proved of infinite Advantage to the World if their remote Influence upon Government had been obviated by sutable Remedies Such odd Consequences and of such a different Nature accompany extraordinary Inventions of any kind Constantinople being taken by Mahomet the Second in the Year 1453 many Learned Greeks fled over into Italy where the favourable reception they found from the Popes Princes and Republicks of that Country soon introduced amongst the better sort of Men the study of the Greek Tongue and of the Antient Authors in that Language About the same time likewise some Learned Men began to restore the Purity of the Latin Tongue But that which most contributed to the Advancement of all kind of Learning and especially the study of the Antients was the Art of Printing which was brought to a great degree of Perfection a few Years after By this means their Books became common and their Arts generally understood and admired But as Mankind from a natural propension to Pleasure is always ready to chuse out of every thing what may most gratify that vicious Appetite so the Arts which the Italians first applied themselves to improve were principally those that had been subservient to the Luxury of the Antients in the most corrupt Ages of which they had many Monuments still remaining Italy was presently filled with Architects Painters and Sculptors and a prodigious Expence was made in Buildings Pictures and Statues Thus the Italians began to come off from their frugal and military way of living and addicted themselves to the pursuit of refined and expensive Pleasures as much as the Wars of those Times would permit This Infection spread it self by degrees into the Neighbouring Nations But these things alone had not been sufficient to work so great a Change in Government if a preceding Invention brought into common use about that time had not produced more new and extraordinary Effects than any had ever done before which probably may have many Consequences yet unforeseen and a farther Influence upon the Manners of Men as long as the World lasts I mean the Invention of the Needle by the help of which Navigation was greatly improved a Passage opened by Sea to the East-Indies and a new World discovered By this means the Luxury of Asia and America was added to that of the Antients and all Ages and all Countries concurred to sink Europe into an Abyss of Pleasures which were rendred the more expensive by a perpetual Change of the Fashions in Clothes Equipage and Furniture of Houses These things brought a total Alteration in the way of living upon which all Government depends 'T is true Knowledg being mightily increased and a great Curiosuy and Nicety in every thing introduced Men imagined themselves to be gainers in all Points by changing from their frugal and military way of living which I must confess had some mixture of Rudeness and Ignorance in it tho not inseparable from it But at the same time they did not consider the unspeakable Evils that are altogether inseparable from an expensive way of living To touch upon all these tho slightly would carry me too far from my Subject I shall therefore content my self to apply what has been said to the immediate Design of this Discourse The far greater share of all those Expences fell upon the Barons for they were the Persons most able to make them and their Dignity seemed to challenge whatever might distinguish them from other Men. This plunged them on a sudden into so great Debts that if they did not sell or otherwise alienate their Lands they found themselves at least obliged to turn the Military Service their Vassals owed them into Money partly by way of Rent and partly by way of Lease or Fine for paiment of their Creditors And by this means the Vassal having his Lands no longer at so easy a Rate as before could no more be obliged to Military Service and so became a Tenant Thus the Armies which in preceding times had been always composed of such Men as these ceased of course and the Sword fell out of the hands of the Barons But there being always a necessity to provide for the Defence of every Country Princes were afterwards allowed to raise Armies of Volunteers and Mercenaries And great Sums were given by Diets and Parliaments for their Maintenance to be levied upon the People grown rich by Trade and dispirited for want of Military Exercise Such Forces were at first only raised for present Exigencies and continued no longer on foot than the Occasions lasted But Princes soon found Pretences to make them perpetual the chief of which was the garisoning Frontier Towns and Fortresses the Methods of War being altered to the tedious and chargeable way of Sieges principally by the Invention of Gunpowder The Officers and Souldiers of these Mercenary Armies depending for their Subsistence and Preferment as immediately upon the Prince as the former Militia's did upon the Barons the Power of the Sword was transferred from the Subject to the King and War grew a constant Trade to live by Nay many of the Barons themselves being reduced to Poverty by their expensive way of living took Commands in those Mercenary Troops and being still continued Hereditary Members of Diets and other Assemblies of State after the loss of their Vassals whom they formerly represented they were now the readiest of all others to load the People with heavy Taxes which were employed to increase the Prince's Military Power by Guards Armies and Citadels beyond Bounds