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
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
the King's Concessions a ground for a future Settlement they resolved to put him to Death and in order therto purged the House as they called it that is placed Guards upon them and excluded all Members that were for agreeing with the King and then they cut off his Head After this they let the Parliament govern for five years who made their Name famous thro the whole Earth conquered their Enemies in England Scotland and Ireland reduced the Kingdom of Portugal to their own Terms recovered our Reputation at Sea overcame the Dutch in several famous Battels secured our Trade and managed the public Expences with so much frugality that no Estates were gained by privat Men upon the public Miseries and at last were passing an Act for their own Dissolution and settling the Nation in a free and impartial Common-wealth of which the Army being afraid thought it necessary to dissolve them and accordingly Cromwel next day called two Files of Musqueteers into the House and pulled the Speaker out of the Chair behaving himself like a Madman vilifying the Members and calling one a Whoremaster another a Drunkard bidding the Soldiers take away that fools bauble the Mace and so good night to the Parliament When they had don this Act of violence the Council of Officers set up a new form of Government and chose a certain number of Persons out of every County and City of England Scotland and Ireland and these they invested with the Supreme Power but soon after expelled them and then Cromwel set up himself and framed a new Instrument of Government by a Protector and a House of Commons in pursuance of which he called a Parliament But they not answering his Expectations he excluded all that would not subscribe his Instrument and those that remained not proving for his purpose neither he dissolved them with a great deal of opprobrious Language He then divided England into several Districts or Divisions and placed Major Generals or Intendents over them who governed like so many Bashaws decimating the Cavaliers and raising Taxes at their pleasure Then forsooth he had a mind to make himself King and called another Parliament to that purpose after his usual manner secluding such Members as he did not like To this Assembly he offered another Instrument of Government which was by a Representative of the People a 2d House composed of 70 Members in the nature of a House of Lords and a single Person and left a Blank for what name he should be called which this worthy Assembly filled up with that of King addressed to Cromwel that he would be pleased to accept it and gave him power to nominat the Members of the Other House This the great Officers of the Army resented for it destroyed all their hopes of being Tyrants in their turn and therefore addressed the Parliament against the Power and Government of a King which made Cromwel decline that Title and content himself with a greater Power under the name of Protector Afterwards he nam'd the Other House as it was called for the most part out of the Officers of the Army but even this Parliament not pleasing him he dissolved them in a fury and govern'd the Nation without any Parliament at all till he died After his death the Army set up his Son Richard who called a new Parliament but their procedings being not agreable to the humor of the Soldiery they forced the Protector to dissolve them then they deposed him and took the power into their own hands but being unable to weild it they restored the Commonwealth and soon after expelled them again because they would not settle the Military Sword independent of the Civil then they governed the Nation by a Council of War at Willingford-House and those a Committee of Safety for the executive part of the Government but that Whim lasted but a little time before they chose Conservators of Liberty and that not doing neither they agreed that every Regiment should choose two Representatives and this worthy Council should settle the Nation when they met somtimes they were for calling a new Parliament somtimes for restoring the old which was at last don By this means all things fell into Confusion which gave Monk an opportunity of marching into England where he acted his part so dexterously that he restor'd the King with part of that Army which had cut off his Father's Head This is a true and lively Example of a Government with an Army an Army that was raised in the cause and for the sake of Liberty composed for the most part of Men of Religion and Sobriety If this Army could commit such violences upon a Parliament always successful that had acquired so much Reputation both at home and abroad at a time when the whole People were trained in Arms and the Pulse of the Nation beat high for Liberty what are we to expect if in a future Age an ambitious Prince should arise with a dissolute and debauched Army a flattering Clergy a prostitute Ministry a Bankrupt House of L ds a Pensioner House of C ns and a slavish and corrupted Nation By