that were then made but being afterwards obliged to go to Ireland to suppress a Rebellion there the People took advantage of it and dethron'd him The Nation had such a Specimen in this Reign of a Standing Army that I don't find any King from him to Charles the 1st that attemted keeping up any Forces in time of Peace except the Yeomen of the Guard who were constituted by Henry the 7th and tho there were several Armies raised in that time for French Scotch Irish other foren and domestic Wars yet they were constantly disbanded as soon as the occasion was over And in all the Wars of York and Lancaster whatever party prevail'd we don't find they ever attemted to keep up a Standing Army Such was the virtue of those times that they would rather run the hazard of forfeiting their Heads and Estates to the rage of the opposit Party than certainly inslave their Country tho they themselves were to be the Tyrants Nor would they suffer our Kings to keep up an Army in Ireland tho there were frequent Rebellions there and by that means their Subjection very precarious as well knowing they would be in England when called for In the first three hundred Years that the English had possession of that Country there were no Armies there but in times of War The first Force that was establish'd was in the 14th of Edward the forrth when 120 Archers on Horseback 40 Horsemen and 40 Pages were establish'd by Parliament there which six Years after were reduc'd to 80 Archers and 20 Spearmen on Horseback Afterwards in Henry the Eighth's time in the Year 1535 the Army in Ireland was 300 and in 1543 they were increased to 380 Horse and 160 Foot which was the Establishment then I speak this of times of Peace for when the Irish were in Rebellion which was very frequent the Armies were much more considerable In Queen Mary's time the Standing Forces were about 1200. In most of Queen Elizabeth's Reign the Irish were in open Rebellion but when they were all suppress'd the Army establish'd was between 1500 and 2000 about which number they continued till the Army rais'd by Strafford the 15th of Charles the 1st In the Year 1602 dy'd Queen Elizabeth and with her all the Virtue of the Plantagenets and the Tudors She made the English Glory sound thro the whole Earth She first taught her Country the advantages of Trade set bounds to the Ambition of France and Spain assisted the Dutch but would neither permit them or France to build any great Ships kept the Keys of the Rivers Maes and Scheld in her own hands and died with an uncontrol'd Dominion of the Seas and Arbitress of Christendom All this she did with a Revenue not exceeding 300000 pounds per Annum and had but inconsiderable Taxes from her People No sooner was King James come to the Crown but all the Reputation we had acquir'd in her glorious Reign was eclips'd and we became the scorn of all Nations about us contemned even by that State we had created who insulted us at Sea seiz'd Amboyna Poleroon Seran and other Places in the East-Indies by which they ingross'd that most profitable Trade of Spices fish'd upon our Coasts without paying the customary Tribute and at the same time prevail'd with the King to deliver up the Cautionary Towns of Brill Ramekins and Flushing for a very small Consideration tho there were near six Millions Arrears He squandred the public Treasure discountenanc'd all the great Men who were rais'd in the glorious Reign of his Predecessor cut off Sir Walter Raleigh's Head advanc'd Favorites of his own Men of no Merit to the highest Preferment and to maintain their Profuseness he granted them Monopolies infinit Projects prostituted Honors for Mony rais'd Benevolences and Loans without Authority of Parliament And when these Grievances were complain'd of there he committed many of the principal Members without Bail or Mainprise as he did afterwards for presuming to address him against the Spanish Match He pardon'd the Earl of Somerset and his Wife for Sir Thomas Overbury's Murder after he had imprecated all the Curses of Heaven upon himself and his Posterity and it was generally thought because the Earl was Accessary to the poisoning Prince Henry He permitted his Son-in-law to be ejected out of his Principalities and the Protestant Interest to be run down in Germany and France while he was bubled nine Years together with the hopes of the Spanish Match and a great Fortune Afterwards he made a dishonorable Treaty of Marriage with France giving the Papists Liberty of Conscience and indeed as he often declared he was no otherwise an Enemy to Popery than for their deposing of Kings and King-killing Doctrin In Ireland he gave them all the Incouragement he durst which Policy has bin follow'd by all his Successors since to this present Reign and has serv'd 'em to two purposes One is by this they have had a pretence to keep up Standing Armies there to aw the Natives and the other that they might make use of the Natives against their English Subjects In this Reign that ridiculous Doctrin of Kings being Jure Divino was coin'd never before heard of even in the Eastern Tyrannies The other parts of his Government had such a mixture of Scharamuchi and Harlequin that they ought not to be spoken of seriously as Proclamations upon every Trifle som against talking of News Letters to the Parliament telling them he was an old and wise King that State Affairs were above their reach and therfore they must not meddle with them and such like Trumpery But our happiness was that this Prince was a great Coward and hated the sight of a Soldier so that he could not do much against us by open force At last he died as many have believed by Poison to make room for his Son Charles the First This King was a great Bigot which made him the Darling of the Clergy but having no great reach of his own and being govern'd by the Priests who have bin always unfortunat when they have meddled with Politics with a true Ecclesiastic Fury he drove on to the destruction of all the Liberties of England This King 's whole Reign was one continued Act against the Laws He dissolv'd his first Parliament for presuming to inquire into his Father's Death tho he lost a great Sum of Mony by it which they had voted him He entred at the same time into a War with France and Spain upon the privat Piques of Buckingham who managed them to the eternal Dishonor and Reproach of the English Nation witness the ridiculous Enterprizes upon Cadiz and the Isle of Rhee He deliver'd Pennington's Fleet into the French hands betray'd the poor Rochellers and suffered the Protestant Interest in France to be quite extirpated He rais'd Loans Excises Coat and Conduct-mony Tunnage and Poundage Knighthood and Ship-mony without Authority of Parliament impos'd new Oaths on the Subjects to discover the value of their Estates
