JOHN TRENCHARD AND
THOMAS GORDON,
A Collection of Tracts (1751)
Two Volumes in One

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An Argument, shewing that a Standing Army is inconsistent with a Free Government, and absolutely destructive to the Constitution of the English Monarchy. By J. Trenchard, Esq;An. 1697. ↩

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WHEN I consider what a dismal Scene of Blood and Desolation hath appeared upon the Theatre of Europe during the Growth and Progress of the French Power, I cannot sufficiently applaud and admire our thrice happy Situation, by which we have long enjoy’d an uninterrupted Course of Peace and Prosperity, whilst our Neighbouring Nations have been miserably harassed by perpetual War: For lying open to continual Invasion, they can never enjoy Quiet and Security, nor take a sound Sleep, but Hercules like, with Clubs in their Hands: So that these Halcyon Days which we enjoy amidst such an universal Hurricane, must be solely attributed to our Tutelar God Neptune, who with a Guard of winged Coursers so strongly intrenches us, that we may be said to be mediâ insuperabiles undâ, and not unfitly compar’d to the Earth, which stands six’d and immoveable, and never to be shaken but by an internal Convulsion. And as Nature has been thus liberal to us in our Situation, so the Luxuriancy of our Soil makes it productive of numerous Commodities fit for Trade and Commerce: And as this Trade renders us Masters of the Silver and Gold of the East and West without our toiling in the Mine, so it breeds us Multitudes of able bodied and skilful Seamen to defend the Treasures they bring home, that even Luxury itself, which has been the Bane and Destruction of most Countries where [I-6] it has been predominant, may in some measure be esteemed our Preservation, by breeding up a Race of Men amongst us, whose Manner of Life will never suffer them to be debauched, or enervated with Ease or Idleness. But we have one thing more to boast of besides all these Felicities, and that is, of being Freemen and not Slaves in this unhappy Age, when an universal Deluge of Tyranny has overspread the Face of the whole Earth; so that this is the Ark out of which if the Dove be sent forth, she will find no Resting-place till her Return.

Our Constitution is a limited mix’d Monarchy, where the King enjoys all the Prerogatives necessary to the Support of his Dignity, and Protection of his People, and is only abridged from the Power of injuring his own Subjects: In short, the Man is loose, and the Beast only bound; and our Government may truly be called an Empire of Laws, and not of Men; for every Man has the same Right to what he can acquire by his Labour and Industry, as the King hath to his Crown, and the meanest Subject hath his Remedy against him in his Courts at Westminster: No Man can be imprisoned, unless he has transgressed a Law of his own making, nor be try’d but by his Neighbours; so that we enjoy a Liberty scarce known to the antient Greeks and Romans.

And lest the extraordinary Power intrusted in the Crown should lean towards Arbitrary Government, or the tumultuary Licentiousness of the People should encline towards a Democracy, the Wisdom of our Ancestors hath instituted a middle State, viz. of Nobility, whose Interest it is to trim this Boat of our Commonwealth, and to skreen the People against the Popularity of the Commons, since if either Extream prevail so far as to oppress the other, they are sure to be overwhelmed in their Ruin. And the Meeting of these three States in Parliament is what we call our Government: for without all their Consents no Law can be made, nor a Penny of Money levied upon the Subjects; so that the King’s Necessities do often oblige him to summon this Court, which is the Grand Inquest of the Kingdom, where the People speak boldly their Grievances, and [I-7] call to account overgrown Criminals, who are above the Reach of ordinary Justice: so that the Excellence of this Government consists in the due Ballance of the several constituent Parts of it, for if either one of them should be too hard for the other two, there is an actual Dissolution of the Constitution; but whilst we can continue in our present Condition, we may without Vanity reckon our selves the happiest People in the World.

But as there is no Degree of Human Happiness but is accompanied with some Defects, and the strongest Constitutions are most liable to certain Diseases; so the very Excellence of our Government betrays it to some Inconveniencies, the Wheels and Motions of it being so curious and delicate that it is often out of Order, and therefore we ought to apply our utmost Endeavours to rectify and preserve it: and I am afraid it is more owing to the Accident of our Situation, than to our own Wisdom, Integrity or Courage, that it has yet a Being; when we see most Nations in Europe over-run with Oppression and Slavery, where the Lives, Estates and Liberties of the People are subject to the lawless Fancy and Ambition of the Prince, and the Rapine and Insolence of his Officers; where the Nobility that were formerly the bold Assertors of their Country’s Liberty, are now only the Ensigns and Ornaments of the Tyranny, and the People Beasts of Burden, and barely kept alive to support the Luxury and Prodigality of their Masters.

And if we enquire how these unhappy Nations have lost that precious Jewel Liberty, and we as yet preserved it, we shall find their Miseries and our Happiness proceed from this, That their Necessities or Indiscretion have permitted a Standing Army to be kept amongst them, and our Situation rather than our Prudence, hath as yet defended us from it, otherwise we had long since lost what is the most valuable Thing under Heaven: For, as I said before, our Constitution depending upon a due Ballance between King, Lords and Commons, and that Ballance depending upon the mutual Occasions and Necessities they have of one another; if this Cement be once broke, there is an actual Dissolution of the Government. [I-8] Now this Ballance can never be preserved but by an Union of the natural and artificial Strength of the Kingdom, that is, by making the Militia to consist of the same Persons as have the Property; or otherwise the Government is violent and against Nature, and cannot possibly continue, but the Constitution must either break the Army, or the Army will destroy the Constitution: for it is universally true, that where-ever the Militia is, there is or will be the Government in a short Time; and therefore the Institutors of this Gotbick Ballance (which was established in all Parts of Europe) made the Militia to consist of the same Parts as the Government, where the King was General, the Lords by virtue of their Castles and Honours, the great Commanders, and the Freeholders by their Tenures the Body of the Army; so that it was next to impossible for an Army thus constituted to act to the Disadvantage of the Constitution, unless we could suppose them to be Felons de se. And here I will venture to assert, that upon no other Foundation than this, can any Nation long preserve its Freedom, unless some very particular Accidents contribute to it; and I hope I shall make it appear, that no Nation ever preserved its Liberty, that maintained an Army otherwise constituted within the Seat of their Government: And let us flatter ourselves as much as we please, what happened Yesterday, will come to pass again; and the same Causes will produce like Effects in all Ages.

And here I can’t avoid taking Notice of some Gentlemen who a few Years since were the pretended Patriots of their Country, who had nothing in their Mouths but the sacred Name of Liberty, who in the late Reigns could hardly afford the King the Prerogative that was due to him, and which was absolutely necessary to put in motion this Machine of our Government, and to make the Springs and Wheels of it act naturally, and perform their Function: I say, these Gentlemen that could not with Patience hear of the King’s ordinary Guards, can now discourse familiarly of twenty thousand Men to be maintained in Times of Peace; and the odious Excuse they give for this infamous Apostacy is, That if they should not gratify the Court in [I-9] this modest Request, another Party may be caressed who will grant this, or any thing else that is asked, and then they say Matters will be much worse; as if Arbitrary Government was a different Thing in their Hands, from what it is in others, or that the Lineaments and Features of Tyranny would become graceful and lovely when they are its Valet de Chambres. But let them not deceive themselves, for if they think to make their Court this Way, they will quickly find themselves outflattered by the Party they fear, who have been long the Darlings of Arbitrary Power, and whose Principles as well as Practices teach them to be Enemies to all the legal Rights, and just Liberties of their Native Country; and so these wretched Bunglers will be made use of only to bring together the Materials of Tyranny, and then must give Place to more expert Architects to finish the Building.

And though we are secure from any Attempts of this Kind during the Reign of a Prince who hath rescued us from a Captivity equal to what Moses redeemed the People of Israel from: A Prince whose Life is so necessary to the Preservation of Europe, that both Protestant and Popish Princes have forgot their ancient Maxims, and laid aside their innate Animosities, and made it their common Interest to chuse him their Patron and Protector: A Prince in whom we know no Vices but what have been esteemed Vertues in others, viz. his undeserved Clemency to his Enemies, and his exposing too much that Life upon which depends not only our Safety, but the Liberties of all Europe, and the Protestant Religion through the World: I say, was this most excellent Prince to be immortal (as his Great and Glorious Actions) we ought in common Prudence to abandon all Thoughts of Self-preservation, and wholly to rely on his Care and Conduct. But since no Vertue nor Pitch of Glory will exempt him from paying the common Debt to Nature, but Death hath a Scythe which cuts off the most noble Lives; we ought not to intrust any Power with him, which we don’t think proper to be continued to his Successors, and doubtless our great Benefactor will not regret this, or any thing else that can reasonably be demanded in order to compleat [I-10] that Deliverance so far advanced by his invincible Courage and Conduct; for to set us, like Moses, within View of the Promised Land, with a ne plus ultra, is the greatest of all Human Infelicities, and such I shall always take our Case to be, whilst a Standing Army must be kept up to prey upon our Entrails, and which must in the Hands of an ill Prince (which we have the Misfortune frequently to meet with) infallibly destroy our Constitution. And this is so evident and important a Truth, that no Legislator ever founded a free Government, but avoided this Caribdis, as a Rock against which his Commonwealth must certainly be shipwrack’d, as the Israelites, Athenians, Corinthians, Achaians, Lacedemonians, Thebans, Samnites, and Romans; none of which Nations whilst they kept their Liberty were ever known to maintain any Soldiers in constant Pay within their Cities, or ever suffered any of their Subjects to make War their Profession; well knowing that the Sword and Sovereignty always march Hand in Hand, and therefore they trained their own Citizens and the Territories about them perpetually in Arms, and their whole Commonwealths by this Means became so many several formed Militias: A general Exercise of the best of their People in the Use of Arms, was the only Bulwark of their Liberties; this was reckon’d the surest Way to preserve them both at home and abroad, the People being secured thereby as well against the Domestick Affronts of any of their own Citizens, as against the Foreign Invasions of ambitious and unruly Neighbours. Their Arms were never lodged in the Hands of any who had not an Interest in preserving the Public Peace, who fought pro Aris & Focis, and thought themselves sufficiently paid by repelling Invaders, that they might with Freedom return to their own Affairs. In those Days there was no Difference between the Citizen, the Soldier, and the Husbandman, for all promiscuously took Arms when the public Safety required it, and afterwards laid them down with more Alacrity than they took them up: So that we find amongst the Romans the best and bravest of their Generals came from the Plough, contentedly returning when the Work was over, and never demanded their Triumphs till they had laid down their Commands, [I-11] and reduced themselves to the State of private Men. Nor do we find that this famous Commonwealth ever permitted a Deposition of their Arms in any other Hands, till their Empire increasing, Necessity constrained them to erect a constant stipendiary Soldiery abroad in Foreign Parts, either for the holding or winning of Provinces: Then Luxury increasing with Dominion, the strict Rule and Discipline of Freedom soon abated, and Forces were kept at home, which soon prov’d of such dangerous Consequence, that the People were forced to make a Law to employ them at a convenient Distance; which was, that if any General marched over the River Rubicon, he should be declar’d a public Enemy; and in the Passage of that River this following Inscription was erected, Imperator five miles, five Tyrannus armatus quisquis fistito, vexillumque armaque doponito, nec citra hunc amnem trajicito: And this made Cesar when he had presumed to pass this River, to think of nothing but pressing on to the total Oppression of the Empire, which he shortly after obtained.

Nor, as I said before, did any Nation deviate from these Rules but they lost their Liberty; and of this kind there are infinite Examples, out of which I shall give a few in several Ages, which are most known, and occur to every one’s Reading.

The first Example I shall give is of Pisistratus, who artificially prevailing with the Athenians to allow him fifty Guards for the Defence of his Person, he so improved that Number, that he seiz’d upon the Castle and Government, destroy’d the Commonwealth, and made himself Tyrant of Athens.

The Corinthians being in Apprehension of their Enemies, made a Decree for four hundred Men to be kept to defend their City, and gave Tymophanes the Command over them, who overturned their Government, cut off all the principal Citizens, and proclaim’d himself King of Corinth.

Agathocles being the Captain-General of the Syracusians, got such an Interest in the Army, that he cut all the Senators to pieces, and the richest of the People, and made himself their King.

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The Romans for fear of the Teutones and Cimbri, who like vast Inundations threatned their Empire, chose Marius their General, and, contrary to the Constitution of their Government, continued him five Years in his Command, which gave him such Opportunity to insinuate, and gain an Interest in their Army, that he oppressed their Liberty; and to this were owing all the Miseries, Massacres, and Ruins which that City suffered under him and Sylla, who made the best Blood in the World run like Water in the Streets of Rome, and turn’d the whole City into a Shambles of the Nobility, Gentry and People.

The same Thing enabled Cesar totally to overthrow that famous Commonwealth; for the Prolongation of his Commission in Gaul gave him an Opportunity to debauch his Army, and then upon a pretended Disgust he marched to Rome, drove out the Senators, seiz’d the Treasury, fought their Forces, and made himself perpetual Dictator.

Olivarotto di Fermo desired Leave of his Fellow-Citizens, that he might be admitted into their Town with a hundred Horse of his Companions; which being granted, he put to the Sword all the principal Citizens, and proclaim’d himself their Prince.

Francis Sforza being General of the Milanese, usurped upon them, and made himself Duke of Milan.

After Christiern the Second King of Denmark had conquer’d Sweden, he invited all the Senators and Nobility to a magnificent Entertainment, where after he had treated them highly for two Days, he most barbarously butcher’d them: None escaped this Massacre but the brave Gustavus Ericson, who was then a Prisoner; but he afterwards escaping through a thousand Difficulties, by his good Fortune, Courage and Conduct, drove the Danes out of Sweden, and restor’d the Swedes to their antient Kingdom. Nothing then was thought too great for their generous Deliverer, every Mouth was full of his Praises, and by the Universal Voice of the People he was chosen their King; and to consummate the last Testimony of their Gratitude, they trusted him with an Army: but they soon found their Mistake, for it cost them their Liberty; and having granted that [I-13] unum magnum, it was too late to dispute any thing else: His Successors having been pleased to take all the rest, and now they remain the miserable Examples of too credulous Generosity.

The Story of Denmark is so generally known, and so well related by a late excellent Author, that it would be Impertinence in me to repeat it; only this I will observe, that if the King had not had an Army at his Command, the Nobles had never delivered up their Government.

Our Countryman Oliver Cromwel turned out that Parliament under which he served, and who had got Immortal Honour through the whole World by their great Actions; and this he effected by the Assistance of an Army, which must be allowed to have had as much Virtue, Sobriety, and publick Spirit, as hath been been known in the World since amongst that Sort of Men.

The last Instance I shall give, is of a French Colony, as I remember in the West-Indies, who having War with the neighbouring Indians, and being tired in their March with the Extremity of Heat, made their Slaves carry their Arms, who taking that Opportunity fell upon them, and cut them to Pieces: A just Punishment for their Folly. And this will always be the Fate of those that trust their Arms out of their own Hands: For it is a ridiculous Imagination to conceive Men will be Servants, when they can be Masters. And as Mr. Harrington, judiciously observes, whatever Nation suffers their Servants to carry their Arms, their Servants will make them hold their Trenchers.

Some People object, that the Republicks of Venice and Holland are Instances to disprove my Assertion, who both keep great Armies, and yet have not lost their Liberty. I answer, that neither keep any standing Forces within the Seats of their Government, that is, within the City of Venice, or the great Towns of the United Provinces; but they defend these by their own Burghers, and quarter their Mercenaries in their conquered Countries, viz. the Venetians, in Greece, and the Continent of Italy, and the Dutch in Brabant and Flanders; and the Situation of these States makes their Armies, so posted, not dangerous to them; for the Venetians cannot be attacked without a Fleet, nor the Dutch be ever conquered by their own [I-14] Forces, their Country being so full of strong Towns, fortified both by Art and Nature, and defended by their own Citizens, that it would be a fruitless Attempt for their own Armies to invade them; for if they should march against any of their Cities, ’tis but shutting up their Gates, and the Design is spoiled.

But if we admit that an Army might be consistent with Freedom in a Commonwealth, yet it is otherwise in a free Monarchy; for in the former ’tis wholly in the Disposal of the People, who nominate, appoint, discard, and punish the Generals and Officers as they think fit, and ’tis certain Death to make any Attempt upon their Liberties; whereas in the latter, the King is perpetual General, may model the Army as he pleases, and it will be called High-treason to oppose him.

And though some Princes, as the Family of the Medicis, Lewis the XIth, and others laid the Foundation of their Tyrannies without the immediate Assistance of an Army, yet they all found an Army necessary to establish them; or otherwise a little Experience in the People or the Change of their Condition, would have made them disgorge in a Day, that ill-gotten Power they had been acquiring for an Age.

