THE Seaman's Opinion OF A Standing Army IN ENGLAND In Opposition to a Fleet at Sea the Best Security of This Kingdom In a LETTER to a Merchant Written by a SAILOR Printed according to Order 〈◊〉 Printed and Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1699. Price Two Pence The Sea-man's Opinion of a Standing Army c. SIR I Have read with no small consideration the Argumentâ— for and against a Standing Army so warmly argued on both sides one making false Weights and Measures allowing nothing to be true Weight that is not weigh'd at the Court-Beam while the others lay their Reasons and Arguments in the Peoples Scale and weigh the common Interest and our Constitution against the Court Projects I must confess the latter are much in the right for Laws were made for the general Good of all the Subjects and are by no means to be altered to the prejudice of the People The English Constitution has no respect to those future Contingencies and Emergences which may happen to crowned Heads Our Fore fathers thought those Laws which were of Force and Virtue enough to keep them in the possession of their Estates equally powerful tâ— secure the Regalities of the Crown to the King and would be alike advantageous to their Posterity and I know no Reason why we should be of another Opinion The main Reason the Court-party offers for a Standing Army is the entire Confidence we may repose in the King on the account of the heroick Virtues inherent in him and his firm and sincere Intentions to the preservation of the Nation and the Rights of the Subject so that if the People of England do not trust the King with their Lives Liberties and Estates they would insinuate as if they did mistrusâ— him I may know my Neighbour to be a very honest Man and yet have no occasion to trust him with the Deeds oâ— my Estate my Money or Goods nor need the People exchange Magna Charta for the King's Letters Patents foâ— their Liberties durante beneplacito for so it must be wheâ— he is arm'd with force at any time to take it away I have a much nay a greater esteem of the Royal and Princelâ— Virtues of his Majesty than any Courtier of them all and though I could trust the King with a great deal yet I should not care to trust them with a little A Government settled by the People of England ought to be maintained by them and without doubt the People will maintain a King in those Rights and Prerogatives they have granted and confirmed to him otherwise it will be a Reflection which hitherto has not happened upon them but to maintain a Government upon any other Principles than such on which it is founded is ridiculous The Superstructure ought to be conform to the Foundation the Building otherwise is irregular and inarrificial and for the People to undermine the Foundation of their Liberties and raze it to the ground only to build a Pyramid of Honour or a Triumphal Arch for a Prince is downright Nonsense A Government ought to be supported but it must be consider'd withal how it deviated from its Institution when we know what a Government is we can quickly find fit props to support it and fit Force to defend it 'T is pity there should be a distinction betwixt the King and the Government which it must be allowed when the Courties call themselves the Government As a certain Person was committed to the Custody of a Messenger by the Secretary's Warrant for publishing and dispersing a seditious and scandalous Libel against His Majesty and Government whenas it only contain'd Matter of Fact against some Commissioners Well then these Commissioners are the Government and I am of opinion if it be thus that 't is not worth our while to keep up twenty thousand Men to support it Setting themselves thus up they lessen the King and his Preâ—ogative as if the King had the Legislative and they the governing Power Evil Ministers and Officers have in all Times prov'd prejudical to the Prince that employ'd them or they acting after an illegal and arbitrary manner in their â—everal Stations cause suspicion that the Prince by whom they are commissionated will when enabled with Force to the like or worse and tho ill Ministers and Officers may act-illegally and after an arbitrary manner without the Knowledge nay contrary to the Consent and Approbation of the Prince yet all their Actions tend to the weakning of his Government and to create Jealousies in his People Men judge of the Fountain by the Purity oâ— Impurity of the Streams and Justice being deny'd or delay'd by Officers and Ministers they presently look back to the orginal Contract and Coronation Oath with a great deal of Doubt and Hesitation It was a noble and glorious Saying of our great and renowned Prince Edw. 3 when he hang'd his Chief Justice Thorp of the King's