enough to do his Business effectually and therfore cast about how to get a new Army and took the most plausible way which was pretending to enter into a War with France and to that purpose sent Mr. Thyn to Holland who made a strict League with the States and immediatly upon it the King call'd the Parliament who gave him 1200000 Pounds to enter into an actual War with which Mony he rais'd an Army of between twenty and thirty thousand Men within less than forty Days and sent part of them to Flanders At the same time he continued his forces in France and took a Sum of Mony from that King to assist him in making a privat Peace with Holland So that instead of a War with France the Parliament had given a great Sum to raise an Army to enslave themselves But it happen'd about this time that the Popish Plot broke out which put the Nation into such a Ferment that there was no stemming the Tide so that he was forc'd to call the Parliament which met the 23d of October 78 who immediatly fell upon the Popish Piot and the Land Army Besides there were discover'd 57 Commissions granted to Papists to raise Men countersigned J. Will son for which and saying that the King might keep Guards if he could pay them he was committed to the Tower This so inrag'd the Parliament that they immediatly proceded to the disbanding of the Army and pass'd an Act that all rais'd since the 29th of September 77 should be disbanded and gave the King 693388 pounds to pay off their Arrears which he made use of to keep them up and dissolv'd the Parliament but soon after called another which pursu'd the same Counsels and pass'd a second Act to disband the Army gave a new Sum for doing it directed it to be paid into the Chamber of London appointed Commissioners of their own and pass'd a Vote That the continuance of any Standing Forces in this Nation other than the Militia was illegal and a great Grievance and Vexation to the People so that Army was disbanded Besides this they complain'd of the Forces that were in France and address'd the King again to recal them which had som Effect for he sent over no more Recruits but suffer'd them to wear out by degrees The Establishment upon the Dissolution of this Army which was in the Year 1679 80 were 5650 privat Soldiers besides Officers From this time he never agreed with his People but dissolved three Parliaments following for inquiring into the Popish Plot and in the four last Years of his Reign call'd none at all And to crown the Work Tangier is demolish'd and the Garison brought over and plac'd in the most considerable Ports in England which made the Establishment in 8¾ 8482 privat Men besides Officers It 's observable in this King's Reign that there was not one Sessions but his Guards were attack'd and never could get the least Countenance from Parliament but to be even with them the Court as much discountenanc'd the Militia and never would suffer it to be made useful Thus we see the King husbanded a few Guards so well that in a small number of Years they grew to a formidable Army notwithstanding all the endeavors of the Parliament to the contrary so difficult it is to prevent the growing of an Evil that dos not receive a check in the beginning He increas'd the Establishment in Ireland to 7700 Men Officers included wheras they never exceded in any former Reign 2000 when there was more occasion for them the Irish not long before having bin intirely reduced by Cromwel and could never have held up their Heads again without his Countenance But the truth of it was his Army was to support the Irish and the fear of the Irish was to support his Army Towards the latter end of this King's Reign the Nation had so intirely lost all sense of Liberty that they grew fond of their Chains and if his Brother would have suffer'd him to have liv'd longer or had followed his Example by this time we had bin as great Slaves as in France But it was God's great Mercy to us that he was made in another Mould Imperious Obstinat and a Bigot push'd on by the Counsels of France and Rome and the violence of his own Nature so that he quickly run himself out of breath As soon as he came to the Crown he seiz'd the Customs and Excise without Authority of Parliament He pick'd out the Scum and Scandals of the Law to make Judges upon the Bench and turn'd out all that would not sacrifice their Oaths to his Ambition by which he discharg'd the Lords out of the Tower inflicted those barbarous Punishments on Dr. Oates Mr. Johnson c. butcher'd many hundreds of Men in the West after they had bin trapan'd into a Confession by promise of Pardon murder'd Cornish got the Dispensing Power to be declar'd in Westminster-Hall turn'd the Fellows of Magdalen-College out of their Freeholds to make way for a Seminary of Priests and hang'd Soldiers for running away from their Colors He erected the Ecclesiastical Commission suspended the Bishop of London because he would not inflict the same Punishment upon Dr. Sharp for preaching against Popery He closeted the Nobility and Gentry turn'd all out of Imployment that would not promise to repeal the Test put in Popish Privy-Counsellors Judges Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of Peace and to get all this confirm'd by the shew of Parliament he prosecuted the Work his Brother had begun in taking away Charters and new model'd the Corporations by a sort of Vermin call'd Regulators He receiv'd a Nuntio from Rome and sent an Ambassador thither He erected a Popish Seminary at the Savoy to pervert Youth suffer'd the Priests to go about in their Habits made Tyrconnel Lord Lieutenant of Ireland turn'd all the Protestants out of the Army and most of the Civil Imployments there and made Fitton a Papist and one detected for Perjury Chancellor of that Kingdom He issu'd out a Proclamation in Scotland wherin he asserted his Absolute Power which all his Subjects were to obey without reserve a Prerogative I think never claim'd by the Great Turk or the Mogul He issu'd out a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience order'd it to be read in all Churches and imprison'd and try'd the seven Bishops because they humbly offer'd their Reasons in a Petition against it and to consummat all that we might have no hopes of retrieving our Misfortunes he impos'd a counterfeit Prince of Wales upon the Nation Soon after he came to the Crown the Duke of Monmouth landed and in a few weeks got together six or seven thousand Men but they having neither Arms or Provisions were easily defeated by not many more than 2000 of the King's Troops Which leaves a sad prospect of the consequence of a Standing Army for here was a Prince the Darling of the common People fighting against a bigotted Papist that was hated and abbor'd by
imprisoned great numbers of the most considerable Gentry and Merchants for not paying his Arbitrary Taxes som he sent beyond Sea and the poorer sort he prest for Soldiers He kept Soldiers upon free Quarter and executed Martial Law upon them He granted Monopolies without number and broke the bounds of the Forests He erected Arbitrary Courts and inlarg'd others as the High Commission-Court the Star-Chamber Court of Honor Court of Requests c. and unspeakable Oppressions were committed in them even to Men of the first Quality He commanded the Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Lincoln not to com to Parliament committed and prosecuted a great many of the most eminent Members of the House of Commons for what they did there som for no cause at all and would not let them have the benefit of Habeas Corpus suspended and confin'd Arch-Bishop Abbot because he would not license a Sermon that asserted Despotic Power whatever other cause was pretended He suspended the Bishop of Glocester for refusing to swear never to consent to alter the Government of the Church supported all his Arbitrary Ministers against the Parliament telling them he wondred at the foolish Impudence of any one to think he would part with the meanest of his Servants upon their account and indeed in his Speeches or rather Menaces he treated them like his Footmen calling them Undutiful Seditious and Vipers He brought unheard of Innovations into the Church preferred Men of Arbitrary Principles and inclinable to Popery especially those Firebrands Laud Mountague and Manwaring one of whom had bin complain'd of in Parliament another impeach'd for advancing Popery and the third condemn'd in the House of Lords He dispensed with the Laws against Papists and both encourag'd and prefer'd them He called no Parliament for twelve years together and in that time govern'd as arbitrarily as the Grand Seignior He abetted