This Subject is so self-evident, that I am almost asham’d to prove it: For if we look through the World, we shall find in no Country, Liberty and an Army stand together; so that to know whether a People are Free or Slaves, it is necessary only to ask, whether there is an Army kept amongst them? And the Solution of that preliminary Question resolves the Doubt: As we see in China, India, Tartary, Persia, Ethiopia, Turkey, Morocco, Muscovy, Austria, France, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Tuscany, and all the little Principalities, of Germany and Italy, where the People live in the most abandoned Slavery; and in Countries where no Armies are kept within the Seat of their Government, the People are free, as Poland, Biscay, Switzerland, the Grisons, Venice, Holland, Genoa, Geneva, Ragusa, Algiers, Tunis, Hamborough, Lubeck, all the free Towns in Germany, and England and Scotland before the late Reigns. This Truth is so obvious, that the most barefaced Advocates for an Army do not directly deny it, but qualify the Matter by telling us, that [I-15] a Number not exceeding fifteen or twenty thousand Men are a Handful to so populous a Nation as this: Now I think that Number will bring as certain Ruin upon us, as if they were as many Millions, and I will give my Reasons for it.

It is the Misfortune of all Countries, that they sometimes lie under an unhappy Necessity to defend themselves by Arms against the Ambition of their Governors, and to fight for what’s their own; for if a Prince will rule us with a Rod of Iron, and invade our Laws and Liberties, and neither be prevailed upon by our Miseries, Supplications, or Tears, we have no Power upon Earth to appeal to, and therefore must patiently submit to our Bondage, or stand upon our own Defence; which if we are enabled to do, we shall never be put upon it, but our Swords may grow rusty in our Hands: For that Nation is surest to live in Peace, that is most capable of making War; and a Man that hath a Sword by his Side, shall have least occasion to make use of it. Now I say, if the King hath twenty thousand Men before hand with us, or much less than half that Number, the People can make no Effort to defend their Liberties, without the Assistance of a Foreign Power, which is a Remedy most commonly as bad as the Disease; and if we have not a Power within ourselves to defend our Laws, we have no Government.

For England being a small Country, few strong Towns in it, and those in the King’s Hands, the Nobility disarmed by the Destruction of Tenures, and the Militia not to be raised but by the King’s Command, there can be no Force levied in any Part of England, but must be destroyed in its Infancy by a few Regiments: For what will three or four thousand naked and unarm’d Men signify against as many Troops of mercenary Soldiers? What if they should come into the Field, and say you must choose these and these Men your Representatives; where is your Choice? What if they should say, Parliaments are seditious and factious Assemblies, and therefore ought to be abolished; what is become of your Freedom? Or if they should encompass the Parliament-house, and threaten if they do not surrender up their Government, they will put them to the Sword; what is become of the [I-16] old English Constitution? These Things may be, and have been done in several Parts of the World: What is it that causeth the Tyranny of the Turks at this Day, but Servants in Arms? What is it that preserved the glorious Commonwealth of Rome, but Swords in the Hands of its Citizens?

And if besides this, we consider the great Prerogatives of the Crown, and the vast Interest the King has and may acquire by the Distribution of so many profitable Offices of the Houshold, of the Revenue, of State, of Law, of Religion, and the Navy, together with the Assistance of a powerful Party, who have been always the fast and constant Friends to arbitrary Power, whose only Quarrel to his present Majesty is, that he has knocked off the Chains and Fetters they thought they had locked fast upon us; a Party, who hath once engaged us in an unhappy Quarrel amongst ourselves (the Consequence of which I dread to name) and since in a tedious and chargeable War, at the vast Expence of Blood and Treasure, to avoid that Captivity they had prepared for us: I say, if any one considers this, he will be convinced that we have enough to do to guard ourselves against the Power of the Court, without having an Army thrown into the Scale against us: And we have found oftner than once, by too fatal Experience the Truth of this; for if we look back to the late Reigns, we shall see this Nation brought to the Brink of Destruction, and Breathing out the last Gasp of their Liberty; and it is more owing to our good Fortune, than to any Effort we were able to make, that we escaped the fatal Blow.

And I believe no Man will deny, but if Charles the First had had five thousand Men before hand with us, the People had never struck a Stroke for their Liberties; or if the late King James would have been contented with Arbitrary Power without bringing in Popery, both he and his Black-Guards would have bound us Hand and Foot before this Time: But when their ill contrived Oppression came Home to their own Doors, they quickly shewed the World how different a Thing it was to suffer themselves, and to make other People suffer, and so we came by our Deliverance; and though the late King had the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, People, and his own Army [I-17] against him, and we had a very wise and couragious Prince nearly related to the Crown, and backed by a powerful State, for our Protector, yet we account this Revolution next to a Miracle.

I will add here, that most of the Nations I instanced before were enslaved by small Armies: Oliver Cromwel left behind him but 17000 Men; and the Duke of Monmouth, who was the Darling of the People, was suppressed with two thousand; nay, Cæsar seized Rome itself with five thousand, and fought the Battle of Pharsalia, where the Fate of the World was decided, with twenty two thousand; and most of the Revolutions of the Roman and Ottoman Empires since, were caused by the Pretorian Bands, and the Court Janizaries; the former of which never exceeded eight, nor the latter twelve thousand Men: And if no greater Numbers could make such Disturbances in those vast Empires, what will double the Force do with us? And they themselves confess it, when they argue for an Army; for they tell us we may be surprized with ten or fifteen thousand Men from France, and having no regular Force to oppose them, they will over-run the Kingdom. Now if so small a Force can oppose the King, the Militia, with the united Power of the Nobility, Gentry and Commons, what will an equal Power do against the People, when supported by the Royal Authority, and a never failing Interest that will attend it, except when it acts for the publick Good?

But we are told this Army is not design’d to be made a Part of our Constitution, but to be kept only for a little Time, till the Circumstances of Europe will better permit us to be without them. But I would know of these Gentlemen, when they think that Time will be? Will it be during the Life of King James, or after his Death? Shall we have less to fear from the Youth and Vigour of the pretended Prince of Wales, than now from an unhappy Man sinking under the Load of Age and Misfortunes? Or will France be more capable of offending us just after this tedious and consumptive War, than hereafter, when it has had a breathing Time to repair the Calamities it has suffered by it? No: We can never disband our Army with so much Safety as at this Time; and this is well known by these Conspirators against their Country, who are satisfied [I-18] that a Continuation of them now, is an Establishment of them for ever: For whilst the Circumstances of Europe stand in the present Posture, the Argument will be equal to continue them; if the State of Europe should alter to the Advantage of France, the Reason will grow stronger, and we shall be told we must increase our Number: But if there should be such a Turn of Affairs in the World, that we were no longer in Apprehension of the French Power, they may be kept up without our Assistance; nay, the very Discontents they may create shall be made an Argument for the continuing of them. But if they should be kept from oppressing the People, in a little Time they will grow habitual to us, and almost become a Part of our Constitution, and by Degrees we shall be brought to believe them not only not dangerons, but necessary; for every Body sees, but few understand, and those few will never be able to persuade the Multitude that there is any Danger in those Men they have lived quietly with for some Years, especially when the disbanding them will (as they will be made believe) cost them more Money out of their own Pockets to maintain a Militia, and of this we have had already an unhappy Experience. For Charles the Second being connived at in keeping a few Guards (which were the first ever known to an English King besides his Pensioners, and his Beefeaters) he insensibly increased their Number, till he left a Body of Men to his Successor, great enough to tell the Parliament, he would be no longer bound by the Laws he had sworn to; and under the Shelter and Protection of these he raised an Army that had put a Period to our Government, if a Complication of Causes (which may never happen again) had not presented the Prince of Orange with a Conjuncture to assert his own and the Nation’s Rights. And though we have so lately escaped this Precipice, yet Habit has made Soldiers so familiar to us, that some who pretend to be zealous for Liberty, speak of it as a Hardship to his present Majesty, to refuse him as many Men as his Predecessors, not considering that the raising them then was a Violation of our Laws, and that his Government is built upon the Destruction of theirs, and can no more stand upon the same Rubbish, than the Kingdom of Heaven be founded in Unrighteousness.

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But the Conspirators say, we need be in no Apprehensions of Slavery, whilst we keep the Power of the Purse in our own Hands: Which is very true; but they do not tell us that he has the Power of raising Money, to whom no one dares refuse it.

Arma tenenti
Omniu dat qui justa negat.

For ’tis as certain that an Army will raise Money, as that Money will raise an Army; but if this Course be too desperate, ’tis but shutting up the Exchequer, and disobligeing a few Tally-Jobbers (who have bought them for fifty per Cent. Discount) and there will be near three Millions a Year ready cut and dryed for them: And whoever doubts whether such a Method as this is practicable, let him look back to the Reign of Charles the Second. And I am afraid the Officers of the Exchequer have not much reason to value themselves for their Payments in this Reign: At least the Purchasers of the Annuities are of that Opinion, and would be apt to entertain some unseasonable Suspicions, if they had not greater Security from his Majesty’s Virtue, than the Justice of such Ministers. But if we could suppose (whatever is the Fate of other Countries) that our Courtiers design Nothing but the Publick Good, yet we ought not to hazard such unusual Virtue by leading it into Temptation, which is Part of our daily Duty to pray against. But I am afraid we do not live in an Age of Miracles, especially of that Sort; our Heroes are made of a coarser Allay, and have too much Dross mixed with their Constitutions for such refined Principles: For in the little Experience I have had in the World, I have observed most Men to do as much Mischief as lay in their Power, and therefore am for dealing with them as we do with Children and mad Men, that is take away all Weapons by which they may do either themselves or others an Injury: As I think the Sheep in Boccaline made a prudent Address to Apollo, when they desired, that for the future Wolves might have no Teeth.

When all other Arguments fail, they call to their Assistance the old Tyrant Necessity, and tell us the Power [I-20] of France is so great, that let the Consequence of an Army be what it will, we cannot be without one; and if we must be Slaves, we had better be so to a Protestant Prince than a Popish one, and the worst of all Popish ones the F——— King. Now I am of Mr. Johnson’s Opinion, that the putting an Epithet upon Tyranny is false Heraldry; for Protestant and Popish are both alike; and if I must be a Slave, it is very indifferent to me who is my Master, and therefore I shall never consent to be ruled by an Army, which is the worst that the most barbarous Conquest can impose upon me; which notwithstanding we have little reason to fear whilst we keep the Seas well guarded.

It is certain there is no Country so situated for Naval Power as England. The Sea is our Element, our Seamen have as much hardy Bravery, and our Ships are as numerous, and built of as good Materials as any in the World: Such a Force well applied, and managed, is able to give Laws to the Universe; and if we keep a competent Part of it well armed in Times of Peace, it is the most ridiculous Thing in Nature to believe any Prince will have Thoughts of invading us, unless he proposes to be superior to us in Naval Power: For the Preparations necessary for such an Undertaking will alarm all Europe, give both to us and our Confederates Time to arm, and put ourselves in a Posture of Defence. And whoever considers that the Prince of Orange with six hundred Ships, brought but fourteen thousand Men, and the mighty Spanish Armado (then the Terror of the World) imbarked but eighteen thousand, he will be assured that no Invasion can be so sudden upon us, but we shall have time to get ready our whole Fleet, bring some Forces from Scotland and Ireland, and prepare our own Militia if there shall be Occasion for it; especially in Times of Peace, when we shall have the Liberty of all the Ports of France, and shall, or may, have Intelligence from every one of them.

But they tell us such a Wind may happen as may be favourable to our Enemy, and keep us within our own Ports; which I say, as France lies to England, is almost impossible: For if we lie about Falmouth, or the Land’s End, no Fleet from Brest, or the Ocean, can escape us [I-21] without a Miracle; and if the Design be to invade us from any Port in the Channel, a very few Ships (which may safely lie at Anchor) will certainly prevent it: Nor is it to be conceived that that cautious Prince will be at a vast Expence for the Contingency of such a critical Wind, or will send an Army into a Country where their Retreat is certainly cut off, when the failing in any Part of his Design will bring a new War upon him, which lately cost a third Part of his People, a great many large Countries, and strong Towns, with all the Honour he had heaped up by his former Victories, to get rid of.

And here I must confess, that the Misapplication of our Naval Foree (which is our known Strength) for these last eight Years, is the strongest, as it is the most usual Argument against me: Which unriddles a Mystery I did not understand before, though I never was so foolish as to believe all the Errors of that Kind were the Effects of Chance or Ignorance, or that losing so many Opportunities of destroying the French Fleet had not some extraordinary, though occult Cause; and yet, notwithstanding the restless Attempts of our Enemies, and the paltry Politicks of our own wretched St———n, this Fleet triumphantly defended us, so that our Enemies in eight Years War, could not get one Opportunity of invading our Country.

It is objected, that the Officers of our Fleet may be corrupted, or that a Storm may arise which may destroy it all at once, and therefore we ought to have two Strings to our Bow. By which I perceive all their Fears lie one way, and that they do not care if they precipitate us into inevitable Ruin at Home, to prevent a distant Possibility of it from France. But I think this Phantom too may be laid by a well-trained Militia, and then all their Bugbears will vanish. This Word can be no sooner out, but there is a Volley of small Shot let fly at me: What must we trust our Safety to an undisciplined Mob, who never dreamt of fighting, when they undertook the Service; who are not inured to the Fatigue of a Camp, or ever saw the Face of an Enemy? And then they magnify mercenary Troops, as if there was an intrinsick Virtue in a Red-coat, or that a Raggamuffin from robbing of Henroosts, in two Campaigns could be cudgeled into a [I-22] Hero. Tho’ I must confess the Conduct of the Court in industriousty enervating this Force, does in some measure justify their Objections: For the detestable Policie of the last Reigns were with the utmost Art and Application to disarm the People, and make the Militia useless, to countenance a Standing Army in order to bring in Popery and Slavery; and if any Methods were proposed to make it more serviceable, the Court would never suffer them to be debated; and such Officers as were more zealous in exercising their Companies than others, were reprimanded, as if they design’d to raise a Rebellion. And now the worthy Patriots of this Reign are taking Advantage of the traiterous Neglect and infamous Policies of the last. But why may not a Militia be made useful? Why may not the Nobility, Gentry, and Freeholders of England be trusted with the Defence of their own Lives, Estates and Liberties, without having Guardians and Keepers assign’d them? And why may they not defend them with as much Vigour and Courage as Mercenaries who have nothing to lose, nor any other Tie to engage their Fidelity, than the inconfiderable Pay of Six-pence a-day, which they may have from the Conqueror?

Why may not the Laws for shooting in Crossbows be changed into Firelocks, and a competent Number of them be kept in every Parish for the young Men to exercise with on Holidays, and Rewards offered to the most expert, to stir up their Emulation?

Why may not the whole Militia of England be reduced to sixty thousand, and a third part of those kept by turns in constant Exercise?

Why may not a Man be listed in the Militia till he be discharged by his Master, as well as in the Army till he be discharged by his Captain? And why may not the same Horse be always sent forth, unless it can be made appear he is dead or maimed?

Why may not the private Soldiers of the Army, when they are dispersed in the several Parts of the Kingdom, be sent to the Militia? And why may not the inferior Officers of the Army in some proportion command them?

[I-23]

I say, these and other like Things may be done, and some of them are done in our own Plantations, and the Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as also in Poland, Switzerland, and the Country of the Grisons; which are Nations much less considerable than England, have as formidable Neighbours, no Sea nor Fleet to defend them, nothing but a Militia to depend upon, and yet no one dares attack them: And we have seen as great Performances done formerly by the Apprentices of London, and in the late War by the Vaudois in Savoy, the Miquelets in Catalonia, and the Militia in Ireland, as can be parallel’d in History: And so it would be with us, if the Court would give their hearty Assistance in promoting this Design; if the King would appear in Person at the Head of them, and give Rewards and Honour to such as deserve them, we should quickly see the young Nobility and Gentry appear magnificent in Arms and Equipage, shew a generous Emulation in outvying one another in Military Exercises, and place a noble Ambition in making themselves serviceable to their Country; as anciently the Achaians and Thebans from being the most contemptible Nations in Greece, by the Conduct of Pelopidas, Epamonidas, and Philopemen, came to have the best disciplin’d Troops and most excellent Soldiers in the World.

They object, that such a Militia as this is a Standing Army, and will be as dangerous, and much more chargeable. I answer;

That there can be no Danger from an Army where the Nobility and chief Gentry of England are the Commanders, and the Body of it made up of the Freeholders, their Sons and Servants; unless we can conceive that the Nobility and Gentry will join in an unnatural Design to make void their own Titles to their Estates and Liberties: And if they could entertain so ridiculous a Proposition, they would never he obeyed by the Soldiers, who will have a Respect to those who send them forth and pay them, and to whom they must return again when their Time is expired. For if I send a Man, I will as surely choose one who shall fight for me, as a Mercenary Officer will choose one that shall fight against me; and the late Governments are Witnesses to the Truth [I-24] of this, who debauched the Militia more than ever I hope to see it again, and yet durst never rely upon them to assist their Arbitrary Designs; as we may remember in the Duke of Monmouth’s Invasion, their Officers durst not bring them near his Army for fear of a Revolt. Nay, the Pensioner-Parliament themselves turn’d short upon the Court, when they expected them to give the finishing Stroke to our Ruin.