Bench for taking a Bribe of 100 l. That he being intrusteâ— as the King's Deputy to administer Justice in that Court haâ— as much as in him lay broken that Solemn Oath that his Majest made to his People at his Coronation Instead of a Land Foreâ— to defend Evil Ministers this wise Prince procur'd a Halteâ— to hang them If Men in great Offices have been guilty of enomous Crimes have lavishly spent and squander away Parliamentary Funds rais'd for the security of thâ— Nation must the People of England make a rent in theiâ— Constitution and raise and pay Twenty thousand Men tâ— maintain them in their vicious Practices and secure then from the Violence and Insults of the common People They are grown already to such a height that their is nâ— way of calling them to an Account If an inferiour Boarâ— commit a Crime rob embezel plunder the Nation and of rich themselves with the Puplick Spoils of the Kingdomâ— and a complaint be made to the Lords of the T ry the refer it after the Complainer has a long time attended tâ— the Board complained against after a long attendance fivâ— on six Months I have known it a Report is made thâ— T ry acquiesces with the Report and the Complainer frustrated of his honest Intentions It is a Law amongst'eâ— never to hear the Complaint of an Inferiour Officer again a Superiour as one of the Commissioners of the Ex told a certain Person that there was a Resolution taken uâ— by all the Commissioners in the Kingdom that if an Inferiour Officer complain'd of Mismanagement they woulâ— represent him either as a Fool or a Knave or else makâ— him so uneasy that he should be forc'd to quit his Employment and this appears to be true for most if not all thâ— â—fficers that have complain'd of Mismanagements havâ—â—een discharg'd for so doing How then shall these Men 〈◊〉 punished Why the last Resort you know is a Parliament and if you read over the List you will soon find â—ow many Courtiers were there Judges of their own Cause
â—nd Auditors of their own Accounts So that Sir I think 〈◊〉 ashoar are in a fine pickle if ever these Men get a â—tanding Army to support their Mismanagements by point â—f Sword and the powerful Arguments of Pike and Gun â—or our Controversy is not about trusting the King with a â—tanding Army we pay Him all the Deference imaginable â—ut we are loth to be at the charge of guarding of those â—â—at have not regarded the Publick Good nor those worthy Gentlemen that ventur'd their Lives to bring the King to â—â—e Throne and to promote them to Offices of Trust and â—â—e greatest Profit Their restless Endeavours to gain the â—oint of a Standing Army have other meanings in them â—hen the specious pretence of Publick Safety When the â—ox preaches beware of the Geese there is some Fetch or â—ther some Snake or other in the Grass that will not â—â—riggle it self into view but under the Umbrage of a â—and Force You must bear Sir with my homely Comâ—arisons as well as with my indifferent Language we Tars don't pretend to polite Learning and finery of Speech But to illustrate my Discourse I must tell you that the â—ast Voyage I made was to New-England the Commander of the Ship I sail'd in was a Man of Virtue and Probity very â—kilful in Navigation and one that had a due regard to the Profit and Advantage of his Owners But the Mare Boatâ—wain Gunner and other Officers were men of vicious Principles and work'd so far upon the good Nature of the Captain that they got entire possâ—ssion of him to the no small loss of the Merchants and the trouble of all the honest Sailors aboard When we came to New England and had taken in our Loading being homeward bound they perswaded him to take more Men more Forces aboard uâ—der â—retence of Advice they had received frâ—m England of some Turkish Men of War that lay in the Chaps of the English Channel The poor Captain believ'd a necessity upon such 〈…〉 or augmenting his Forces being unwil◠〈◊〉 to have his Ship pirated from him The Forces werâ—â—ailing apace when it was discover'd that these Fellowâ— had a design to run away with the Ship so that had theiâ— Design taken effect the good natur'd Captain had been thrown overboard and I had now been among the Madagascar Pirates Ill Men contrive all ways first to raise themselves by Villany and then to support themselves in it The same Effect your Land-Force may have upon you Your Captain I know is a good Commander of Principle and Address and I verily believe designs you no harm but his under Officers if they design'd you any good would have done it before this time Besides if you have a mind to keep your King keep him from a Standing Army King James had been here still had it not been for his Standing Army an Army model'd by the Vipers which lay in his