§ On the order of the day for the second reading of this bill,
Mr. Caleraftsaid, he would oppose the bill in every stage. Though the money to be voted for this object was trifling, yet in the present state of the country every 1,000l. deserved serious attention from that House. The barracks now under consideration were to be built for the second regiment of life-guards. The situation selected was the Regent's-Park. He had no objection to the building of barracks—he believed it necessary; nor had he any objection to the place chosen: but he objected to the data upon which the estimate had been formed, for he did not consider them formed on economical principles. The right hon. gentleman had said that this measure had become urgent, for that the regiment had had notice to quit. That was not the fact; the person whose buildings they now occupied would be extremely happy to continue to give the buildings either by lease or sale.
The Chancellor of the Exchequeragreed with the hon. gentleman, that in the present situation of the country, any expenses which could be avoided ought not 426 to trench upon its resources. But this measure would not add to the actual expenditure of the present, or of any subsequent year. There were various expenses attending the existing barracks besides rent, and the average might be stated at 5,500l. The question then was whether they should continue the present arrangement without any certainty of the building, or adopt the course proposed with the certainty of having at the end an excellent building?
§ Lord Nugentsaid, it was no matter where the barracks were to be built, for how much or for how little money; he objected to building any new barracks. He objected to them for the precise reasons for which the noble secretary at war had recommended them. He thought it highly unconstitutional to destroy the connection between the citizen and the soldier; he thought it essential to our liberties, as well as consonant to our constitution, that "a circulation of feelings and interests, according to the constitutional language of Judge Blackstone, should be kept up between the army and the people, between the citizen and the soldier." Without this connection no country's liberties were safe while it kept up a standing army. He was not ashamed to avow these opinions, although they might be out of fashion in that House. They had been the feelings and opinions of the greatest men who had distinguished this country—of sir G. Savile and lord Chatham. They were the opinions of one whose writings, genius, eloquence, and public spirit cast a lustre over the period in which he lived—he meant sir William Jones. He wished the public opinions of that great man, enforced as they were by his virtuous life and his profound learning, were engraved in letters of gold in that House. The noble secretary at war had thought it desirable that a corporate spirit should be encouraged by means of barracks in the army. But this spirit he thought most dangerous in time of peace. It proceeded from the worst principles; it led to the worst events. It led to a military government. The military governments of the continent were all crumbling around us, and we ought, therefore, to apply the adage to ourselves. The only military government that remained undisturbed was the Turkish government, and it continued so because it was fortunate enough to shut out civilization and intellect. Where civilization 427 and intellect prevailed, military despotism could not maintain its ground. A military government was equally pernicious to the governors and the governed. It made the government itself dependent on the will, the fancy, the caprice, of the soldiers. This lesson we learned from the Praetorian guards of Rome, and from the janissaries of the East. At times they were the ministers of odious despots in the oppression of their subjects; at other times they were the dethroners of the wretched creatures who depended on their defence. Certain circumstances which had lately occurred had not decreased his alarm on this subject. When he had on a former occasion said, that the system we pursued led to military despotism, he had been told that he had spoken from the impression of political feeling. Be it so. He imputed no motives of the kind to government. But if we could conceive a government so wicked, and proceeding coolly to subject the country to the iron despotism of a military government, they could not think of better means than destroying all the precautions and peculiar establishments of former periods and covering the face of the country with barracks and depots. Posterity would, on perusing the history of the present period, read with surprise the answers given to the questions that would naturally arise from the present state of the country. Why was the country in 1818 on the verge of bankruptcy, the commerce of the nation paralyzed, the manufacturer ruined, and the agriculturist and the mechanic involved in common want and misery? It was owing to the glorious and successful issue of a war for the purpose of obtaining indemnity for the past and security for the future! Why were the military doubled in 1819, and the face of England covered with barracks and depots? Why were the finances ruined, and in the time of profound peace? The same answer must be given! He held in his hand the return made to his motion respecting additional allowances given to the guards. He recollected the phrase of the noble lord had been, that they would be found to be all in kind. Here the noble lord read, "9d. per diem for every non-commissioned officer and private, to be laid out by the commanding officer in victuals as he might judge best for the men." This money had been laid out unauthorized by paliament, unaccounted for to parliament, and not even mentioned in 428 the estimates of the year. He did not mean to found a motion upon it. He only mentioned it as a part of a system which he deplored, and must ever continue to deplore while it existed.
§ The House divided: Ayes, 98; Noes, 40.
| List of the Minority. | |
| Abercromby, hon. J. | Hobhouse, J. C. |
| Anson, sir G. | Hutchinson, hon. C. |
| Bright, H. | Heathcote, sir G. |
| Bernal, Ralph | Lemon, sir W. |
| Boughey, sir John F. | Monck, J. B. |
| Barrett, S. M. | Newport, sir J. |
| Bennet, John | Newman, R. W. |
| Calcraft, J. H. | Ord, Wm. |
| Colborne, N. R. | Powlett, hon. W. |
| Calvert, C. | Palmer, C. F. |
| Coffin, sir Isaac | Philips, G. jun. |
| Calthorpe, hon. F. | Robarts, George |
| Duncannon, visc. | Rowley, sir W. |
| Davies, T. H. | Stuart, lord J. |
| Ellice, E. | Tierney, rt. hon. G. |
| Fergusson, sir R. | Taylor, M. A. |
| Fitzroy, lord C. | Wharton, John |
| Graham, J. R. G. | Wilson, Thomas |
| Graham, Sandford | |
| Grant, J. P. | TELLERS |
| Glenorchy, lord | Calcraft, John |
| Hamilton, lord A. | Nugent, lord |