equently ought to have attained some
military knowledge, yet I have so long resigned my commission, possessed
it for so short a time, and have suffered my attention to be diverted
from inquiries on that subject by employments of so different a kind,
that I cannot presume to oppose any knowledge of my own to the reasons
which have been offered; but I cannot think that the conclusions drawn
by the noble duke, are so evidently true as to force conviction, and
exclude all possibility of reply; nor can I conceive it consistent with
the dignity of this assembly, to yield implicitly to any man's
assertions, or to pass any resolution without an accurate inquiry.

Some objections, my lords, arise, upon reflection, from my narrow
observation and transient reading, and these I shall lay before your
lordships, with an open acknowledgment of my insufficiency to discuss
the question, and a sincere desire of being instructed where I may be
mistaken.

The subordination of the army, my lords, appears to me, in general, to
be sufficiently maintained, nor is it ever infringed but by particular
partiality, that can never be prevented, or a casual difference in the
circumstances of the officers, which, though not relative to their
military characters, will always produce some degree of influence.

I know not, my lords, how the general regulation of our forces, and the
distribution of military honours, can be condemned, without extending
some degree of censure to a person who ought not to be mentioned as
concurring in any measures injurious to the publick. Our army, my lords,
is maintained by the parliament, but commanded by the king, who has not
either done or directed any thing of which his people may justly
complain.

Here the duke of ARGYLE interrupted him:--My lords, it is necessary to
clear myself from misrepresentations, and to preserve, at the same time,
the order of this assembly, by reminding the noble lord, that his
majesty is never to be introduced into our debates, because he is never
to be charged with wrong; and by declaring to your lordships, that I
impute no part of the errours committed in the regulation of the army to
his majesty, but to those ministers whose duty it is to advise him, and
whom the law condemns to answer for the consequences of their counsels.

Lord CHOLMONDELEY resumed:--My lords, if I misrepresented any assertion
of the noble duke, it was by misapprehension, or failure of memory, and
not by malice or