or Remedy Some Princes with much impatience pressed on to Arbitrary Power before things were ripe as the Kings of France and Charles Duke of Burgundy Philip de Commines says of the latter That having made a Truce with the King of France he called an Assembly of the Estates of his Country and remonstrated to them the prejudice he had sustained by not having Standing Troops as that King had that if five hundred Men had been in garison upon their Frontier the King of France would never have undertaken that War and having represented the Mischiefs that were ready to fall upon them for want of such a Force he earnestly pressed them to grant such a Sum as would maintain eight hundred Lances At length they gave him a hundred and twenty thousand Crowns more than his ordinary Revenue from which Tax Burgundy was exempted But his Subjects were for many reasons under great Apprehensions of falling into the subjection to which they saw the Kingdom of France already reduced by means of such Troops And truly their Apprehensions were not ill-grounded for when he had got together five or six hundred Men at Arms he presently had a mind to more and with them disturbed the peace of all his Neighbours He augmented the tax from one hundred and twenty to five hundred thousand Crowns and increased the Numbers of those Men at Arms by whom his Subjects were greatly opprest Francis de Beaucaire Bishop of Metz in his History of France
A DISCOURSE OF GOVERNMENT With relation to MILITIA'S Edinburgh Printed in the Year MDCXCVIII A DISCOURSE OF GOVERNMENT With relation to MILITIA'S THERE is not perhaps in humane Affairs any thing so unaccountable as the Indignity and Cruelty with which the far greater part of Mankind suffer themselves to be used under pretence of Government For some Men falsly perswading themselves that bad Governments are advantageous to them as most conducing to gratify their Ambition Avarice and Luxury set themselves with the utmost art and violence to procure their Establishment and by such Men almost the whole World has been trampled under foot and subjected to Tyranny for want of understanding by what means and methods they were enslaved For tho Mankind take great care and pains to instruct themselves in other Arts and Sciences yet very few apply themselves to consider the nature of Government an Enquiry so useful and necessary both to Magistrate and People Nay in most Countries the Arts of State being altogether directed either to enslave the People or to keep them under slavery it is become almost every where a Crime to reason about Matters of Government But if Men would bestow a small part of the Time and Application which they throw away upon curious but useless Studies or endless Gaming in perusing those excellent Rules and Examples of Government which the Antients have left us they would soon be enabled to discover all such Abuses and Corruptions as tend to the Ruin of Publick Societies 'T is therefore very strange that they should think Study and Knowledg necessary in every thing they go about except in the noblest and most useful of all Applications The Art of Government Now if any Man in compassion to the Miseries of a People should endeavour to disabuse them in any thing relating to Government he will certainly incur the Displeasure and perhaps be pursued by the Rage of those who think they find their Account in the oppression of the World but will hardly succeed in his Endeavours to undeceive the Multitude For the generality of all Ranks of Men are cheated by Words and Names and provided the antient Terms and outward Forms of any Government be retained let the nature of it be never so much altered they continue to dream that they shall still enjoy their former Liberty and are not to be awakned till it prove too late Of this there are many remarkable Examples in History but that particular Instance which I have chosen to insist on as most sutable to my purpose is the Alteration of Government which happened in most Countries of Europe about the year 1500. And 't is worth observation that tho this Change was fatal to their Liberty yet it was not introduced by the Contrivance of ill-designing Men nor were the mischievous Consequences perceived unless perhaps by a few wise Men who if they saw it wanted Power to prevent it Two hundred years being already passed since this Alteration began Europe has felt the Effects of it by sad Experience and the true Causes of the Change are now become more visible To lay open this matter in its full Extent it will be necessary to look farther back and examin the Original and Constitution of those Governments that were established in Europe about the year 400 and continued till this Alteration When the Goths Vandals and other warlike Nations had at different Times and under different Leaders overrun the Western Parts of the Roman Empire they introduced the following Form of Government into all the Nations they subdued The General of the Army became King of the Conquered Country and the Conquest being absolute he divided the Lands amongst the great Officers of his Army afterwards called Barons who again parcelled out their several Territories in smaller Portions to the inferiour Souldiers that had followed them in the Wars and who then became their Vassals enjoying those Lands for Military Service The King reserved to himself some Demeasnes for the maintenance of his Court and Attendance When this was done there was no longer