sion; because if it could, there would be no occasion for all the precautions which we are adopting. But it is said, we ought not to fortify London because our ancestors did not fortify it. Why, Sir, that is no argument, unless you can shew me that our ancestors were in the same situation that we are. Look back to the days when the genius, the wisdom, and the fortitude of Elizabeth, defeated the proud and invincible Armada, fitted out by Spain to conquer us--and I trust that the invincible battalion from France will meet with the same fate ;we must admit that not only the situation of this country, but of all Europe, is changed; and it is absurd to say, that when the circumstances are changed, the means of defence should be precisely the same. We might as well be told that, because our ancestors fought with arrows and with lances, we ought to use them now, and that we ought to consider shields and corslets as affording a secure defence against musketry and artillery. It is however a very great historical mistake to say that our ancestors in England, and particularly in Ireland, had not fortifications. much more numerous than any it is now proposed to erect. If then the fortification of the capital can add to the reasonable security of the country, I think it ought to be done. But here again I do not understand the honourable officer to mean that London should be encompassed with a regular fortification, but only that proper use should be made of the natural advantages of defence, which it possesses in a greater degree than any capital in Europe. The only difference of opinion that can exist upon this subject, must proceed from gentlemen imagining that we are recommending the erection of great regular fortifications; there is a great difference between regular fortifications and field works, such as now recommended: we do not want regular fortresses capable of standing a regular siege, like Lisle or Tournay. But if by the erection of works such as I am recommending, you can delay the progress of the enemy for three days, it may make the difference between the safety and the destruction of the capital. It will not, I admit, make a difference between the conquest and the independence of the country, for that will not depend upon one nor upon ten battles; but it may make the difference between the loss of thousands of lives, with misery, havoc, and desolation, spread over the country on the one hand -or on the other, of frustrating the efforts of confounding the exertions, and of chastising the insolence of the enemy... If then I am right in my general view of this subject, the expense and the time of constructing these works are so diminished, that, late as it is, there is nothing that ought to prevent us from now making the attempt. I do not on such a subject as this rely upon my own opinion alone, but upon the opinions of officers high in the confidence of the present government. It is well known that in the course of last war this system was minutely contemplated, that a detailed plan was prepared, resembling in many particulars the plan recommended by the honourable officer. A plan was, I say, completely digested, a survey taken, and the works actually traced by that great and able officer, General Dundas. This plan is not therefore new to military men, it is not new to the King's councils, it is not founded upon any want of confidence in our army, our navy, or ourselves; it does not arise from any apprehensions of the enemy, but it is founded upon this principle-that while we set no limits to the exertions of the people, we ought to omit no opportunity of diminishing their danger and shortening the contest, of making its continuance less perilous, and of preventing that havoc, devastation, and misery, which must attend a lengthened contest, even though it may end most successfully for this country. Englishmen must look to this as a species of contest from which, by the extraordinary favour of Divine Providence, we have been for a long series of years exempted. If we are now at length called upon to take our share in it, we must meet it with just gratitude for the exemptions we have hitherto enjoyed, and with a firm determination to support it with courage and resolution; we must shew ourselves worthy, by our conduct on this occasion, of the happiness which we have hitherto enjoyed, and which, by the blessing of God, I hope we shall continue to enjoy. We ought to have a due sense of the magnitude of the danger with which we are threatened; we ought to meet it in that temper of mind which produces just confidence, which neither despises nor dreads the enemy; and while on the one hand we accurately estimate the danger with which we are threatened at this awful crisis, we must recollect on the other hand what it is we have at stake, what it is we have to contend for. It is for our property, it is for our liberty, it is for our independence, nay, for our existence as a nation; it is for our character, it is for our very name as Englishmen, it is for every thing dear and valuable to man on this side of the grave. Parliament has now provided ample means for our defence; it reremains for the executive government to employ them to the best advantage. The regular army must be augmented to that point to which the means are now given to raise it; the militia must be kept high