THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE, in rising to put the question of which he had given notice, said he hoped the Irish militia regiments would not be disembodied until the harvest was fully commenced. In Ireland, the month of July was generally termed "starvation month," and it was certain that, if disembodied before there was any demand for labour in the country, much distress would be occasioned among these men. One point in connection with this subject was, he thought, worth the consideration of the Government. It was well known that the relations between this country and the United States was not at this moment in so satisfactory a state as could be wished, and, while nothing was more to be deprecated than a war between the two nations, he looked upon it as excessively injudicious to disband the Irish militia regiments at a moment when a rupture was even possible. The 17,000 men who composed the Irish militia were drawn exclusively from that class of the population in the sister country which had furnished such vast numbers of emigrants to the United States. Of these militiamen there was scarcely one who had not friends in that country, and, if disbanded now, it was to be apprehended that a very large proportion would emigrate to the States. He thought he should not be overstating the case when he said it was probable that out of these 17,000 men very nearly 10,000, if the force were disembodied, would, in the course of the next two months, join their friends in the United States. If that were the case, and if there were any danger of a rupture with America, he did think it worth while considering whether a little additional expense in keeping these regiments together would not be well laid out. We had been training these soldiers and rendering them efficient for the defence of the country; but if we disbanded them, and war should break out with America, many of these men would, in the nature of 1396 things, be found in our enemy's country—perhaps fighting in her ranks against us. The noble Lord (Lord Panmure), in answering a question put to him the other night, informed their Lordships that the disembodiment of the German Legion had been for the present suspended, with a view to sending them to the Cape of Good Hope. Now, he did not know what peculiar service the German Legion had rendered to the Crown to entitle them to such great consideration, but it did strike him as extraordinary that so great a favour should be shown to a body of foreign mercenaries, who had not had the opportunity of distinguishing themselves in any way, that these men should be sent at the expense of the Crown to one of our colonies; that their interests should be looked after while the Queen's own subjects embodied in the Irish militia were dismissed with nothing but their pay, at a moment when the labour market was so overstocked as at present. He wished, therefore, to ask the noble Lord whether it was the intention of the Government to disembody any large portion of the Irish militia before the harvest?
§ LORD PANMUREsaid, that the noble Earl appeared to imagine that it was intended to adopt a course with regard to the Irish militia different from that adopted with regard to the Scotch and English militia; but such was by no means the case. He could see no reason why the Irish militia should not be disembodied on the same principle as the English and Scotch militia. In England, where regiments had been disembodied, the men had left their standards perfectly satisfied, and practically speaking, had been very generally absorbed into the labour-market. With reference to the Irish militia, he did not apprehend that its disembodiment would give rise to emigration to anything like the extent anticipated by the noble Earl, and he felt assured that at any rate they would not employ the knowledge and discipline which they had recently gained in the service of their country to its disadvantage. It was somewhat unconstitutional to maintain a large force of militia embodied in time of peace; but, at the same time, in disembodying the militia it was necessary to have regard to the condition of the country and the state of the labour-market. He could only add that it was the intention of the Government, using the necessary precaution, to disembody the Irish militia as speedily as possible, and on the same principle as the 1397 militia of England and Scotland. With regard to the German Legion, he would remind the noble Earl that he stated, on the occasion referred to, that it was one of the conditions of their enlistment, that they should either be conveyed back to their own country free of expense, or settled in a British colony.
THE MAKQUESS OF CLANRICARDEthought that there was a distinction made between the Irish militia and the English militia, inasmuch as the English militia was raised in time of peace, thanks to the measure of the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Derby), while the Irish militia was raised in haste in a time of war.