Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	army_n	day_n	put_v	1,260	5	4.4811	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39783	A discourse of government with relation to militia's	Fletcher, Andrew, 1655-1716.	1698 (1698)	Wing F1295; ESTC R6686	23,004	68

generally thought to have been the deciding Action of the late Civil War The Number of Forces was equal on both sides nor was there any Advantage in the Ground or extraordinary Accident that happened during the Fight which could be of considerable Importance to either In the Army of the Parliament nine only of the Officers had served abroad and most of the Souldiers were Prentices drawn out of London but two months before In the King's Army there were above a thousand Officers that had served in Foreign parts Yet was that Army routed and broken by those new-raised Prentices who were observed to be obedient to Command and brave in Fight not only in that Action but on all Occasions during that active Campagn The People of these Nations are not a dastardly Crew like those born in Misery under Oppression and Slavery who must have time to rub off that Fear Cowardice and Stupidity which they bring from home And tho Officers seem to stand in more need of Experience than private Souldiers yet in that Battel it was seen that the Sobriety and Principle of the Officers on the one side prevailed over the Experience of those on the other 'T is well known that divers Regiments of our Army lately in Flanders have never been once in Action and not one half of them above thrice nor any of them five times during the whole War O but they have been under Discipline and accustomed to obey And so may men in Militia's We have had to do with an Enemy who tho abounding in numbers of excellent Officers yet durst never fight us without a visible Advantage Is that Enemy like to invade us when he must be unavoidably necessitated to put all to hazard in ten days or starve A good Militia is of such Importance to a Nation that it is the chief part of the Constitution of any free Government For tho as to other things the Constitution be never so slight a good Militia will always preserve the publick Liberty But in the best Constitution that ever was as to all other parts of Government if the Militia be not upon a right foot the Liberty of that people must perish The Militia of Antient Rome the best that ever was in any Government made her Mistress of the World But Standing Armies inslaved that great People and their excellent Militia and Freedom perished together The Lacedemonians continued 800 Years free and in great Honour because they had a good Militia The Swisses at this day are the freest happiest and the People of all Europe who can best defend themselves because they have the best Militia I have shown that Liberty in the Monarchical Governments of Europe subsisted so long as the Militia of the Barons was on foot And that on the decay of their Militia which tho it was none of the best so was it none of the worst Standing Forces and Tyranny have been every-where introduc'd unless in Britain and Ireland which by reason of their situation having the Sea for Frontier and a powerful Fleet to protect them could afford no pretence for such Forces And tho any Militia however slightly constituted be sufficient for that reason to defend us yet all Improvements in the Constitution of Militia's being further Securities for the Liberty of the People I think we ought to endeavour the amendment of them and till that can take place to make the present Militia's useful in the former and ordinary Methods That the whole free People of any Nation ought to be exercised to Arms not only the Example of our Ancestors as appears by the Acts of Parliament made in both Kingdoms to that purpose and that of the wisest Governments among the Antients but the advantage of chusing out of great numbers seems clearly to demonstrate For in Countries where Husbandry Trade Manufactures and other mechanical Arts are carried on even in time of War the Impediments of men are so many and so various that unless the whole People be exercised no consider able numbers of men can be drawn out without disturbing those Employments which are the Vitals of the Political Body Besides that upon great Defeats and under extream Calamities from which no Government was ever exempted every Nation stands in need of all the People as the Antients sometimes did of their Slaves And I cannot see why Arms should be denied to any man who is not a Slave since they are the only true Badges of Liberty and ought never but in times of utmost Necessity to be put into the hands of Mercenaries or Slaves neither can I understand why any man that has Arms should not be taught the use of them By the Constitution of the present Militia in both Nations there is but a small number of the men able to bear Arms exercised and Men of Quality and Estate are allowed to send any wretohed Servant in their place so that they themselves are become mean by being disused to handle Arms and will not learn the use of them because they are ashamed of their Ignorance by which means the Militia's being composed only of Servants these Nations seem altogether unfit to defend themselves and Standing Forces to be necessary Now can it be supposed that a few Servants will fight for the defence of their Masters Estates if their Masters only look on Or that some inconsiderable Freeholders as for the most part those who command the Militia are should at the head of those Servants expose their Lives for men of more plentiful Estates without being assisted by them No Bodies of Military Men can be of any force or value unless many Persons of Quality or Education be among them and such men should blush to think of excusing themselves from serving their Country at least for some Years in a military Capacity if they consider that every Roman was obliged to spend fifteen Years of his Life in their Armies Is it not a shame that any man who possesses an Estate and is at the same time healthful and young should not fit himself by all means for the defence of that and his Country rather than to pay Taxes to maintain a Mercenary who tho he may defend him during a War will be sure to insult and enslave him in time of Peace Men must not think that any Country can be in a constant posture of Defence without some trouble and charge but certainly 't is better to undergo this and to preserve our Liberty with Honour than to be subjected to heavy Taxes and yet have it insolently ravished from us to our present Oppression and the lasting Misery of our Posterity But it will be said Where are the men to be found who shall exercise all this People in so many several places at once for the Nobility and Gentry know nothing of the matter and to hire so many Souldiers of Fortune as they call them will be chargeable and may be dangerous these men being all Mercenaries and always the same men in the

