REPORT OF AMENDMENTS. (Hansard, 7 August 1860)

THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
objected to the provision of the 19th Clause, by which the age up to which men could be balloted for the Militia was feed at thirty instead of at thirty-five, as under the existing Act. The ballot, to his view, was nothing but an odious system of conscription, but the diminution in the area over which it extended necessarily increased its pressure upon those who still remained liable to it. Men of between thirty and thirty-five were surely quite capable of serving in the Militia, and he thought their exemption ought not to be made part of a mere continuance Bill.

EARL DE GREY AND RIPON
said, he did not see why, merely because this was a continuance Bill, an alteration might not be made by it that was otherwise unobjectionable. No doubt by exempting persons of between thirty and thirty-five from the ballot they to a certain extent increased the burden upon those who would still fall under its operation—namely, those of 816 the ages between eighteen and thirty; but it should be remembered that the younger a man was the less inconvenient it was for him to be forcibly taken away from his civil occupation to serve in the Militia. After thirty, however, a man's habits and position in life were, generally speaking, more fixed, and it was therefore desirable that that class should, if possible, be relieved from all anxiety with respect to being compelled to join the Militia. The number of persons who would be liable to the ballot under the provisions of this Bill was much larger than the number who were liable to the ballot in 1800, and almost as large as the corresponding class in 1815. In 1800, when the ages to which the ballot was applicable were from 18 to 45 the number of persons liable to it was 1,900,000; and in 1815 it was 2,329,000. Now, according to an estimate furnished by the Registrar General, the number of males between the ages of 18 and 30 was at present 2,227,000. Thus the pressure of the ballot upon those brought under its operation would be less severe now than in 1800, and much the same as in 1815. In 1852 the Government of the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Derby) reduced the maximum age from 45 to 35; and, taking a further step in the same direction, it was now proposed to reduce it to 30. Men of between 30 and 35, if they were good workmen, were likely to have an opportunity of obtaining permanent situations, which it was important they should be able to accept; but they might be precluded from doing so if they could be called upon to serve in the Militia; his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for War consequently felt that it would be expedient at once to set free men above 30 years of 817 age from all apprehension of the ballot. The views of his right hon. Friend on this subject had the approval of many eminent Militia colonels and other persons well acquainted with the circumstances of that service; and, as this provision had been passed by the other House, which was especially bound to consider the requirements of the population in such matters, it would be unadvisable for their Lordships now to alter the Bill. He ventured to hope that their Lordships would agree to the clause as it stood.

§ THE EARL OF DERBY
considered that the argument of the noble Earl would be equally valid if the reduction in the age of those to be balloted for the Militia were to be from the age of 30 to that of 25, and he could not but think that if they were to have recourse to a system so expensive and so generally objectionable as the ballot the area should, in all policy and justice, be made as wide as possible. But there was one point to which the noble Earl had not referred. Whenever the ballot was really in operation it would act as a powerful preventive to recruiting for the regular army, and therefore it was peculiarly desirable that the largest possible number of men who would not be available for the regular army should be included in the operation of the ballot;—so that the two systems might not unnecessarily be brought into collision. During the late war, when the ballot was carried out to a great extent, the price given for substitutes was so large as to render it impossible to obtain recruits for the regular army, and it became necessary to put a stop to the ballot for two years. For these reasons he thought the alteration proposed by the noble Earl injudicious, and calculated to make the pressure of the ballot more grievous than it otherwise would be, and would exempt from the Militia a valuable class of men who would not be qualified for service in the regular army. He would suggest, if the noble Earl insisted on the expediency of reducing the maximum age from 35 to 30, he should consider the policy of also reducing the minimum age from 18 to 16, which would admit a class of lads whose wages in farm work must be comparatively small, who would be perfectly able to do the duty of the Militia, enlisting for five years, and would then be most serviceable in the regular army.

§ EARL GRANVILLE
thought the suggestion of the noble Earl very judicious, and promised that full consideration should 818 be given to it before the third reading of the Bill.

§ THE EARL OF DERBY
hoped the reduction of the maximum age would also be pt open till the third reading.