this means came in Charles the Second a luxurious effeminat Prince a deep Dissembler and if not a Papist himself yet a great favorer of them but the People had suffered so much from the Army that he was received with the utmost Joy and Transport The Parliament in the Honymoon passed what Laws he pleased gave a vast Revenue for life being three times as much as any of his Predecessors ever enjoyed and several Millions besides to be spent in his Pleasures This made him conceive vaster hopes of Arbitrary Power than any that went before him and in order to it he debauched and enervated the whole Kingdom His Court was a scene of Adulteries Drunkenness and Irreligion appearing more like Stews or the Feasts of Bacchus than the Family of a Chief Magistrate and in a little time the Contagion spread thro the whole Nation that it was out of the fashion not to be leud and scandalous not to be a public Enemy which has bin the occasion of all the Miseries that have since happened and I am afraid will not be extinguished but by our ruin He was no sooner warm in his Seat but he rejected an advantageous Treaty of Commerce which Oliver made with France as don by a Usurper suffer'd the French to lay Impositions upon all our Goods which amounted to a Prohibition insomuch that they got a Million a year from us in the overbalance of Trade He sold that important Fortress of Dunkirk let the French seize St. Christophers and other places in North America He began a foolish and unjust War with the Dutch and tho the Parliament gave him vast Sums to maintain it yet he spent so much upon his Vices that they got great advantages of us and burnt our Fleet at Chatham At last he made as dishonorable a Peace with them as he had don a War a perpetual
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
them and yet defeated by so small a number of Men and many of them too his Friends such is the force of Authority King James took occasion from hence to increase his Army to between fifteen and sixteen thousand Men and then unmask'd himself call'd his Parliament and in a haughty Speech told them He had increas'd his Army put in Officers not qualifi'd by the Test and that he would not part with them He ask'd a Supply and let them know he expected their compliance This was very unexpected to those Loyal Gentlemen who had given him such a vast Revenue for Life who refus'd to take any Security but his Majesty's never-failing Word for the Protestant Religion and indeed had don for him whatever he ask'd which yet was not very extraordinary since he had the choosing of most of them himself But even this Parliament turn'd short upon an Army which puts me in mind of a saying of Macchiavel viz. That it is as hard a matter for a Man to be perfectly bad as perfectly good tho if he had liv'd at this time I believe he had chang'd his Opinion The Court labor'd the matter very much and to shew that good Wits jump they told us that France was grown formidable that the Dutch Forces were much increas'd that we must be strong in proportion for the preservation of our selves and Flanders and that there was no dependence upon the Militia But this shallow Rhetoric would not pass upon them They answer'd that we had defended our selves for above a thousand Years without an Army that a King 's truest Strength is the Love of his People that they would make the Militia useful and order'd a Bill to be brought in to that purpose But all this serv'd only to fulfil their Iniquity for they had don their own Business before and now he would keep an Army up in spite of them so he prorogu'd them and call'd no other Parliament during his Reign but to frighten the City of London kept his Army encamp'd at Hounslow-Heath when the Season would permit which put not only them but the whole Nation into the utmost Terror and Confusion Towards the latter end of his Reign he had increas'd his Army in England to above twenty thousand Men and in Ireland to eight thousand seven hundred and odd This King committed two fatal Errors in his Politics The first was his falling out with his old Chronies the Priests who brought him to the Crown in spite of his Religion and would have supported him in Arbitrary Government to the utmost nay Popery especially the worst part of it viz. the Domination of the Church was not so formidable a thing to them but with a little Cookery it might have bin rendred palatable But he had Priests of another sort that were to rise upon their Ruins and he thought to play an easier Game by caressing the Dissenters imploying them and giving them Liberty of Conscience which kindness lookt so preposterous that the wise and sober Men among them could never heartily believe it and when the Prince of Orange landed turn'd against him His second Error was the disobliging his own Army by bringing over Regiments from Ireland and ordering every Company to take in so many Irish Papists by which they plainly saw he was reforming his Army and would cashire them all as fast as he could get Papists to supply their room So that he violated the Rights of the