any Standing Army kept on foot but every man went to live upon his own Lands and when the Defence of the Country required an Army the King summoned the Barons to his Standard who came attended with their Vassals Thus were the Armies of Europe composed for about eleven hundred years and this Constitution of Government put the Sword into the hands of the Subject because the Vassals depended more immediately on the Barons than on the King which effectually secured the freedom of those Governments For the Barons could not make use of their Power to destroy those limited Monarchies without destroying their own Grandeur nor could the King invade their Privileges having no other Forces than the Vassals of his own Demeasnes to rely upon for his support in such an Attempt I lay no great stress on any other Limitations of those Monarchies nor do I think any so essential to the Liberties of the People as that which placed the Sword in the hands of the Subject And since in our time most Princes of Europe are in possession of the Sword by Standing Mercenary Forces kept up in time of Peace absolutely depending upon them I say that all such Governments are changed from Monarchies to Tyrannies Nor can the Power of granting or refusing Money tho vested in the Subject be a sufficient security for Liberty where a Standing Mercenary Army is kept up in time of Peace For he that is arm'd is always Master of the Purse of him that is unarm'd And not only that Government is tyrannical which is tyrannically exercised but all Governments are tyrannical which have not in their Constitution a sufficient Security against the Arbitrary Power of the Prince I do not deny that these limited Monarchies during the greatness of the Barons had some Defects I know few Governments free from them But after all there was a Balance that kept those Governments steady and an effectual Provision against the Encroachments of the Crown I do less pretend that the present Governments can be restored to the Constitution before mentioned The following Discourse will show the impossibility of it My design in the first place is to explain the Nature of the past and present Governments of Europe and to disabuse those who think them the same because they are called by the same Names and who ignorantly clamour against such as would preserve that Liberty which is yet left In order to this and for a further and clearer Illustration of the Matter I shall deduce from their Original the Causes Occasions and the Complication of those many unforeseen Accidents which falling out much about the same time produced so great a Change And it will at first sight seem very strange when I shall name the Restoration of Learning the Invention of Printing of the Needle and of Gunpowder as the chief of them things in themselves so excellent and which the last only excepted might have
speaking of the same Affair says That the foresaid States could not be induced to maintain Mercenary Forces being sensible of the Difficulties into which the Commonalty of France had brought themselves by the like Concession that Princes might increase their Forces at pleasure and sometimes even when they had obtained Money pay them ill to the vexation and destruction of the poor People and likewise that Kings and Princes not contented with their antient Patrimony were always ready under this pretext to break in upon the Properties of all Men and to raise what Money they pleased That nevertheless they gave him a hundred and twenty thousand Crowns yearly which he soon increased to five hundred thousand But that Burgundy which was the antient Dominion of that Family retained its antient Liberty and could by no means be obliged to pay any part of this new Tax 'T is true Philip de Commines subjoins to the forecited passage that be believes standing Forces may be well employed under a wise King or Prince but that if he be not so or leaves his Children young the use that he or their Governours make of them is not always profitable either for the King or his Subjects If this Addition be his own and not rather an Insertion added by the President of the Parliament of Paris who published and as the foresaid Francis de Beaucaire says he was credibly informed corrupted his Memoirs yet Experience shews him to be mistaken For the Example of his Master Lewis the 11th whom upon many occasions he calls a Wise Prince and those of most Princes under whom standing Forces were first allow'd demonstrates that they are more dangerous under a wise Prince than any other And Reason tells us that if they are the only proper Instruments to introduce Arbitrary Power as shall be made plain a cunning and able Prince who by the World is called a Wise one is more capable of using them to that end than a weak Prince or Governors during a Minority and that a wise Prince having once procured them to be established they will maintain themselves under any I am not ignorant that before this Change Subsidies were often given by Diets States and Parliaments and some raised by the Edicts of Princes for maintaining Wars but these were small and no way sufficient to subsist such numerous Armies as those of the Barons Militia There were likewise Mercenary Troops sometimes entertained by Princes who aimed at Arbitrary Power and by some Common-wealths in time of War for their own defence but these were only Strangers or in very small numbers and held no proportion with those vast Armies of Mercenaries