Selected quad for the lemma: war_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
war_n	army_n	great_a	year_n	3,151	5	4.5044	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53430	The late prints for a standing army and in vindication of the militia consider'd, are in some parts reconcil'd.	Orme, Thomas, d. 1716.	1698 (1698)	Wing O435; ESTC R223777	18,508	24

THE Late PRINTS for a Standing Army AND IN VINDICATION OF THE MILITIA CONSIDER'D Are in some parts Reconcil'd Facile est inventis addere LONDON Printed for the Author 1698. THE Late PRINTS for a Standing Army AND IN Vindication of the MILITIA considered are in some parts reconcil'd I Shall avoid all Prefatory Insinuations because Prefaces and Dedications are proper for Books and New Matter which may bring Honour to the Patron and Interest to the Author This is merely according to the Title of a Pamphlet vamp'd up with some Observations that are perchance more plain than the ingenious Writings of several accurate Pens in Discourses rather Notional than Practical concerning Militia's and Standing Armies which are now the general Talk of the Town and seem to have come to high Debates I hope the Passions are over the Pens having evacuated their Vinegar and Gall and the Soldier sheathing his Sword and confining his Tongue a little closer than the warmth of his Blood would at first permit For as an eminent Writer says Time asswages Grief and Anger which Passions Nature is too subject unto It is no wonder the King should be uneasie to part with his Army or his Soldiers unwilling to be separated from him for they may be resembled to Lovers that came not together without the permission and advice of Friends on both sides and such as prompted them to Courage Amity and Unanimity for carrying on so great a Work as to free Us from the dismal Apprehensions of Popery Slavery and Arbitrary Power which gathered so thick a Cloud round about Us that we were in despair of ever seeing the glorious Sun-shine of Peace and in fear that that darling Child would never have given Us the Opportunity of singing the Song of Simeon If his Majesty had not been inspired with unspeakable Valour and Conduct and his Soldiers with a suitable Courage and Affection it would have rais'd a Wonder which no History has yet afforded a parallel that so great an Army should continue Seven Years and more without any the usual Encouragements of War and hardly their common Pay or Natural Subsistance so that before they have cleared their Hands and Faces and refresh'd themselves after such Fatigues as our Bodies cannot well bear besides the Hazards undergone for avoiding of which we would have given our All now on a sudden to be Commanded home to seek for a Livelihood is durus Sermo The great Question is Whether a competent Number of the present disciplin'd Forces are not absolutely necessary until the Militia and Train'd Bands are made useful And since I am entred into the Query which all the Writers I have yet met with upon this Subject upon this Sessions have not spoke to satisfactorily I desire to say for my self that though I am unwilling to give a positive Determination in so critical a matter as the event only in process of time shall render either of the Councils safe and honourable yet I am not fearful to put into the Boat for an endeavour to Trim knowing my own Innocency from designs of Advantage I as heartily wish the Honour and Safety of my Country as those that express themselves in a better Stile and can appear in a better Figure Therefore being sensible of my Defects I never intended to set Pen to paper on this Affair until I was call'd to in the Verge of the Court and Queried what was become of some Observations I had formerly made upon the Militia which may be a sort of an Apology for scribling on a Subject so well handled by great Historians who have said all that can be said both as to the Inconveniencies of a Standing Army and also that the Militia and Train'd Bands have been the only Guards of this Island and other Countries And tho' the Art and Methods of War are become intricate and political and our Neighbours are more powerful and formidable than formerly yet it is concluded a Militia in a great measure may be made effectual for our Defence being guarded on the Borders with such a Naval Strength as the Parliament have thought fit to Vote yet with submission I have not found or met with any Scheme or Propositions how or in how long time the Militia shall be so useful as that the Army may be forthwith reduced to so small a Number as was in 1680. I must confess it 's the height of my Ambition to be thought and as much as I am able to prove my self a Lover of the Constitution of my Country the Laws and Customs of which I have some little knowledge of yet not so fully as I ought and am not unwilling or think my self too Old to learn therefore have endeavoured to read and consider all that has yet come out in this Meeting of Parliament where I doubt not before their Rising they will hit upon the beast means for the security of the Kingdom in general with the Honour and Safety of the Crown and the Preservation of Liberty and Property of every individual Subject so that the old Struglings betwixt the Prerogatives of the Crown and the Privileges of the People may not be again contended for or so much as Jealousie rais'd about them For prevention of which for the future I hope it may not be thought a vain Repetition to recite what Sir John Denham says in his Poem call'd Coopers-Hill Thus Kings by grasping more than they could hold First by Oppression made their Subjects bold And Popular Sway by forcing Kings to give More than was fit for Subjects to receive Run to the like Extream Both by Excess For being greater make each other less The King and People are near in Simile to Man and Wife ' who ought to help each others Defects and rejoyce at every thing they are successful in I praise God for the disposition I have in rejoycing in this happy and I doubt not lasting Peace and then I am sure it is Honourable and may he be Anathematized that disturbs it or endeavours to foment a Jealousie betwixt the King and his People The Lord Shaftsbury laid a Curse upon those that offer'd at a Separation So long as the World lasts their will be Failures in Governments we see it every day in private Families But when none of the Seven deadly Sins are predominant it s near an Assurance those stil'd Venial will not bring so great a Punishment as Subversion or Ruin We are here in this Island more enclin'd to Censuring than Amendments tho' we have a general Question modestly put Quis tam Lincius est qui tantis Tenebris nihil offendet It 's apparent most of Christendom were concerned in building a Bulwark and making a Confederacy for stopping an Universal Monarchy and that at the same time we our selves had a distinct hazard that is we had as much or more fear as we pretended of our Religion than Property our Religion being Reformed from the rest of the Confederacy And yet I think I

