia was filled up by beat of drum, and therefore he might state the total addition to the regular army to have been gained by the success of the recruiting service. This was a most satisfactory contemplation, and it must afford the House delight to see the ardour and spirit of the people roused in proportion to the demands upon their services. It might be necessary to explain the difference which existed between the number of casualties which were accounted for, and those which really had happened. In the account of the casualties which had been given, all those which had happened on foreign stations were included. Some persons who knew that the case was so, had expressed their surprise at the small amount of the casualties stated in the return. The return which had been called for by the hon. gentleman, was that of the casualties for 1812, which necessarily did not include those which had taken place during the latter months of 1811. So that those persons who had professed to feel so much astonishment at the small The noble lord then proceeded to advert to the successful nature of the recruiting service within the last year, which, he contended, had not arisen from commercial distress, but was general throughout the country. One cause to which he attributed it was to a change in the recruit-ness of the number, probably thought ing system, by employing officers well calculated for the service, and giving them district with the command of all parties therein, though not belonging to their ●wn regiments, instead of young officers, that the latter months of the year 1811, were included in the return. On the one hand the number of men added to the army, during 1812, amounted to 39,762; including those raised by regular recruit ing-by recruiting from the militia-those deserters who had been recovered, &c.; on the other band, the casualties of 1812 amounted altogether to 29,562; of which number 26,775 were accounted for in the return. This left 2,787 unaccounted for. In order to explain why there was such a number unaccounted for, it would be necessary to state, that when a regiment was sent abroad, the commanding officer was accountable for all the men. But when on service, all those men who were so wounded or disabled, as to be rendered unfit for service, were sent home in detachments. Those men so sent home, were struck off the list of effective men abroad, and not being taken on the effective list at home, (though ultimately ac counted for by their commanding officers) there was a perpetual balance of these men, who from not being included in either the list of effective men at home or abroad, would make up the difference between the number accounted for in the return of casualties, and the number which was actually deficient. Such was the real cause of a difference, which appeared at first sight so extraordinary, and even almost inaccurate. The noble lord then concluded by moving as a Resolution," That it is the opinion of this Committee that a sum not exceeding 3,637,5011. be granted to his Majesty to complete the sum required for defraying the charge of the Land Forces at home and abroad, from Dec. 25, 1812, to Dec. 24, 1813." Mr. Bennet entered into a comparative view of the recruiting service, as introduced by Mr. Windham in his celebrated bill, and the mode which was now pursued; and contended, that, although a great number of men might be procured, the system which was acted upon had the effect of destroying the militia force of the country. The plan which Mr. Windham had in view was, to make the profession of a soldier not only acceptable to himself, but agreeable to his friends. It was his 'desire, that, when he entered the army, the soldier should not be looked upon as one who was lost, from that hour, to civil society. This system was calculated, by encouraging enlistment for a particular period, to induce many, who would not otherwise embrace a military life, to enter into it for a few years. He observed, that the ordinary recruiting in 1807 produced 19,000; in the quarter before Mr. Windham's plan was broke in upon, 11,000; and in the quarter afterwards 9,000. In 1809 it produced 11,700; in 1811, 14,000; 1812, 14,400, thus demonstrating the great superiority of the plan of the late Mr. Windham, over that for which it was changed, and the army left at the mercy of the noble lord. Many casualties, he asserted, were yet to be reported from abroad. He entered into various calculations to prove the loss of the army must be greater than was stated. There was a board for directing the clothing of the army, and he wished to know who were its active members, who were the military arbitri elegantiarum? Who were the persons who devoted their time and talents to the mode of sticking ostrich feathers into general's hats, and fastening tags on their shoulders, and arranging the other articles of dress? He should rejoice in an acquaintance with those military milliners, who had so transformed the life-guards. He had seen the body guards of various potentates; but neither in splendour or manliness of appearance could they be compared with those of his Majesty, before the late alteration of their costume. He did not know whether any gentleman present had seen them in their new dress; but certainly nothing more stupidly foolish, nothing betraying a moré ridiculous taste, could possibly be imagined. The