which this change has fix'd upon Europe to her affliction and ruin What I have said hitherto has been always with regard to one or other and often to most Countries in Europe What follows will have a more particular regard to Britain where tho the Power of the Barons be ceased yet no mercenary Troops are yet established The Reason of which is that England had before this great Alteration lost all her Conquests in France the Town of Calais only excepted and that also was taken by the French before the Change was thorowly made So that the Kings of England had no Pretence to keep up Standing Forces either to defend Conquests abroad or to garison a Frontier towards France since the Sea was now become the only Frontier between those two Countries Neither could the Frontier towards Scotland afford any colour to those Princes for raising such Forces since the Kings of Scotland had none and that Scotland was not able to give Money for the subsisting any considerable number 'T is true the Example of France with which Country Scotland had constant correspondence and some French Counsellors about Mary of Guise Queen Dowager and Regent of Scotland induced her to propose a Tax for the subsisting of Mercenary Soldiers to be employed for the defence of the Frontier of Scotland and to ease as was pretended the Barons of that trouble But in that honourable and wise Remonstrance which was made by 300 of the lesser Barons as much dissatisfied with the Lords who by their silence betrayed the publick Liberty as with the Regent her self she was told That their Forefathers had defended themselves and their Fortunes against the English when that Nation was much more powerful than they were at that time and had made frequent incursions into their Country That they themselves had not so far degenerated from their Ancestors to refuse when occasion requir'd to hazard their Lives and Fortunes in the Service of their Country That as to the hiring of Mercenary Soldiers it was a thing of great danger to put the Liberty of Scotland into the hands of Men who are of no Fortunes nor have any hopes but in the publick Calamity who for Money would attempt any thing whose excessive Avarice opportunity would inflame to a desire of all manner of Innovations and whose Faith would follow the Wheel of Fortune That tho these Men should be more mindful of the Duty they owe to their Country than of their own particular Interest was it to be supposed that Mercenaries would sight more bravely for the defence of other Mens Fortunes than the Possessors would do for themselves or their own or that a little Money should excite their ignoble Minds to a higher pitch of Honour than that with which the Barons are inspired when they fight for the preservation of their Fortunes Wives and Children Religion and Liberty That most Men did suspect and apprehend that this new way of making War might be not only useless but dangerous to the Nation since the English if they should imitate the Example might without any great trouble to their People raise far greater Sums for the maintenance of Mercenary Soldiers than Scotland could and by this means not only spoil and lay open the Frontier but penetrate into the Bowels of the Kingdom And that it was in the Militia of the Barons their Ancestors had plac'd their chief Trust for the defence of themselves against a greater Power By these powerful Reasons being made sensible of her Error the Queen desisted from her Demands Her Daughter Queen Mary who as the great Historian says look'd upon the moderate Government of a limited Kingdom to be disgraceful to Monarchs and upon the slavery of the People as the freedom of Kings resolved to have Guards about her Person but could not fall upon a way to compass them for she could find no Pretext unless it were the empty show of Magnificence which belongs to a Court and the Example of Foreign Princes for the former Kings had always trusted themselves to the Faith of the Barons At length upon a false and ridiculous pretence of an Intention in a certain Nobleman to seize her Person she assumed them but they were soon abolished Nor had her Son King James any other Guards whilst he was King of Scotland only than forty
Gentlemen And that King declares in the Act of Parliament by which they are established that he will not burden his People by any Tax or Imposition for their Maintenance Henry the Seventh King of England seems to have perceived sooner and understood better the Alteration before-mentioned than any Prince of his time and obtained several Laws to favour and facilitate it But his Successors were altogether improper to second him For Henry the Eighth was an unthinking Prince The Reigns of Edward the Sixth and Queen Mary were short and Queen Elizabeth loved her People too well to attempt it King James who succeeded her was a stranger in England and of no Interest abroad King Charles I. did indeed endeavour to make himself Absolute tho somewhat preposterously for he attempted to seize the Purse before he was Master of the Sword But very wise Men have been of Opinion that if he had been possessed of as numerous Guards as those which were afterwards raised and constantly kept up by King Charles the Second he might easily have succeeded in his Enterprize For we see that in those Struggles which the Country Party had with King Charles the Second and in those Endeavours they used to bring about that Revolution which was afterwards compassed by