To the last Part of the Objection, That this Militia will be more chargeable than an Army; I answer, That since (as I suppose) no Man proposes wholly to lay them aside; if we add the extraordinary Expence of maintaining twenty thousand Men to the ordinary Charge of the Militia, it is much more than sufficient to make the latter useful. But if this Objection were true, it ought not to enter into Competition with the Preservation of our Laws and Liberties; for it is better to give a third Part of my Estate, if it were necessary, than to have all taken from me.

And though it should be granted, that a Militia is not as serviceable as an Army kept to constant Discipline, yet I believe these Gentlemen themselves will confess, that sixty thousand of them trained as before, are as good as twenty thousand of their standing Troops, which is the Question; for it’s impossible to have them both useful at the same Time, they being as incompatible as broad and clipt Money, never current together; and therefore the Court must depend wholly upon a Militia, or else they will not depend upon them at all. And this by the Way may silence that Objection, that we must keep our Army till the Militia be disciplin’d; for that will never be done whilst the Court has an Army: and the same Objection will be made seven Years hence as now; so that a small Army can be of no Use to us, but to make our Fleet neglected, to hinder the Militia from being trained, and enslave us at home; for they are too few to defend us against an Invasion, and too many for the People to oppose.

I dare speak with the greater Assurance upon this Subject, having the Authority of as great Men as the World hath produced for my Justification. Machiavel spends several Chapters to prove, that no Prince or State ought [I-25] to suffer any of their Subjects to make War their Profession, and that no Nation can be secure with any other Forces than a settled Militia. My Lord Bacon in several Places bears his Testimony against a Standing Army, and particularly he tells us, that a Mercenary Army is fittest to invade a Country, but a Militia to defend it; because the first have Estates to get, and the latter to protect. Mr. Harrington hath founded his whole Oceana upon a trained Militia; and I have lately read a French Book, called a History of the Politicks of France, which says, Enfin si on veut ruiner Les Anglois il suffit de les obliger a tenir des Troupes sur pied. Nay, I believe no Author ever treated of a Free Government, that did not express his Abhorrence of an Army; for, as my Lord Bacon says, whoever does use them, though he may spread his Feathers for a Time, he will mew them soon after; and raise them with what Design you please, yet, like the West-India Dogs, in Boccaline, in a little Time they will certainly turn Sheep-biters.

Perhaps it will be said, that the Artillery of the World is changed since some of these wrote, and War is become more a Mystery, and therefore more Experience is necessary to make good Soldiers. But wherein does this Mystery consist? not in exercising a Company, and obeying a few Words of Command; these are Mysteries that the dullest Noddle will comprehend in a few Weeks. Nay, I have heard that the modern Exercise is much shorter and easier than the Antient. But the great Improvements in War are in regular Encampments, Fortification, Gunnery, skilful Engineering, &c. These are Arts not to be learned without much Labour, and Experience, and are as much gained in the Closet as in the Field; and I suppose no Man will say, that the keeping Standing Forces is necessary to make a good Engineer.

As to actual Experience in War, that is not essential either to a Standing Army or a Militia, as such; but the former may be without it, and the latter gain it according as they have Opportunities of Action. ’Tis true, at present the Army hath been trained up in a long War, and hath gained great Knowledge: But these Men will not be lost when they are disbanded, they will be still in England; and if the Parliament does give them a Gratuity [I-26] suitable to the Service they have done their Country, will be ready to resume their Arms whenever Occasion offers.

But I desire to know of these Patriots how comes an Army necessary to our Preservation now, and never since the Conquest before? Did ever the prevailing Party in the Wars of York and Lancaster attempt to keep up a Standing Army to support themselves? No: They had more Sense than to sacrifice their own Liberty, and more Honour than to enslave their Country, the more easily to carry on their own Faction. Were not the Spaniards as powerful, as good Soldiers, and as much our Enemies, as the French are now? Was not Flanders as near us as France? And the popish Interest in Queen Elizabeth’s Time as strong as the Jacobite is now? And yet that most excellent Princess never dreamt of a Standing Army, but thought her surest Empire was to reign in the Hearts of her Subjects, which the following Story sufficiently testifies. When the Duke of Alanson came over to England, and for some Time had admired the Riches of the City, the Conduct of her Government, and the Magnificence of her Court, he asked her amidst so much Splendor where were her Guards? Which Question she resolved a few Days after as she took him in her Coach through the City, when pointing to the People, (who received her in Crowds with repeated Acclamations) These, said she, my Lord, are my Guards; These have their Hands, their Hearts, and their Purses always ready at my Command: And these were Guards indeed, who defended her thro’ a long and successful Reign of forty four Years against all the Machinations of Rome, the Power of Spain, a disputed Title, and the perpetual Conspiracies of her own Popish Subjects; a Security the Roman Emperors could not boast of, with their Pretorian Bands, and their Eastern and Western Armies.

Were not the French as powerful in Charles the Second and King James’s Time, as they are after this long and destructive War, and a less Alliance to oppose them? And yet we then thought a much less Army, than is now contended for, a most insupportable Grievance; insomuch that in Charles the Second’s Reign, the Grand-Jury presented them, and the Pensioner Parliament voted them to [I-27] be a Nusance, sent Sir Jos. Wil———son to the Tower, for saying, the King might keep Guards for the Defence of his Person, and addressed to have them disbanded. And now our Apostates would make their Court, by doing what the worst Parliament ever England saw, could not think of without Horror and Confusion. They say the King of France was in League with our late Kings, so he is with us; and he would have broke it then, if he had thought it safe, and for his Interest as much as now. But they say we have more disaffected Persons to join with him; which I must deny, for I believe no King of England, in any Age, had deservedly more Interest than the Present, and if during such an expensive War, in which we have consumed so much Blood and Treasure, paid such vast and unequal Taxes, lost so many thousand Ships, and bore a Shock by recoining our Money, which would have torn up another Nation from its Foundation, and reduced it to its ancient Chaos, when most Countries would have sunk under the Misfortune, and repined at their Deliverance, (as Men in Sickness commonly quarrel with their dearest Friends) I say, if at that Time he had so great and universal an Interest, there can be no doubt but in Times of Peace, when the People reap the Fruits of that Courage and Conduct he hath shewn in their Defence, he will be the most beloved and glorious Prince that ever filled the English Throne.

I will make one Assertion more, and then conclude this Discourse, viz. That the most likely Way of restoring King James, is maintaining a Standing Army to keep him out.

For the King’s Safety stands upon a Rock, while it depends upon the solid Foundation of the Affections of the People, which is never to be shaken, till it is as evident as the Sun in the Firmament, that there is a formed Design to overthrow our Laws and Liberties; but if we keep a standing Army, all depends upon the uncertain and capricious Humours of the Soldiery, which in all Ages have produced more violent and sudden Revolutions, than ever have been known in unarmed Governments: For there is such a Chain of Dependance among them, that if two or three of the chief Officers should be disobliged, or have Intrigues with Jacobite Mistresses; [I-28] or if the King of France could once again buy his Pensioners into the Court or Army, or offer a better Market to some that are in already, we shall have another Rehearsal Revolution, and the People be only idle Spectators of their own Ruin. And whosoever considers the Composition of an Army, and doubts this, let him look back to the Roman Empire, where he will find out of twenty-six Emperors, sixteen deposed and murdered by their own Armies; nay, Half the History of the World is made up of Examples of this Kind: But we need not go any farther than our own Country, where we have but twice kept Armies in Times of Peace, and both Times they turned out their own Masters. The first under Cromwell, expelled that Parliament under which they had fought successfully for many Years; afterwards under General Monk they destroyed the Government they before set up, and brought back Charles the Second, and he afterwards disbanded them, left they might have turned him out again. The other Instance is fresh in every one’s Memory, how King James’s Army joined with the Prince of Orange, now our rightful and lawful King. And what could have been expected otherwise from Men of dissolute and debauched Principles, who call themselves Soldiers of Fortune? Who make Murder their Profession, and enquire no farther into the Justice of the Cause, than how they shall be paid; who must be false, rapacious, and cruel in their own Defence. For having no other Profession or Subsistence to depend upon, they are forced to stir up the Ambition of Princes, and engage them in perpetual Quarrels, that they may share of the Spoils they make. Such Men, like some Sort of ravenous Fish, fare best in a Storm; and therefore we may reasonably suppose they will be better pleased with the Tyrannical Government of the late King, than the mild and gracious Administration of his present Majesty, who came over to England to rescue us from Oppression, and he has done it, and triumphs in it in Spight of his Enemies.

In this Discourse I have purposely omitted speaking of the lesser Inconveniences attending a Standing Army, such as frequent Quarrels, Murder, and Robberies; the Destruction of all the Game in the Country; the Quartering upon Publick, and sometimes private Houses; the Influencing Elections of Parliament, by an artificial Distribution [I-29] of Quarters; the rendering so many Men useless to Labour, and almost Propogation, together with a much greater Destruction of them, by taking them from a labourious Way of Living, to a loose idle Life; and besides this, the Insolence of the Officers, and the Debaucheries that are committed both by them, and their Soldiers in all the Towns they come in, to the Ruin of Multitudes of Women, Dishonour of their Families, and ill Example to others; and a numerous Train of Mischiefs besides, almost endless to enumerate. These are trivial as well as particular Grievances in respect of those I have treated about, which strike at the Heart’s Blood of our Constitution, and therefore I thought these not considerable enough to bear a Part in a Discourse of this Nature: Besides, they often procure their own Remedy, working Miracles, and making some Men see that were born Blind, and impregnable against all the Artillery of Reason; for Experience is the only Mistress of Fools: A wise Man will know a Pike will bite, when he sees his Teeth, which another will not make Discovery of but by the Loss of a Finger.

What I have said here against Standing Armies, I would be understood of such as are the Instruments of Tyranny and their Country’s Ruin, and therefore I need make no Apology to our own which was raised by the Consent of the Parliament, in this just and necessary War, and next under God and our Great and glorious Deliverer, have by their Bravery and Conduct preserxed our Liberties, and the Protestant Religion through Europe. For if in future Reigns any Designs should be levelled against our Laws, we may be assured these Men would be discarded, and others promoted in their Rooms, who are fit for such arbitrary Purposes.

Nor do I think it reasonable that our Army should be ruined by that Peace, which by their Courage and Fidelity they have procured for their Country; and I doubt not but the Generosity and Gratitude of the Parliament will give them a Donative equal to their Commissions, which, when the Foreigners are paid and sent Home, will amount to no extraordinary Sum; at most, ’tis but supposing the War to have six Months longer Continuance, which is an easy Composition for the Charge of [I-30] keeping them. But if there are any Gentlemen amongst them who think we can no otherwise express our Gratitude, by signing and sealing our own Ruin, I hope we shall disappoint their Expectations, and not give the World occasion to tell so foolish a Story of us, as that we turned to grass one of the most powerful Monarchs in the World for breaking our Laws, that we have maintained an eight Years War, at the Expence of forty Millions of Money, and the Blood of three hundred thousand Men, to justify the glorious Action we have done; that by it we preserved all Europe besides, and lost our own Liberties; at least I hope it shall not be said we consented to it.

[I-31]

The Second Part of an Argument, Shewing, that a Standing Army Is inconsistent with a Free Government, and absolutely destructive to the Constitution of the English Monarchy. With Remarks on the late published LIST of King James’s Irish Forces in France.↩

Anno 1697.

[By J. Trenchard, Esq;]

[I-32]

[I-48]

A Letter from the Author of the Argument against a Standing Army, to the Author of the Ballancing Letter. ↩

[By J. Trenchard, Esq;]

SIR,

THO’ the Journeymen Scribblers with all their Scurrility can’t provoke me to give them an Answer, yet when I see myself levell’d at in such soft Language and Gentleman-like Behaviour, I am the more afraid; Timeo Danaos, & dona ferentes.

You have been pleas’d in your last Paragraph to own the Matter to be so nice and important, that it ought to be severely examin’d without false Colours and popular Rhetorick; and you are pleas’d to give yourself the Character of one zealous for Liberty, a great Adventurer for it, and to have a great Stake in it. If you are the Gentleman I guess you to be, I believe your Stake is now considerable; but you being a great Adventurer in getting it, it is not worth magnifying yourself for it: which gives me Occasion to say I am not of a desperate Fortune, and what Stake I have being provided for me by my Ancestors, I am more afraid of losing it than if it were my own Acquisition. And after this short Preface, I will proceed to examine into the Matter without false Colours or popular Rhetorick.

I think your Letter hath shew’d these three Things.

135.
1. What you would have.
136.
2. How long you would have it.
137.
3. For what Reasons.
138.

[I-49]

First, I perceive you would have us believe we have an Honourable Peace to the Wonder of the World, and that nothing can hurt us but Animosities and Jealousies amongst ourselves: And secondly, you would have a Land Force to maintain this Peace. Now, Sir, I must beg your Pardon if my Faith differs from your’s; for I can’t believe we have an Honourable Peace in case we are oblig’d to keep up a Standing Force to maintain it. Peace is a Cessation of the Exercise of the Use of Arms, that we may with Safety turn our Swords into Plough-shares, and Spears into Pruning-hooks; and the Prayers of the Church commanded by his Majesty for Thanksgiving for this Peace, have taken in that very Text: And if this our Peace will not answer this Character, it is not such a Peace as you would have us believe we are bless’d with. But since we have not such a Peace (for you know better than I) I will go on for Argument-sake with your’s, to supply this Imperfection in it. You are pleas’d to say, Page 3. when you seem to prepare us to consider of the Necessity of a Land Force, you are far from the Thoughts of a Standing Army. Now I’ll tell you, Sir, what I apprehend a Standing Army to be; Horse and Foot rais’d under Commission granted by the King, with Swords and Pistols, Pikes and Muskets, Powder and Ball to kill Men. If you by your Land Force mean none of all these, I am very impertinent in differing with you. But till you are pleas’d to distinguish your Land Force from this Description, I belive all Men will think you mean the same by a Land Force, as I do by a Standing Army; which if you do, then you have declar’d your Thoughts against it, and made yourself guilty of the most apparent Contradiction that ever I saw wrote in so good a Stile.

The next Thing you shew is, How long you would have these Land Forces continue, and that is from Year to Year: Which put me in Mind of a Covenant us’d in conveying Lands in Holland, whereby the Seller warrants the Land to the Purchaser for a Year and a Day, which, according to their Law, is for ever; and so, I suppose, when you say from Year to Year, you mean in secula seculorum, as will appear by and by.

[I-50]

The third Thing is, for what Reasons you would have this. And, First, you abhor to give his Majesty a Jealousy of his People, as if he were not safe amongst them without Guards: But you say the Case at present is, Whether, considering the Circumstances that we and our Neighbours are now in, it may not be prudent and necessary for us to keep up a reasonable Force from Year to Year; and so you seem to lay a great Stress upon the Fashion of other Countries. You say Pag. 4. the whole World, more particularly our Neighbours, have now got into the mistaken Notion of keeping up a mighty Force; and the most powerful of these happens to be our next Neighbour, who will very probably keep up great Armies, and we may appear too inviting if we are in an unguarded Condition.

Now, Sir, as to the Fashion of other Countries. I remember that God having declared Laws to the Israelites, commanded them to keep them, and not to follow or hanker after the Fashions of other Nations, either in Worship or Government. And if we are in the Fashion of our Neighbours in having an Army, we must have their fashioned Government too. It is the Fashion of the French King to have a Standing Army, and it is the Fashion of his Subjects to be Slaves under that Standing Army. I observe Men that are addicted to Fashions, follow them in every Thing. Now to be Freemen under a Standing Army is not the Fashion of our Neighbours. And I am afraid we shall never think ourselves compleatly in the Fashion till we have got Wooden Shoes too.

But I see, Sir, you are not so much a Fop as to be in the Fashion, for Fashion Sake, but that you think there is a Necessity for it; for you are afraid of being invaded by our Neighbours, the next and greatest of whom will probably keep up great Armies. And here by the Way, before I forget it, I would put you in Mind of your Tenure from Year to Year; for I think by this Argument you would have our Land Force to continue as long as the French King is in a mistaken Notion of Keeping up great Armies, so that from Year to Year is already become a Phrase for ever. For my Part I should be unwilling [I-51] to stay for any Thing I wish for, till the French King disbands his Army. Therefore, Sir, do not draw Men into your Proposals, by sowing Pillows under them, by soft Language, of a Land Force, not Standing Army, from Year to Year, under the Consideration of Parliament. Let us have plain Words, and then your Proposals, according to your own Reasons, must be for a Standing Army in England, as long as the French King, or any of his Successors, keep up a Standing Army in France: you had as good open your Matter fairly at first, for every thing else is but flourish till you come to the Point.