unfortunate guards were ordered to be sent abroad. Did any gentleman see them before they went? Nothing could be more absurd than these military changes; they were worthy of Grimaldi or D'Egville; adorned as they were in all their pantomimic pomp and feathers, they looked like the Rinaldos of an epic poem. It might be said, that fine troops at home were destroyed, and bad troops sent abroad. The time that had been called politically a New Era, was also a new era with the army. There was a cavalry clothing board appointed, with the duke of Cumberland at its head, whose resolves were memorialized against by general officers as absurd, and one of whose regulations was called "inflicting a cap on the cavalry." One leading proposition was to deprive the dragoon of his boots; but the Duke of York afterwards cancelled the order, and dissolved the board. Then came another board, under lord Harrington, rather more meritorious. As the former one would take away the dragoon's boots, so the latter would deprive him of his breeches. Laughable as this seemed, it was the fact; the heavy dragoon was to have white worsted web pantaloons, and on home service, blue worsted web pantaloons! This might do very well for Bond street, but certainly it was very unfit for foreign service. Now, the reason for making these alterations was, that the colonel of a regiment, on the new articles, made a profit of about 700l. per annum, as he could prove, by a paper he held in his hand, though the men would be worse off by 380l. A great expence was likewise to be incurred by the saddlecloths, to please some idle, paltry, and contemptible taste. He objected to the enormous expense of these things. An officer's jacket cost him 237. bis pelisse 211. and his pantaloons 4.; his cap, belt, &c. 60l. This he learned from his tailor; and his saddler informed him that the horse furniture came to eight guineas. Altogether the expense was 1087. Mr. Law said, that although the noble lord had congratulated the House on the flourishing state of the army, yet, when the subject came to be inquired into, it would be found, that of the 10,000 additional troops which had been added to our forces, but 2,000 were British. By referring to the Gazette it would be seen, that the number of English troops who fell in action was far greater than that of foreign troops; but, to make up this loss, it would from the noble lord's acappear count, that, for one Englishman, there were four foreigners enlisted-if this continued, our army would soon consist entirely of foreigners. By the noble lord's statement of casualties, it should seem that in the last three months, they amounted to near 4,000 men, in the peninsula; but in the account which had been laid before the country, they were estimated at only 1,500. Why, he would ask, were not fair accounts published? He was not afraid of looking the difficulties of the country in the face, but he wished to know them correctly. The hon. gentleman, in speaking of the means resorted to for supplying the army, reprobated the custom of draining the militia, which he considered most dangerous. He next adverted to the establishment of the Military College: he agreed in the necessity of such an institution; but thought it was not placed on a foundation sufficiently broad and extensive. In the junior department there was only the small number of 412 young men on whom a public military education was bestowed. This was a number altogether insignificant, when it was considered that there was a standing army of In the senior department 300,000 men. there was a number still more contemptibly small, only thirty officers. Some good officers had however, certainly been formed, by the service they had seen on the peninsula; but, he did not think, that, in general, they were capable of applying the information which was there to be obtained, in consequence of the original defects of their education. But, if the principle of granting military instruction were extended, they would be able, in time of peace, to form a body of efficient officers, ready to repel any hostile attack. He regretted extremely that the noble lord had not applied himself, to devise means for diminishing the military expenditure of the country, which was enormously great and rapidly increasing, and concluded by recommending a thorough change in the constitution of the army. Mr. Huskisson said, he had been in the habit of calling the attention of the House to the general state of the expenditure of the country on occasions similar to the present; but as the Chancellor of the Exchequer had given the outline of a plan which he was soon to submit to them for their consideration, he should defer his observations on that subject till that plan came under discussion. He would only state at present, that if any person thought that he was less called on to retrench in consequence of that plan to render fresh taxation unnecessary for the next four years, he was most egregiously mistaken, and would be paying a very bad compliment to his right hon. friend. No person could look at his plan without feeling that it could be justified by necessity alone, and that if the war should continue for any length of time, the country would, in consequence of it, be involved in very serious difficulties. He wished at present merely to state some objections to certain parts of the proposed estimates. The