People fell out with the Church of England made uncertain Friends of the Dissenters and disoblig'd his own Army by which means they all united against him and invited the Prince of Orange to assist them which Invitation he accepted and landed at Torbay the 5th of November 1688. publishing a Declaration which set forth all the Oppressions of the last Reign but the keeping up a Standing Army declared for a free Parliament in which things were to be so settled that there should be no danger of falling again into Slavery and promis'd to send back all his foren Forces as soon as this was don When the News of his Landing was spread thro England he was welcom'd by the universal Acclamations of the People He had the Hands the Hearts and the Prayers of all honest Men in the Nation Every one thought the long wish'd for time of their Deliverance was com King James was deserted by his own Family his Court and his Army The Ground he stood upon mouldred under him so that he sent his Queen and Foundling to France before him and himself followed soon after When the Prince came to London he disbanded most of those Regiments that were rais'd from the time he landed and King James's Army that were disbanded by Feversham were order'd to repair all again to their Colors which was thought by som a false step believing it would have bin more our Interest to have kept those Regiments which came in upon the Principle on which this Revolution is founded than Forces that were rais'd in violation of the Laws and to support a Tyrannical Government besides the miserable Condition of Ireland requir'd our speedy Assistance and these Men might have bin trusted to do that work Within a few days after he came to Town he summon'd the Lords and not long after the Members of the three last Parliaments of King Charles the 2d and was address'd to by both Houses to take upon him the Administration of the Government to take into his particular care the then present Condition of Ireland and to issue forth Circulatory Letters for the choosing a Convention of Estates All this time Ireland lay bleeding and Tyrconnel was raising an Army disarming the Protestants and dispossessing them of all the Places they held in Leinster Munster and Connaught which occasion'd frequent Applications here for Relief tho it was to send them but one or two Regiments and if that could not be don to send them Arms and Commissions which in all probability would have made the Reduction of that Kingdom very easy yet tho the Prince's and King James his Army were both in England no relief was sent by which means the Irish got possession of the whole Kingdom but Londonderry and Inniskilling the former of which Towns shut up its Gates the ninth of December declaring for the Prince of Orange and address'd for immediat Relief yet could neither get Arms or Ammunition till the 20th of March and the Forces that were sent with Cunningham and Richards arrived not there till the 15th of April and immediatly after deserted the Service and came back again bringing Lundy the Governor before appointed by his Majesty with them and alledg'd for their Excuse that it was impossible to defend the Town But notwithstanding this Treachery such was the resolution of the Besieged that they continu'd to defend themselves with the utmost bravery and sent again for Relief which under Kirk came not to them till the 7th of June nor were these poor Creatures actually reliev'd till the
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
with as they came to Town 't was whisper'd about that the Whigs would be all turn'd out of Imployments a new Plot was said to be discover'd for murdering the King and searches were made at Midnight thro the whole City to the discovery of plenty of Fornication but no Traitors The Placemongers consulted among themselves and found by a wonderful Sympathy they were all of one Opinion and if by any means they could get a few more to be of the same the day was their own so they were positive of success and very sure they should carry it by above a hundred Voices The House had not sat a week but this matter came to be debated and the question in the Committee was Whether all Forces rais'd since the year 80 should be disbanded which was carried in the Affirmative the Court being not able to bring it to a division and the next day when it was reported they did not attemt to set aside the Vote but to recommit it upon pretence it tied the King to the old Tory Regiments tho by the way none of those Regiments have bin since disbanded and som said they thought the Forces in 80 too many I can safely say tho I had frequent discourse with many of them yet I never heard any one of them at that time pretend to be for a greater force than this Vote left the King but let what will be their reasons it was carried against them by a majority of 37 the Affirmatives being 185 and the Negatives 148. I will not here take notice of what som People have said viz. That of the 148 who were for recommitting the Vote 116 had Places because I doubt the fact nor do I believe their