the Irish Massacre as appears by their producing a Commission under the Great Seal of Scotland by the Letter of Charles the 2d in favor of the Marquess of Antrim by his stopping the Succors that the Parliament sent to reduce Ireland six months under the Walls of Chester by his entring into a Treaty with the Rebels after he had ingaged his Faith to the Parliament to the contrary and bringing over many thousands of them to sight against his People It is endless to enumerat all the Oppressions of his Reign but having no Army to support him his Tyranny was precarious and at last his ruin Tho he extorted great Sums from the People yet it was with so much difficulty that it did him little good Besides he spent so much in Foolish Wars and Expeditions that he was always behind-hand yet he often attemted to raise an Army Upon pretence of the Spanish and French War he rais'd many thousand Men who liv'd upon free Quarter and rob'd and destroy'd wherever they came But being unsuccessful in his Wars abroad and prest by the Clamors of the People at home he was forc'd to disband them In 1627 he sent over 30000 l. to Holland to raise 3000 German Horse to force his arbitrary Taxes but this matter taking wind and being examin'd by the Parliament Orders were sent to countermand them In the 15th year of his Reign he gave a Commission to Strafford to raise 8000 Irish to be brought into England but before they could get hither the Scots were in Arms for the like Oppressions and marched into Northumberland which forcing him to call a Parliament prevented that design and so that Army was disbanded Soon after he rais'd an Army in England to oppose the Scots and tamper'd with them to march to London and dissolve the Parliament but this Army being composed for the most part of the Militia and the matter being communicated to the House who immediatly fell on the Officers that were Members as Ashburnham Wilmot Pollard c. the design came to nothing After this there was a Pacification between the King and the Scots and in pursuance of it both Armies were disbanded Then he went to Scotland and indeavor'd to prevail with them to invade England but that not doing he sent a Message to the Parliament desiring their concurrence in the raising 3000 Irish to be lent to the King of Spain to which the Parliament refused to consent believing he would make another use of them When he came back to London he pick'd out 3 or 400 dissolute Fellows out of Taverns gaming and brothel-Houses kept a Table for them and with this goodly Guard all arm'd he entred the House of Commons sat down in the Speaker's Chair demanding the delivery of 5 Members But the Citizens coming down by Land and Water with Musquets upon their Shoulders to defend the Parliament he attemted no further This so inrag'd the House that they chose a Guard to defend themselves against future Insults and the King soon after left London Som time before this began the Irish Rebellion where the Irish pretended the King's Authority and shew'd the Great Seal to justify themselves which whether true or false raised such a jealousy in the People that he was forced to consent to leave the management of that War to the Parliament yet he afterwards sent a Message to them telling them he would go to Ireland in Person and acquainted them that he had issued out Commissions for raising 2000 Foot and 200 Horse in Cheshire for his Guard which they protested against and prevented it By this we may see what Force was thought sufficient in his Reign to inslave the Nation and the frequent Attemts to get it Then the Civil Wars broke out between him and his People in which many bloody Battels were fought two of the most considerable were those of Newbury and Naseby both won by new Soldiers the first by the London Militia and the latter by an unexperienc'd Army which the King used to call in derision the New Nodel And som years after the Battel of Worcester was in a great measure won by the Country Militia for which Cromwel discharged them with anger and contemt as knowing them Instruments unsit to promote his Tyrannical Designs At last by the fate of the War the King became a Prisoner and the Parliament treated with him while in that condition and at the same time voted that som part of the Army should be disbanded and others sent to Ireland to reduce that Kingdom upon which the Army chose Agitators among themselves who presented a Petition to both Houses that they would proceed to settle the Affairs of the Kingdom and declare that no part of the Army should be disbanded till that was don But finding their Petition resented they sent and seiz'd the King's Person from the Parliaments Commissioners drew up a Charge of High Treason against eleven principal Members for indeavoring to disband the Army entred into a privat Treaty with the King but he not complying with their demands they seized London and notwithstanding the Parliament had voted
30th of July tho there appears no reason why he might not have don it when he first came into the Harbor which was more than seven Weeks before Thus we see the Resolution of these poor Men weari'd out all their Disappointments When the Convention met they resolv'd upon twenty eight Articles as the Preliminaries upon which they would dispose the Crown but this design dwindled into a Declaration of our Rights which was in thirteen Articles and the most considerable viz. That the raising and keeping up a Standing Army in times of Peace is contrary to Law had tag'd to it these words without Authority of Parliament as if the consent of the Parliament would not have made it Legal without those words or that their Consent would make it less dangerous This made the Jacobites say in those early days that som evil Counsellors design'd to play the same game again of a Standing Army and attributed unjustly the neglect of Ireland to the same Cause because by that omission it was made necessary to raise a greater Army to reduce it with which the King acquainted the Parliament the 8th of March when speaking of the deplorable Condition of Ireland he declar'd he thought it not advisable to attemt the reducing it with less than 20000 Horse and Foot This was a bitter Pill to the Parliament who thought they might have manag'd their share of the War with France at Sea but there was no remedy a greater Army must be rais'd or Ireland lost and to gild it all the Courtiers usher'd in their Speeches with this Declaration That they would be the first for disbanding them when the War was over and this Declaration has bin made as often as an Army has bin debated since during the War and I suppose punctually observ'd last Sessions At last the thing was consented to and the King issu'd forth Commissions for the raising of Horse Foot and Dragoons In this Army very few Gentlemen of Estates in Ireland could get Imployments tho they were in a miserable Condition here and made their utmost Application for them it being a common objection by som Colonels that a Man had an Estate there which in all likelihood would have made him more vigorous in reducing the Kingdom It was long after this Army was rais'd before they could be ready to be transported and even then it was commonly said that Shomberg found many things out of order and when they were at last transported which was about the middle of August they were not in a Condition to fight the Enemy tho lately baffled before Londonderry especially their Carriages coming not to them till the 24th of September when it was high time to go into Winter-Quarters By this means the Irish got Strength and Courage and three fourths of our Army perish'd at the Camp at Dundalk But tho our Army could do nothing yet the Militia of the Country