Now, Sir, I confess I give as little Credit to the Words and Leagues of Princes as you do, and depend more upon their Interest than Integrity for the Performance of them, and therefore am not for leading them into Tempations to attack us, and would always have a Defence suitable to our Danger. Nature hath armed all Creatures with Weapons to oppose those that assault them, and the Policy of Man hath found out several artificial ones for himself. Now the sole Debate between us is, in whose Hands these Weapons should be put.

Of this Matter I have discoursed from the 18th to the 26th Page of my Argument, which you neither can or do pretend to answer, and therefore I refer you thither again: Indeed in your 9th, 10th, and 11th Pages, you tell us, that regular and disciplined Troops are far superior to the best and strongest Militia in the World, admitting this Condition, that there are no regular or disciplined Troops in that Militia. But I will make bold to tell you, that a Militia may be as well disciplined as any Army; nay our own Army, if they were disbanded, will most of them be sent to the Militia; and I suppose calling them by a new Name, will not make them worse Soldiers. Now as to your Instances in History, I shall only make this small Objection to them all, that you are mistaken in every particular. For the Persian Army was made up of Standing Troops, kept up in the several Provinces of the Empire, and not of Militia, as you falsly insinuate: And with these Armies they conquered easily the several Principalities which made up their vast Empire, which were defended by Standing Armies; but when they came to [I-52] fight with the Greek Militia, all their mighty Armies came to Nothing. Of this we have the Instances of Xenophon, who with ten thousand Greeks, marched three thousand Miles through their Country, in spight of a numerous Army observing him. Afterwards of Agesilaus, who with a small Spartan Militia had put an End to the Persian Empire, if the Factions of Greece had not called him home. The mighty Army of Xerxes was destroyed by a Greek Militia. Nay the better Part of Alexander’s Army was made up of a Militia taken out of the several Cities of Greece.

The Instance you give of the Romans makes as much against you; for they found more Difficulty in conquering a few little Commonwealths about them, who fought by Militias, than Asia, Egypt, and all the arbitrary Governments they conquered, which fought against them with standing Armies. Who will deny that Cæsar’s Conquests over the Gallick Militia, were greater than Pompey’s over the Asiatick standing Armies? And whereas you say, Page 11th, that nothing stood before the Roman Armies whilst they were kept under Discipline; but when all their Order was broke, and they became a Militia, the Northern Nations in Europe, as well as the Saracens in the East, over-run the Roman Empire, I must take leave to say, the just contrary to this is true: For whilst they fought by a Militia, they conquered the whole World; but afterwards, in the Time of the Emperors, when they kept up Standing Armies of three hundred and sixty thousand Men, as Tacitus reckons them, they were over-run by every barbarous Nation that invaded them.

Your Instance of Hannibal is Nothing to the Purpose, for the Carthaginians did not beat the Romans, but Hanbal the Roman Generals. He got no Victory but by his own single Conduct; and when the Romans fought against any other General, they were seldom unsuccessful.

The Turks also met with much more Trouble in subduing the Hungarian and Epirot Militia, than all their Empire besides. Scanderbeg, with a small Militia came off constantly successful in two and twenty Battles against their numerous Standing Armies. Huniades and his Son Mathias, fought always with Militias against the Turkish [I-53] Standing Armies, and performed such Actions as Posterity can hardly believe, and I am sure were never equalled by any other Force.

And whereas you say the Preservation of England in Queen Elizabeth’s Time was by Accident, and we must not always expect to live upon Miracles: I do not find but that excellent Princess, and her Court were of another Opinion. We do not find her, or her Creatures, after the Spaniards were defeated, to use this Cant to the Parliament. “Gentlemen, you see what a Danger you have lately escaped, we were preserved by Providence and Chance, but I hope you will not always expect Miracles: It is necessary to keep up a Standing Force, for I cannot depend upon the Defence of my People.” She scorned such Trash, and would have caged any evil Counsellor, who durst give her such Advice: She thought herself safe in the Affection of her People, though this Gentleman, at above a hundred Years Distance, tells her the contrary.

But you seem very apprehensive of being surprized without Notice; and mention, Page 5th, the late Attempts from la Hogue and Calais; and that if in a Time of War and Jealousy we were so near being fatally over-run, without Warning or Intelligence, it is much more possible to see such Designs laid in Times of Sloth and Quiet, when we are under no Fears, and have no Notice of it. Sir, I have no better Opinion of our Intelligence, during the War, than you have. However the Business of la Hogue was the Talk of the Exchange, and in all the publick Prints, besides the Gazette, two Months before it happened: And as to that of Calais, His Majesty, by his extraordinary Care, surprized the Enemy with seventy Sail on their Coasts, which they never expected. And that our Notice should be more difficult in Peace than War, I cannot understand, since in the latter all Ports are shut, and Merchants stopt, and in the former the Ports are open, Travellers abroad, Merchants at Sea, and an Embassador at their Court.

Page the 8th, You give a great Character of arbitrary Government, where Men are ruined that fail in performing what is expected from them, or in keeping the Secrets that are enjoined them, by which the Prince can execute [I-54] Things in other Manner, than can be conceived by those that live in free Governments. I am sure if Impunity of those who fail in performing their Duty, and in keeping our Secrets be the Character of a free Government, we are free with a witness. But I cannot see why the punishing of them should be, inconsistent with a free Government.

And after all, you seem to apprehend as ill Consequences from a Standing Army as I do, as Page the 14th, where speaking of the Dangers of it, you say, This is a large Field, and History is so full of Instances of this Kind, that it will be easy to open copiously on the Subject. From the Pretorian Cohorts down to our modern Armies, enough can be gathered to give a very frightful Represensation of a Standing Army. And afterwards Page the 15th, I do not deny but several Inconveniences may be apprehended from a Standing Force, and therefore I should not go about to persuade you to it, if the Thing did not seem indispensably Necessary. Now I suppose by indispensable Necessity, you mean, you are sure without this Army that our Neighbours will invade us, and that it is impossible our Fleets or Militia, however managed, can be able to defend us: Whether there is such a Necessity or not, I refer you to my Argument; and if there is not, you have given up the Question: For you, in effect, admit a certain Slavery on one Side, and if there is but contingent Ruin on the other, it is easy to determine of which side the Ballance lies. But you say that the Parliament shall overlook it, but will you be Security the Army shall not overlook the Parliament? O but that cannot be, if they are kept up from Year to Year! Cæsar, with all his Genius, could not work his Army to it in less than ten Years.

Sir, If that be the exact Time of corrupting an Army, pray consider that ours hath been kept up nine Years already. But I am as far from any Jealousy of his present Majesty as you are, and yet I am not afraid to say, that Army which can do no hurt, can do no good.

It is impossible to consider of a Standing Force which shall be sufficient to oppose a Foreign Power, without considering it at the same Time sufficient to suppress the [I-55] Subject at home: For they must beat those who you suppose can beat us; and I must confess I am unwilling to depend on their good Will.

Sir, Page 15, you seem to think me a jealous, melancholy and timorous Man, over-run with the Spleen; but I fancy myself as free from all this without a Place, as perhaps you are with one. Come don’t fear your Stake, I dare give you Land Security that you will come off a Winner.

And as for the gallant Gentlemen of the Army, whom you fear will be Losers, I shall be as ready as you to recompense them for their Bravery. But to suppose our Fleets to be surprized and betrayed, and our Militia to be recreant, and all our Intelligence, Fidelity and Courage to be lodged in a Standing Army, I must confess is out of my Power.

In Page the 8th you say, you cannot see some Men grow all on a sudden such wonderful Patriots, so jealous of the Prerogative, such Zealots for publick Liberty, without remembering what their Behaviour was in the late Reigns. Now I must own to you, I am better pleased to see this, than to see some Men, who were such wonderful Patriots, &c. in the last Reigns, act the same Part now, as much as in them lies, as the others did formerly.

Before I have done I must take Notice of one Passage in your 10th Page You say whenever the fatal Time comes that this Nation grows weary of Liberty, and has neither the Virtue, the Wisdom, nor the Force to preserve its Constitution, it will deliver up all, let all the Laws possible, and all the Bars imaginable be put in the Way to it. It is no more possible to make a Government immortal, than to make a Man immortal. When I join this to the sensible Impressions you seem to have of the Danger of a Standing Army in the next Line, and an indispensable Necessity of keeping one, methinks you give broad Hints that you think our Time is come. But I doubt not but there is Virtue enough yet in England, to preserve our Constitution, though a wiser Head than yours designed its Ruin.

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I will conclude in telling you we have a happy Government, where the King hath all the Power necessary to execute the Laws. All Title arises upon an equal Distribution of Power; and he that gets an Over-ballance of Power (for you and I are a ballancing) takes away the Title from the Rest, and leaves them a Possession without a Right, which is a Tenure at the Will of the Lord.

Sir, in Hopes you will keep up your Correspondence, I conclude myself,

Your most humble Servant.

[I-57]

A Short History of Standing Armies in England.↩

By J. Trenchard. Anno 1698.

IF any Man doubts whether a Standing Army is Slavery, Popery, Mahometism, Paganism, Atheism, or any Thing which they please, let him read,

First, The Story of Matho and Spendius at Carthage, and the Mamalukes of Egypt.

Secondly, The Histories of Strada and Bentivolio, where he will find what Work nine thousand Spaniards made in the Seventeen Provinces, though the Country was full of fortified Towns, possessed by the Low Country Lords, and they had Assistance from Germany, England and France.

Thirdly, The History of Philip de Commines, where he will find that Lewis the 11th inslaved the vast Country [I-63] of France with 25000 Men, and that the raising 500 Horse by Philip of Burgundy, sirnamed the Good, was the Ruin of those Provinces.

Fourthly, Ludlow’s Memoirs, where he will find that an Army raised to defend our Liberties, made Footballs of that Parliament, at whose Actions all Europe stood amazed, and in a few Years set up ten several Sorts of Government contrary to the Genius of the whole Nation, and the Opinion of Half their own Body: Such is the Influence of a General over an Army, that he can make them act like a Piece of Mechanism, whatever their private Opinions are.

Lastly, Let him read the Arguments against a Standing Army, the Discourse concerning Militias, the Militia Reform’d, and the Answers to them: But lest all this should not satisfy him, I will here give a Short History of Standing Armies in England, I will trace this Mystery of Iniquity from the Beginning, and show the several Steps by which it has crept upon us.

The first Footsteps I find of a Standing Army in England since the Romans left the Island, were in Richard the Second’s Time, who raised four thousand Archers in Cheshire, and suffered them to plunder, live upon Free Quarter, beat, wound, ravish and kill wherever they went; and afterwards he called a Parliament, encompassed them with his Archers, forced them to give up the whole Power of Parliaments, and make it Treason to endeavour to repeal any of the Arbitrary Constitutions 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 do not find any King from him to Charles the First, that attempted keeping up any Forces in Time of Peace, except the Yeomen of the Guard, who were constituted by Henry the Seventh; and though there were several Armies raised in that Time for French, Scotch, Irish, other foreign 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 prevailed, we do not find [I-64] they ever attempted to keep up a Standing Army. Such was the virtue of those times, that they would rather run the hazard of forefeiting their Heads and Estates to the rage of the opposite 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 fourth, 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 Armis 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.

[I-65]

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, advanced Favourites of his own, Men of no Merit, to the highest Preserment; and to maintain their Profuseness, he granted them Monopolies, infinite Projects, prostituted Honours for Money, rais’d Bevevolences 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 bubbled nine Years together with the hopes of the Spanish Match, and a great Fortune. Aferwards he made a dishonourable 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 Doctrine. In Ireland he gave them all the Incouragement he durst; which Policy has been 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 awe the Natives: and the other, that they might make use of the Natives [I-66] against their English Subjects. In this Reign that ridiculous Doctrine of Kings being Jure Divino was coined, 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, some against talking of News; Letters to the Parliament, telling them he was an old and wise King; that State Affairs were above their reach, therefore 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 govern’d by the Priests (who have been always unfortunate 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 dissolved his first Parliament for presuming to inquire into his Father’s Death, tho’ he lost a great Sum of Money by it, which they had voted him: He entred at the same time into a War with France and Spain, upon the private Piques of Buckingham, who managed them to the eternal Dishonour and Reproach of the English Nation; witness the ridiculous Enterprizes upon Cadiz and the Isle of Rhee. He delivered Pennington’s Fleet into the French hands, betrayed the poor Rochellers, and suffered the Protestant Interest in France to be quite extirpated. He raised Loans, Excises, Coat and Conduct-mony, Tunnage and Poundage, Knight-hood and Ship-money, without Authority of Parliament; imposed new Oaths on the Subjects, to discover the value of theit Estates; imprisoned great numbers of the most considerable Gentry and Merchants for not paying his Arbitrary Taxes; some 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. [I-67] He erected Arbitrary Courts, and enlarged others, as the High Commission-Court, the Star-Chamber, Court of Honour, 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 come to Parliament; committed and prosecuted a great many of the most eminent Members of the House of Commons for what they did there, some 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 that 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, Mountage, and Manwaring, one of whom had been complained of in Parliament, another impeached for advancing Popery, and the third condemned in the House of Lords. He dispensed with the Laws against Papists, and both encouraged and preferred them. He called no Parliament for twelve years together, and in that time governed 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 favour of the Marquess of Antrim, by his stopping the Succours 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 engaged his Faith to the Parliament to the contrary, and bringing over many thousands of them to fight against his People. It is endless to enumerate 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 [I-68] 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 attempted to raise an Army.

Upon pretence of the Spanish and French War he raised many thousand Men, who lived upon free Quarter, and robb’d and destroyed wherever they came. But being unsuccessful in his Wars abroad, and prest by the Clamours of the People at home, he was forced to dishand 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 examined 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 raised an Army in England to oppose the Scots, and tampered 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 immediately fell on the Officers that were Members, 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 endeavoured 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 the Parliament refused to consent, believing he would make another use of them. When he came back to London, he picked out 3 or 400 dissolute Fellows out of Taverns, gaming and brothel Houses, kept a Table for them; and with this goodly Guard all armed 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 attempted [I-69] no further. This so enraged the House, that they chose a Guard to defend themselves against future Insults, and the King soon after left London. Some time before this began the Irish Rebellion, where the Irish pretended the King’s Authority, and shewed 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 enslave the Nation, and the frequent Attempts 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, both won by new Soldiers, the first by the London Militia, and the latter by an unexperienced Army, which the King used to call in derision the New Nodel. And some years after, the Battle of Worcester was in a great measure won by the Country Militia, for which Cromwel discharged them with anger and contempt, as knowing them Instruments unfit 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 some 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 done. But finding their Petition resented, they sent and seized the King’s Person from the Parliaments Commissioners, drew up a Charge of High Treason against eleven principal Members for endeavouring to disband the Army, entred into a private Treaty with the King: But he not complying with their demands, they seized London; and notwithstanding the Parliament had voted the King’s concession a ground for a future Settlement, they resolved to put him to Death, and in [I-70] order thereto 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 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 Battles; secured our Trade and managed the public Expences with so much frugality, that no Estates were gained by private 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 Commonwealth; 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 Fool’s bauble the Mace; and so good-night to the Parliament.

When they had done 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 Intendants 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 [I-71] 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 nominate 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 named 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 governed 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 procceedings being not agreeable to the humour 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 wield 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 Wallingford-House, and chose 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, sometimes they were for calling a new Parliament, sometimes for restoring the old, which was at last done. 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 restored 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, [I-72] 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 effeminate Prince, a deep Dissembler, and if not a Papist himself, yet a great favourer 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 been 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 done by an Usurper; suffered 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 [I-73] great advantages of us, and burnt our Fleet at Chatham. At last he made as dishonourable a Peace with them, as he had done a War; perpetual reproach to our Country, that our Reputation at Sea should be sunk to so low an ebb as to be baffled by that Nation, who but a few Years before had sent a blank Paper to the Parliament, to prescribe to them what Laws they pleased. During this War the City of London was fired, not without violent suspicions that the Fireballs were prepared at Whitehall. Soon after this he entred into the Triple Alliance to oppose the growing greatness of France, and received a great Sum from the Parliament to maintain it, which he made use of to break the same League; sent Mr. Coventry to Sweden to dissolve it; and entred into a strict Alliance with France, which was sealed with his Sister’s Blood. In Conjunction with them he made a new War upon Holland, to extirpate Liberty, and the Protestant Religion; but knowing the Parliament were averse to the War, and would not support him in it, he attempted before any War declared to seize their Smyrna Fleet, shut up the Exchequer, and became so mean as to be a Pensioner to France, from whence his Predecessors with Swords in their Hands had so often exacted Tribute. He not only suffered, but assisted them to arrive at that pitch of Greatness, which all Europe since hath sufficiently felt and lamented. He sent over ten thousand Men to assist in subduing Flanders and Germany, by whose help they did several considerable Actions. He sent them Timber, Seamen, Ship Carpenters, and Models, contrary to the Policy of all Nations; which raised their Naval Force to a degree almost equal to our own: And for their exercise, he suffered them to take multitudes of English Ships by their Privateers, without so much as demanding satisfaction.

