Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	council_n	king_n	privy_a	1,162	5	9.8102	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63120	A short history of standing armies in England	Trenchard, John, 1662-1723.	1698 (1698)	Wing T2115; ESTC R39727	36,748	56

advantage the Liberty of England had bin at an end I would not be understood quite to exclude Parliament-men from having Places for a Man may serve his Country in two Capacities but I would not have it to be a Qualification for a Place because a poor Borough thinks a Man fit to represent them that therfore he must be a Statesman a Lawyer a Soldier an Admiral and what not If this method should be taken in a future Reign the People must not expect to see Men of Ability or Integrity in any Places while they hold them by no other tenure than the disservice they do their Country in the House of Commons and are sure to be turned out upon every prevalent Faction on the other side They must then never expect to see the House of Commons act vigorously for the Interest either of King or People but som will servilely comply with the Court to keep their Places others will oppose it as unreasonably to get them and those Gentlemen whose designs are for their Countries Interest will grow weary of the best form of Government in the World thinking by mistake the fault is in our Constitution I have heard of a Country where the Disputes about Offices to the value of thirty thousand Pounds per Annum have made six Millions ineffectual what by som Mens prostitute compliance and others openly clogging the Wheels it has caus'd Want and Necessity in all kinds of Men Bribery Treachery Profaneness Atheism Prodigality Luxury and all the Vices that attend a remiss and corrupt Administration and a universal neglect of the Public It is natural to run from one extreme to another and this Policy will at last turn upon any Court that uses it for if they should be resolv'd to give all Offices to Parliament-Men the People will think themselves under a necessity to obtain a Law that they shall give none which has bin more than once attemted in our own time Indeed tho there may be no great inconvenience in suffering a few Men that have Places to be in that House such as com in naturally without any indirect Means yet it will be fatal to us to have many for all wise Governments indeavor as much as possible to keep the Legislative and Executive Parts asunder that they may be a check upon one another Our Government trusts the King with no part of the Legislative but a Negative Voice which is absolutely necessary to preserve the Executive One part of the Duty of the House of Commons is to punish Offenders and redress the Grievances occasion'd by the Executive part of the Government and how can that be don if they should happen to be the same Persons unless they would be public spirited enough to hang or drown themselves But in my opinion in another thing of no less importance we deviated in Charles the Second's time from our Constitution for tho we were in a Capacity of punishing Offenders yet we did not know legally who they were The Law has bin always very tender of the Person of the King and therfore has dispos'd the Executive part of the Government in such proper Channels that whatsoever lesser Excesses are committed they are not imputed to him but his Ministers are accountable for them his Great Seal is kept by his Chancellor his Revenue by his Treasurer his Laws are executed by his Judges his Fleet is manag'd by his Lord High Admiral who are all accountable for their Misbehavior Formerly all matters of State and Discretion were debated and resolv'd in the Privy Council where every Man subscrib'd his Opinion and was answerable for it The late King Charles was the first who broke this mest excellent part of our Constitution by settling a Cabal or Cabinet Council where all matters of Consequence were debated and resolv'd and then brought to the Privy Council to be confirmed The first footsteps we have of this Council in any European Government were in Charles the Ninth's time of France when resolving to massacre the Protestants he durst not trust his Council with it but chose a few Men whom he call'd his Cabinet Council and considering what a Genealogy it had 't is no wonder it has bin so fatal both to King and People To the King for whereas our Constitution has provided Ministers in the several parts of the Government to answer for Miscarriages and to skreen him from the hatred of the People this on the contrary protects the Ministers and exposes the King to all the Complaints of his Subjects And 't is as dangerous to the People for whatever Miscarriages there are no Body can be punish'd for them for they justify themselves by a Sign Manual or perhaps a privat Direction from the King and then we have run it so far that we can't follow it The consequence of this must be continual Heartburnings between King and People and no one can see the Event A Short HISTORY OF Standing Armies IN ENGLAND IF any Man doubts whether a Standing Army is Slavery Popery Mahometism Paganism Atheism or any thing which they please let him read First The Story of Matho and Spendius at Carthage and the Mamalukes of Egypt Secondly The Historys of Strada and Bentivolio where he will find what work nine thousand Spaniards made in the 17 Provinces tho the Country was full of fortified Towns possessed by the Low Country Lords and they had assistance from Germany England and France Thirdly The History of Philip de Commines where he will find that Lewis the 11th inslaved the vast Country of France with 25000 Men and that the raising 500 Horse by Philip of Burgundy sirnamed the Good was the ruin of those Provinces Fourthly Ludlow's Memoirs where he will find that an Army raised to defend our Liberties made footballs of that Parliament at whose Actions all Europe stood amazed and in a few Years set up ten several sorts of Government contrary to the Genius of the whole Nation and the opinion of half their own Body such is the influence of a General over an Army that he can make them act like a piece of Mechanism whatever their privat Opinions are Lastly Let him read the Arguments against a Standing Army the Discourse concerning Militias the Militia Reform'd and the Answers to them but lest all this should not satisfy him I will here give a short History of Standing Armies in England I will trace this mystery of Iniquity from the beginning and show the several steps by which it has crept upon us The first footsteps I find of a Standing Army in England since the Romans left the Island were in Richard the 2d's time who raised four thousand Archers in Cheshire and suffered them to plunder live upon free Quarter beat wound ravish and kill wherever they went and afterwards he called a Parliament encompassed them with his Archers forced them to give up the whole power of Parliaments and make it Treason to endeavour to repeal any of the Arbitrary Constitutions