almost without Arms or Clothes performed Miracles witness that memorable Siege of Londonderry the defeat of General Mackarty who was intrench'd in a Bog with ten thousand regular Troops and attack'd by fifteen hundred Inniskilling men defeated himself made a Prisoner and three thousand of his Men kill'd and a great many other gallant Actions they perform'd for which they were dismiss'd by Kirk with Scorn and Ignominy and most of their Officers left to starve Thus the War in Ireland was nurs'd up either thro Chance Inadvertency or the necessity of our Affairs for I am unwilling to think it was Design till at last it was grown so big that nothing less than his Majesty's great Genius and the usual Success that has always attended his Conduct could have overcom it When the Parliament met that Winter they fell upon the examination of the Irish Affairs and finding Commissary Shales was the cause of a great part of the Miscarriages they address'd his Majesty that he would be pleas'd to acquaint the House who it was that advis'd the imploying him which his Majesty did not remember They then address'd that he would be pleas'd to order him to be taken into Custody and it was don accordingly upon which Shales sent a Letter to the Speaker desiring he might be brought over to England where he would vindicat himself and justify what he had don Then the House address'd his Majesty again that he might be brought over with all convenient speed and the King was pleas'd to answer that he had given such Orders already Then the House refer'd the matter to a privat Committee but before any Report made or Shales could be brought to England the Parliament was prorogu'd and after dissolv'd and soon after he fell sick and died The neglect of Ireland this Year made it necessary to raise more Forces and increase our Establishment which afterwards upon pretence of invading France was advanc'd to eighty seven thousand six hundred ninety eight Men. At last by our great Armies and Fleets and the constant expence of maintaining them we were too hard for the Oeconomy Skill and Policy of France and notwithstanding all our Difficulties brought them to Terms both Safe and Honorable It not being to be purpose of this Discourse I shall omit giving any account of the Conduct of our Fleet during this War how few Advantages we reap'd by it and how many Opportunities we lost of destroying the French Only thus much I will observe that tho a great part of it may be attributed to the Negligence Ignorance or Treachery of inferior Officers yet it could not so universally happen thro the whole course of the War and unpunish'd too notwithstanding the clamors of the Merchants and repeated complaints in Parliament unless the cause had laid deeper What that is I shall not presume to enquire but I am sure there has bin a very ill Argument drawn from it viz. That a Fleet is no security to us As soon as the Peace was made his Majesty discharg'd a great part of the foren Forces and an Advertisment was publish'd in the Gazet that ten Regiments should be forthwith disbanded and we were told as soon as it was don that more should follow their example But these Resolutions it seems were alter'd and the modish Language was that we must keep up a Standing Army Their Arguments were turn'd topsy turvy for as during the War the People were prevail'd upon to keep up the Army in hopes of a Peace so now we must keep them up for fear of a War The Condition of France which they had bin decrying for many Years was now magnifi'd we were told that it was doubtful whether the French King would deliver up any of his Towns that he was preparing a vast Fleet upon the Lord knows what Design that it was impossible to make a Militia useful that the warlike King Jemmy had an Army of eighteen thousand Irish Hero's in France who would be ready when call'd for and that the King of Spain was dying The Members of Parliament were discours'd
44 104 780 928 Stranaver's 13 44 104 780 928  13 44 104 780 928 All the Forces in Holland 78 264 624 4680 5568  ☞ SO that his Majesty's whole Army consists of 813 3612 6420 49937 59969 Of these seven thousand eight hundred and seventy seven are Foreigners which is the first foreign Army that ever set foot in England but as Enemies Since the writing of this I am informed that Brudenall's Regiment is in being and that Eppinger's Dragoons are in English Pay which if true will make the whole Army sixty odd thousand Men but in this as well as many other Parts of the List I may be mistaken for which I hope I shall be excused when I acquaint the Reader that I was forced to pick it out from accidental Discourses with Officers having apply'd to my Lord R 's Office without Success tho I made such Interest for it as upon another occasion would not have bin refused If the Prince of Orange in his Declaration instead of telling us that we should be settled upon such a foundation that there should be no danger of our falling again into Slavery and that he would send back all his Forces as soon as that was done had promis'd us that after an eight Years War which should leave us in Debt near twenty Millions we should have a Standing Army establish'd a great many of which should be Foreigners I believe few Men would have thought such a Revolution worth the hazard of their Lives and Estates but his mighty Soul was above such abject thoughts as these his Declaration was his own these paltry Designs are our Undertakers who would shelter their own Oppressions under his Sacred Name I would willingly know whether the late King James could have inslaved us but by an Army and whether there is any way of scouring us from falling again into Slavery but by disbanding them It was in that sense I understood his Majesty's Declaration and therfore did early take up Arms for him as I shall be always ready to do It was this alone which made his assistance necessary to us otherwise we had wanted none but the Hangman 's I will venture to say that if this Army dos not make us Slaves we are the only People upon Earth in such Circumstances that ever escap'd it with the 4th part of their number It is a greater force than Alexander conquer'd the East with than Caesar had in his Conquest of Gaul or indeed the whole Roman Empire double the number that any of our Ancestors ever invaded France with Agesilaus the Persians or Huniades and Scanderbeg the Turkish Empire as many again as was in any Battel between the Dutch and Spaniards in forty Years War or betwixt the King and Parliament in England four times as many as the Prince of Orange landed with in England and in short as many as have bin on both sides in nine Battels of ten that were ever fought in the World If this Army dos not inslave us it is barely because we have a virtuous Prince that will not attemt it and 't is a most miserable thing to have no other Security for our Liberty than the Will of a Man tho the most just Man living for that is not a free Government where there is a good Prince for even the most arbitrary Governments have had somtimes a Relaxation of their Miseries but where it is so constituted that no one can be a Tyrant if he would Cicero says tho a Master dos not tyrannize yet 't is a lamentable consideration that it is in his power to do so and therfore such a Power is to be trusted to none which if it dos not find a Tyrant commonly makes one and if not him to be sure a Successor If any one during the Reign of Charles the Second when those that were call'd Whigs with a noble Spirit of Liberty both in the Parliament House and in private Companies oppos'd a few Guards as Badges of Tyranny a Destruction to our Constitution and the Foundations of a Standing Army I say if any should have told