During this War he issued out a Declaration suspending the Penal Laws, which appears to be designed in favour of the Papists, by his directing a Bill afterwards to be stolen away out of the House of Lords, for indulging Protestant Dissenters, whom he persecuted violently most of his Reign, while he both countenanced and preferred Papists broke the Act of Settlement in Ireland, restored them to their Estates, issued forth a Proclamation [I-74] giving the Papists liberty to inhabit in Corporations, and married the Duke of York not only to a Papist, but one in the French Interest, notwithstanding the repeated Addresses of the Parliament to the contrary. It was in this Reign that that cursed and detestable Policy was much improved of bribing Parliaments, by distributing all the great Employments in England among them, and supplying the Want of Places with Grants of Lands and Money. No Man could be preferred to any Employment in Church or State, till he had declared himself an open Enemy to our Constitution, by asserting Despotic Power under that nonsensical Phrase of Passive Obedience, which was more preach’d up than all the Laws of God and Man. The Hellish Popish Plot was stifled, proved since too true by fatal Experience; and in the Room of it Protestant ones were forg’d, and Men trapann’d into others, as the Meal-Tub, Fitz Harris’s, the Rye-House, Newmarket, and Black-Heath Plots; and by these Pretences, and the Help of Packt Judges and Juries, they butchered some of the best Men in England, set immoderate Fines upon others, gave probable Suspicion of cutting the Lord Essex’s Throat; and to finish our Destruction, they took away the Charters, as fast as they were able, of all the Corporations in England, that would not choose the Members prescribed them.

But he durst not have dreamt of all these Violations if he had not had an Army to justify them. He had thoughts at first of keeping up the Parliament-Army, which was several times in Debate. But Chancellor Hyde prevailed upon him by this Argument, that they were a Body of Men that had cut off his Father’s Head; that they had set up and pulled down ten several Sorts of Government; and that it might be his own Turn next. So that his Fears prevailing over his Ambition, he consented to disband them; but soon found how vain and abortive a Thing Arbitrary Power would prove without an Army. He therefore try’d all ways to get one; and first he attempted it in Scotland, and by means of the Duke of Lauderdale, got an Act passed there, whereby the Kingdom of Scotland was obliged to raise 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse at his Majesty’s Call, to march into any Part of his Dominions; and this Law is in [I-75] Being at this Day. Much about the same Time he raised Guards in England (a Thing unheard of before in our English Constitution) and by Degrees increas’d them, till they became a formidable Army; for first they were but very few, but by adding insensibly more Men to a Troop or Company, and then more Troops or Companies to a Regiment, before the second Dutch War he had multiplied them to near 5000 Men. He then began that War in Conjunction with France, and the Parliament gave him two Millions and a half to maintain it, with Part of which Money he rais’d about 12000 Men, which were called the Black-Heath Army (appointing Marshal Shomberg to be their General, and Fitz Gerald, an Irish Papist, their Lieutenant-General) and pretended he rais’d them to attack Holland; but instead of using them to that purpose, he kept them encamped upon Black-Heath, hovering over the City of London, which put both the Parliament and City in such Confusion, that the King was forced at last to disband them. But there were several Accidents contributed to it: First, the ill Success he had in the War with the Dutch, such Gallantries being not to be attempted but in the highest Raptures of Fortune: Next, the never to be forgotten Generosity of that great Man General Shomberg, whose mighty Genius scorn’d so ignoble an Action as to put Chains upon a free People; and last of all, the Army themselves mutinied for want of Pay; which added to the ill Humours that were then in the Nation, made the King willing to disband them. But at the same time, contrary to the Articles of Peace with the Dutch, he continu’d ten thousand Men in the French Service, for the most part under Popish Officers, to be season’d there in slavish Principles, that they might be ready to execute any Commands when they were sent for over. The Parliament never met, but they address’d the King to recall these Forces out of France, and disband them; and several times prepar’d Bills to that purpose, which the King always prevented by a Prorogation; but at last was prevail’d upon to issue forth a Proclamation to recall them, yet at the same time supplied them with Recruits, encourag’d some to go voluntarily into that Service, and press’d, imprison’d, and carried over others [I-76] by main Force; besides, he only disbanded the new rais’d Regiments, and not all of them neither, for he kept up in England five thousand eight hundred and ninety private Men, besides Officers, which was his Establishment in 1673.

The King having two great designs to carry on together, viz. Popery and Arbitrary Power, thought this Force not enough to do his Business effectually; and therefore cast about how to get a new Army, and took the most plausible way, which was pretending to entet into a War with France; and to that purpose sent Mr. Thyn to Holland, who made a strict League with the States: And immediately upon it the King called the Parliament, who gave him 1200000 Pounds to enter into an actual War, with which Money he raised 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 Money from that King to assist him in making a private 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 happened 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 forced to call the Parliament which met the 23d of October 78, who immediately fell upon the Popish Plot and the Land Army. Besides there were discovered 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 enrag’d the Parliament, that they immediately proceeded to the disbanding of the Army, and passed an Act that all raised 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 dissolved the Parliament; but soon after called another, which pursued the same Counsels, and passed 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 passed a Vote, That the continuance of any Standing Forces in this [I-77] 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 addressed the King again to recall them, which had some Effect; for he sent over no more Recruits, but suffered them to wear out by degrees. The Establishment upon the Dissolution of this Army, which was in the Year 1679-80, were 5600 private Soldiers, besides Officers. From this time he never agreed with his People, but dissolved three Parliaments following for enquiring into the Popish Plot; and in the three last Years of his Reign called none at all. And to crown the work, Tangier is demolished, and the Garrison brought over, and placed in the most considerable Ports in England; which made the Establishment in 1683-4, 848z private Men, besides Officers. It is observable in this King’s Reign, that there was not one Sessions but his Guards were attacked, and never could get the least Countenance from Parliament; but to be even with them the Court as much discountenanced 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 Endeavours of Parliament to the contrary; so difficult it is to prevent the growing of an Evil, that does not receive a check in the beginning.

He increased the Establishment in Ireland to 7700 Men, Officers included; whereas they never exceeded in any former Reign 2000, when there was more occasion for them: The Irish not long before having been entirely reduced by Cromwell, 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 entirely lost all sense of Liberty, that they grew fond of their Chains; and if his Brother would have suffered him to have lived longer, or had followed his Example, by this time we had been as great Slaves as in France. But it was God’s great Mercy to us that he was made in another Mold, Imperious, Obstinate, and a Bigot, pushed on by the Counsels of France and Rome, and the [I-78] violence of his own Nature; so that he quickly run himself out of breath. As soon as he came to the Crown, he seized the Customs and Excise without Authority of Parliament: He picked out the Scum and Scandals of the Law to make Judges upon the Bench; and turned out all that would not sacrifice their Oaths to his Ambition, by which he discharged the Lords out of the Tower, inflicted those barbarous Punishments on Dr. Oates, Mr. Johnson, &c. butchered many hundreds of Men in the West, after they had been trapanned into a Confession by promise of Pardon, murdered Cornish, got the Dispensing Power to be declared in Westminster-hall, turned the Fellows of Magdalen-college out of their Freeholds, to make way for a Seminary of Priests, and hanged Soldiers for running away from their Colours. 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 closetted the Nobility and Gentry, turned all out of Employment 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 confirmed by the shew of Parliament, he prosecuted the Work his Brother had begun in taking away Charters, and new modelled the Corporations, by a sort of Vermin called Regulators. He received a Nuntio from Rome, and sent an Ambassador thither. He erected a Popish Seminary at the Savoy to pervert Youth, suffered the Priests to go about in their Habits, made Tyrconnel Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, turned all the Protestants out of the Army and most of the Civil Employments there, and made Fitton (a Papist, and one detected for Perjury) Chancellor of that Kingdom. He issued out a Proclamation in Scotland, wherein he asserted his Absolute Power, which all his Subjects were to obey without reserve; a Prerogative, I think, never claimed by the Great Turk, or the Mogul. He issued out a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, ordered it to be read in all Churches, and imprisoned and tried the seven Bishops, because they humbly offered their Reasons in a Petition against it: And to consummate all, that we might have no Hopes of retrieving our Misfortunes, [I-79] he imposed 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 abhored 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 unmasked himself, called his Parliament, and in a haughty Speech told them, He had increased his Army, put in Officers not qualified by the Test, and that he would not part with them. He asked 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 refused to take any Security but his Majesty’s never-failing Word for the Protestant Religion, and indeed had done for him whatever he asked; which yet was not very extraordinary, since he had the choosing of most of them himself. But even this Parliament turned short upon an Army; which puts me in mind of a saying of Machiavel, viz. That it is as hard a matter for a Man to be perfectly bad as perfectly good; though if he had lived at this Time, I believe he had changed his Opinion. The Court laboured 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 increased, that we must be strong in proportion for the preservation of ourselves and Flanders, and that there was no Dependance upon the Militia. But this shallow Rhetoric would not pass upon them. They answered, that we had defended ourselves 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 ordered a Bill to be brought in to that Purpose. But all this served only to fulfil their Iniquity; for they had done their own [I-80] Business before, and now he would keep an Army up in spite of them: So he prorogued them, and called no other Parliament during his reign; but to frighten the City of London, kept his Army encamped at Hounslowheath, 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 increased 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 Politicks, The first was his falling out with his old Cronies 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 been rendered 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, employing them, and giving them Liberty of Conscience: Which Kindness looked so preposterous, that the wise and sober Men among them could never heartily believe it, and when the Prince of Orange landed, turned against him.

His second Error was the disobliging his own Army, by bring 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 disobliged 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 promised to [I-81] send back all his foreign Forces as soon as this was done.

When the News of his Landing was spread through England, he was welcomed 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 wished for time of their Deliverance was come. 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 raised from the time he landed; and King James’s Army that were disbanded by Feversham, were ordered to repair all again to their Colours: Which was thought by some a false step, believing it would have been more our Interest to have kept those Regiments which came in upon the Principle on which this Revolution is founded, that Forces that were raised in violation of the Laws, and to support a tyrannical Government: Besides, the miserable Condition of Ireland required our speedy Assistance, and these Men might have been trusted to do that work.

Within a few days after he came to Town, he summoned the Lords, and no long after the Members of the three last Parliaments of King Charlis the Second, and was addressed 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 Lanster, Munster and Connaught, which occasioned frequent Applications here for Relief, though it was to send them but one or two Regiments; and it that could not be done, to send them Arms and Commission, which in all probability would have made the Reduction of that Kingdom very easy. Yet though the Prince’s and King James’s 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 [I-82] of which Towns shut up its Gates the ninth of December, declaring for the Prince of Orange, and addressed for immediate 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 immediately after deserted the Service, and came back again, bringing Lundy the Governor before appointed by his Majesty with them, and alledged for their Excuse, that it was impossible to defend the Town. But notwithstanding this Treachery, such was the resolution of the besieged, that they continued 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 relieved till the 30th of July, though there appears no reason why he might not have done it when he first came into the Harbour, which was more than seven Weeks before. Thus we see the Resolution of these poor Men wearied out all their Disappointments.

When the Convention met, they resolved 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 tagg’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 some evil Counsellors designed 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 declared he thought it not adviseable to attempt the reducing it with less than 20000 Horse and Foot. This was a bitter Pill to the Parliament, who thought they might have managed their Share of the War with France at Sea; but there was no Remedy, a greater Army must be raised, or Ireland lost; and to gild [I-83] it, all the Courtiers ushered in their Speeches with this Declaration, that they would have been the first for disbanding them when the War was over; and this Declaration has been made as often as an Army has been 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 Employments, though they were in a miserable Condition here, and made their utmost Application for them; it being a common Objection by some Colonels, that a Man had an Estate there, which in all likelihood wou’d 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, though lately baffled before Londonderry, especially their Carriages not coming 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 though our Army could do nothing, yet the Militia of the Country, almost without Arms or Cloaths, 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 dismissed by Kirk with Scorn and Ignominy, and most of their Officers left to starve. Thus the War in Ireland was nurs’d up either through Chance, Inadvertency, or the Necessity of our Affairs (for I am willing 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 overcome it.

[I-84]

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 addressed his Majesty that he would be pleased to acquaint the House who it was that advised the imploying him, which his Majesty did not remember. They then addressed, that he would be pleased to order him to be taken into Custody, and it was done accordingly; upon which Shales sent a Letter to the Speaker, desiring he might be brought over to England, where he would vindicate himself, and justify what he had done. Then the House addressed his Majesty again, that he might be brought over with all convenient speed; and the King was pleased to answer, that he had given such Orders already. Then the House referred the matter to a private Committee; but before any Report made, or Shales could be brought to England, the Parliament was prorogued, and after dissolved; 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 advanced 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 Honourable.

It not being to the purpose of this Discourse, I shall omit giving any account of the Conduct of our Fleet during this War, how few Advantages we reaped by it, and how many Opportunities we lost in 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 unpunished too, notwithstanding the clamours 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 been 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 discharged a great part of the foreign Forces; and an Advertisement [I-85] was published in the Gazette, that ten Regiments should be forthwith disbanded; and we were told, as soon as it was done, that more should follow their example. But these Resolutions, it seems, were altered, and the modish Language was, that we must keep up a Standing Army. Their Arguments were turned topsy turvy: For as during the War the People were prevailed 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 been decrying for many Years, was now magnified: We are told, that it was doubtful whether the French King would deliver up any of the Towns; that he was preparing a valt 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 Heroes in France, who would be ready when called for; and that the King of Spain was dying. The Members of Parliament were discoursed with as they came to Town; ’twas whispered about, that the Whigs would be all turned out of Employments: A new Plot was said to be discovered for murdering the King, and searches were made at Midnight thro’ the whole City to the discovery of Plenty of Fornicators 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 raised 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 attempt 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 been since disbanded) and some 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 [I-86] 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 some 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; ’twas said there was a private Article that King James was to leave France, which the French refused to perform; that Boufflers and the Earl of Portland had given one another the Life; that some of the latter’s Retinue had been killed; that the French Ambassador was stopped, 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 gone 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 of a supply for Guards and Garisons: But the other side, to obviate this, offered these Words as an Amendment, viz. According to the Vote of the 11th of December. This matter was much laboured, and the Gentlemen that were against the Army explained themselves, and declared 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 who declared 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 [I-87] 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 endeavoured again to set aside the Vote, by moving for a Sum of 500000 Pounds per Annum for Guards and Garrisons, without naming any certain Number (which would have maintained above 20000) but this could not be carried; therefore they came to a sort of Composition, to have but 10000, whereof 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 established by the Parliament, and upon other Terms they would not accept them; and in all Companys said, that any Minister that advised the King to keep them up otherwise, or any Officers that continued his Commission ought to be attainted of High Treason: About which I shall not differ with these Gentlemen, nor do I arraign them for altering their Opinion; for perhaps they may conceive that a Vote to give 350000 Pounds for Guards and Garrisons, is a sufficient Authority against Law to quarter Soldiers in all parts of England, as well out of Garisons, as in them, and as well at a distance from the King’s Person, as about it.

Thus 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 almost chosen by himself) could not hear debated with Patience, we are likely to have the honour of establishing in our own Age, even under a Deliverance.

Now we will examine 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, ’twas not easy to be imagined but they would nicely perform [I-88] the rest, without any art or evasion: But instead of this, they formed 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 private Soldiers being to be raised again in a few Days whenever they please. This is such a disbanding as every Officer would have made in his Company for his private 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 therefore they dishanded some 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 enslaved by them, but lest they should spend their Money among us. I am sorry the Nation is grown so contemptible in these Gentlemens Opinions, as to think that they can remove our fears of a Standing Army by sending them threescore Miles off, from whence they may recall them upon a few Days notice. Nay an Army kept in Ireland, is more dangerous to us than at home: For here by perpetual converse with their Relations and Acquaintance, some few of them perhaps may warp towards their Country; whereas in Ireland they are kept as it were in a Garison, where they are shut up from the communication of their Countrymen, and may be nursed up in another Interest. This is true, that ’tis a common Policy among Arbitrary Princes often to shift their Soldiers Quarters, lest they should contract friendship among the Natives, and by degrees fall into their Interest.