in numbers, and unbroken in spirit; the auxiliary force must be as promptly raised and disciplined as the nature of things will admit; nothing must be omitted that military skill can suggest to render the contest certain as to its success, and short in its duration. If government shew the same determination to apply all those means that parliament has shewn in providing them; if the people follow up the example which the legislature has set them, we are safe. Then I may say, without being too sanguine, that the result of this great contest will ensure the permanent security, the eternal glory of this country; that it will terminate in the confusion, the dismay, and the shame, of our vaunting enemy; that it will afford the means of animating the spirits, of rousing the courage, of breaking the lethargy, of the surrounding nations of Europe; and I trust, that if a fugitive French army should reach its own shores after being driven from our coasts, it will find the people of Europe reviving in spirits, and anxious to retaliate upon France all the wrongs, all the oppressions, they have suffered from her; and that we shall at length see that wicked fabric destroyed which was raised upon the prostitution of liberty, and which has caused more miseries, more horrors to France and to the surrounding nations, than are to be paralleled in any part of the annals of mankind. The question passed nemine contradicente. February 27, 1804. ON a motion for the second reading of the Volunteer Regulation bill, Sir-From the opinion of the right honourable secretary of state, that this discussion should be confined within narrow limits, and should apply solely to the consideration of the measure immediately before the house, I decidedly differ; and with the sentiments of my right honourable friend* on the lower bench, that we are now called upon to take into view every thing connected with the national defence, I entirely concur. Although the volunteer system naturally forms the first subject for our deliberation, as it is the principal feature in the picture, and that upon which we must, under all the circumstances, ground our reliance for ultimate security, yet the army, the militia, and all the other branches of our public force press upon our attention, and require to be examined upon the present occasion. Whether the volunteer system be radically wrong, or inadequate to its object, is not the question proper for the house now to consider; but how far any defects, which experience has rendered manifest in its original formation, may be removed, and how the detail of the measure may be improved; how far, in a word, it may be rendered efficient-this, in my judgment, is the turn which the debate should take. With a sense of the situa tion in which the country is placed, of the danger which has been so long suspended over us, and of the crisis which, according to all appearances and information, is so rapidly approaching, wẹ should devote ourselves to the consideration of the best means of amending and advancing to perfection the only force of equal Mr. Windham. magnitude now within our reach; to devise, not only how this force is to be prepared for the first approach of the danger which menaces us, but how its spirit and efficacy may be preserved and made competent to meet the full extent of the danger, and effectually to guard the country.. That the enthusiasm which may enable men to meet the first attack, can last long, it might be permitted to hope; but that it would, no rational man would be very sanguine in calculating upon. It becomes, therefore, necessary to communicate to the volunteers every instruction that is practicable, in order to assi milate them to a regular army. That it is impossible fairly to investigate the nature and tendency of the volunteer system, without referring to the regular army and militia, I readily admit, and that it is proper to enquire how far any farther augmentations of the one or the other is practicable or desirable; also how far the volunteer system interferes with either of these objects. But these are topics upon which I shall trouble the house by-andby. At present I wish, principally, to dwell upon the methods to be resorted to, in order to communicate to the volunteers all the instruction they want, and to the system all the improvement of which it may be susceptible; for I am certain that this must form the great basis of our strength, the important instrument of our defence, the medium by which we must contrive to bring the country safely out of its dangers, and to lay asleep those apprehensions, which, from the calamitous destinies of the present times, have been excited by a gigantic power suddenly erected, to disturb the world, to desolate a large portion of Europe, and to lay the foundation, if not resolutely and vigorously resisted, of future and incalculable misery. Such resistance it is become the fate of this country to make, and I trust it will be its glory effectually to accomplish. That its resources and the zeal of the people are competent to the undertaking and the achievement, no man can doubt;-that zeal which has been displayed in a manner so extraordinary as to surprise even the most ardent admirers of the British character, and to gratify the most anxious friends of British independence; that zeal which has not merely seconded |