Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A25780
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An argument, proving that a small number of regulated forces established during the pleasure of Parliament cannot damage our present happy establishment, and that it is highly necessary in our present circumstances to have the matter fully determined being considerations upon what has been objected against standing armies in general.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing A3634; ESTC R12991
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17,639
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29
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AN ARGUMENT PROVING That a small Number of Regulated Forces Established during the Pleasure of Parliament cannot damage our Present Happy Establishment AND THAT It is highly necessary in our present Circumstances to have the Matter fully determined Being Considerations upon what has been objected against Standing Armies in General Jupiter Omnipotens precibus si flecteris ullis Aspice nos hoc tantum si pietate meremur Da deinde Auxilium pater aique hoec omnia firma Vir. Aene. l. 11. LONDON Printed for A. Baldwin near the Oxford Arms in Warwick-Lane MDCXCVIII The Introduction HAving for a Year or upwards expected some Ingenious Projector or other to have appeared in Publick with Methods how to make the Militia useful and nothing being as yet adjusted to purpose concerning so grand an Affair I thought I owed the Country of my Nativity so much Justice as to set the present Matter of Debate in as fair a light as I am capable In order therefore to begin I must assume upon me the liberty to say That it looks as if all the Design of this Grand Affair was only to put down the Army and to let the Militia do as well as they can That the Militia are not at this time in any measure useful the Officers themselves will save me the trouble of proving And since no Method as yet is prescribed to make them so I hope the General Zeal of Mankind for His present Majesty's safety will excuse me and let no Person think it improper to have th Matter more maturely considered That Circumstances of Time are much altered is not to be deny'd The pretence of the Stuarts reaches not to the Point They had none of them a Competitor for the Throne or a Potent King to oppose their Titles Whereas with us the Case is quite altered there is living in the Southern Parts a Prince who was actually in the Throne and is still bellowing out his thirsty Desires to return again to his People And lest a pretence of Age shou'd start up as an Objection to his Endeavours he has so managed Affairs that he proclaims to the World he has a Lawful Son That as such he is acknowledged in the Place where he resides is more apparent than his Tule and his Picture is most artificially conveyed about this Kingdom to form in some Bigots an Opinion that he will one day strive for a greater Spot of Land than that which contain'd his Double-Clout Are there then such Things in the World And are there such Men as really give Ear to his Future Title to these Kingdoms And can we be so supinely negligent as not to act in some proportion to avoid such an Impending Storm And what way under Heaven is more likely to disappoint this Intended Project than to have the present Parliament agree on a small Number of Regulated Forces not so great as to be capable of putting us into Fear but at the same time enough to support the now Regnant Prince and justify the Act of Succession If this be not highly Reasonable I am sorry it is my Opinion I am sure I have a true Idea of our Misery shou'd that Act be set aside And since there has lately appeared a Book in Print Intituled A short History of Standing Armies in England as much approved of by some as condemned by others I have endeavoured in this following Discourse as near as I cou'd to split a Hair and to appear with that Temper and Moderation as neither Party may have any just occasion to complain Truly this late Author has appeared so hot and virulent against Kingship it self that in my Opinion he has injured the Cause For by the way Reason spoke in Railing Language disappoints the Purposes for which it was intended And because Occasion is taken in this Pamphlet to commend the last Years Author of an Argument against a Standing Army I will so distinctly and methodically examine the samè that if I can possible I will engage him to publish some more of his Oratory to the World because what he has yet advanced will prove to be tarnished in the wearing He writes I confess like a Gentleman of Stile and Character his Propositions plausible and his Pretences seem fair and popular but his Plebeian Principles are too plain to be concealed And therefore with him I begin For this seems to me the fairest way to set the matter in the truest light For as Solomon says Iron sharpens Iron so does the Countenance of a Man his Friend Disputes strike out the Truth and since some busy Heads wou'd not let the Matter sleep but revive the last Year's quarrel to prepossess the present August Assembly who might perhaps have let it drop I think also that on the other hand there may be a pretence of Necessity but leave the whyole Matter to their Consideration AN Argument c. THE Title page is enough to ereate in some persons a prejudice to the Matter herein to be debated but waving all disadvantages arising on that account I shall venture to pursue my design In which I shall observe the Decorum of Manners as much as consists with the Subject I handle and the Provocations given under the Notion of a Friend to Property And in following my Discourse I shall lay down these Two Propositions First I will prove a Spirit of Jacobitism in the Method he has used And secondly demonstrate That a small Number of Regulated Forces cannot damage our present Happy Constitution The First Proposition is so self-evident that it carries Demonstration along with it for proof of which we need repair no further than to the Joy the Jacobites exprEst on the late Disbanding-Vote and they were only sorry to hear that Any part of the Army was to stand so great a Regard was shown to so brave a Monarch's safety ' Tie true the Opinion of many well-affected Perfons clos'd in to grace this Champion's Triumph I call not their Judgments into question for any thing writ in a popular manner and a flourishing Stile goes down glibly like gilded Pills made by a skilful Apothecary but afterwards the bitter Tast discovers the Frand And just so it is with our unknown Author he uses Artificial Circumlocutions that you may not discern Jacob's Voice from Esau's Hands for after he has admired the Happiness of our Situation and made us more formidable than other Nations think us but takes no notice of our Retreats and Disappointments he dashes all the prospect of our Giory in telling us a great Secret viz. That the King must pay a debt to Nature There were but few who in the midst of Prosperity under the benign Influence of Heaven in the Reign of our late Famous Queen Elizabeth tormented themselves with what shou'd happen after her Death No! They priz'd the Benefit of a just Administration at a greater rate than to have such melancholy Fancies seize upon them and yet at the same time more depended on a