first kind of increased expence was, for an augmentation of two troops to the two regiments of life guards, stated at 28,000l. a piece; but this was by far the smallest part of the expence attending them. It was stated that this augmentation of two troops was necessary to these regiments, before they could be sent on foreign service. Now, were these two regiments, with reference to fitness, the very best cavalry regiments of the kingdom? If they were not the most fit to be employed on foreign service, they were certainly the best adapted for the purpose of being employed at home, in all cases of public ceremony and procession, and for the preservation of the peace. They were a body of men whose appearance was highly calculated to attract the attention of every person. He was incapable himself of giving any opinion with respect to these matters; but every officer who had served in the peninsula with whom he had conversed, told him that these regiments were not particularly adapted for the service of the peninsula, and that other regiments might have been selected, fully as well adapted. But what seemed to be most reprehensible was the delay in sending them off. After the battle of Salamanca had opened an extensive field of operations, the great officer at the head of our army was desirous of advancing into the heart of Spain, and for that purpose wished to have a supply of cavalry, as speedily as possible, to enable him to act with efficacy on the large plains of Castile. On the 22d of July the battle took place, and early in August the order was given to the life guards to prepare for foreign service. The troops, however, only left their barracks in October, and they remained at Lisbon till some time in the course of last month; so that they were of no use in the campaign. He hoped he should not be told that there were no other corps in the country more fit to be sent out, or capable of being dispatched sooner. Of 35,000 English cavalry. 12,135 were at home, and besides, there were 2,340 foreign cavalry in the country; and a great part of this force was fit to proceed immediately on any service. He did not wish to speak of the foreign troops with any thing like captious jealousy; but he must say this-that if any description of troops more than another ought to be employed out of the country, under the existing circumstances of the world, it was foreign cavalry. With respect to our cavalry, there could be no difficulty of remounting it to any extent. Cavalry could not be wanted in this country, except for assisting the police; and for this our own cavalry ought to be employed in preference to foreigners. He had always heard that the foreign cavalry had greatly distinguished themselves in every action, and that they had shewn themseves equal,-for it was impossible to be superior,-to our own. Why, then, were not more of them sent abroad, when we had such an abundance of them? In all points of view there seemed to him to have been no necessity for sending the life guards. No difficulty had ever existed in recruiting the cavalry. We did not want the aid of foreign cavalry for domestic purposes, to which our own cavalry was much more competent. While we retained 2,340 foreign cavalry at home, we had only 1,800 in the peninsula; although all military men concurred in highly estimating their zeal and gallantry. The noble lord had said, that the augmentation would cost but 28,000l. a-year. This, let it be observed, was for subsistence alone. It was a large and disproportionate sum. It would be observed that the augmentation of 160 men to the life guards occasioned an increase of 9,2531. for subsistence alone, while an augmentation of 210 men to a light dragoon regiment cost only 6,000l. But this was not the only expence which these additional troops would entail on the country. Only last year a barrack was asked for these regiments at the expence of 150,0001. and notwithstanding the enormous expence, this question was carried by the ministry, but afterwards postponed to a fature period. If they persisted in the erection of this barrack, the new troops would entail an additional expence of more than 100,000l. on the country. At a moment of such pressure as the present, any augmentation of the household troops was impolitic, and contrary to all precedent. The next point in the Estimates to which he should allude, was an omission. The estimates of the present year did not state, as had always been done in the estimates of former years, the respective force employed at home and abroad. This was essentially necessary. The force serving at home had been gradually decreasing for some years. In 1810, it amounted to 133,000 men. Last year, it had been only 63,000. No doubt, in the present year it was still less, the circumstances of the war rendering it unnecessary to retain troops in the country. The consequence was, that a smaller staff became necessary at home. When the noble lord, therefore, stated that the staff abroad had considerably and necessarily increased, he ought to have been able to inform the House, that the staff at home had been considerably and necessarily diminished. But the expence was vast in every branch. If this had arisen from an increased establishment abroad, he should not have been so much surprised at its amount. If we had now 100,000 men abroad, he could not expect that the expence of the |