a Foreign Power the chief and insuperable Difficulty they met with was from those Guards And tho King James the Second had provoked these Nations to the last degree and made his own Game as hard as possible not only by invading our Civil Liberties but likewise by endeavouring to change the Established Religion for another which the People abhorred whereby he lost their Affections and even those of a great part of his Army Yet notwithstanding all this mismanagement Britain stood in need of a Foreign Force to save it and how dangerous a Remedy that is the Histories of all Ages can witness 'T is true this Circumstance was favourable that a Prince who had married the next Heir to these Kingdoms was at the Head of our Deliverance yet did it engage us in a long and expensive War And now that we are much impoverished and England by means of her former Riches and present Poverty fallen into all the Corruptions which those great Enemies of Vertue Want and Excess of Riches can produce that there are such numbers of Mercenary Forces on foot at home and abroad that the greatest part of the Officers have no other way to subsist that they are commanded by a wise and active King who has at his Disposal the formidable Land and Sea Forces of a Neighbouring Nation the great Rival of our Trade A King who by Blood Relation other particular Ties and common Interest has the House of Austria most of the Princes of Germany and Potentates of the North for his Friends and Allies who can whatever Interest he join with do what he thinks fit in Europe I say if a Mercenary Standing Army be kept up the first of that kind except those of the Vsarper Cromwel and the late King James that Britain has seen for thirteen hundred Years I desire to know where the Security of the British Liberties lies unless in the good Will and Pleasure of the King I desire to know what real Security can be had against Standing Armies of Mercenaries backed by the Corruption of both Nations the Tendency of the way of Living the Genius of the Age and the Example of the World Having shown the difference between the past and present Government of Britain how precarious our Liberties are and how from having the best security for them we are in hazard of having none at all 't is to be hoped that those who are for a Standing Army and losing no occasion of advancing and extending the Prerogative from a mistaken Opinion that they establish the antient Government of these Nations will see what sort of Patriots they are But we are told that only Standing Mercenary Forces can defend Britain from the perpetual Standing Armies of France However frivolous this Assertion be as indeed no good Argument can be brought to support it either from Reason or Experience as shall be proved hereafter yet allowing it to be good what Security can the Nations have that these Standing Forces shall not at some time or other be made use of to suppress the Liberties of the People tho not in this King's time to whom we owe their Preservation For I hope there is no Man so weak to think that keeping up the Army for a year or for any longer time than the Parliaments of both Nations shall have engaged the publick Faith to make good all Deficiencies of Funds granted for their Maintenance is not the keeping them up for ever 'T is a pitiful shift in the Vndertakers for a Standing Army to say We are not for a Standing Army We are only for an Army from year to year or till the Militia be made useful For Britain cannot be in any hazard from France at least till that Kingdom so much exhausted by War and Persecution shall have a breathing space to recover Before that time our Militias will be in order and in the mean time the Fleet. Besides no Prince ever surrendred so great Countries and so many strong Places I shall not say in order to make a new War but as these Men will have it to continue the same The French King is old and diseased and was never willing to hazard much by any bold Attempt If he or the Dauphin upon his Decease may be suspected of any farther Design it must be upon the Spanish Monarchy in case of the death of that King And if it be objected that we shall stand in need of an Army in such a Conjuncture I answer that our Part in that or in any other foreign War will be best managed by Sea as shall be shown hereafter Let us then see if Mercenary Armies be not exactly calculated to enslave a Nation Which I think may be easily proved if we consider that such Troops are generally composed of Men who make a Trade of War and having little or no Patrimony or spent what they once had enter into that Employment in hopes of its Continuance during Life not at all thinking how to make themselves capable of any other By which means heavy and perpetual Taxes must be entail'd for ever upon the People for their Subsistence and since all their Relations stand engaged to support their Interest let all Men judg if this will not prove a very united and formidable Party in a Nation But the Vndertakers must pardon me if I tell them that no well-constituted Government ever suffered any such Men in it whose Interest leads them to imbroil the State in War and are a useless and insupportable Burden in time of Peace Venice or Holland are neither of them examples to prove the contrary for had not their situation been different from that of other Countries their Liberty had not continued to this time
