The Chancellor of the Exchequermoved the order of the day for the house going into a committee on this bill.
§ Sir John Newportsaid, that having already fully stated to the house his Opinion on this subject, and having found that the sense of the house was for passing this bill, he should not now take up their time with recapitulating the arguments he had before offered; he rose now merely for the purpose of suggesting to the right hon. the chancellor of the exchequer a measure that thought would have the most important effect in increasing the disposable force of the empire from Ireland, or rather in encouraging those soldiers, who were not now disposable, to become so. The measure he now begged leave most earnestly to recommend, was to make such a provision for the wives and children of those who volunteered, as would at least remove the principal objection which now stands in the way of their volunteering. The wives of the soldiers in the Irish militia and army of reserve now receive an allowance of two shillings a week, and formerly received four; but, from the moment any of these soldiers volunteered for general service, this allowance ceased. If this great discouragement was removed, he was sure they would be much more ready to enter the regular army. At present, the misery that was entailed on Ireland, under the system which now prevails, was most dreadful. The face of the country was covered with the wives and children of soldiers begging their bread. There was hardly ever any considerable embarkation of troops from Portsmouth or Plymouth, that from 800 to 1,000 soldiers' wives were not turned loose to beg their way as well as they could to their own country. As most of them landed at the nearest Irish port of Cork and Waterford, he had often been an eye-witness of the extent of the evil which he now wished to be redressed.
The Chancellor of the Exchequerallowed that the suggestion of the hon. bart. was of the utmost importance, and deserved the most serious consideration. He was not then prepared to give any opinion on the subject, but he perceived that many difficulties stood in the way of the adoption of this suggestion. He was aware of the distress which was often felt in Ireland on account of there being no established system of poor laws in that country as there is in this; but he did not know how parliament could grant a specific allowance to the families of Irish soldiers, winch was not granted to the families of the soldiers of the rest of the united Kingdom, He 182 thought the hon. bart. was however mistaken in one point, as he was pretty sure there was an allowance given at the tune of every embarkation, to carry the soldiers' wives home. Notwithstanding the difficulty that he saw in the adoption of the suggestion, he should certainly give it his most serious consideration.
§ Sir John Newportsaid in explanation, that the allowance given to soldiers' wives on embarkation was a guinea and a half; this might be barely sufficient to carry them to the nearest Irish port, but they landed completely destitute, and were obliged immediately to have recourse to begging.
§ Colonel Bagwellconfirmed the statement of the hon. bart. as to the great degree of misery which the wives of not only the Irish soldiers in the regular army, but even in the militia and army of reserve experienced. During the last war, four shillings a week was allowed to the wives of the militia, which was sufficient to keep them from the necessity of begging; but since it was reduced to two, that allowance had been insufficient. He thought there could be no greater encouragement to volunteering from the militia, than granting some provision to the families of the volunteers. —The house then went into a committee on the bill, when some trifling alterations were agreed to, and the report ordered to be received to-morrow.—Adjourned.