them that a Deliverer should com and rescue them from the Oppressions under which they then labor'd that France by a tedious and consumtive War should be reduc'd to half the Power it then had and even at that time they should not only be passive but use their utmost Interest and distort their Reason to find out Arguments for keeping up so vast an Army and make the Abuses of which they had bin all their lives complaining Precedents to justify those Procedings whoever would have told them this must have bin very regardless of his Reputation and bin thought to have had a great deal of ill nature But the truth is we have lived in an Age of Miracles and there is nothing so extravagant that we may not expect to see when surly Patriots grow servil Flatterers old Commonwealthsmen declare for the Prerogative and Admirals against the Fleet. But I wonder what Arguments in nature our Hirelings will think of for keeping up an Army this year Good Reasons lie within a narrow Compass and might be guessed at but non-sense is infinit The Arguments they chiefly insisted upon last year were That it was uncertain whether the French King would deliver up any of his Towns if we disbanded our Army that King James had 18000 Men at his devotion kept by the King of France that a great Fleet was preparing there upon som unknown Design that the King of Spain was dying that there was no Militia settled and that they would keep them up only for a year to see how the world went This with a few Lies about my Lord Portland's and Bouffler's quarrelling and som Prophecies of our being invaded in six months was the substance of what was said or printed Now in fact the French King has deliver'd up Giron Roses Belver Barcelona and a great part of the Province of Catalonia The Town and Province of Luxemburg and the County of Chiny the Towns of Mons Charleroy Courtray and Aeth in the Spanish Provinces to the King of Spain The Town of Dinant to the Bishop of Leige The Towns of Pignerol Cazal Susa Montmelian Nice Villa Franca all Savoy and part of Piemont to the Duke of Savoy The Cities of Treves Germensheim and the Palatinat the County of Spanheim Veldentz and Dutchy of Deuxponts the County of Mombelliand and som Possessions of Burgundy the Forts of Kiel Friburg St. Peterfort Destoile the Town of Philipsburg and most of Alsace Eberenburg and the Dutchy of Lorrain to the Empire has demolished Hunningen Montroyal and Kernburg He has delivered up the Principality of Orange to the King of England These are vast Countries and contain in bigness as much ground as the Kingdom of England and maintained the King of France above 100000 Men besides he had laid out vast Sums in the Fortifications he delivered up and demolished Add to this his Kingdom is miserably impoverished and
the same Method not our Policy Occonomy or Conduct we must encounter them hereafter and in order to it should put our selves in such Circumstances that our Enemies may dread a new Quarrel which can be no otherwise don but by lessening our Expences and paying off the public Ingagements as fast as we are able 'T is a miserable thing to consider that we pay near 4000000 l. a year upon the account of Funds no part wherof can be apply'd to the public Service unless they design to shut up the Exchequer which would not be very prudent to own I would therfore ask som of our Men of Management Suppose there should be a new War how they propose to maintain it For we all now know the end of our Line we have nothing left but a Land-Tax a Poll and som few Excises if the Parliament can be prevailed upon to consent to them And for once I will suppose that all together with what will fall in a Twelvemonth will amount to 3000000 l. and a half which is not probable and we will complement them by supposing they shall not in case of a new War give above fourteen or fifteen per cent for Premiums and Interest then the Remainder will be 3000000 l. I believe I may venture to say they will not be very fond of lessening the Civil List and lose their Salaries and Pensions Then if we deduct 700000 pound per annum upon that account there will be 2300000 pound per annum for the use of the War if the People pay the utmost penny they are able so that the Question will not be as in the last War how we shall carry it on against France at large but how 2300000 pound shall be disposed of to the greatest advantage which I presume every one will believe ought to be in a good Fleet. This leads me to consider what will be the best if not the only way of managing a new War in case of the King of Spain's death and a new Rupture with France and I will suppose the Nation to be as perfectly free from all incumbrances as before the War Most men at this time of day I believe will agree with me that 't is not our business to throw Squibs in Flanders send out vast Sums of Mony to have our Men play at bopeep with the French and at best to have their brains beat out against stone Walls but if a War is necessary there 't is our Interest to let the Dutch and Germans manage it which is proper for their Situation and let our Province be to undertake the Sea yet if we have not wit and honesty enough to make such a bargain with them but that we bring our selves again to a necessity of maintaining Armies there we may hire Men from Germany for half the price we can raise them here and they will be sooner ready than they can be transported from hence that Country being full of Men all Soldiers inured to Fatigue and serving for much less pay than we give our own besides we shall carry on the War at the expence of others blood and save our own People which are the strength and riches of all Governments we shall save the charge of providing for the Officers when the War is don and not meet with such difficulties in disbanding them There are som Gentlemen that have started a new method of making War with France and tell us it will be necessary to send Forces to Spain to hinder the French from possessing that Country and therfore we must keep them up here to be ready for that service which by the way is acknowledging the Horse ought to be disbanded since I presume they don't design to send them to Spain But to give this a full Answer I believe it is every ones opinion that there ought to be a strong Fleet kept up at Cales or in the Mediterranean superior to the French and then 't will be easier and cheaper to bring the Emperor's Forces by the way of Final to Spain than to send Men from hence and they are more likely to be acceptable there being of the same Religion and Subjects to the House of Austria whereas 't is to be feared our Men would be in as much danger from that bigotted Nation as from the French besides the King of Potugal is arming for his own defence and a sum of Mony well disposed there will enable him to raise double the Forces upon the spot as can be sent from hence with the same charge But for once I will admit it necessary we should send Forces both to Flanders and Spain yet 't is no consequence that we must keep up a Standing Army in England till that time coms We may remember Chrles the 2d rais'd between 20 and 30000 Men to fight against France in less than forty days and the Regiments this King raised the first year of his Reign were compleated in a very short time fart I am of opinion that a new Army may be raised before Ships and Provisions will be ready for their transportation at least if the management is no better than 't was once upon a time and perhaps it may happen that the King of Spain will not die in the summer time and then we shall have the winter before us We may add to this that the King of France has disbanded a great many men that his Country now lies open in a great many