for our Deliverance The Subjects formerly had a real Security for their Liberty by having the Sword in their own hands That Security which is the greatest of all others is lost and not only so but the Sword is put into the hand of the King by his Power over the Militia All this is not enough but we must have in both Kingdoms Standing Armies of Mercenaries who for the most part have no other way to subsist and consequently are capable to execute any Commands And yet every Man must think his Liberties as safe as ever under pain of being thought disaffected to the Monarchy But sure it must not be the antient limited and legal Monarchies of Scotland and England that these Gentlemen mean It must be a French Fashion of Monarchy where the King has power to do what he pleases and the People no security for any thing they possess We have quitted our antient Security and put the Militia into the power of the King The only remaining Security we have is That no Standing Armies were ever yet allowed in time of Peace the Parliament of England having so often and so expresly declared them to be contrary to Law and that of Scotland having not only declar'd them to be a Grievance but made the keeping them up an Article in the Forfeiture of the late King James If a Standing Army be allow'd What Difference will there be between the Government we shall then live under and any kind of Government under a good Prince Of which there have been some in the most despotick Tyrannies If these be limited and not absolute Monarchies then as there are Conditions so there ought to be Securities on both sides The Barons never pretended that their Militia's should be constantly on foot and together in Bodies in times of Peace 'T is evident that would have subverted the Constitution and made every one of them a petty Tyrant And 't is as evident that Standing Forces are the fittest Instruments to make a Tyrant Whoever is for making the King's Power too great or too little is an Enemy to the Monarchy But to give him Standing Armies puts his Power beyond controul and consequently makes him absolute If the People had any other real Security for their Liberty than that there be no Standing Armies in time of Peace there might be some colour to demand them But if that only remaining Security be taken away from the People we have destroyed these Monarchies 'T is pretended we are in hazard of being invaded by a powerful Enemy shall we therefore destory our Government What is it then that we would defend It is our Persons by the ruin of our Government In what then shall we be gainers In saving our Lives by the loss of our Liberties If our Pleasures and Luxury make us live like Brutes it seems we must not pretend to reason any better than they I would fain know if there be any other way of making a Prince Absolute than by allowing him a Standing Army if by it all Princes have not been made Absolute if without it any Whether our Enemies shall conquer us is uncertain but whether Standing Armies will enslave us neither Reason nor Experience will suffer us to doubt 'T is therefore evident that no pretence of danger from abroad can be an Argument to keep up Standing Armies or any Mercenary Forces Let us now consider whether we may not be able to defend our selves by well-regulated Militia's against any Foreign Force tho never so formidable that these Nations may be free from the fears of Invasion from abroad as well as from the danger of Slavery at home After the Barons had lost the Military Service of their Vassals Militia's of some kind or other were established in most parts of Europe But the Prince having every where the power of naming and preferring the Officers of these Militia's they could be no Balance in Government as the former were And he that will consider what has been said in this Discourse will easily perceive that the essential Quality requisite to such a Militia as might fully answer the Ends of the former must be that the Officers should be named and preferr'd as well as they and the Souldiers paid by the People that set them out So that if Princes look upon the present Militia's as not capable of defending a Nation against Foreign Armies the People have little reason to entrust them with the Defence of their Liberties And tho upon the dissolution of that Antient Militia under the Barons which made these Nations so Great and Glorious by setting up Militia's generally through Europe the Sword came not into the hands of the Commons which was the only thing could have continued the former Balance of Government but was every-where put into the hands of the King Nevertheless ambitious Princes who aimed at Absolute Power thinking they could never use it effectually to that end unless it were wielded by Mercenaries and Men that had no other Interest in the Commonwealth than their Pay have still endeavoured by all means to discredit Militia's and render them burdensom to the People by never suffering them to be upon any right or so much as tolerable Foot and all to perswade the Necessity of Standing Forces And indeed they have succeeded too well in this Design For the greatest part of the World has been fool'd into an opinion That a Militia cannot be made serviceable I shall not say 't was only Militia's could conquer the World and that Princes to have succeeded fully in the Design before-mentioned must have destroyed all the History and Memory of Antient Governments where the Accounts of so many excellent Models of Militia are yet extant I know the Prejudice and Ignorance of the World concerning the Art of War as it was practised by the Antients tho what remains of that Knowledg in their Writings be sufficient to give a mean Opinion of the Modern Discipline For this reason I shall examine by what has passed of late Years in these Nations whether Experience have convinced us that Officers bred in Foreign Wars be so far preferable to others who have been under no other Discipline than that of an ordinary and ill-regulated Militia and if the Commonalty of both Kingdoms at their first entrance upon Service be not as capable of a resolute Military Action as any Standing Forces This doubt will be fully resolved by considering the Actions of the Marquess of Montrose which may be compared all Circumstances considered with those of Cesar as well for the Military Skill as the bad tendency of them tho the Marquess had never served abroad nor seen any Action before the six Victories which with Numbers much inferior to those of his Enemies he obtained in one Year and the most considerable of them were chiefly gained by the assistance of the Tenants and Vassals of the Family of Gordon The Battel of Naseby will be a farther illustration of this matter which is