It may be said perhaps, That the People of Ireland will pay them; which makes the matter so much the worse, for they are less likely to have any regard to their Country. Besides if we consider the Lords Justices Speech to that Parliament, wherein they are let know that his Majesty Expects that they will continue the Subsistence to the disbanded Officers, and support the present Establishment (which by the way is near three times as great as Charles [I-89] the Second’s) and this without any other Ceremony or qualification of Time (with which his Majesty was pleased to express himself to his English and Scotch Parliaments) we may be convinced that they are not in a Condition to dispute this matter; especially at a time when they apprehend Hardships will be put upon them in relation to their Trade: And therefore we may be sure they will gratify the Court to the utmost of their Power, in hopes, if they cannot prevent the passing a Law against them, to obtain a connivance in the execution. We may add; by this means they will keep their Money in their own Country, a great part whereof came formerly to England, and have an opportunity of returning the Compliment we designed them last Year, if we don’t prevent it by dishanding the Army there, as Strafford’s Army in Ireland was formerly in the 15th of Charles the first, and lately another in 1678 by our English Parliaments.

I cannot avoid taking notice here, how different the modish Sentiments are in Ireland and England: For there the Language is, We must comply with the Court, in keeping up the Army, or otherwise the Woollen Manufacture is gone; and here the Men in fashion tell us, that an Army must be kept in Ireland to destroy the Woollen Manufacture, and execute the Laws we make against them; and in order to it the People of Ireland are to pay them.

This project of sending Men to Ireland was so transparent, that they durst not rely upon it; and therefore they told us, that as fast as Money could be got, they would disband more Regiments. The People were in great Expectation when it would be done, and several times it was taken notice of in Parliament; and the Courtiers always assured them that nothing hindred it but the want of Money to pay them off. ’Twas confidently said in all publick places, that eighteen Regiments more would be disbanded, and the Regiments were named; and I have heard it with great Assurance affirmed by the Agents and Officers themselves, that the King had signed it in Council. Thus the Session was worn out, till the House of Commons, tired with Expectation, addressed his Majesty, That he would be pleased to give order that a List be laid before the House of the Army disbanded, and intended to be [I-90] disbanded, and of the Officers Names who are to have half pay; and his Majesty was pleased to answer, That he would comply with the desires of the House, as soon as conveniently be could: But the Parliament sitting not above a Month afterwards, his Majesty sent them no farther answer.

At last the Parliament rose, and instead of disbanding they brought over a great many foreign Regiments, and sent them to Ireland, as well as three more English ones. But even all this would not bring their Army in England down to ten thousand Men; so that they made another Reform, and since have incorporated the Officers of the disbanded Regiments in Ireland into the Standing Troops, by which means they have got an Army of Officers: Whereas if these Gentlemen design their Army to defend us against a sudden Invasion, or to be in readiness against the King of Spain’s Death, in my poor Opinion they should have kept up the private Soldiers, and disbanded all the Officers but such as are just necessary to exercise them; for Officers will be always ready to accept good Employments, whereas the private Soldiers will be very difficulty listed again in a new War, though we all know they are easily to be got together, when they are only to insult their Countrymen.

One good effect of this Army has already appeared; for I presume every Body has heard how prevailing an Argument it was in the late Elections, That if we choose such a Man, we shall be free from Quarters: And I wish this Argument does not every day grow stronger. Nay, who knows but in another Reign the Corporations may be told that his Majesty expects they will choose the Officers of the Army, and the Parliament be told that he expects they will maintain them?

But to set this matter in a full view, I will here put down the Establishment of King Charles the Second in 88, which was the foundation of the Vote of the 11th of December, as also his present Majesty’s: And in this, as well as my other Computations, I do not pretend but I may be mistaken in many Particulars, though I have taken what care I could not to be so; nor is it material to my purpose, so that the variation from Truth is not considerable.

[I-91]

I shall also set down King William’s Establishment as the Regiments were before the Reform, because all the Officers still remain, and a great part of the private Soldiers, which I take to be in effect full Regiments; the rest being to be raised again in a few days, if they are designed for home Service, but, as I said before, the hardest to be got if they are designed for Spain or Flanders. But herein if any Man differs from me, he may make his own deductions.

[I-92]

The Thoughts of a Member of the Lower House, in Relation to a Project for restraining and limitting the Power of the Crown in the future Creation of Peers. By J. Trenchard, Esq;↩

Anno 1719.

AS I have not the Honour to be a Member of the Upper House of Parliament, so I do not presume to know what is doing there; but claim the Privilege of a free born Englishman to speak or write my Mind impartially and openly, upon which my own or my Country’s Liberties are concerned, whilst there is no Law to forbid me: and much more to, when what I have to say is in vindication of the Laws and Constitution in being.

The common Subject of popular Discourse, is concerning a Project said to be in Agitation, which is to give the King Power to create twenty-five Scotch Peers to sit in their own Right in Parliament, in lieu of the Sixteen who are to be elected by the Peerage there; and after the Creation of Six more for Great Britain, the Prerogative of making any further Creations is to be taken [I-108] from the Crown, unless upon the Extinction of the Families in Possession of the Peerage.

Now I am free to own, that I think a Law would be fatal to the Monarchy, and the Liberties of the People, and make our Government Aristocratical, without the outward Appearances of it, or the Regulations which are peculiar and essential to that Sort of Dominion; and consequently it will reduce us to the worst Sort of Oligarchy.

Our present Constitution consists of the King, the Peers who act in their own Right, and the Representatives of the People. In the Union and Agreement of these Constituent Parts consists our Government: If they differ irreconcileably, there is an actual Dissolution of it without any Remedy but the last. And since it is impossible, in the Nature of human Things, but Mens Opinions and Interests will often vary and clash; therefore the Institutors of this Species of Monarchy have contrived so proper a Ballance of Power between the several Parts of it, that each State can give some Check to both the other; and two concurring, have always their Power to bring the third to Reason without recurring to Force, which dissolves the Government.

If the King had the Prerogative of raising Money, and could protect the Instruments of unlawful Power, it’s evident the Monarchy would be absolute; but the Privilege remaining in the People, the Crown must often recur to their Assistance, and then they always have it in their power to do themselves right: Which keeps the Ministry in perpetual Dependance and Apprehension.

On the other side, if the House of Commons was fixed and indissolvable, the Government would soon devolve into an ill-contrived Democracy, and the Crown would have no Remedy but Acquiescence or Force. Such a Body of Men would soon find and feel their own Strength, and always think it laudable to encrease it: And there are so many Emergencies happen in all States, that there can never be wanting favourable Opportunities to do it; when the Ambition of some, the Resentment of others, and the Appearance of Publick Good, spur them on; till at last by insensible and unobserved Degrees, even to themselves, they would engross and possess the whole [I-109] Power of the State. There has been but one Instance since the Institution of this Monarchy, when the Commons have been trusted with such a Power; and if a noble Historian is to be believed, that House consisted of Men as incorrupt, of as much Wisdom and publick Virtue, as ever sat within those Walls: Yet the Lust of Dominion soon got the better of all their Virtues, and they first garbled their own House, by expelling their refractory Members; then deposed the King, and at last the House of Lords; and assumed a greater Tyranny to themselves, than they opposed in the Crown.

The effectual Remedy our Constitution has provided against this Evil, is a Dissolution, which breaks all Cabals and Conspiracies, and gives the People (who can never hove any Interest in publick Disturbances) and Opportunity to chuse others in their room, more calm, of less violent Dispositions, and not engaged in such Attempts; which Power always hanging over their Heads, must be a constant Restraint upon their Actions.

But the Circumstances of Publick Affairs often not admitting of this Remedy without the extremest Necessity, the Lords are always at hand to skreen the Crown, whose Honours and Dignities flow from it, and are protected by it; and whilst kept in a proper Dependance, must ever support that Power which supports themselves: Yet never can have an Interest to make it arbitrary, which would render themselves useless to it, and level them again with the People.

There is not a more certain Maxim in Politicks, than that a Monarchy must subsist by an Army of Nobility; the first makes it despotick, and the latter a free Government. I presume none of those noble Personages themselves, who have the Honour to make up that Illustrous Body, do believe they are so distinguished and advanced above their Fellow-Subjects for their own sakes: They know well they are intended the Guardians as well as Ornaments of the Monarchy, and essential Prerogative of which it must be to add to, and augment their Numbers in such proportion, as to render them a proper Ballance against the Democratical part of our Constitution, without being formidable to the Monarchy itself, the Support of which is the Reason of their Institution.

[I-110]

Without this Power in the Crown they must be dangerous to it, and be able to impose what Conditions of Government they please. It is the only Resourse the King and People have against any Exorbitances and Combinations of their Body. Whilst such a Prerogative remains in the Crown, there can seldom or never be an occasion to make use of it. Their Lordships are too much concerned in the Preservation of their own Dignities, to provoke the Crown to a Remedy that is always at hand; and the Crown cannot debase the Nobility, and make it cheap, without lessening its own Splendour and Power. And this seems to be the only Limitation the Nature of the thing will admit of, without dissolving this Species of Government.

If this prerogative is taken away, the House of Lords will be a fixed independent Body, not to be called to an account like a Ministry, nor to be dissolved or changed like a House of Commons: The same Men will meet again with the same Resolutions, and probably heightened by Disappointment, and nothing can stand before them. If their Lordships should take it into their Thoughts to dislike the Ministry, and commit them them to Prison, I would willingly know who would fetch them out. Or, if the House of Commons should be so unwary as to give them Offence, and their Lordships think fit to declare they could act no longer in concert with a Body of Men who had used them ill, it’s evident the Crown must exert its Authority to chuse another more to their Lordships Fancy, and afterwards use its utmost Efforts to keep them in a becoming Complaisance to their Betters. If they should resolve to have all the great Employments of Englana in themselves and Families; or should take a Conceit to be like the Nobles of some other Conntries, to pay no Taxes themselves, and yet receive the greatest part of what is paid by others in Salaries and Pensions; I would ask the Advocates for such a Law, what resourse the Crown and People have? and I shrewdly suspect they will propose no other than what the Commons of Denmark made use of upon the very same Occasion.

The Lords have already all the Property of Great-Britain under their Jurisdiction; and I think no one will say that there is any Difference in Nature between the last [I-111] Appeal without being accountable, and a Power of Legislation, but what consists in the Moderation of the Judges: And if this exceeding great Power must irrevocably be vested in the very same Persons, I see nothing the Commons have left to desire, but to entitle themselves to their Favour and Protection, by wearing their Badges as formerly.

But as their Lordships are too wise and virtuous to attempt any such Actions of Knight Errantry as are abovementioned, so they will be under no necessity to do it; for there is an easier and gentler way of attaining the same Ends. There are so many Emergencies, Difficulties, and Factions arise in all States, the Crown will be often so necessitous, and the Commons divided, that a fixed and powerful Body, always determined to their own advantage, by a dexterous Management of such Events, must soon possess themselves of all they desire; and ’twill be in vain to oppose with one View what will be often given them with another.

I will not presume to judge whether their Lordships Judicature was always what it now is; but every Day’s Experience shews in lesser Instances what a Body of Men, united in the same Interest, are capable of doing. We have oftner than once seen a Number of Merchant’s incorporated prove a Match for the whole Kingdom, and I fear shall too often see it again. History tells us how the Priesthood by being an united and regular Body, always lying upon the Catch, and acting with the same Views, from living upon the Charity and Benevolence of their Hearers, in a few Ages became the Lords and Masters of Mankind, and in defiance of that Religion they professed to teach.

It is true, this Prerogative of the Crown is liable to be abused, and has been so in a late glaring Instance; but if that is a sufficient Reason to take it away, I doubt there will be few remain. The King neither has or can have any Prerogative but what the People are interested in: It is a Trust for the Pnblick Good, which in the Nature of it is capable of being betrayed; but the proper Remedy is to punish the Authors and Advisers of the Abuse, and not destroy the whole Constitution for an Enormicy of one Part of it.

[I-112]

It is a proper Object of the Legislative Power to consider whether any Men ought to enjoy the highest Privileges and Honours in a Commonwealth, as a Reward for their endeavouring to destroy it; but with all the Clamour this Grievance has justly produced, has there been any thing like this attempted? No, on the contrary, the grand Criminal sits triumphant, glories in his Wickedness, and carries off the Price of it; and his Rivil in Guilt and Power, even now presumes to expect an Act of the Legislature to indemnify him, and sanctify his Villainy, and I doubt not but both expect once more to give Laws to the Kingdom.

It is urged that it is safer to trust this Power with the Lords than an unlimited one with the Crown, to make what Creations it pleases, though to serve the vilest Purposes. But the Nature of Power is very little understood by those who own this Opinion, which can never be truly dreadful, but when it is unaccountable and irretrievable. The Crown must often apply to the People for their Assistance, and the People as often have the Oppertunity to represent their Grievances, and punish the Authors of them, which must necessarily keep the Ministry within some Bounds; but there can be no Limitation to the House of Peers, if such an Act passes, but what flows from their Lordships Justice, Moderation and Satiety of Power.

Even that daring Minister durst not have ventured upon such an Act of it, if he had not had a House of Commons to support him, and hoped to cover all his Crimes in a Revolution. I am persuaded he never once dreamed under a just Government to find the Impunity and Indulgence he bas since been favoured with, and even from the very Persons who make those Crimes the Pretence for such an Attempt: But if nothing else was intended by it, unless to prevent the like Grievance, there is an easy and ready way to do it, by providing that no Peer shall give his Vote within a limited time after his Creation, without the Consent of the House. To obtain this, there would be no need of Court-Intrigues, Sollicitations, or keeping the Secret till the latter End of the Sessions, when the Country Members are at their Seats, and the Lawyers in their Circuits.

[I-113]

Having, as I conceive, amply shewn that a Law of this kind would totally overturn our Constitution, and change it into an Oligarchy; I should think it frivolous to descend to lower Considerations, did not we too often see Men affected with Arguments which regard themselves and Families, whilst they are insensible of what they suffer in common with the whole Nation: And therefore I shall offet some of the lesser Objections to it.

It is a most violent and outragious Breach of the Union, and dispossesses one of the States of Scotland of the most valuable Part of their Peerage, and of that Right which they expresly stipulated to be reserved to them when they consented to part with the rest, by which means they will be in a worse Condition than the meanest Subject in the Kingdon; they will neither be capable of sitting in the House of Lords or Commons, or giving their Votes for either; and in consequence will be the only Subjects in Great Britain, not represented, or capable of being represented in Parliament: And this Disability and severe Punishment is inflicted upon them without any Crime done, or pretended to be done by them, and even without any Pretence of publick Necessity, but on the contrary there is a visible Danger in doing it; and I doubt not but in proper time it will be made a pregnant Argument for keeping up standing Troops to oblige their Submission to it.

It is giving a Power, without Reproach or Clamour, to add such a number to the Upper House, as must, without uncommon Virtue in their Lordships, lay all things waste, and at the mercy of the Ministry, without the possibility of their being called to an account; for if the making but twelve Peers at once, to serve a Court-Purpose, was such a Blow upon our Liberties, what are we not to fear from the creating one and thirty; and to do it by the Continuance, if not Direction of an Act of Parliament, which takes off all that Odinm, and Load of Scandal, which the former Abuse justly occasioned?

If it may be lawful to suppose so unlikely a thing, as that the Ministry are capable of acting against the Publick Good; or if, for our Sins, the Nation was punished with the loss of the present Set, and Tories could work themselves into their Places, and form a Scheme for their own [I-114] Security whieh may entail a Civil War upon the Nation; what may not be apprehended from such a Power trusted with them?

It takes away from the King the brightest Jewel of his Crown, which is the Distribution of Honours, and in effect of Office too, which must then be at the mercy of that House. It deprives the Commons of England of the Means of attaining those Honours which ough to be the Rewards of virtuous Actions, and the Motives of doing them. I presume no one will suggest that all the Merit is exhausted by their present Lordships; and therefore what imaginary Reason can be given, why any number of Men, who enjoy themselves the Highest Dignities and Privileges in a Commonwealth, should shut the Door upon all others who may have equal Birth, Desert, and Fortune?

As it makes the King and Ministry entirely at the mercy of the Lords, so it makes the Commons more dependent on the Crown; for when the Advantages of the Nobility are so great, and the means of attaining them so difficult, what Applications and Sollicitations must be made to the Ministry upon the least Appearance of a Vacancy? which must keep the most considerable Members of the Lower House in a perpetual Dependance, and give the Ministry much more Trouble than they affect to avoid.

But amidst all the numerous Objections to this worthy Scheme, I am free to own there is one thing in it which deserves Commendation; for it has producud a never-before-known Unanimity amongst our Great Men: It has yoked the Lion with the Lamb, the Whigs with the Tories, Men in Power with those they have turned out of it: Ministers of State are become Patriots, complain of their own Power, and join with their professed Enemies in lessening that Prerogative they have so often occasion for.