places that the Germans and Dutch keep great numbers of Men in constant pay and in all probability there will be a Peace with the Turks That Portugal and the Italian Princes must enter into the Confederacy in their own defence and that the French will lie under an equal necessity to raise Forces with a much less Country than in the former War to oppose such a mighty Union of Princes who will attach him upon the first attemt he makes upon Spain And after all what 's the mighty Advantage we propose by keeping this Force Why forsooth having a small number of Men more for the Officers will always be ready and now a great part of the private Soldiers are to be rais'd in case of a new War ready six Weeks sooner to attack France And I durst almost appeal to these Gentlemen themselves whether so small a Balance against France is equivalent to the hazard of our Liberties destructiion of our Constitution and the constant Expence of keeping them up to expect when the King of Spain will be pleased to die If these Gentlemen are really afraid of a new War and don 't use it as a Bugbear to fright us out of our Liberties and to gain their little party-Ends the way to bring the People into it heartily is to shew them that all their Actions tend to the public Advantage to lessen the National Expences to manage the Revenue with the greatest frugality to postpone part of their own Salaries and not grow rich while their Country grows poor to give their hearty Assistance for appropriating the Irish Lands gain'd by the Peoples Blood and Sweat to the public Service as was promis'd by his Majesty and not to shew an unhappy Wit in punishing som Men and excusing others for the same fault and spend three Months in Intrigues how to keep up a Standing Army to the dread of the greatest part of the Nation for let them fancy what they please the People will never consent to the raising a new Army till they are satisfied they shall be rid of them when the War is don and there is no way of convincing them of that but the disbanding these with willingness When we see this don we shall believe they are in earnest and the People will join unanimously in a new War otherwise there will always be a considerable part of the Nation whatever personal Honor they have for his Majesty or fears of France that will lie upon the Wheels with all their weight and do them more harm than their Army will do them good To conclude we have a wise and virtuous Prince who has always indeavor'd to please his People by taking those Men into his Councils which they have recommended to him by their own Choice and when their Interest has declin'd he has gratified the Nation by turning them out I would therfore give this seasonable advice to those who were once call'd Whigs that the way to preserve their Interest with his Majesty is to keep it with the People that their old Friends will not desert them till they desert their Country which when they do they will be left to their own proper Merits and tho I am not much given to believing Prophecys yet I dare be a Prophet for once and foretel that then they will meet with the fate of King Phys. and King Vsh in the Rehearsal Their new Masters will turn them off and no Body else will take them THE END ERRATA Pref. pag. 6. l. 8 9. r. the then King P. 15. l. 25. for four r. three P. 36. l. 17. for since r. and.
A Short HISTORY OF Standing Armies IN ENGLAND Captique dolis donisque coacti Quos neque Tydides nec Larissaeus Achilles Non anni domuere decem non mille Carinae Virg. Aen. ii LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCVIII The PREFACE THERE is nothing in which the generality of Mankind are so much mistaken as when they talk of Government The different Effects of it are obvious to every one but few can trace its Causes Most Men having indigested Ideas of the Nature of it attribute all public Miscarriages to the corruption of Mankind They think the whole Mass is infected that it 's impossible to make any Reformation and so submit patiently to their Countries Calamities or else share in the Spoil whereas Complaints of this kind are as old as the World and every Age has thought their own the worst We have not only our own Experience but the Example of all Times to prove that Men in the same Circumstances will do the same things call them by what names of distinction you please A Government is a mere piece of Clockwork and having such Springs and Wheels must act after such a manner and therfore the Art is to constitute it so that it must move to the public Advantage It is certain that every Man will act for his own Interest and all wise Goverments are founded upon that Principle So that this whole Mystery is only to make the Interest of the Governors and Governed the same In an absolute Monarchy where the whole Power is in one Man his Interest will be only regarded In an Aristocracy the Interest of a few and in a free Government the Interest of every one This would be the Case of England if som Abuses that have lately crept into our Constitution were remov'd The freedom of this Kingdom depends upon the Peoples chusing the House of Commons who are a part of the Legislature and have the sole power of giving Mony Were this a true Representative and free from external Force or privat Bribery nothing could pass there but what they thought was for the public Advantage For their own Interest is so interwoven with the Peoples that if they act for themselves which every one of them will do as near as he can they must act for the common Interest of England And if a few among them should find it their Interest to abuse their Power it will be the Interest of all the rest to punish them for it and then our Government would act mechanically and a Rogue will as naturally be hang'd as a Clock strike twelve when the Hour is com This is the Fountain-Head from whence the People expect all their Happiness and the redress of their Grievances and if we can preserve them free from Corruption they will take care to keep every body else so Our Constitution seems to have provided for it by never suffering the King till Charles the Second's Reign to have a Mercenary Army to frighten them into a Compliance nor Places or Revenues great enough to bribe them into it The Places in the King's Gift were but few and most of them Patent Places for Life and the rest great Offices of State enjoy'd by single Persons which seldom fell to the share of the Commons such as the Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Privy-Seal Lord High-Admiral c. and when these Offices were possess'd by the Lords the Commons were severe Inquisitors into their Actions Thus the Government of England continu'd from the time that the Romans quitted the Island to the time of Charles the First who was the first I have read of that made an Opposition to himself in the House of Commons the road to Preferment of which the Earl of Strafford and Noy were the most remarkable Instances who from great Patriots became the chief Assertors of Despotic Power But this serv'd only to exasperat the rest for he had not Places enough for all that expected them nor Mony enough to bribe them 'T is true he rais'd great Sums of Mony upon the People but it being without Authority of Parliament and having no Army to back him it met with such Difficulties in the raising that it did him little good and ended at last in his ruin tho by the means of a long and miserable War which brought us from one Tyranny to another for the Army had got all things into their Power and govern'd the Nation by a Council of War which made all Parties join in calling in Charles the Second So that he came in with the general applause of the People who in a kind fit gave him a