Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prince_n	death_n	king_n	wales_n	2,767	5	10.1787	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

bound us hand and foot before this time But when their ill-contriv'd Oppression came home to their own Doors they quickly shew'd the World how different a thing it was to suffer themselves and to make other People suffer and so we came by our Deliverance and tho the late King had the Nobility Gentry Clergy People and his own Army against him and we had a very wise and couragious Prince nearly related to the Crown and back'd by a powerful State for our Protector yet we account this Revolution next to a Miracle I will add here that most of the Nations I instanced before were inslaved by small Armies Oliver Cromwell lest behind him but 17000 Men and the Duke of Monmouth who was the Darling of the People was suppress'd with two thousand nay Cesar seiz'd Rome it self with five thousand and fought the Battel of Pharsalia where the Fate of the World was decided with twenty two thousand and most of the Revolutions of the Roman and Ottoman Empires since were caused by the Pretorian Bands and the Court-Janizaries the former of which never exceeded eight nor the latter twelve thousand Men And if no greater Numbers could make such Disturbances in those vast Empires what will double the Force do with us And they themselves confess it when they argue for an Army for they tell us we may be surprized with ten or fifteen thousand Men from France and having no regular Force to oppose them they will over-run the Kingdom Now if so small a Force can oppose the King the Militia with the united Power of the Nobility Gentry and Commons what will an equal Power do against the People when supported by the Royal Authority and a never-failing Interest that will attend it except when it acts for the Publick Good But we are told this Army is not design'd to be made a part of our Constitution but to be kept only for a little time till the Circumstances of Europe will better permit us to be without them But I would know of these Gentlemen when they think that time will be Will it be during the Life of King James or after his Death Shall we have less to fear from the Youth and Vigor of the pretended Prince of Wales than now from an unhappy Man sinking under the load of Age and Misfortunes Or will France be more capable of offending us just after this tedious and consumptive War than hereafter when it has had a breathing time to repair the Calamities it has suffer'd by it No we can never disband our Army with so much safety as at this time and this is well known by these Conspirators against their Country who are satisfied that a Continuation of them now is an Establishment of them for ever for whilst the Circumstances of Europe stand in the present Posture the Argument will be equal to continue them if the State of Europe should alter to the advantage of France the Reason will grow stronger and we shall be told we must increase our Number but if there should be such a turn of Affairs in the World that we were no longer in apprehension of the French Power they may be kept up without our Assistance nay the very Discontents they may create shall be made an Argument for the continuing of them But if they should be kept from oppressing the People in a little time they will grow habitual to us and almost become a part of our Constitution and by degrees we shall be brought to believe them not only not dangerous but necessary for every body fees but few understand and those few will never be able to perswade the Multitude that there is any danger in those Men they have lived quietly with for some Years especially when the disbanding them will as they will be made believe cost them more Money out of their own Pockets to maintain a Militia and of this we have had already an unhappy Experience For Charles the Second being conniv'd at in keeping a few Guards which were the first ever known to an English King besides his Pensioners and his Beef-eaters he insensibly increased their Number till he left a body of Men to his Successor great enough to tell the Parliament he would be no longer bound by the Laws he had sworn to and under the Shelter and Protection of these he raised an Army that had put a Period to our Government if a Complication of Causes which may never happen again had not presented the Prince of Orange with a Conjuncture to assert his own and the Nation 's Rights And tho we have so lately escaped this Precipice yet Habit has made Souldiers so familiar to us that some who pretend to be zealous for Liberty speak of it as a Hardship to his present Majesty to refuse him as many Men as his Predecessors not considering that the raising them then was a Violation of our Laws and that his Government is built upon the Destruction of theirs and can no more stand upon the same Rubbish than the Kingdom of Heaven be founded in Unrighteousness But the Conspirators say we need be in no apprehensions of Slavery whilst we keep the power of the Purse in our own hands which is very true but they do not tell us that he has the power of raising Money to whom no one dares refuse it Arma tenenti Omnia dat qui justa negat For 't is as certain that an Army will raise Money as that Money will raise an Army but if this course be too desperate 't is but shutting up the Exchequer and disobliging a few Tally-Jobbers who have bought them for fifty per Cent. discount and there will be near three Millions a Year ready cut and dry'd for them and whoever doubts whether such a Method as this is practicable let him look back to the Reign of Charles the Second And I am afraid the Officers of the Exchequer have not much reason to value themselves for their Payments in this Reign at least the Purchasers of the Annuities are of that opinion and would be apt to entertain some unseasonable Suspicions if they had not greater Security from his Majesty's Vertue than the Justice of the Ministers But if we could suppose whatever is the fate of other Countries that our Courtiers design nothing but the Publick Good yet we ought not to hazard such unusual Vertue by leading it into Temptation which is part of our daily Duty to pray against But I am afraid we don't live in an Age of Miracles especially of that sort our Heroes are made of a coarser Allay and have too much Dross mix'd with their Constitutions for such refin'd Principles for in the little Experience I have had in the World I have observed most Men to do as much Mischief as lay in their Power and therefore am for dealing with them as we do with Children and mad Men that is take away all Weapons by which they may do either themselves or others an

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