Places would biass them This was a thorow Victory and required great skill and address to retrieve The fears of France were again multiplied 't was said there was a privat Article that King James was to Ieave France which the French refused to perform that Boufflers and the Earl of Portland had given one another the Lie that som of the latter's Retinue had bin kill'd that the French Ambassador was stop'd the King of Spain dead and abundance more to this purpose The Club was set up at the R great Applications made the Commission of the Excise was declared to be broke by which nine Commissioners Places were to be disposed of and above 40 Persons named for them and many of the Country Gentlemen were gon home Thus recruited they were ready for a new Encounter and since by the Rules of the House they could not set aside the former Vote directly they would try to do it by a side wind which was by moving that directions might be given to the Committee of Ways and Means to consider to a supply for Guards and Garisons but the other side to obviat this offered these words as an Amendment viz. According to the Vote of the 11th of December This matter was much labored and the Gentlemen that were against the Army explain'd themselves and declar'd they were not for obliging the King to the Regiments in 80 but that they insisted only on the number and he might choose what Regiments he pleased By this means they carried it but not without great opposition tho I presume from none of those Gentlemen whodeclared in all Places they were for recommitting the former Vote only for the reasons before given besides they were forced to explain themselves out of a considerable part of it for they allowed the King the Dutch Regiments and the Tangeriners which in my opinion could not be well understood by the former Vote the meaning of which seems to be that the King should have all the Forces that Charles the 2d had in 80 in England and these were not then here the Holland Regiments being paid by the States and their Soldiers and the others 500 Leagues off at Tangier But all this advantage would not satisfy the Army-Gentlemen for in the Committee they indeavored again to set aside the Vote by moving for a sum of 500000 pounds per annum for Guards and Garisons without naming any certain number which would have maintain'd above 20000 but this could not be carried therfore they came to a fort of Composition to have but 10000 wherof a great number were to be Horse and Dragoons and the Sum given to maintain them was 350000 pounds but notwithstanding this they moved afterwards for 3000 Marines alledging that these were not a Land-Force but a Water-Force which was carried Here I will beg leave to observe one thing that nothing would satisfy the Courtiers at the beginning of the Winter but to have the Forces establish'd by the Parliament and upon other Terms they would not accept them and in all Companys said that any Minister that advis'd the King to keep them up otherwise or any Officer that continued his Commission ought to be attainted of High Treason about which I shall nor differ with these Gentlemen nor do I arraign them for altering their opinion for perhaps they may conceive that a Vore to give 350000 pounds for Guards and Garisons is a sufficient Authority against Law to quarter Soldiers in all parts of England as well out of Garisons as in 'em and as well at a distance from the King's Person as about it This what our Courts for above a thousand years together had never Effrontery enough to ask what the Pensioner Parliament could not think of without astonishment what King James's Parliament that was almost chosen by himself could not hear debated with patience we are likely to have the honor of establishing in our own age even under a Deliverance Now we will examin how far they have complied with the Resolutions of the House of Commons Having so far gained upon the first Vote by the means before related 't was not easy to be imagined but they would nicely perform the rest without any art or evasion but instead of this they reform'd a certain number of Men out of every Troop and Company and kept up all the Officers who are the most essential and chargeable part of an Army the privat Soldiers being to be rais'd again in a few days whenever they please This is such a disbanding as every Officer would have made in his Company for his privat advantage and always did in Charles the 2d's time and even in this Reign when they were not in action so that all the effect of such a Reform is to hinder the Officers from false Musters and save the pay of a few common Soldiers But this would not satisfy the People and therfore they disbanded som Regiments of Horse Foot and Dragoons and thought of that profound Expedient of sending a great many more to Ireland as if our grievance was not the fear of being enslav'd by them but lest they should spend their Mony among us I am sorry the Nation is grown so contemtible in these Gentlemens opinions as to think that they can
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