Bosom for that purpose I like the Effects of that Design so well that I desire no more of that nature We have a Government founded upon good Principles a Revolution of which every step has attended by Divine Providence a King who governs according to the Rules of Justice at home and is the Head and Leader of our Armies abroad to his own immortal Honour and the good and welfare of his People and every good Englishman and Christian ought to bless God for it An English King and an English People sute well together and since we are blest with both we have no reason to promote new Whimseys in the head of one to create Jealousies in the other The notion of an Invasion from the Man abroad is not so much a Proposition of Horror as the notion of our Liberties being invaded at home and we are in more danger of those Horse-leaches of Government that fill themselves from the Veins of the State than from Foreign Troops Money is the Sinews of War but the Sinews once weakned the Body is in a tottering condition A Standing Army must be sed and when once without Pay must live upon Free-quarter for there is no reason that Men rais'd for the service of their Country should starve in it I would fain know what these Men would do with a Standing Army unless as before to guard them from the Violence of the Mob Where should they encamp to be in a readiness to oppose an Invasion Had they as many Armies as there are Landing places in England we might have some Security Few of these Men that talk of Standing Armies have had the Courage to go abroad to the Wars but now perhaps for their Diversion at the expence of the Kingdom they are willing to see Namur taken at Windsor or a Butterfly Camp at Hounslow-Heath where the Forces must attend the Motions of the Man abroad Where the Knights Errant lie Legs across Expecting what must never come to pass They Sky falling to the utter destruction of the whole Species of Larks French Invaders in Fleets of flying Wheel-barrows and abundance of such odd Chimera's if not worse How will they model this Army as they have done the Civil Offices Will they fill Commissions with rancour'd Tories confirm'd Jacobites and Non-Jurors Shall Men of Worth Merit and Affection to the Government be as scarce in this Army as they are in the Customs and Navy God forbid How many years Purchase must a Commission be sold for and where will be the place of Sale and who the Broker now Sir Fleet is dead Few of the King 's and their Country's Friends have got Money to buy must they be sold to those that got Pardon-money in the late Reigns of those that are starving since this Revolution Well there may be a formidable Invasion and the Nation in a great deal of Danger thereupon The whole strength of the Nation is not able to withstand it and yet the Party pretend that Twenty thousand men out of that strengah shall do it that is as much as to say seven Millions of Men are not able to withstand an Invasion but Twenty thousand of the seven Millions are the Minor is of greater force power and virtue than the Major if the Folk in power say so 't is true enough better a Nation be ruined enslav'd or any thing else than they be thought to err in Judgment or miss their Ends. But suppose the worst that a French Army should land why then it we han't a Standing Army the great Places at White Hall will be in a tottering condition but suppose they don't land and we have a Standing Army in expectation of it whâ— then the great Folk at White-Hall are all the time fingerinâ— Money raised to pay them not to their disadvantage to bâ— sure 'T is no matter whether we are invaded or no as lonâ— as their Trade goes forward Now tho your Earthquakâ— don't disturb the Element I sojourn on yet I may give mâ— Opinion concerning you Affairs as well as some of you havâ— as to
the Management of the Fleet that know no other diffeâ—ence betwixt Salt Water and Fresh than by the Taste I remember I was at an Anchor in Studland Bay when there waâ— just such another Invasion in the Isle of Purbeck as youâ— Folk expect If there was then any Standing Army theâ— were guarding the Royal Ducks in St. James Park ot otherwise employ'd but I am sure they were not there Noâ—â— without any Royal Mandate Commission or any Ordeâ— from above the bold Brittons assembled in a hostile maneâ— with all the Weapons of Defence the Country could afforâ— and without any Ceremony march'd to the Place of landing The Rumour of the French Numbers was Ten thousand anâ— in 48 hours there were a Hundred thousand in Arms in Doseâ—shire and the adjoining Counties who came down tinâ— enough to the Sea side to engage the Invaders I believe 〈◊〉 these Hodmandods Raw-heads and Bloody-bones witâ— which the Children of England are now scar'd should