And they suffer no Forces to remain within those inaccessible places which are the chief seats of their power Carthage that had not those advantages of situation and yet used Mercenary Forces was brought to the brink of ruin by them in a time of Peace beaten in three Wars and at last subdued by the Romans If ever any Government stood in need of such a sort of Men 't was that of antient Rome because they were engaged in perpetual War The Argument can never be so strong in any other Case But the Romans well knowing such Men and Liberty to be incompatible and yet being under a necessity of having Armies constantly on foot made frequent Changes of the Men that served in them who when they had been some time in the Army were permitted to return to their Possessions Trades or other Emploiments And to show how true a Judgment that wise State made of this Matter it is sufficient to observe that those who subverted that Government the greatest that ever was amongst Men found themselves obliged to continue the same Souldiers always in constant Pay and Service If during the late War we had followed so wise a course as that of Rome there had been thrice as many trained Men in the Nations as at present there are no difficulties about Recruits nor debates about keeping up Armies in time of Peace because some Men resolve to live by Arms in time of Peace whether it be for the good of the Nations or not And since such was the practice of Rome I hope no man will have the confidence to say that this method was not as effectual for War as any other If it be objected that Rome had perpetual Wars and therefore that might be a good practice among them which would not be so with us I confess I cannot see the Consequence for if Rome had perpetual Wars the Romans ought still to have continued the same men in their Armies that they might according to the Notion of these men render their Troops more useful And if we did change our men during a War we should have more men that would understand something of it If any man say not so much as if they continued in the Army I answer that many of those who continue in the Army are afterwards swept away by the War and live not to be of use in time of Peace that those who escape the War being fewer than in the other case are soon consumed and that Mercenary Standing Forces in time of Peace if not employed to do mischief soon become like those of Holland in 72 fit only to lose forty strong places in forty days There is another thing which I would not mention if it were not absolutely necessary to my present purpose and that is the usual Manners of those who are engaged in Mercenary Armies I speak now of Officers in other Parts of Europe and not of those in our Armies allowing them to be the best and if they will have it so quite different from all others I will not apply to them any part of what I shall say concerning the rest They themselves best know how far any thing of that Nature may be applicable to them I say then most Princes of Europe having put themselves upon the foot of keeping up Forces rather numerous than well entertain'd can give but small Allowance to Officers and that likewise is for the most part very ill paid in order to render them the more necessitous and depending and yet they permit them to live in all that extravagancy which mutual example and emulation prompts them to By which means the Officers become insensibly engaged in numberless Frauds Oppressions and Cruelties the Colonels against the Captains and the Captains against the inferiour Souldiers and all of them against all persons with whom they have any kind of business So that there is hardly any sort of Men who are less Men of Honour than the Officers of Mercenary Forces and indeed Honour has now no other signification amongst them than Courage Besides most Men that enter into those Armies whether Officers or Souldiers as if they were obliged to show themselves new Creatures and perfectly regenerate if before they were modest or sober immediately turn themselves to all manner of Debauchery and Wickedness committing all kind of Injustice and Barbarity against poor and defenceless People Now tho the natural Temper of our Men be more just and honest than that of the French or of any other People yet may it not be feared that such bad Manners may prove contagious And if such Manners do not fit Men to enslave a Nation Devils only must do it On the other hand if it should happen that the Officers of Standing Armies in Britain should live with greater Regularity and Modesty than was ever yet seen in that sort of Men it might very probably fall out that being quarter'd in all Parts of the Country some of them might be returned Members of Parliament for divers of the Electing Boroughs and of what Consequence that would be I leave all Men to judg So that whatever be the Conduct of a Mercenary Army we can never be secure as long as any such Force is kept up in Britain But the Vndertakers for a Standing Army will say Will you turn so many Gentlemen to starve who have faithfully serv'd the Government This Question I allow to be founded upon some reason For it ought to be acknowledg'd in justice to our Souldiery that on all occasions and in all actions both Officers and Souldiers have done their part and therefore I think it may be reasonable that all Officers and Souldiers of above forty years in consideration of their unfitness to apply themselves at that age to any other Employment should be recommended to the bounty of both Parliaments I confess