I confess, such Phænomena’s and uncommon Appearances, like Comets or Eclipses, are apt to fright ignorant People, and make them expect some great Event at hand: But as those who are more familiar with the Stars, know the latter are only the common and regular Productions of Nature; so such who have more narrowly observed the Virtues of our great Men, especially during [I-115] this last Session of Parliament, are well assur’d they intend nothing but to serve their Country. However, I think they will both judge right, upon such great Occasions, to scatter their lesser Conjurers abroad, and disperse the malign Influence such Constellations and unusual Conjunctions may have upon weak Minds.

Some Reflections upon a Pamphlet, called, The Old Whig. By J. Trenchard, Esq;↩

Anno 1719.

SINCE the publishing of The Thoughts, the Town has been informed by two Pamphlets on the other Side; one intitled, Considerations, &c. and the other, The Old Whig. The last Gentleman seems to be sensible of his Defect in point of Length, and so promises another; which puts me in mind of a Country Girl who offer’d her Service to a Belle Lady. This Lady being over-nice, observed to the Wench that she made her Courtesies but very aukwardly: To which the other replied, Indeed, Madam, I make them very ill, but you shall have the more of them, the more of them, the more of them: And so she duck’d for half an Hour together.

However, to do Justice to this Author, I acknowledge he has unanswerably shewn the great Inconveniences which will happen to the Crown and People, if the Lords are multiplied too fast: and I was in great hopes he had convinced those who set him to work, of the Unreasonableness of Creating One and Thirty; or, if he will have it so, but Fifteen at once; when he gives us such shrewd Hints that we have too many already. But upon Perusal of his Performance the second time, I find that is not the Thing aimed at. We have a very [I-116] good Ministry at present, which God bless; and the Author seems to be of my Opinion, that we shall never have such another: And therefore it is wise to secure them during their own Time, and let those who come next look to themselves.

I find this Gentleman is of the Opinion of the Law-Books, That the Crown is always in its Infancy; and therefore it is proper to take away from it all Knives, Scissars, &c. by which it might cut its Fingers. He thinks it is no safer to trust it with any Prerogative for its own Good, than for that of the People: Whereas I was weak enough to believe, the Weapons for its own Preservation could not be placed in better Hands than its own.

It’s evidently the Interest of the Crown to make Lords enough to keep the Ballance of the Government even; and yet not so many, as to make them terrible to itself. It’s as plain, in the Opinion of the Projectors themselves, that the Crown has never yet committed an Excess in the latter; since there were never so many Lords as there are now, and yet by their intending to make more, they confess they have not enough already. But why they should Prophecy that for the future the Crown and all other subsequent Ministers shall conspire against themselves as well as their Country, if such a Law does not pass, I can’t imagine. As for my part, I should think a Man stark mad, if he called out in the Streets Help! Help! that the Neighbours might come in, and hinder him from killing himself.

These Considerations, I am persuaded, would have some weight with our Author, if he did not think we were blessed with so foreseeing and virtuous a Ministry, as could minutely hit the just Proportion and Ballance of Power which will exactly suit the several Parts of our Constitution at present, and in all Generations to come, and that they will make no ill Use of any Power they are trusted with; to which I confess myself unable to give any Answer.

I agree also with our Author in several other useful Discoveries dispersed throughout his Pamphlet: As, that Men of great Estates had rather be Lords than Commoners, [I-117] and that the more of them which are taken out of the House of Commons, the fewer will remain behind; that Commoners for the most part have more Wit than ——— ———; That Lords have not always been made for Merit; that the more of them are, the more Privileges there will be; (I don’t say, with the Author, the more Mischief:) That any Prerogative in the Crown against the Publick Interest will do more Harm than Good; that Ministers will do their own Business, whatever becomes of the King or People; that the Negative Power is useful to the Crown; that an ill King, if he has no more Wit, may throw his Troop of Horse into the House of Lords; (I pray God keep them out of the House of Commons!) With several other seasonable and important Maxims in Politicks, very necessary to be well understood in this Controversy.

And so having done him all the Justice due from a fair Adversary, in owning every thing which is material in his Pamphlet; I shall just hint at one or two things that I think are not so, and in which I cannot agree with him.

He says, though I admit with him that our present Government consists of three States, yet by the Reasoning of my Pamphlet I make them but two; and this seems to be his own Opinion: And the Reason is, according to his own Emphatical Way of Expression, that the King may add a Troop of Horse to the Lords, and then in all likelihood he may get a Majority. But notwithstanding this pregnant Objection, I can’t help thinking the Lords are one State with a Witness. They have an equal Power in making all Laws, and the Execution of them all in the last Instance, when they are made, without being accountable. They have the sole Possession of all Honours; their Persons are like Holy Ground, Sacred, and not to be profan’d or touched with Lay-hands; and whatever they think fit to do, we must say nothing of it at the peril of Scan’ Mag’. If they should commit High Treason or Felony, they can’t be punished unless they have a Mind to it: And as for any Judgment that can be given against them in other Courts for Crimes which are not Capital, they can appeal to themselves, [I-118] and so cannot fail of equal Justice. There was once upon a Time a General Council of Ecclesiasticks, (who sure must be more Holy than any Laymen) who made a Canon that the Evidence of a Layman should not be valid against a Clergyman.

There is another thing in which this Author has express’d himself so cautiously, that I cannot tell whether we are agreed or not. He says, “the three States should be entirely separate and distinct from each other, so that no one of them may lie too much under the Influence and Controul of either of the Collateral Branches.” If he means by these significant Words too much, not at all, I beg leave to differ from him; and appeal to the Reader, whether he has not formed a State of War instead of a Civil State. But if he means they ought to have such an Influence and Controul upon one another, as to prevent coming to Extremes, I don’t see but we are well agreed and I beg of him to read over my Pamphlet once more.

However, there is one Point in which I must beg leave to differ altogether from him, and which indeed is the only thing he has offered against my Pamphlet; viz. If you trust a wise Body of Men with such Power, they will never play Paw-pay Tricks with it. But since we Authors for the most part have more Wit than Money, which may happen to be the Case of my present Brother; I doubt he will not be able to give good City-Security for it. And therefore I recommend to his Consideration, that in the Paper he has promised he will propose a Remedy, how we shall help ourselves if it happens otherwise.

So I conclude, with due Defference to his Performance; which I confess has said not only all the Subject will admit of, but a great deal more.

[I-119]

A Modest Aplogy for Parson Alberoni, Governor to King Philip, a Minor, and universal Curate of the whole Spanish Monarchy; the whole being a short, but unanswerable Defence of Priestcraft, and a New Confutation of the Bishop of Bangor.By T. Gordon, Esq;↩

Anno 1719.

[I-120]

IT is surprizing what sublime Consequences are produced by the humblest Instruments. One would think that Brass is a Metal void of Comliness and Merit, either in Colour or Smell; and yet a suitable Portion of it, placed conveniently upon the Forehead, does frequently entitle the Bearer to the highest Stations in Church and State. It often makes a bold Figure at the Head of a Regiment, and often commands Attention at the Council-Table. In Westminster-Hall it is loud, and therefore successful; and, in Parliament popular and persuasive, for the same Reason. And then again, if you take it in another Capacity, it still carries all before it. Thomas a Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury, as have been since several other good Doctors of equal Meekness and Merit, whom my fear of giving Offence keeps me from mentioning; and at this very Time, a certain Apostolical Gentleman, who shall also be nameless, is Cardinal of a great Church betwixt Newgate and Tyburn.

O Catholick Brass, manifold are thy Virtues! I admire thy Interest, though I never felt thy Friendship; an obstinate Fellow, one Modesty by Name, never suffering me to take Acquaintance with thee. Thou fortunate Favourite of the Court and the Cassocks, many a fair Lady hast thou won, and many a fair Post enjoyed! Powerful also is thy Force in Argument: How invincibly hast thou supported the Divine Right of Kings and Clergy, their unbroken Succession, and unlimited Power, to the utter Confusion of common Sense, and the Bishop of Bangor.

But to proceed with the mighty Events that arise from contemptible Causes; every Body has heard that the famous Sir John Whittington, at his first setting out into the World, had no greater Cargo than a homely Tabby Cat, and she too, like other mortal Merchandize, subject to Tare and Tret. But she proved a mighty Hunter, and, by her Teeth and Reputation, promoted her Fellow Traveller to the chief Post in the chief City. And thus to draw a Moral from the Story, The Destruction of Rats became the Generation of a Knight and a Lord Mayor.

I have heard, in foreign Countries, of a fleshy headed Chamber-Maid, who from pinning her Misiress’s Rump, got astride three Nations, and rode them almost out of [I-121] Breath; for she was Corpulent, and, for the most part, had a Spur in her Head.

Even the great Virgil became a Courtier by being a Farrier; and a lapster has been the Elements of an Ambassador.

Arts and Sciences themselves have had their Birth from trivial Chance. Musick, as sweet a Girl as she is, had a dirty Anvil for her Mother, and a base born Hammer for her Father, and was midwifed into the World by a sooty Blacksmith. And Astrology derives its Genealogy from Cow-keeping, the Chaldæan Herdsmen having, while they looked after their Flocks, grown familiar with the Stars. Thus Venus had her Water first watched by Rusticks, who, one would think, could have neither sufficient Breeding, nor Capacity for Pimping———but the most elegant Arts were rude in their Beginnings.

A Friar, whilst he was boiling up a Balsam for a broken Shin, stumbled upon the Generation of Gunpowder, which was therefore conceived in the Womb of a Gallipot, made pregnant by a Priest.

The great Pope Sixtus the Fifth owed his triple Crown to the keeping of Pigs, and from a mean Swineherd mounted till he came to be Chief of another Herd, still preserving an Analogy between his first and last Employment.

The great Tompion had never made Watches, had he not first made Hob-nails.

All this Waste of Learning, which, in other Hands, might fill many Books, may serve to introduce the Manner and Motive by which I came to be an Author. Know then, Curious Reader, that a Stationer in the City having, last Week, trusted me with an Inkhorn and the Appurtenances, I began immediately to make Use of it, and upon a Trial of my Genius, I found I could make as good a Figure in print as some other famous Writers, whose Merit is best known to themselves.

My first Attempt was upon the Witty and Voluminous Mr. Mist, the Journalist, because I would begin with something signal at my first setting out. I found his Paper, after much search, in a blind Ale house, near Hockley in the Hole. Having met my Rival for Fame, instantly I drew my Pen, and by several bold Strokes upon his [I-122] Margin, discovered plainly, that Sense and Modesty were not his Seconds, for they both proved mine. But for all this dreadful Enmity between us, I will candidly own that the Jews, for whom he lately drew up an inimitable Petition, have almost as good a Title as himself to one sort of Advancement in a Christian Commonwealth. My Antagonist would certainly fill a particular tall Post, which is empty oftener than it should be, with becoming Merit and Justice. But see, how these Parsons run away with Preferments from the Laity! This very Post is, I am told, conferred, for the present, upon a genuine Son of the Church, who has conscientiously deserved it.

Behold, kind Reader, A true and full Account of the Origination of this admirable Pamphlet. If Heaven spare me my Life and my Inkhorn, it is likely I may swell into Volumes, as divers and sundry useful Writers have done for no better Reason.

Having thus succeeded beyond Expectation in my first Essay, I am emboldened thereby to an Undertaking equal, if possible, to my last, and from the Defence of Mr. Mist, I intend to pass, perhaps naturally enough, to an Apology for the Reverend Parson Alberoni, who by the high Station he enjoys, of Viceroy over the King of Spain, is become the Mark of much unreasonable Envy. This Task of mine will lead me to open and justify the Grounds and commendable Aims of the flourishing Trade of Priestcrast, for which I promise myself the pious Thanks of the Convocation, the next Time it sits.

I hope I shall need no Excuse for the sharp Things which my Zeal for the Church and the Cardinal will tempt me to utter.

As to the trifling Charge against my Client, that he has commanded his Pupil, to break through Faith and Treaties, and surprize his Neighbours, though it be very true there is Nothing at all in it. I behold with Shame the Ignorance of Mankind as to what passes daily among us. Do not all know that Oaths and Obligations, when they are so saucy as to fetter the Catholick Pleasure or Profit of the Clergy, are ever broken through by the whole Body, with great Fortitude and Unanimity. Nor is there any Malignity in this convenient Piece of Wickedness; for the most damnable Sin ceases to be so, as soon as the Priest has unchristen’d [I-123] it, and sucked out its Venom with a Salvo: When he has done this, as a goodly Casuist finely observes, Licet ante peccaverint, jam non peccant: That is, The most gross Sinners are now innocent, being undamnea by the Priest.

This ought to be meant of the Laity; for as to the Clergy, who are the avowed Porters of Heaven, and Comptrollers of its Power and Keys, and Treasurers of its Wrath and Mercies, I can’t conceive they should be at any Time in an unsanctified State, let them do what they will. To us indeed, who being Laymen, and only the Beasts of the People, see no further than the Externals of Things, a Parson may appear a very sad Fellow, and tainted with that which, in one of another Cloth, might seem great Lewdness. But alas! they have an indelible Character which consecrates all their Actions, and is the spiritual Salt that keeps the Corruptions of the Clergy from stinking.

It may perhaps not be unbecoming my present Design, to inquire into what Nook or Quarter of the Priest this indelible Character, convey’d by Ordination, lurks; and I think it is evident it cannot lodge in the Cassock or Habit, since the same has been often worn by Lay-Girls, who being only Companions to the holy Priests in their Labours and Exercises, could not pretend to take Orders, to be ever instituted and inducted.

Nor can this essential and unalterable Spot reside in the Carcass of the Priest. For when a Levite has been maliciously tossed off a Beam, and expir’d for want of footing, or died a natural Death of Debauchery, or in any other manner worthy of himself, it has never been known that the said Carcass forgave Sins, or executed any other Branch of the Ecclesiastical Office. For it is remarkable, that, when a Parson is dead, he lies as quiet and peaceable as another Body, which is a Confutation of a Point generally believ’d, namely, That a Priest is never a good Neighbour.

I would not have it alledged that the abovenamed Stain of Priesthood, sticks like Bird-lime, to the Soul of the Doctor, when the same has given his Body the Slip, or that he keeps his Orders when he has lost his Organs. Profane Wits will make a Jest of a Ghost in Orders, and, [I-124] looking upwards, be surpriz’d to find a Priest in a Place where no one would expect him. But let such a Scoffer be answerable for his own Mirth, I am sure I have a very good Meaning.

However, though this indelible Character must for ever remain a profound Mystery to me, who am but an uncircumcis’d Layman, and though I am in Duty bound to know what I cannot understand; I have still something further to say in Defence of my favourite Cardinal, his leaping over Oaths, which, as I have already prov’d, cannot tie down a Churchman.

Archbishop Laud, besides his taking and tendering Oaths with an &c. which some weak fanatical Ministers would not swallow, and were therefore, like silly Fellows, unworthy of their Cloth and Order, undone because they would not be forsworn; I say, besides this Essay of his Perjury for the Good of himself and the Church, He and the King obliged the Clergy of Scotland to swear to a Canonical Conformity to a Liturgy, a Year before it was made. And I have read of a Monarch, a Glorious Churchman, for whom, once a Year, many godly Revilings and Falshoods are utter’d, and many Handkerchiefs wet, who, besides many other Instances of his Sincerity and Devotion, swore to the Espousals of one Lady, while he was engag’d by Heart and Hand to another whom he afterwards married.

What I would from hence infer in favour of my Client, is, that if a Popish Prince and a Popish Priest have as good a Right to be forsworn as an English Catholick Prince, and an English Catholick Priest, the Cardinal and his Pupil stand justified.

You must own, Reader, a Monopoly of Perjury is not publick spirited — I do not indeed envy any of our own Clergy their full Share, who may have been trading that Way; but to engross the whole Community would be unfair Trafficking.

But to go on with my Apology,———Kings are accountaile to none bat God, and the Priests to none but themselves. As this Principle is exactly agreeable to the Pretensions and Practices of the Church in all Ages, I would be glad to see the daring Infidel who calls it in Question. The Lay-World may make Oaths, and take [I-125] them, but so long as their Force depends upon the Pleasure and Explications of the Clergy, they will be but of small Service to Mankind. I will vouch for the Priests, that they always scorn’d to be barr’d by the triffling Regards of Conscience and Swearing, from the more catholick Pursuits of their Pleasure and Power; and History, both Antient and Modern, will vouch for me. I will give Instances.

When the Prince is hard-hearted enough to humour the Church-Men, by oppressing and plundering the Laity, and Politick enough to divide the Spoils with them, then it is Damnation to resist him, because he has a Divine Right to be Mischievous to all Men but themselves: But if his Majesty is so ill advised, as to provoke their Rage by his Benevolence to Mankind; or, if by a schismatical Adherence to Truth and Liberty, he frustrate their Hopes of making him a good Church-Man, the Church grows presently in imminent Danger from Virtue and Moderation, who are notorious Dissenters from Orthodoxy, then it is little better than Damnation not to resist him, and Woes are denounced against the fearful Heart and the weak Hand.