appear we shall be in a good posture of defence withouâ— Twenty thousand Red Coats which are morr terrifyinâ— thun an Idvasion Now these Bugbears and Scare-crows this Visionary Invasion that haunts the Ruins of White-Hall being remov'â— out of sight let us recover our Senses and scan the poinâ— whether the Militia regulated and disciplin'd may not be aâ— powerful to withstand an Invasion as Twenty thousand 〈◊〉 that Militia for every one capable of bearing Arms belong to it listed and entered into Pay But they say the Militiâ— is not disciplin'd whose Fault is that Was it not in theiâ— power that contend for a Standing Army to have disciplin'â— the Militia since the Controversy in the House of Commons last Sessions about it If the Officers of the Militiâ— can't be trusted 't is the fault of those that made 'em Officers A neligence in this Point and trumping up a Standing Army at the same time looks as if their Army were to do some business the Militia will not do for it is evident the Militia can do more than twenty times the Forces they desire when necessity shall require it Besides Twenty thousand Men dispers'd are no Army their being in a body makes them one but a body can be only in one place at a time We have abundance of Landing-places and our Army can be but at one of them and I know already the Invaders won't land there Now on the other hand they can't land no where in England but the Militia will be at the place enough of them to make a stand till the rest come up so that if we had a Standing Army the greatest use of them at that Juncture would be to come in for the Plunder of the field But the Authors for an Army like Mr. Bays in the Rehearsal are resolved to present the World with something very ridiculous and have not yet determined the point whether the two Kings of Brentford shall head their Standing Army with both Boots on or one off As I don't know the designs so I am ignorant of the Consequences of what these Men make such a bustle about but it tends to create a Mistrust in the King of his best Subjects and tells him plainly he cannot be secure in his Throne and enjoy his Prerogative without making an Alteration in our Constitution and that the People's Liberty and the Regalities of the Crown cannot be safe at the same time Now if I should aver that our Constitution must of necessity tumble down if a Branch of the King's Prerogative were not lopt off to make a prop to support it I suppose the Secretary of State would esteem it a State Crime and I should be visited with the plague of a Messenger when at the same time these Authors raise Bulwarks and plant their Cannons upon them to batter down our Constitution break down the Frences of our Liberty and destroy those privileges which have immemorially been the Rights of our Ancestors and all this conniv'd at if not encouraged Have the Liberties of the People no Guardians Are there none to prosecute such Offenders in the name of the Good People of England Where is the Justice Glory and Honour of our Ancestors Are all their glorious Marks obliterated in their Posterity Are the ends of the World come upon us that we are willing to see an end of our Liberty Are our Rights less valuable our Laws of no lesâ— force than formerly Are we ignominiously willing to give away what our Fore-fathers left us at the expence of their Blood God forbid that the Children unborn should curse us as cruel Sep-Fathers that have disinherited them of their Birth-right Will not succeeding Generations think thaâ— either our Rights were not worth keeping or that we ingloriously betrayed our Children in parting with them Will not the Roman Honour and Gallantry which inspired Heathens newly acquainted with Laws and Principleâ— of Government rise up in judgment against us when wâ— prove treacherous Deserters of our Liberties and raise and pay Twenty thousand Men to take possession of our Freehold Are not those who surrender'd Charters gave awaâ— their Birth-right and betray'd the Liberties of their Country in the late Reigns justly branded with the marks of Infamy and their Memories handed down to Posterity as ignominious and scandalous And shall we who have spent 〈◊〉 many Millions to undo what they did and retrieve our sinking State from utter Ruin tread in their steps act thâ— same Tragâ—dy and play over the same Game Was a Standing Army but a few years ago accounted a Grievance anâ— now become a thing desirable Is it not attended with thâ— same danger or are we grown less sensible of it Are we iâ— the same condition with those that are troubled with thâ— French Disease of whom it is said when once cured theâ— are more desirous to commit the Sin again Are we clapt iâ— our Understandings that we are willing to return