Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	appear_v	attempt_n	great_a	49	3	2.1077	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60882	A letter ballancing the necessity of keeping a land-force in times of peace, with the dangers that may follow on it	Somers, John Somers, Baron, 1651-1716.	1697 (1697)	Wing S4642; ESTC R11547	8,003	19

A LETTER BALLANCING THE NECESSITY OF KEEPING A Land-Force In Times of PEACE WITH The DANGERS that may follow on it Printed in the Year 1697. A LETTER BALLANCING THE NECESSITY OF KEEPING A Land-Force In Times of PEACE SIR WE have at last an Honourable Peace which was much Longed for by us all but Despaired of by many England is now the Wonder of the World nothing can hurt us but Animosities and Jealousies among our selves If we maintain the Peace with as much Prudence and Judgment as we have shewed Spirit and Courage in carrying on the War we shall give Laws to all about us and secure that Quiet which we have procured to the rest of Europe The Means of doing this is now the common Subject of Discourse All agree in one Thing That we ought to maintain our Empire on the Sea with powerful Fleets strong Summer and Winter Guards and that our Stores ought to be well filled and our great Ships kept in such a State that we may be in a condition upon short Warning to set out Royal Fleets This is so necessary that I suppose it is needless to spend more time upon it The only Point in which our Opinions may perhaps differ is whether we ought to maintain so considerable a Force at Land as will be sufficient to make a Stand against an Invasion or whether the Militia can be made so considerable that we may trust to it at home as well as to our Fleets abroad and be safe in this I will not suggest so unbecoming a Thought as to imagine that any of our Neighbours will seek to take Advantages against us or break the Peace and invade us contrary to the Honour and Faith of Treaties No I will not suspect it But the best Guaranty of a Peace is a good Force to maintain it And the surest way to keep all our Neighbours to an exact Performance of Articles is to be upon our Guard They will be then faithful to Agreements when they see no Opportunities of Surprizing us and that our Peace does not lay us asleep and make us forget the Art of War I mean it is no Reflection on any of the Neighbouring Princes when I conclude that their Faith is not so absolute a Security but that we must help them to be true to their Word by shewing them that they are not like to gain much by breaking it But mistake me not When I seem to prepare you to consider the Necessity of keeping a Land-Force I am far from the Thought of a Standing Army Any Man who would pretend to give a Jealousy of the Nation to the King and suggest that he could not be safe among them without he were environ'd with Guards and Troops as it was in the late Reigns ought to by abhorred by every true English man by every Man who loves Liberty and his Country The Case at present is Whether considering the Circumstances that we and our Neighbours are now in it may not be both prudent and necessary for us to keep up a reasonable Force from Year to Year The State of Affairs both at Home and Abroad being every Year to be considered in Parliament that so any such Force may be either encreased lessened or quite laid aside as they shall see cause I will not Argue with you so unfairly as to urge much the Reasons that we have of Trusting the King for how much soever may be said on this Head either from his Temper his Circumstances his Interest and the Course of his past Life either with Relation to the United Provinces or to us here in England and with how much Reason soever this might be prosecuted yet I will not lay much Weight on it for it is not just to press an Argument that puts another Man in Pain when he goes to answer it I know it may be said That Men are but Men so that we make a dangerous Experiment of their Virtue when we put too much in their Power And that what is done to one King who deserves it and will manage it faithfully will be made an Argument to do the same for another King that has neither Merit nor Capacity to entitle him to so entire a Considence To say all in one Word if we were in the same Condition in which we and our Neighbours were an Age ago I should reject the Proposition with Horrour But the Case is altered the whole World more particularly our Neighbours have now got into the mistaken Notion of keeping up a mighty Force and the powerfullest of all these happens to be our next Neighbour who will very probably keep up great Armies And we may appear too Inviting if we are in such an open and unguarded Condition that the Success of the Attempt may seem to be not only probable but certain England is an open Country full of Plenty every where able to Subsist an Army Our Towns and Cities are all open our Rivers are all fordable no Passes nor strong Places can stop an Enemy that should Land upon us So that the whole Nation lies open to any Army that should once come into it To this you may reply Can an Army be brought together with a Fleet to bring it over and we know nothing of it These Things require time and we cannot be supposed so destitute of Intelligence as not to know of such Preparations In such a case our Fleet will cover us while our Militia may be exercised and marched where the Danger is apprehended This may seem plausible and will no doubt work on such as do not consider Things with the Attention that is necessary But do not we remember that we were lately twice almost surprized once from La Hogue and again from Calais We must not expect that God will always work Miracles for us if we are wanting to our selves If in a time of War and Jealousy we were so near the being fatally over-run without either Warning or Intelligence it is much more possible to see such Designs laid in a time of Sloth and Quiet when we are under no Fears nor Apprehensions And this may be so managed that the Notice we may have of it may come too late for us to be able to prevent or resist it And what will our Intelligence signify if we are in no condition either to hinder the Descent or to withstand the Force that may be sent against us Absolute Governments where all depends on the Will of the Prince and where Men are ruined who fail either in performing what is expected from them or in keeping the Secresy that is enjoyned them can both contrive and execute Things in another manner than can be conceived by those who have the Happiness to live in free Governments Troops may have such Orders for Marches and Countor-marches that those who are on the Place shall not be able to judge what is intended till it is not possible to hinder it Cross Winds may make this come yet later to