Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A25780
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An argument, proving that a small number of regulated forces established during the pleasure of Parliament cannot damage our present happy establishment, and that it is highly necessary in our present circumstances to have the matter fully determined being considerations upon what has been objected against standing armies in general.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing A3634; ESTC R12991
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17,639
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29
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future Succession than does at present And he who is so vers'd in Books must have met with Dolman in his Turn who tells you that Spain then in her Grandure as well as other Monarchs more potent than Scotland put in for a Claim Shou'd I here attempt to muster up your Regiment of Fears it wou'd be the most numerous of all the Regiments already Disbanded or to be Disbanded but yet I will Curtail them as well as I can because some persons assert there is weight in them and I leave the Reader to Judge of the Matter of Fact The first is the Fear you have that the King must pay a debt to Nature Let any indifferent person construe the sense of these words as much in your Favour as possibly they can and I think they can make no other Conclusion from them but that you mistrust the next Successor's Justice or this Fear need not have been made the Collonel of your Regiment To back this pretended Fear a whole File of Example foreign to the purpose are brought in to show you a Scholar and nothing else 'T is not proper in this place to show your Mistake in History where in p. 12. you enumerate Countries to be free that are not so and others to be in abandoned Slavery that are free for rather than you will lose an Occasion to adore a Common-wealth Poland must come in for a free Country and this can be for no other reason but because it is Elective for if the Constitution must be Monarchy a popular Election is most after your own heart Sure Sir you never regarded the Inconvenience of multiplying Votes for Elections to Parliament if you did you might from thence compute how much more dangerous it is in a greater Community of People Next you fall on the Prerogatives of the Crown and therein give an unmercisul Broadside You think it dangerous to have the disposal of Houshold Officers Revenue State Law Religion or Navy to be in the King's Gift I am ashamed to argue against the Unreasonableness of this Proposition Had he power to seize on your Wife and make you a Prisoner without a formal Process it would be much harder But alas he cannot by law appoint you a Steward to your Estate or a Court-keeper on your Mannor and would you chuse your own Servants and he want his Away away with such an Argument Your next Fear is as little to the purpose as any of the other you say That the King with 20000 Men-beforêhand with us or but half that number the People cane make no Bfforts to defend their Liberties I would not desire to be so unfortunate as to see a Bad Prince on the Throue yet if I should suppose what is not likely to come to pass in my Life-time that Arbitrary Power be intended I am still of opinion it will not be worth any one's time to attempt it Pray what got the late King by seizing of Charters imprisoning of Bishops prostituting the Succession and such like Noble Actions but only to live to curse his wretched Statesmen that advised him and to deplore his dismal Misfortune and the Result of evil Designs ended in a Revolt from Tyranny Nor could the countenance of a powerful Prince ever restore him No man does Mischief but with a prospect of Success and to make 20000 men capable to conquer England is a ReFlection on our Bravery and Courage And besides to accomplish it these Three Things are absolutely necessary 1. The King must be of an Arbitrary Temper and Popular in his Army 2. The Officers must be Passive want Property and have no regard to Honour 3. With these Qualifications they must win the Hearts of the Army to fight or what the King and Officers attempt is to no purpose and this not being probable it ought not in any wise to be proposed When the late King drew up his Army at Salisbury what confidence had the Officers in them And what conFidence had the King in the Officers when many of them led the way to the Prince's Camp Or what Faith cou'd the Officers have put in the common Soldiers had one not intended to revolt as well as the other And yet these very Officers are thought to be dangerous in the eyes of some Politicians And there arises also from these words If the King have 20000 men before-hand another Remark which is It must be meant our present King because it is spoke in that Tense 'T is strange that you who writ to be Popular should betray your fear of a Prince whom most of your Readers will admire You had better have stuck to your mistrusting his Successors as was hinted before than to fix a Calumny where it will not abide For what occasion have people to make Efforts under a Just Administration But now instead of mending the matter your Hypocondriac seizes you and the Fit seems to have a spice of the Gout Stone and Gravel mingled with it for you cry out in your pain Oh the wretched Statesmen they are in your way or you want to be in their Place Then in another Twitch you cry out Arm against the Power of the Court. Perhaps you meant the Power of the Courtiers or at least good manners might have thought so beeause the King dates his Proclamations from thence and I am so modest as to think you did not mean to foment Rebellion and that the King was out of your head when you penn'd that Paragraph The next is a sort of a Lame Officer in your Regiment of Fears he looks as rough-hewn as an Oliverian Collonel and can never rise higher than a Drummer and that Post I assign him because he 's a perfect Almanzor at hussing of Kings He says That if Charles the First had had 5000 men before-hand with us we had lost our Liberties without striking a stroke 'T is a home Charge and let those who serv'd that good but unfortunate King take it as they please Then Oh the Army will insluence Elections Pray Sir what is it will please you for you say the Militia is not useful nor a Standing Army safe Must we then trust all to Providence and fall in a Ditch and cry Lord help us and make no Efforts to get out 'T is the likeliest way I can tell to restore the late King James for make us but so far Quakers and the business is done If the Arm of Flesh is not to be used prevail with our Enemies to be quiet When Joshua fought the Lord's Battels he encamped and lost men though he won the Day When Sampson's hands were bound the Philistines soon came upon him but when he broke his hold they trembled and unless you can give Mathematical Demonstration that all Parties in the present Confederacy will keep up to the nicest Punctilio's you will find a Regular Force to be absolutely necessary But alas you roar out still in your pain now they will encompass the Parliament House if the present