vast Revenue for Life By this he was enabled to raise an Army and bribe the Parliament which he did to the purpose but being a luxurious Prince he could not part with great Sums at once He only fed them from hand to mouth So that they found it as necessary to keep him in a constant Dependence upon them as they had upon him They knew he would give them ready Mony no longer than he had absolute necessity for them and he had not Places enough in his disposal to secure a Majority in the House for in those early days the art was not found out of splitting and multiplying Places as instead of a Lord Tr r to have Five Lords of the Tr ry instead of a Lord Ad l to have Seven Lords of the Ad ty to have Seven Commissioners of the C ms Nine of the Ex ze Fourteen of the N vy Office Ten of the St mp Office Eight of the Pr ze Office Sixteen of the Commissioners of Tr de Two of the P st Office Four of the Transports Four for Hackny Coaches Four for Wine-Licenses Four for the Victualling Office and multitudes of other Offices which are endless to enumerat I believe the Gentlemen who have the good Fortune to be in som of these Imployments will think I complement them if I should say they have not bin better executed since they were in so many hands than when in fewer and I must confess I see no reason why they may not be made twice as many and so ad infinitum unless the number be ascertain'd by Parliament and what danger this may be to our Constitution I think of with Horror For if in Ages to com they should be all given to Parliament Men what will becom of our so much boasted Liberty what shall be don when the Criminal becoms the Judg and the Malefactors are left to try themselves We may be sure their common danger will unite them and they will all stand by one another I do not speak this by guess for I have read of a Country where there was a constant Series of mismanagement for many Years together and yet no body was punish'd and even in our own Country I believe som Men now alive can remember the time when if the King had but twenty more Places in his disposal or disposed of those he had to the best
reproach to our Country that our Reputation at Sea should be sunk to so low an eb as to be baffled by that Nation who but a few years before had sent a blank Paper to the Parliament to prescribe to them what Laws they pleased During this War the City of London was fired not without violent suspicions that the Firebals were prepared at Whitehall Soon after this he entred into the Triple Alliance to oppose the growing greatness of France and received a great Sum from the Parliament to maintain it which he made use of to break the same League sent Mr. Coventry to Sweden to dissolve it and entred into a strict Alliance with France which was sealed with his Sister's blood In conjunction with them he made a new War upon Holland to extirpat Liberty and the Protestant Religion but knowing the Parliament were averse to the War and would not support him in it he attemted before any War declared to seize their Smirna Fleet shut up the Exchequer and became so mean as to be a Pensioner to France from whence his Predecessors with Swords in their hands had so often exacted Tribute He not only suffered but assisted them to arrive at that pitch of Greatness which all Europe since hath sufficiently felt and lamented He sent over ten thousand Men to assist in subduing Flanders and Germany by whose help they did several considerable Actions He sent them Timber Seamen Ship-Carpenters and Models contrary to the Policy of all Nations which rais'd their Naval Force to a degree almost equal to our own and for their exercise he suffered them to take multitudes of English Ships by their Privateers without so much as demanding satisfaction During this War he issued out a Declaration suspending the Penal Laws which appears to be designed in favor of the Papists by his directing a Bill afterwards to be stolen away out of the House of Lords for indulging Protestant Dissenters whom he persecuted violently most of his Reign while he both countenanced and preferred Papists broke the Act of Settlement in Ireland restored them to their Estates issued forth a Proclamation giving the Papists liberty to inhabit in Corporations and married the Duke of York not only to a Papist but one in the French Interest notwithstanding the repeated Addresses of the Parliament to the contrary It was in this Reign that that cursed and detestable Policy was much improved of bribing Parliaments by distributing all the great Imployments in England among them and supplying the want of places with Grants of Lands and Mony No Man could be preferred to any Imployment in Church or State till he had declared himself an open Enemy to our Constitution by asserting Despotic Power under that nonsensical Phrase of Passive Obedience which was more preach'd up than all the Laws of God and Man The Hellish Popish Plot was stifled proved since too true by fatal experience and in the room of it Protestant ones were forged and Men trapan'd into others as the Meal-Tub Fitz Harris's the Rye-House Newmarket and Black-Heath Plots and by these Pretences and the help of packt Judges and Juries they butchered som of the best Men in England set immoderat Fines upon others gave probable suspicion of cutting the Lord Essex's Throat and to finish our destruction they took away the Charters as fast as they were able of all the Corporations in England that would not choose the Members prescribed them But he durst not have dreamt of all these Violations if he had not had an Army to justify them He had thoughts at first of keeping up the Parliament-Army which was several times in debate But Chancellor Hyde prevailed upon him by this Argument that they were a body of Men that had cut off his Father's Head that they had set up and pulled down ten several sorts of Government and that it might be his own turn next So that his fears prevailing over his ambition he consented to disband them but soon found how vain and abortive a thing Arbitrary Power would prove without an Army He therfore try'd all ways to get one and first he attemted it in Scotland and by means of the Duke of Lauderdale got an Act passed there wherby the Kingdom of Scotland was obliged to raise 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse at his Majesty's Call to march into any part of his Dominions and this Law is in being at this day Much about the same time he rais'd Guards in England a thing unheard of before in our English Constitution and by degrees increas'd them till they became a formidable Army for first they were but very few but by adding insensibly more Men to a Troop or Company and then more Troops or Companies to a Regiment before the second Dutch War he had multiplied them to near 5000 Men. He then began that War in conjunction with France and the Parliament gave him two Millions and a half to maintain it with part of which Mony he rais'd about 12000 Men which were called the Black-Heath Army appointing Marshal Shomberg to be their General and Fitz Gerald an Irish Papist their Lieutenant-General and pretended he rais'd them to attack Holland but instead of using them to that purpose he kept them encamped upon Black-Heath hovering over the City of London which put both the Parliament and City in such confusion that the King was forced at last to disband them But there were several accidents contributed to it First the ill success he had in the War with the Dutch such Gallantries being not to be attemted but in the highest Raptures of Fortune Next the never to be forgotten Generosity of that great Man General Shomberg whose mighty Genius scorn'd so ignoble an Action as to put Chains upon a