has a Certificate from his Officer That he has behav'd himself Faithfully and Courageously shall have the Freedom of every City or Town Corporate to set up what Manufactory Trade or lawful Industry his Genius leads him to or if lame or super-annuated to receive a Pension from his Native Country or longest Residence before he went for a Soldier There was something of this kind upon the Restoration of King Charles when there was also a Provision made for Officers which happily may be now But I hope there will be more care taken for a speedier Distribution for the Sollicitation and Attendance eat out the Benevolence And if there be now an Act as there was then for prohibiting the distinguishing People by Characters it would take off many Heats that arise and may encrease a better Affection in the Nation I hope these Notions are not erroneous tho' they deviate a little from the main Subject to which I crave leave to put another Patch by way of Caution that this Method for the Militia be not expensive by the way of vying for I am near an Assurance that if the Position of coming to Hounslow take effect if there be not a limitation for Clothing and Equipage both of Officers and Soldiers the Counties and Officers in each County will be vying who shall appear most splendid before his Majesty For 't is not to be doubted his Martial Disposition will Honour them often with his Presence It will be a Recreation to Him at that Season of the Year I humbly propose from May-Day to Midsummer which in probability will be healthful and pleasant Marching and Encamping and a Season the Soldiers may be best spar'd from their Countries returning by Harvest It will be a time the King Nobility and Gentry may want Business and Recreation which makes them dote on the Wells For the Parliament 't is probable will be seldom sitting about that time nor is there Field-Sports for the King Nobility or Gentry nor has the Country Gentleman much to do at that Season Yet 't is pity a Gentleman that loves his Country and is willing to bestow his Pains and hazard his Life should suffer in his Estate either by neglecting it or being at an extraordinary Expence Therefore for a distinguishing Mark of Honour and something of Interest let him be exempted from other chargeable Offices if he himself will plead the Act that is from being High Sheriff serving on Juries or being a Justice of Peace c. But I would be understood all Commission-Officers under a Deputy Lieutenant as Colonels Lieutenant Colonels Majors Captains Lieutenants and Ensigns As for other Field-Officers Lieutenant-Generals Major-Generals Brigadiers c. 't is not to be doubted but the King has nurs'd up a sufficient number who have shewn their Valour and Conduct in the late War and will be instructive to the Militia whenever they shall appear And altho' the sham Buda and Maestricht were ridicul'd in former times yet if a Namure or Limerick or several Skirmishes in the Defiles such Attacks as Diversions every Year they are encamp'd will not be found to be lost Labours This Position will help to bring in many of good Estates to be the Officers And if it should so happen that some Gentlemen out of Modesty as there are many very stout Gentlemen so modest that they will not offer themselves tho' they are willing should not voluntarily come in let it be in the Brest of the King His Lord Lieutenants c. to recommend invite and perswade such Gentlemen as they think proper but no compulsive Power for Officers And I have heard some argue when I made some Propositions formerly for the improvement of the Militia that it was against the Fundamental Constitution of England to have any Man press'd To which Objection was offered That in case a finder is not able or willing of himself to march or list himself nor cannot enjoin a Son or prevail with a Relation or a young Neighbour that 's fit and likely to be a Representative in such a Case if the Finder discovers a fitting Man in the Parish or Neighbourhood that in his Opinion and in the Opinion of his substantial Neighbours and of the Parson of the Parish who may certifie under their Hands That such a Person is able and in Personal Appearance fitting for Soldiery and that it does not appear to them that this Person does get his Livelihood by an open industrious Means but it is to be fear'd he is a Trespasser in the Night or at improper times out upon Fishing Fowling Shooting Deer or Rabbits if not other worse things Upon such Information to the next Justice of Peace he may send his Warrant for him and enjoin him to list himself and in case of refusal he may send him to the House of Correction or the Goal for 12 Months or till such time as he will list himself I am sure it would have eas'd the Country of many idle Persons that have come to the Gallows and yet would not put themselves into Arms all this War These are but Particles of the Discourse may arise betwixt the Constitution and the Modalities which seems to me like the Carpet-Knights that arraign that which they either dare not do themselves or if they have a Family-Courage to undertake they know not how to do yet to do something more than Argument is Ajax to Ulysses Ostente Facta And we have a new Pronunciator rather do ill than do nothing which is if you will do nothing by way of a serious Consideration to make the Militia useful you must submit to a Standing Army which will do little mischievous Tricks whilst they are idle and grosser as Time serves I can and dare witness that I heard it in an Argument of several Officers in a Veterane Regment now in being That if the King commanded him to take the Life of any Man he would do it subservient to his Pay and this Topick was currently discours'd amongst several Officers upon the Trial of Urats These will in part hint I am not absolutely a Stranger to my Country nor affected to any thing that shall in common Sense be prejudicial therefore give me leave to go through one Allusion and I have done Here 's King and Parliament Subjects Civil and Military Military standing Army or Militia who labour gather and spin like Bees and Silk-worms for the Publick Good Now as Bees and Silk-worms are mixt with Drones Wasps and Grubs so the Constitution being a mixt Government it seems reasonable the Preservation should be a Miscellany between a Militia and Regular Troops This Allusion is an Epitome of the whole Discourse The Parliament being the Representatives of the Nation I hope will concur with the Desires of the King or That His Majesty will acquiesce in what they think or apprehend agreeable to the Interest of Old England or to our Constitution or a probable Certainty of some Settlement Tho' I cannot pretend to