into thâ— same languishing Condition of which we are so lately recovered and have pay'd so dear for the Cure Let the Pleaders for a Standing Army consider how much a Standinâ— Army was accounted a Grievance in the late Reigns and hoâ— much it tended to the destruction of the King that rais'd iâ— and they may esteem their designs impracticable for it caâ— be no other than a Reflection upon the Wisdom of the English Nation voluntarily to give one King what they forc'd from another to secure themselves in the peaceable possession of their Estates and no wise Man can imagine that in a Government founded on good and wholesom Laws a thing that turn'd one King out of the Throne should keep another in it If you have the same People to manage this Standing Army that managed the late K. James's you have the same People to oppose this Standing Army as oppos'd the other and in all likelihood you 'l be brought into the same Disorder and Confusion wherefore I think all things considered you had better be without it Thus
far Sir I have ventur'd out of my Element to give you my Sentiments of Affairs ashoar now suffer me to step aboard my Ship and give an account of another Security to our Kingdom little heeded or talk'd of I mean our Shipping It is supposed these horrible Invaders will notâ—â—y over the Seas in the Air nor will they shove themselves over in leaden Boats under Water they are compounded of Flesh Blood and Bones contrary to the nature of Spirits â—hey are visible and tangible Substances therefore let us consider how we Sailors may handle them for it is a demonâ—â—rable Argument if we can drown or burn them at Sea you 'l â—ave no occasion of a Land Army to knock 'em o th' head â—shoar By your insisting so much upon a Land Force as â—ecessary to withstand an Invasion you seem to yield up â—he Empire and Dominion of the Sea which I am very unâ—illing to grant knowing the English have no Rivals in â—â—at Affair nor no Nation capable of taking possession of â—hat Dominion If we could beat an Enemy at la Hogue and â—urn fourteen of their three Deck Ships at one time and â—ight have quite ruin'd them at Sea then had it not been or the wonderful good Nature of you know who I say if we could do what they have not yet been able to recruit nor â—erhaps never will unless we fell 'em Timber to build more â—hips if they have lost their Ships and we have augmented â—urs by a far greater number than they have lost I hope we 〈◊〉 not now less able to fight an Invader I suppose the Disâ—mbarkment of the Prince of Orange was carried on with as â—uch secresy as an Invasion will be yet we know how long it was talk'd of and how long expected before it came Consider in the next place how many Ships an Invader must have to bring over Men enow to conquer this Kingdom Now if six or seven hundred Ships were requisite to bring over at most but Fourteen thousand five hundred Men how many well be necessary to make an Invasion upon England in order to conquer it Their numbers must be much greater they come without leave and undesired and Invaders let 'em be of what Country soever or of what Religion soever are hated by Englishmen The Prince of Orange's Descent upon England was no Invasion but an Invitation and his Accession to the Throne no Conquest whatever two or three insignifiant Priests have wrote but the free Gift and Benevolence of the good People of England Yet notwithstanding all Parties were agreed in his Revolution how many Accidents happen'd How often was the Fleet detain'd by contrary Winds and when at Sea fore'd to steer a Channel Course and in a Line too which made 'em seen by both shores But this Invading Fleet that must have at least ten times the number of Men and consequently of Shipping are to come over undiscover'd From what place will they come Why this is the main point the honest Men in Offices tell of an Invasion and it is to be done by somebody that they will not dare name for fear of being Gazetted and ordered to be prosecuted as Dick Baldwin was for reflecting upon some great Person at the French Court They had better run the hazard of Prosecution and tell the truth the Prosecution may be bought off Mr. Baldwin gave but eight Guinea's to Harry B and three to his Brother N and the Prosecution was at an end But this Invasion can't be brib'd off the Invaders will not stay for Gratuities all is their own when they have conquer'd and into this Condition we may be brought because our Standing Army-men are mealy mouth'd and won't speak out An Invasion may well be a Proposition of Horror to them when the very Invaders and the Country they come from crampâ— their Tongues and frightens them speechless so that Twenty thousand Men and nothing else can bring them again to