I do not see by what Rules of good Policy any Mercenary Forces have been connived at either in Scotland England or Ireland Sure 't is allowing the dispensing Power in the most essential Point of the Constitution of Government in these Nations Scotland and England are Nations that were formerly very jealous of Liberty of which there are many remarkable Instances in the Histories of these Countries And we may hope that the late Revolution having given such a blow to Arbitary power in these Kingdoms they will be very careful to preserve their Rights and Privileges And sure it is not very sutable to these that any Standing Forces be kept up in Britain or that there should be any Scots English or Irish Regiments maintained in Ireland or any where abroad or Regiments of any Nation at the charge of England I shall not say how readily the Regiments that were in the service of Holland came over against the Duke of Monmouth He was a Rebel and did not succeed But we all know with what expedition the Irish Mercenary Forces were brought into Britain to oppose his present Majesty in that glorious Enterprize
for men that had passed through such a Discipline as that of the Camp I have described to retain it after they should return to their several homes if the people of every Town and Village together with those of the adjacent Habitations were obliged to meet 50 times in the Year on such days as should be found most convenient and exercise four hours every time for all men being instructed in what they are to do and the men of quality and estate most knowing and expert of all others the Exercise might be performed in great perfection There might also be yearly in the Summer time a Camp of some thousands of the nearest Neighbours brought and kept together for a week to do those Exercises which cannot be performed in any other place every Man of a certain Estate being obliged to keep a Horse fit for the War By this means it would be easy upon any occasion tho never so small as for example the keeping of the Peace and putting the Laws in execution where force is necessary or never so great and sudden as upon account of Invasions and Conspiracies to bring together such numbers of Officers and Souldiers as the exigence required according to the practice of antient Rome which in this particular might be imitated by us without difficulty And if such a Method were once established there would be no necessity of keeping up a Militia form'd into Regiments of Foot and Horse in time of Peace Now if this Militia should stand in need of any farther improvment because no Militia's seem comparable to those exercised in actual War as that of the Barons by their constant Feuds and that of Rome and some other antient Commonwealths by their perpetual Wars a certain small number of Forces might be employed in any foreign Country where there should be action a fourth part of which might be changed every year that all those who had in this manner acquired experience might be dispersed among the several Regiments of any Army that the defence of these Countries should at any time call for which would serve to confirm and give assurance to the rest Such a Militia would be of no great expence to these Nations for the mean clothing and provisions for those who could not maintain themselves being given only for one year would amount to little and no other expence would be needful except for their Arms a small train of Artillery for each Camp and what is to be given for the encouragement of the first Officers and Masters A Militia upon such a foot would have none of the infinite and insuperable Difficulties there are to bring a few Men who live at a great distance from one another frequently together to exercise at which consequently they must be from home every time several days of finding such a number of Masters as are necessary to train so many thousands of People ignorant of all exercise in so many different places and for the most part at the same time It would have none of those innumerable Incumbrances and unnecessary Expences with which a Militia formed into Regiments of Foot and Horse in time of Peace is attended In such a Camp the youth would not only be taught the exercise of a Musket with a few Evolutions which is all that men in ordinary Militia's pretend to and is the least part of the duty of a Souldier but besides a great many Exercises to strengthen and dispose the Body for fight they would learn to fence to ride and manage a Horse for the War to forage and live in a Camp to fortify attack and defend any place and what is no less necessary to undergo the greatest Toils and to give obedience to the severest Orders Such a Militia by sending beyond Seas certain Proportions of it and relieving them from time to time would enable us to assist our Allies more powerfully than by Standing Armies we could ever do Such a Camp would take away the great difficulty of bringing men of all Conditions who have passed the time of their youth to apply themselves to the use and exercise of Arms and beginning with them early when like wax they may be moulded into any shape would dispose them to place their greatest Honour in the performance of those Exercises and inspire them with the Fires of Military Glory to which that Age is so enclined which Impression being made upon their youth would last as long as life Such a Camp would be as great a School of Vertue as of military Discipline In which the Youth