Selected quad for the lemma: country_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
country_n	city_n	government_n	situation_n	1,767	5	11.4391	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63115	An argument, shewing that a standing army is inconsistent with a free government and absolutely destructive to the constitution of the English monarchy	Trenchard, John, 1662-1723.; Moyle, Walter, 1672-1721.; Johnson, Samuel, 1649-1703.	1697 (1697)	Wing T2110; ESTC R16212	20,433	36

Government that is within the City of Venice or the great Towns of the United Provinces but they defend these by their own Burghers and quarter their Mercenaries in their conquered Countries viz. the Venetians in Greece and the Continent of Italy and the Dutch in Brabant and Flanders and the Situation of these States make their Armies so posted not dangerous to them for the Venetians cannot be attack'd without a Fleet nor the Dutch be ever conquer'd by their own Forces their Country being so full of strong Towns fortified both by Art and Nature and defended by their own Citizens that it would be a fruitless Attempt for their own Armies to invade them for if they should march against any of their Cities 't is but shutting up their Gates and the Design is spoiled But if we admit that an Army might be consistent with Freedom in a Commonwealth yet it is otherwise in a free Monarchy for in the former 't is wholly in the disposal of the People who nominate appoint discard and punish the Generals and Officers as they think fit and 't is certain Death to make any Attempt upon their Liberties whereas in the latter the King is perpetual General may model the Army as he pleases and it will be called High-Treason to oppose him And tho some Princes as the Family of the Medices Lewes the XIth and others laid the Foundation of their Tyrannies without the immediate Assistance of an Army yet they all found an Army necessary to establish them or otherwise a little Experience in the People of the change of their Condition would have made them disgorge in a day that ill-gotten Power they had been acquiring for an Age. This Subject is so self-evident that I am almost asham'd to prove it for if we look through the World we shall find in no Country Liberty and an Army stand together so that to know whether a People are Free or Slaves it is necessary only to ask Whether there is an Army kept amongst them and the Solution of that Preliminary Question resolves the Doubt as we see in China India Tartary Persia Ethiopia Turkey Morocco Muscovy Austria France Portugal Denmark Sweden Tuscany and all the little Principalities of Germany and Italy where the People live in the most abandoned Slavery and in Countries where no Armies are kept within the Seat of their Government the People are free as Poland Biscay Switzerland the Grisons Venice Holland Genoa Geneva Ragusa Algiers Tunis Hamborough Lubeck all the free Towns in Germany and England and Scotland before the late Reigns This Truth is so obvious that the most barefac'd Advocates for an Army do not directly deny it but qualify the matter by telling us that a Number not exceeding fifteen or twenty thousand Men are a handful to so populous a Nation as this Now I think that Number will bring as certain Ruin upon us as if they were as many Millions and I will give my Reasons for it It 's the misfortune of all Countries that they sometimes lie under an unhappy necessity to defend themselves by Arms against the Ambition of their Governours and to fight for what 's their own for if a Prince will rule us with a Rod of Iron and invade our Laws and Liberties and neither be prevailed upon by our Miseries Supplications or Tears we have no Power upon Earth to appeal to and therefore must patiently submit to our Bondage or stand upon our own Defence which if we are enabled to do we shall never be put upon it but our Swords may grow rusty in our hands for that Nation is surest to live in Peace that is most capable of making War and a Man that hath a Sword by his side shall have least occasion to make use of it Now I say if the King hath twenty thousand Men before hand with us or much less than half that Number the People can make no Effort to defend their Liberties without the Assistance of a Foreign Power which is a Remedy most commonly as bad as the Disease and if we have not a Power within our selves to defend our Laws we are no Government For England being a small Country few strong Towns in it and those in the King's Hands the Nobility disarmed by the destruction of Tenures and the Militia not to be raised but by the King's Command there can be no Force levied in any part of England but must be destroy'd in its Infancy by a few Regiments For what will three or four thousand naked and unarm'd Men signify against as many Troops of Mercenary Souldiers What if they should come into the Field and say You must choose these and these Men your Representatives Where is your Choice What if they should say Parliaments are seditious and factious Assemblies and therefore ought to be abolished What is become of your Freedom Or if they should encompass the Parliament-House and threaten if they do not surrender up-their Government they will put them to the Sword What is become of the old English Constitution These things may be and have been done in several parts of the World What is it that causeth the Tyranny of the Turks at this day but Servants in Arms What is it that preserved the glorious Commonwealth of Rome but Swords in the hands of its Citizens And if besides this we consider the great Prerogatives of the Crown and the vast Interest the King has and may acquire by the Distribution of so many profitable Offices of the Houshold of the Revenue of State of Law of Religion and the Navy together with the Assistance of a powerful Party who have been always the fast and constant Friends to Arbitrary Power whose only Quarrel to his Present Majesty is that he has knock'd off the Chains and Fetters they thought they had lock'd fast upon us a Party who hath once engag'd us in an unhappy Quarrel amongst our selves the Consequence of which I dread to name and since in a tedious and chargeable War at the vast expence of Blood and Treasure to avoid that Captivity they had prepar'd for us I say if any one considers this he will be convinced that we have enough to do to guard our selves against the Power of the Court without having an Army thrown into the Scale against us and we have found oftner than once by too fatal Experience the truth of this for if we look back to the late Reigns we shall see this Nation brought to the brink of Destruction and breathing out the last Gasp of their Liberty and it is more owing to our good Fortune than to any Effort we were able to make that we escaped the fatal Blow And I believe no Man will deny but if Charles the First had had five thousand Men before-hand with us the People had never struck a stroke for their Liberties or if the late King James would have been contented with Arbitrary Power without bringing in Popery but he and his black Guard would have