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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 478: INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN TROOPS.
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN TROOPS.

On the 27th of March a message from his majesty informed the house of commons that a body of Hessians was placed in temporary winter-quarters at Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, with a view to co-operate with the royalists in Brittany and the neighbouring districts. As similar cases had occurred at different periods, and as the cause and necessity of such a measure were obvious, it was concluded by government that the usual communication of the fact to parliament would be satisfactory; but opposition contended that Pitt ought to have moved for a bill of indemnity; and he was charged with having violated the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement. Mr. Grey moved, as a resolution of the house, that to employ foreigners in any situation of military trust, or to bring foreign troops into the kingdom, without the consent of parliament first had and obtained, is contrary to law. This motion, however, was negatived; and propositions made in both houses, at a subsequent date, for a bill of indemnity, met with no better success, ministers contending that it would be absurd to indemnify measures which were in themselves both justifiable and constitutional.