would learn to stand in need of few things to be content with that small allowance which nature requires to suffer as well as to act to be modest as well as brave to be as much ashamed of doing any thing insolent or injurious as of turning their back upon an Enemy they would learn to forgive Injuries done to themselves but to embrace with joy the occasions of dying to revenge those done to their Country And Vertue imbib'd in younger years would cast a Flavour to the utmost periods of life In a word they would learn greater and better things than the Military Art and more necessary too if any thing can be more necessary than the defence of our Country Such a Militia might not only defend a People living in an Island but even such as are placed in the midst of the most warlike Nations of the World Now till such a Militia may be brought to some perfection our present Militia is not only sufficient to defend us but considering the Circumstances of the French Affairs especially with relation to Spain Britain cannot justly apprehend an Invasion if the Fleet of England to which Scotland furnish'd during the late War seven or eight thousand Seamen were in such order as it ought to be And it can never be the Interest of these Nations to take any other share in preserving the Balance of Europe than what may be performed by our Fleet. By which means our Money will be spent amongst our selves our Trade preserved to support the Charge of the Navy our Enemies totally driven out of the Sea and great numbers of their Forces diverted from opposing the Armies of our Allies abroad to the defence of their own Coasts If this Method had been taken in the late War I presume it would have proved not only more advantagious to us but also more serviceable to our Allies than that which was followed And 't is in vain to say that at this rate we shall have no Allies at all For the weaker Party on the Continent must be contented to accept our Assistance in the manner we think fit to give it or inevitably perish But if we send any Forces beyond the Seas to join those of our Allies they ought to be part of our Militia as has been said and not Standing Forces otherwise at the end of every War the present struggle will recur and at one time or other these Nations will be betrayed and a Standing Army established So that nothing can save us from following the Fate of all the other Kingdoms in Europe but putting our Trust altogether in our Fleet and Militia's and having no other Forces than these The Sea is the only Empire which can naturally belong to us Conquest is not our Interest much less to consume our People and Treasure in conquering for others To conclude If we seriously consider the happy Condition of these Nations who have lived so long under the Blessings of Liberty we cannot but be affected with the most tender Compassion to think that the Scots who have for so many Ages with such Resolution defended their Liberty against the Picts Britans Romans Saxons Danes Irish Normans and English as well as against the Violence and Tyranny of so many of their own Princes That the English who whatever Revolutions their Country has been subject to have still maintained their Rights and Liberties against all Attempts who possess a Country every where cultivated and improved by the Industry of rich Husbandmen her Rivers and Harbours filled with Ships her Cities Towns and Villages enrich'd with Manufactures where Men of vast Estates live in secure possession of them and whose Merchants live in as great splendor as the Nobility of other Nations that Scotland which has a Gentry born to excel in Arts and Arms that England which has a Commonalty not only surpassing all those of that degree which the World can now boast of but also those of all former Ages in Courage Honesty good Sense Industry and Generosity of Temper in whose very Looks there are such visible Marks of a free and liberal Education which Advantages cannot be imputed to the Climate or to any other Cause but the Freedom of the Government under which they live I say it cannot but make the Hearts of all honest Men bleed to think that in their Days the Felicity and Liberties of such Countries must come to a Period if the Parliaments do not prevent it and his Majesty be not prevailed upon to lay aside the Thoughts of Mercenary Armies which if once established will inevitably produce those fatal Consequences that have always attended such Forces in the other Kingdoms of Europe Violation of Property Decay of Trade Oppression of the Country by heavy Taxes and Quarters the utmost Misery and Slavery of the poorer sort the Ruin of the Nobility by their Expences in Court and Army Deceit and Treachery in all Ranks of Men occasioned by Want and Necessity Then shall we see the Gentry of Scotland ignorant through want of Education and cowardly by being oppressed then shall we see the once happy Commonalty of England become base and abject by being continually exposed to the brutal Insolence of the Souldiers the Women debauch'd by their Lust ugly and nasty through Poverty and the want of things necessary to preserve their natural Beauty Then shall we see that great City the Pride and Glory not only of our Island but of the World subjected to the excessive Impositions Paris now lies under and reduced to a Pedling Trade serving only to foment the Luxury of a Court. Then will Britain know what Obligations she has to those who are for Mercenary Armies FINIS