did they perform 'T is true before his Intentions were laid open they took a Western Expedition in his Favour But when he fell a Suspending and Imprisoning contrary to Law he soon found that when he wanted their Assistance the second time that he was disappointed for they rid faster to close in with our Present Glorious Deliverer than they did before to suppress a Protestant Invader And the Case requires no Oedipus to unfold the Riddle No Constitution cares to annihilate it self and wise Persons are of opinion that such a Complication of Causes will always happen on the like occasion So that on the whole it appears that a Regulated Army can never as you suppose cause a violation of our Laws or be built on our Destruction tho' you think it as certain as that there is a Kingdom in Heaven I find no Kingdom on Earth will please you no not Poland it self for your Arma Teneti look to the Purse Bearers the Commons in Parliament An Honourable Army will never raise that by force which a Parliament gives to their Merit And a French Mistress will be of no force till another Charles the Second arise so that the Exchequer is safe But pray Sir let me ask you one civil Question Can 20000 Men or less over-run England and cannot 300000 put you in a Capacity to think of our own defence Unless you can prevail to have all the Store-houses in Europe ruin'd to make our Swords plow the Ground and present Death to use any sort of Military Term you answer not the Point I will suppose the Princes now in Confederacy will keep the League and many years it may go forward but there may arise a King hereafter as there did of old in Egypt who knows not Joseph and since such things have been according to your own Rule they may again come to pass What you quote of Mr. Johnson shows him an angry Man and he had Cause to be angry for there was a time I wou'd not have been in his Coat He says there is no Epithet for Tyranny but I had rather be under the Hatches of a Protestant Prince than a Popish one since we have so lately seen the sad Essects of the latter 'T is much you did not admire him for wishing all the Bishops of England Inn-keepers because their Sufferings were left out in their famous Address But to hasten In the last Age we were Sovereigns of the Sea without the pretence of a Rival and if you think we are so now you and I differ and this is all owing to the cursed policy of the late Reigns And then if we are not surely a force in which we may conside is very convenient make you the Militia so and we are all friends Aspiring Spain confest we cou'd then give Laws to the Floating Element but the day is past and besides we want Union among our selves to make us Formidable Nor is it enough to assert we may prevent all by Intelligence Report may spread about a Design for Poland or a Plantation and a speedy way for Transport-Ships is now found out Besides Scotland and Ireland have Enemies enough in their own Bowels to prevent their doing us any service And moreover Foreigners give this Character of Englishmen That we are too credulous and so a Cheat may pass upon us You say there has been a Misapplication of our Naval Force which you add were not the Effects of Chance or Ignorance Methinks now you prove the Necessity of some standing Force to prevent Treachery No Hare ever doubled in her Files so dextrously which makes it suspected that Men of different Kidneys clubb'd for your Pamphlet I have nothing to do with your hard words of Ragamuffins and Henroost-Robbers which you bestow on our Army but let Bilbo look to that because they were not called such Names in Flanders But I cannot conclude without minding one thing because you have scarce spoke any thing else to the purpose You say a well-train'd Militia may be made useful No doubt but it may and the Methods you have laid down are incomparable good You propose The Nobility Gentry and Free-holders of England to undertake that Affair In answer to which I will positively assert That all I have conversed withal decline the Service Nor does it touch their Loyalty 't is an habitude to Ease They love their Country but Education has in a great Measure taken them off from the Vanity of admiring wooden Legs and broken Pates Such Theatrical Entertainments will pas Muster where others are the Combatants So that they will neither seek to be Officers in a Regulated Militia nor accept of the Post they care not for and surely a Man of Property may do as he pleases But you may Reply there are enough that wil. Yet by the way your main Point is lost when you endeavour to make us believe that all will aim at it If any thing made them it wou'd be that of having the Honour to see the King at the Head of them The number of the Militia you six and the Exercises you prescribe them with the time of being out upon Duty looks too unreasonable to require an Answer I will only instance in a few particulars You would have the same Man who is listed at first not to depart till he is discharged by his Captain and the Case of the Horse is as hard as the Man Then you propose that if we will not go our selves nor can find a Tenant or Servant a Soldier that has been in the Army shall supply the place Pray Sir will his bearing my Arms make him Honester in the Militia than he was in a Standing Army You Know he was then a Ragamussin and can Disbanding make my Arms safer in his Custody I ask this Question because you propose the Officers in your new modelled Militia to be appointed by the King I hope in such a Case you will take care of their Pay and make it in some proportion to ballance the Trouble But at last you come to the directing Part and before you have Modelled your Army of Militia to be worth a Man's going out of a Village or Country Town to see them exercise you propose Rewards and Honours to the most deserving and perhaps that will be assign'd to him who has the Finest Cloaths and tho you grudg the Charge of a necessary War you are for a great deal of magnificence when you are in Peace which looks like a kind of a whim But does not such a militia look like a Standing Army for if the King appoints the Officers and the common Soldiers are taken out of the Army where is the difference and if they are as dangerous I am sure they are more chargeable And if in their splendid Equipage they are necessitated to face the Enemy it will animate the Invaders Courage to have a prospect of Gain For History informs us that when Alexander went to subdue the Persians he took Advantage