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	great_a	village_n	1,731	5	9.2720	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39783	A discourse of government with relation to militia's	Fletcher, Andrew, 1655-1716.	1698 (1698)	Wing F1295; ESTC R6686	23,004	68

for men that had passed through such a Discipline as that of the Camp I have described to retain it after they should return to their several homes if the people of every Town and Village together with those of the adjacent Habitations were obliged to meet 50 times in the Year on such days as should be found most convenient and exercise four hours every time for all men being instructed in what they are to do and the men of quality and estate most knowing and expert of all others the Exercise might be performed in great perfection There might also be yearly in the Summer time a Camp of some thousands of the nearest Neighbours brought and kept together for a week to do those Exercises which cannot be performed in any other place every Man of a certain Estate being obliged to keep a Horse fit for the War By this means it would be easy upon any occasion tho never so small as for example the keeping of the Peace and putting the Laws in execution where force is necessary or never so great and sudden as upon account of Invasions and Conspiracies to bring together such numbers of Officers and Souldiers as the exigence required according to the practice of antient Rome which in this particular might be imitated by us without difficulty And if such a Method were once established there would be no necessity of keeping up a Militia form'd into Regiments of Foot and Horse in time of Peace Now if this Militia should stand in need of any farther improvment because no Militia's seem comparable to those exercised in actual War as that of the Barons by their constant Feuds and that of Rome and some other antient Commonwealths by their perpetual Wars a certain small number of Forces might be employed in any foreign Country where there should be action a fourth part of which might be changed every year that all those who had in this manner acquired experience might be dispersed among the several Regiments of any Army that the defence of these Countries should at any time call for which would serve to confirm and give assurance to the rest Such a Militia would be of no great expence to these Nations for the mean clothing and provisions for those who could not maintain themselves being given only for one year would amount to little and no other expence would be needful except for their Arms a small train of Artillery for each Camp and what is to be given for the encouragement of the first Officers and Masters A Militia upon such a foot would have none of the infinite and insuperable Difficulties there are to bring a few Men who live at a great distance from one another frequently together to exercise at which consequently they must be from home every time several days of finding such a number of Masters as are necessary to train so many thousands of People ignorant of all exercise in so many different places and for the most part at the same time It would have none of those innumerable Incumbrances and unnecessary Expences with which a Militia formed into Regiments of Foot and Horse in time of Peace is attended In such a Camp the youth would not only be taught the exercise of a Musket with a few Evolutions which is all that men in ordinary Militia's pretend to and is the least part of the duty of a Souldier but besides a great many Exercises to strengthen and dispose the Body for fight they would learn to fence to ride and manage a Horse for the War to forage and live in a Camp to fortify attack and defend any place and what is no less necessary to undergo the greatest Toils and to give obedience to the severest Orders Such a Militia by sending beyond Seas certain Proportions of it and relieving them from time to time would enable us to assist our Allies more powerfully than by Standing Armies we could ever do Such a Camp would take away the great difficulty of bringing men of all Conditions who have passed the time of their youth to apply themselves to the use and exercise of Arms and beginning with them early when like wax they may be moulded into any shape would dispose them to place their greatest Honour in the performance of those Exercises and inspire them with the Fires of Military Glory to which that Age is so enclined which Impression being made upon their youth would last as long as life Such a Camp would be as great a School of Vertue as of military Discipline In which the Youth would learn to stand in need of few things to be content with that small allowance which nature requires to suffer as well as to act to be modest as well as brave to be as much ashamed of doing any thing insolent or injurious as of turning their back upon an Enemy they would learn to forgive Injuries done to themselves but to embrace with joy the occasions of dying to revenge those done to their Country And Vertue imbib'd in younger years would cast a Flavour to the utmost periods of life In a word they would learn greater and better things than the Military Art and more necessary too if any thing can be more necessary than the defence of our Country Such a Militia might not only defend a People living in an Island but even such as are placed in the midst of the most warlike Nations of the World Now till such a Militia may be brought to some perfection our present Militia is not only sufficient to defend us but considering the Circumstances of the French Affairs especially with relation to Spain Britain cannot justly apprehend an Invasion if the Fleet of England to which Scotland furnish'd during the late War seven or eight thousand Seamen were in such order as it ought to be And it can never be the Interest of these Nations to take any other share in preserving the Balance of Europe than what may be performed by our Fleet. By which means our Money will be spent amongst our selves our Trade preserved to support the Charge of the Navy our Enemies totally driven out of the Sea and great numbers of their Forces diverted from opposing the Armies of our Allies abroad to the defence of their own Coasts If this Method had been taken in the late War I presume it would have proved not only more advantagious to us but also more serviceable to our Allies than that which was followed And 't is in vain to say that at this rate we shall have no Allies at all For the weaker Party on the Continent must be contented to accept our Assistance in the manner we think fit to give it or inevitably perish But if we send any Forces beyond the Seas to join those of our Allies they ought to be part of our Militia as has been said and not Standing Forces otherwise at the end of every War the present struggle will recur and at one time or other these Nations will be betrayed and a Standing Army established So that nothing can save us from following the Fate of all the other Kingdoms in Europe but putting our Trust altogether in our Fleet and Militia's and having no other Forces than these The Sea is the only Empire which can naturally belong to us Conquest is not our Interest much less to consume our People and Treasure in conquering for others To conclude If we seriously consider the happy Condition of these Nations who have lived so long under the Blessings of Liberty we cannot but be affected with the most tender Compassion to think that the Scots who have for so many Ages with such Resolution defended their Liberty against the Picts Britans Romans Saxons Danes Irish Normans and English as well as against the Violence and Tyranny of so many of their own Princes That the English who whatever Revolutions their Country has been subject to have still maintained their Rights and Liberties against all Attempts who possess a Country every where cultivated and improved by the Industry of rich Husbandmen her Rivers and Harbours filled with Ships her Cities Towns and Villages enrich'd with Manufactures where Men of vast Estates live in secure possession of them and whose Merchants live in as great splendor as the Nobility of other Nations that Scotland which has a Gentry born to excel in Arts and Arms that England which has a Commonalty not only surpassing all those of that degree which the World can now boast of but also those of all former Ages in Courage Honesty good Sense Industry and Generosity of Temper in whose very Looks there are such visible Marks of a free and liberal Education which Advantages cannot be imputed to the Climate or to any other Cause but the Freedom of the Government under which they live I say it cannot but make the Hearts of all honest Men bleed to think that in their Days the Felicity and Liberties of such Countries must come to a Period if the Parliaments do not prevent it and his Majesty be not prevailed upon to lay aside the Thoughts of Mercenary Armies which if once established will inevitably produce those fatal Consequences that have always attended such Forces in the other Kingdoms of Europe Violation of Property Decay of Trade Oppression of the Country by heavy Taxes and Quarters the utmost Misery and Slavery of the poorer sort the Ruin of the Nobility by their Expences in Court and Army Deceit and Treachery in all Ranks of Men occasioned by Want and Necessity Then shall we see the Gentry of Scotland ignorant through want of Education and cowardly by being oppressed then shall we see the once happy Commonalty of England become base and abject by being continually exposed to the brutal Insolence of the Souldiers the Women debauch'd by their Lust ugly and nasty through Poverty and the want of things necessary to preserve their natural Beauty Then shall we see that great City the Pride and Glory not only of our Island but of the World subjected to the excessive Impositions Paris now lies under and reduced to a Pedling Trade serving only to foment the Luxury of a Court. Then will Britain know what Obligations she has to those who are for Mercenary Armies FINIS