free People and last of all the Army themselves mutini'd for want of Pay which added to the ill Humors that were then in the Nation made the King willing to disband them But at the same time contrary to the Articles of Peace with the Dutch he continu'd ten thousand Men in the French Service for the most part under Popish Officers to be season'd there in slavish Principles that they might be ready to execute any Commands when they were sent for over The Parliament never met but they address'd the King to recal these Forces out of France and disband them and several times prepar'd Bills to that purpose which the King always prevented by a Prorogation but at last was prevail'd upon to issue forth a Proclamation to recal them yet at the same time supply'd them with Recruits incourag'd som to go voluntarily into that Service and press'd imprison'd and carri'd over others by main Force besides he only disbanded the new rais'd Regiments and not all them neither for he kept up in England five thousand eight hundred and ninety privat Men besides Officers which was his Establishment in 1673. The King having two great designs to carry on together viz. Popery and Arbitrary Power thought this Force not
depopulated by this War his Manufactures much impaired great numbers of Offices have bin erected which like Leeches draw away the Peoples blood prodigious Debts contracted and a most beneficial Trade with England lost These things being considered there can be little danger of their shewing over much wantonness especially for som years and yet still we must be bullied by the name of France and the Fear of it must do what their Power could never yet effect which is a little too gross considering they were inslaved by the same means For in Lewis the 11th's time the French gave up their Liberties for fear of England and now we must give up ours for fear of France Secondly Most of King James's English and Irish Forces which we have bin so often threatned with are disbanded and he is said to subsist upon his Majesty's Charity which will be a sufficient Caution for his good behaviour Thirdly The French Fleet which was another Bugbear exceeded not this year 20 Sail nor attemted any thing tho we had no Fleet out to oppose them Fourthly The King of Spain is not dead nor in a more dangerous Condition than he has bin for som years and we are not without hopes that his Majesty by his extraordinary Prudence has taken such care as to prevent a new War in case he should die Fifthly As to the Militia I suppose every Man is now satisfied that we must never expect to see it made useful till we have disbanded the Army I would not be here understood to throw the whole odium of that matter upon the Court for there are several other Parties in England that are not over-zealous for a Militia First those who are for restoring K. James's Trumpery and would have the Army disbanded and no Force settled in the room of it Next there are a mungrel sort of Men who are not direct Enemies to the King yet because their fancied merit is not rewarded at their own price they are so shagreen that they will not let him have the Reputation of so noble an Establishment Besides these there are others that having no notion of any Militia but our own and being utterly unacquainted with antient and modern History think it impracticable and som wretched things are against it because of the Charge whereas if their Mothers had taught them to cast account they would have found out that 52000 Men for a month will be but the same charge to the Subject as four thousand for a year supposing the pay to be the same and reckoning it to be a third part greater it will be equivalent to the charge of 6000 and if we should allow them to be out a fortnight longer than was designed by the last Bill for exercising in lesser Bodies then the utmost Charge of such a Militia will be no more than to keep up 9000 Men the year round None of the Parties I mention'd will openly oppose a Militia tho they would be all glad to drop it and I believe no body will be so hardy as to deny but if the Court would shew as much vigor in prosecuting it as they did last year to keep up a Standing Army that a Bill would pass which they will certainly do if we disband the Army and they think it necessary and if they do not we have no reason to think an Army so When they tell us we may be invaded in the mean time they are not in earnest for we all know if the King of France has any designs they look another way besides he has provided no Transports nor is in any readiness to make an Invasion and if he was we have a Fleet to hinder him nay even the Militia we have in London and som other Counties are moderatly exercis'd and I believe those who speak most contemtibly of them will allow 'em to have natural Courage and as good Limbs as other People and if they will allow nothing else then here is an Army of a hundred or sixscore thousand Men ready listed regimented horsed and armed and if there should be any occasion his Majesty can put what Officers he pleases of the old Army over them and the Parliament will be sitting to give him what Powers shall be necessary We may add to this that the disbanded Soldiers in all probability will be part of this body and then what fear can there be of a scambling Invasion of a few Men I have avoided in this place discoursing of the nature of Militia's that Subject having been so fully handled already only thus much I will observe that a Standing Army in Peace will grow more effeminat by living dissolutely in Quarters than a Militia that for the most part will be exercised with hard labor So that upon the whole matter a Standing Army in Peace will be worse than a Militia and in War a Militia will soon becom a disciplin'd Army Sixthly The Army has bin kept up for a Year which is all was pretended to and notwithstanding their Prophecies we have had no Invasion nor danger of one Lastly The Earl of Portland and Marshal Boufflers were so far from quarrelling that perhaps no English Ambassador was ever received in France with more Honor. But further there is a Crisis in all Affairs which when once lost is never to be retrieved Several Accidents concur to make the disbanding the Army practicable now which may not happen again We have a new Parliament uncorrupted by the Intrigues of the Courtiers besides the Soldiers themselves hitherto have known little but the Fatigues of a War and have bin so paid since that the privat Men would be glad to be disbanded and the Officers would not be very uneasy at it considering they are to have half Pay which we must not expect them hereafter when they have lived in Riot and Luxury Add to this we have a good Prince whose Inclinations as well as Circumstances will oblige him to comply with the reasonable Desires of his People But let us not flatter our selves this will not be always so If the Army should be continued a few years they will be accounted part of the Prerogative and 't will be thought as great a violation to attemt the disbanding them as the Guards in Charles the Second's time it shall be interpreted a design to dethrone the King and be made an Argument for the keeping them up But there are other Reasons yet The public Necessities call upon us to contract our charge that we may be the sooner out of debt and in a condition to make a new War and t is not the keeping great Armies on foot that will inable us to do so but putting our selves in a capacity to pay them We have had the experience of this in eight years War for we have not bin successful against France in one Battel and yet we have neighed it down by mere natural Strength as I haxe seen a heavy Country Booby sometimes do a nimble Wrestler and by