their Senses If they would tell us the Country they 'l come from I could give you my opinion in the matter if I knew their Country I should know their Ports and what Conveniencies they have for shipping their Men But I 'm sure they have no Conveniency of landing them in England unless we please All we can learn from them is that 't is the Man abrord and abundance of Men there are abroad and which of 'em 't is we can't tell this Man may be somebody or nobody or anybody or everybody since he has no name He may be the Man in the Moon for ought we know and then we are in a fine condition his is a Country we know nothing of nor what kind of People he will bring with him nor what sort of Weapons they use in Battel He is certainly an Enemy because he is no Friend and a powerful Enemy too his Dominions are very large and for ought we know very populous and if he should descend upon Salisbury Plain with two or three hundred thousand Mortals why then the Cathedral Church there will be invaded by Men of a Religion that have not been educated to mumble the Prayers in usum Sâ—rum and the best stake in the Hedge of one of our Bishops is quite lost The more I think of it the more am I terrify'd at the Apprehension of such an Invasion what a horâ—ied terrifying Spectacle will it be to see Men nay for ought we know Monsters descend like Hail upon our Country where our Ships can't come and nothing but Twenty thousand regular Troops can oppose How will our Women and Children be frighted and our old Men astonished at such an Apparition worse than that at Puâ—beck Now I should think it most proper to prevent an Invasion from this Country to send an Ambassador thither We have not given the Man nor any of his Subjects any affront that I know of and a Truce or Peace is far better than War as the Turks and Germans on both sides affirm and we have Men of Parts and Sense enough in our Nation to send on such an Embassy We know the Country is very high yet we are provided with very high Flyers in our Government that have mounted from Footboys Journeymen and Valets to Commissioners and other great Officers one or two of these on this Embassy may put an end to our Fears and render Twenty thousand armed Men useless I could pick a Man or two out of our Officers fit for this Embassy that have risen with a wonderful Impudence at home and will no doubt carry a good Stock abroad with them These high Flyers have one Convenieecy in mounting above the rest of Mankind they have no weight of Brains to retard their Flight upwards and if there is any Mâ—ney in the World in the Moon they I load enough in their Pockets to hasten their descent downwards If they say my Invasion is ridiculous I say so of theirs as also Twenty thousand Men to withstand it and keep out
a Force which all England can 't beside do Well it seems we must still be in the dark about this Invasion the Army Authors wonâ—t tell us whence it will come and yet tell us a dismal Story of its coming so that we are left to bare supposition which puts nothing at all into being but in the Foster-father of Non entities We have supposâ—d it from above the Clouds already let us descend and view the Terrestrial Globe view the Coasts of our Neighbours and see from which of them all a Fleet of Ships caâ—lanch forth into the deep and pass the Ocean with an Army without Oâ—struction from the Royal Navy 'T is Nonsense to suppose this Invasiâ—â— to come from Holland which solately assisted us with Forces in order 〈◊〉 recover our lost Liberties those that helpâ—d knock our Fetters off wâ—â—â— not be for putting them on so soon already But suppose Holland had design upon England let us consider how impracticable such a design wouâ—â— be whilst England has so good a Fleet of Sheeps of War Those Auxillar 〈◊〉 Forces they lent the good People of England upon the Revelution mâ—â— with abuâ—dance of Obstacles and Difficulties in shipping the Horses aâ—â— Men which kept the Enterprize so far back that the very Regiments thâ— Names of the Colonels commanding those Regiments and an exact Aâ—count of the Number of the Men House and Foot was printed in thâ— English Gazette long before they saw the Coast of England so that thâ—â— the English Nation had then as much time to prepare to oppose them haâ— they been as willing as they had to prepare to receive them Volenâ—â— non fit injuria The Revolution pleas'd the Nation if the major part 〈◊〉 the People may be called so The Fleet under the Command of thâ— Earl of Dartmouth and in a proper Station too could easily have obstructed that Expedition But the Seamen were in a Confederay with thâ— Landmen in the Interest of their Country and I hope in God ever wilâ— be and it is not often the Engilish Fleet has let an Atmed Navy paâ—â— through their Channel without one Broadside We must imagine it not come from France immediately after the Ratification of a solemn Peace so honourable to the English Nation Buâ— suppose France at any time should have the Vanity to invade England wilâ— not our Naby â—e suffiâ—ient to put a stop to such an Invasion The French Councils perhaps are as secret as any in the World and tho vulgar Eyeâ— cannot pry into the Cabinets of thot Prince yet his first and second Ratâ— Men of War are easily discerned I hope they 'l rig their Ship before theâ— put them to Sea they 'l careen and gun and man them and all thiâ— can't be done in a Chimney-Corner Their Caulkers Hammers and Carpenters adzes will make some noise we shall hear something of iâ—â— sure Consider their Ports and where their Ships are laid up and you may easily conclude they can't soon join upon such a design Besides theâ— must rendezvouz somewhere ond that Wind which brings one half oâ— the Fleet to the place of rendezvouz keeps the other half back so thaâ— if the Peace did not put us out of this danger our Fleet would be a sufficient Guard ogainst it Spain is in a firm Alliance with us and had good Belly-full of Invaonsâ—in 83 which is not yet digested and the Norâ—then Crowns never made any Pretensions of this nature so that I dare boldly affirm we are in no danger of an Invasion from any known parâ— of the World and the Terra Incognita is a long way off In the short view I have taken of the Condition of our Neighbours and their strength in Shipping compar'd with the Naval Force and Maritime Strength of England I believe if all of them should intend an Invasion upon England they could not accomplish it For as I have said before it cannot be done but we must have notice of it and while they â—re fitting out their Fleet we may do the same our Fleet being out and â—iuided into Squardons appointed in proper Stations would easily inâ—ercept them Now the Usefulness of a Fleet as the best Guard to England is evident not only from Reason but from undoubted History and plain Matter of Fact many Instances whereof our Tars often at Sea talk and boast of many of which I â—ould instance in were I not too far gone already beyond the Limits of a Letter But however I must tack about again â—pon your Land-Army Folk and to avoid all Animosities Quarters and Heats I shall not tell how much nor how little was done during this War by the Land-Army in Flanders â—ut shall only hint what might rationally have been done by â—he Fleet under a good Management and Conduct Of so â—any Millions of Money that have been spent during this War in Land â—orces suppose some of that Money and those Forces had been us'd on â—oard the Navy would not fifteen or twenty Thousand of them thus emâ—oyd have done more Mischief to the Enemy than fifty or threescore â—housand in Flanders They might have landed in their Country their â—usible part which we have so gently touch'd such a Force would have â—een sufficient to have ravag'd 10 or 20 Miles round in their Country â—nd when the Enemy had got sufficient Force together to repel them they â—ight e'en have march'd aboard again with their Plunder and coasting â—ong their Country in two or three days time have landed again a hunâ—â—d d Miles from the place they landed in before and retired aboard as â—â—fore and practis'd this Trade along their Coast from East to West â—is would have been a tiresome Diversion indeed They would thus have â—â—d no time to sow or reap or dreâ—s their Vineyards this would have â—vorted their Armies abroad perpetually harass'd their Arrear-ban at â—â—me kept their Peasants from their Employment and fill'd 'em with â—â—ars and Alarms Being kept continually waking it might have alter'd â—â—e temper of an imperious aspiring Enemy waking they say will tame a â—â—d Horse why not a mad Tyrant But whether our Mismanagements â—â—ve been occasion'd thro Ignorance of the Managers or thro an evil Deâ—â—â—n against our Country is yet left to determine but both are equally â—â—xious to a Nation and by continued Successions of Grievances without â—dress the most flourishing Kingdom the most glorious Monarch and â—â—ost warlike People may at once be empoverish'd at home and grow â—â—ndalous abroad for nothing conduces more to the Honour and Glory 〈◊〉 a Nation than the good opininion foreign States and Governments â—â—ve of their Management they 'l give respect according to the Polity of â—â—eir Government if wise they 'l court its Favour if foolish they 'l deâ—selâ— The a Man be strong and rich his Adversary values it not knowâ—â— his blind side and how to cully him out of his Birth-right The maâ—â—â—ment of our Maritime Affairs has been the common Subject of all