As to his present Majesty, there are those of the Clergy, who have forsworn to be true and faithful to him, over and over, and yet do not so much as pretend they mean any such Matter. They say they must swear or starve, which is a Confession that they would rather be damned than fast. What a Tribe of Simpletons were the Martyrs in all Ages! their heterodox Notions made them erroneously prefer their Souls to their Bellies, and even to their Lives——— And yet they had a stronger Plea for conforming to Idolatry and Perjury; as Death and Tortures are somewhat more frightful than bare Deprivation———But now a-Days, by universal Consent, Tithes bear a higher Price than Conscience in any Market in England.

In Edward the Sixth’s Time, the Clergy, to shew themselves true Conformists, forsook their Harlots and the Mass, and were, to appearance, reconcil’d to one Woman, and the New Testament. In Queen Mary’s Reign they abandoned the Gospel and their Wives, and re-became Orthodox Catholicks, and to prove it, grew [I-126] godly Burners of all that had either a Conscience or a Bible. Upon Queen Elizabeth’s Accession to the Throne, they once more, like conformable Friends to themselves, forswore and complied, and afterwards plotted and rebelled. But her Reign proved long and glorious. And indeed some, who have not that Reverence for the Gown, which they ought to have, are of Opinion, it is a certain Symptom of happy Times, when the Priests run mad and cabal; for, say they, while the People are suffered to enjoy their own, the Clergy can have no Plunder; whereas, in a general Oppression, the Prince and Priests generally divide Stakes———They add, that Wolves and Ravens never fare best but where there are most Carcasses. But these Things ought not to be spoken, and,

I wonder how any Man in his Senses dare say such disrespectful Things of the Officers of God Almighty’s Revenue, who also are a Board of Commissioners for managing his Power, or rather their own Power, by his Ministration.

In the Business of Excommunication, for Instance, do we not see their Maker is made little better than their Executioner? He is oblig’d not only to ratify their Sentence, but to deliver the Person excommunicate into the safe Custody of Satan, their Goaler in Comitatu Hell. The Prisoner the while, not finding himself a bit restrained by his crediting Landlord, the Devil, goes to the Court and for a little Money is absolved, be his Crime what it will, and this Sentence also must be ratified in Heaven, and the former unratified; and the great God, as if he were the Constable of the Court, must take the Prisoner out of a Goal, where he never was, and from the Custody of a Goaler, whom he never saw, and reinstate him in a Church which perhaps he never owned. Thus is the Creator of all things, and the Giver of all Good, made the Instrument of their Anger and Avarice, and a Property to bring them Reverence and Money.

These Things are not at all aggravated here, and yet the bare mention of them may seem to expose them; but I mean no more by it than to shew the wonderful and inconceivoable Power of the Priesthood, who are as implicitly obeyed in Heaven, as they ought to be on Earth, and have the upper and infernal Worlds as much in their Gift, [I-127] as he has, who is the Maker of both; nay much more, for, as a Reverend Doctor of our Church has it, he has given them his Commission to dispose of them, and he cannot contradict himself. They will not allow the King of Kings the common Prerogative of pardoning a poor Felon, once in a Sessions, without their consent, and then he must not be Punished. How great and awful must these Men be, who are thus absolute over the Absolute, and Kings of the King of Kings! This may perhaps seem to represent them as no Friends to Monarchy, but this cannot be imagined, since they themselves are Monarchs of God and Men.

After all this Omnipotence which I have proved to be in the Clergy, where is the need of believing in any other God, or of living as if there was one? No, no, if you would be absolved and saved, believe in the Priest, and live in the fear of the Cassock. What can be more handy than our having a Forgiver, and a Saviour in every Parish, besides Deputy-Pardonners, and Journey-men-Saviours?

There is indeed an antient Treatise named Scripture, which, if we give any Credit to it, would be apt to stagger this our Faith in the Clergy. It was of great Repute at the Reformation by a few Doctors, who, not knowing their own Power, basely sacrificed the Interest of the Surplice to that of Christianity. But their Successors, wiser than these old Fellows, and better Church-Men, finding that the said Book was pragmatical, and would be opposing the Policy and Proceedings of their Society, translated all the Reverence, which was formerly paid to that venerable old Book, to a Book of Canons, composed on purpose, as a Rival to bring the other under disgrace, insomuch that it is now for the most part condemned to the mean Office of teaching Children to read. A certain modern Bishop has indeed done his malicious part to restore it to its pristine Regard and Dignity, but as he is zealously opposed by all the truly Orthodox, it is hoped by many he will not succeed.

Commend me to the German Monk whom I have seen mentioned somewhere, I think by Monsieur Le Clerc. This genuine Priest, faithful to the Interest of his Order, told his Penitents, in the godliness of his Zeal, That [I-128] there was a certain Book writ in Greek, called the New Testament, which was full of Heresies; and another certain Book, writ in Hebrew, called the Old Testament, which, if they believed it, would make them all Jews.

I would recommend the Example of this Monk to our own Monks, but they have saved me the trouble.

There is an Outcry in the Mouths of too many of the Laity against the Clergy, which I think is very unreasonable; they accuse them of an implacable Enmity to Knowledge and Illumination; which is very true and yet very just. How often must these perverse Men be told, that Learning and Eyes in the Laity are the greatest Causes of the Contempt of the Clergy? Why should we be inquiring into Points which ought only to be believed thoroughly, but never understood nor conceived? It ought to suffice us to know that the Priests know all Things. This might at first have prevented Dissenters, and ought now to reclaim them. If we did but humbly and lazily follow our Guides, it would save us much Trouble, and yet put them to none.

Besides, this Charge is too general; for they are always willing we should read and understand those few Texts that speak civilly of the Priesthood, and wish, no doubt, there were more of them. Nay, now and then they are so courteous as to split a Verse in the Bible with us, and, keeping one half to themselves, give us generously the other. For Example, Be wise as Serpents, and innocent as Doves, in a Text they seem very ready to divide with us. The Harmlesness of the Pidgeon is at our Service, but we must not pretend to rob them of the Serpent.

The cunningest Serpent that ever was, I mean the Devil in Milton, compassed the Earth by Night, and could not endure the enlightned Side of the Globe.

The Space of seven continued Nights he rode
In Darkness———

How agreeable the Policy of the Arch-Fiend is to the other Gentlemen in Black, I need not explain.—Without Doubt the Wisdom and good Parts, even of the Devil, are imitable. Who can blame them for hiding Deformities [I-129] and cloven Feet? Should Knowledge and the Scriptures be let loose against the Clergy, what dreadful Havock would they make. These merciless Informers would make their Reputation to be only Daub and Varnish; and their Wealth, only Booty and Plunder: For what would not two such hold Lihertines swear? Can we blame Men for warding against their mortal Foes.

For the Safety therefore of the Parsons, in their Fortunes and Characters, I will consult my intimate Friends the two Houses, about stopping the Mouth of the Bible, and the Bishop of Bangor. This, I hope, my Friends will comply with, for I know they love to do popular Things, and will be proud to please the Convocation.

I have been long thinking of a Project to reconcile Religion and the Church to each other. They were originally intimate Friends, but at present they live at mortal Odds.

I would not say one Word, upon any Consideration, to persuade the Clergy to give Christianity the upper hand of their Interest, for I love them too well to affront them; neither would I have them affright themselves with my reconciling Design above mentioned, for I have given it over as utterly impracticable; but as I am their Friend and Apologist, I beg leave to recommend to them the Removal of unpopular Qualities and Practices, of which they are fond. And

First, I would advise them to conceal that unprofitable Propensity which is in them, to burn or strangle Dissenters. Persecution is certainly a laudable Calling, when any thing is to be got by it; and in such a Case, I am not for robbing the Clergy of their Dues, but at present there is neither Gain nor Credit in it: And therefore I beseech them, as they love themselves which is the strongest Motive my Invention can dictate, to banish this Pennyless-Spirit: The Malignity of the Times has deprived them of the Power of doing Catholick Mischief and Murder for the Welfare of the Church.

In order to persuade them effectually to close with this my Advice, I pray the Clergy not to judge of other Men’s Consciences by their own. It would be really whimsical, in a few Men, who are void of Hearing, to set up for adjusting or restraining the Laws of Harmony. The Pleasure [I-130] of Procuration is Greek and Hebrew to an Eunuch; and indeed to a Creature that is gelt, Liberty of Cod-piece must have a very odd Sound.

Another Point which seems wrong in them, is their stiling themselves the Ambassadors of a great Potentate, who, I am afraid, will not own them. We all know their Instructions, as mystical as they would keep them, and I fear me, were they examined by them, like many other Statesmen, they would be found too great to be good. Should the late Earl of Mar, who hath given some shrewd Suspicions of his being for the Pretender, take it in his Head to call himself King George’s Ambassador, would not his Practices, in some small Measure, bring in Question his Professions? The Application is easy; it is only supposing the Devil a Pretender to the Kingdom of Heaven.

There is, in a certain Diocess in this Nation, a Living worth about Six Hundred Pounds a Year. This, and two or three more Preferments, maintain the Doctor in becoming Ease and Corpulancy. He keeps a Chariot in Town, and a Journey-Man in the Country; and his Curate and his Coach-Horses are his equal Drudges, saving that the four Legged Cattle are better fed, and have sleeker Cassocks than his Spiritual Dray-Horse. The Doctor goes down once a Year to sheer his Flock, and fill his Pockets, or, in other Words, to receive the Wages of his Embassy; and then, sometimes in an Afternoon, if his Belly do not happen to be too full, he vouchsafes to mount the Pulpit, and to instruct his People in the Greatness of his Character and his Dulness. This composes the whole Parish to Rest; but the Doctor one Day denouncing himself the Lord’s Ambassador with greater Fire and Loudness than could have been reasonably expected from him, it rouzed a Clown of the Congregation, who waked his next Neighbour, with———Do’st hear, Tom, dost hear? Ay, says Tom, yawning, what does he say? Say, answered the other, He says a plaguy Lye to be sure; he says as how he is the Lord’s Humbassandor; But I think he is more rather the Lord’s Receiver-General, for he never comes but to take Money.

Six Hundred Pounds a Year is modestly Speaking, a competent Fee for lulling the largest Congregation in England asleep once in a Twelve-Month.———Such Tithes are [I-131] the Price of Napping, and such mighty Odds there are between a Curtain-Lecture and a Cushion-Lecture.

The next Piece of Counsel I would give my Friends in Black, is, that when they are caught in a small Crime, or so, they would not always be throwing the Blame upon a Couple of civil Persons and good Neighbours, called Flesh and Blood; it is not satisfactory. A Bear when he is hungry, may eat up a good Christian, and give as strong a Reason for it.—No, let them Sin as they Preach, and scorn to tell us why or wherefore.

Their Ambition, of being such near Kinsmen to the Apostles, has likewise done them a Diskindness. A Priest may be a boon Companion, and an admirable Church-man, and yet not be a Bit like his Cousin St. Paul. It is therefore for the Honour of the Clergy, that I would have them drop their Alliance with the Saints: People will be making shameful Comparisons, in which the Gown, I doubt, will suffer; for know all Men, by these Presents, the Railing at the Government, and Undermining it, and the Contempt of Temperance, and Oaths, with other Modes that are now Orthodox, were not Apostolical Virtues in Former Days: And whereas Humility, Meekness, Patience, brotherly Love and Charity, are, at this Day, every Mother’s Son of them, Dissenters and Schismaticks, the same were in some small Repute many Hundred Years ago. But what is that to our present Apostles?

I often amuse myself with considering the Greatness and Multiplicity of the Characters belonging to the Orthodox Clergy. The meanest Reader of them is a Kinsman to the Apostles and our Saviour’s Lieutenant, and Door-Keeper of Heaven and Hell, and the Creator of Christians, and the Forgiver of Sins, and a Trumpeter, and a Watchman, and a Journey-man, and—(I am out of Breath) an Ambassador.

But as great Men as they are, it is hard, methinks, that an honest Lay-Man, when he dies, cannot step up Stairs, without a Ticket from an Ambassador, who is perhaps a Bed, or out of Humour, or taking his Bottle or his Girl, and the like.

My Friends, the Ambassadors have another Custom too, which savours not so much of the Serpent as it ought [I-132] to do. A Man cannot grow eminent for his Knowledge and Writings, but forth with the Ambassadors grow fearful of him, and cry Atheist at him. This I would pray them to forbear. I own I have my own Ends in giving them this wholesome Admonition; for, to tell it to my dear Friend, the World, as a Secret, which I desire may go no further, I begin myself to be more than apprehensive of the Charge of Atheism against me.

The Church-Men have, moreover, found it for their Interest, Time out of Mind, that most of their Foes should drink a Bumper to Beelzebub next their Heart every Morning. Now, I declare I am not at all acquainted with the Devil, and I desire the Ambassadors, if he should tell them the contrary, not to credit him for, whatever they may think of it, he’s a sad lying Fellow.

Mr. Lock I grant, gave them sufficient Cause to abuse him, by his speaking well of human Understanding, and explaining the Scriptures. But for myself, I vow and protest, upon the Word of an Author, I never yet did the Clergy the least ill Office, by teaching Mankind either Reason or Religion: I confess, I love them both well enough to merit the Character of an Infidel, but I keep my Affection to Piety and Truth, to myself, for fear of provoking the Ambassadors; they being engaged in another Interest.

I who am their Apologist, must own, it is not without Reason they look asquint upon Humanity, and useful Knowledge, and Moderation, and the like Lay-Vertues. A Man that wants Legs, would certainly think himself insulted and reproached, should a pragmatical Fellow take it in his Head to be dancing and cutting Capers before him. Folks that have no Teeth, do not love Crust.

But notwithstanding all these friendly Concessions of mine in Favour of the Ambassadors, I must still pray them, for the future, to keep their Atheism to themselves, tho’ they may have a great deal of it to spare. For, while there are yet a few left, who make bold to believe there is another God besides the Clergy, an Adherence to Scripture and common Sense will not fail to be approved by many, and would be by more, were it thought consistent with the Dignity and Designs of the Ambassadors, to permit the common People to return to their Senses.

[I-133]

But this, alas, is not to be expected, so long as Judgment and Understanding are so apparently opposite to the Rights of the Church.

The Roman Clergy are justified in keeping the Laity in Subjection and Ignorance, by a bold Pretence to Infallibility: Whereas our Priests, equally bold, but less reasonable, would make us Slaves and Blockheads, and yet cannot give us Reason for it. It is confessed they have a certain hard Word, one Orthodox, which is their Friend at a pinch, and serves them on all Occasions, for a ready Answer to every Objection. But this same Orthodox, tho’ it fully convinces many good Church-Men, yet bath lost its Original meaning, and, for many Ages, signified either every Thing, or nothing. Indeed, when the Church hath her Hands unbound, Orthodox is a Word of high Importance, and constantly signifies the Pillory and Whipping-Post, and the Church that has these reforming Engines of its Side, is, of course, the most Apostolical.

This Orthodox has likewise been compelled to mean several other Meanings, upon several Occasions. Sometimes it is an Altar, and sometimes a Book of Canons; sometimes a Convocation, and sometimes a Mob; it is this Minute a Bishop in his Throne, and the next, a Tithe-Pig. Now and then it is Slavery and unlimited Loyalty, and presently it is Sedition and Rebellion, without reserve. It is a Tyrant when a Master, and an Incendiary when a Servant, and either plotting Mischief or acting it. When it is a Doctor, it argues by strong Hand, and, as ill as it likes the Bible, it would keep it all to itself. When it is in Adversity, it snatches up the first Remedy that comes to its Hand, lawful or unlawful; but to others in the same Circumstances it recommends Prayers and Tears, especially when they are to no purpose: If you give it all it asks, it will perhaps seem contented; but if you shew its hated Foe, Moderation, the least Countenance, it will spit in your Face, and call you Son of a Whore: For, whatever Disguise it appears in, it is very apt to be in a Passion, and call Names; nay, if its Hands are not tied, it will bite and scratch, and kick, and fling, and bounce and bellow, and knock down all [I-134] that come near it, unless they swear a bloody Oath, they are for the Church.

But as useful as this Orthodox is to the Clergy, it will never justify them, in the Opinion of impartial Judges, for marking the best and most elevated Spirits with the Brand of Atheism. Virtue, Learning, and Humanity, will find Friends in spite of Orthodoxy, and many of the Laity will live in the Fear of God, let the Clergy take it ever so ill; and others will be Lovers of Truth and Mankind, at the hazard of being hated by the Church.

I must now have some Talk with my Friends, the Ambassadors, upon another Point, and that is their Claim of Divine Right to every Thing which they have a Mind to call theirs.

It is certain the Monks acquired most of their Possessions by such Means and Arts as would have been scandalous and diabolical, had they been practised by Lay-Men. But Clerks only have the sacred Privilege of tricking and playing the Devil for the Prosperity of the Church. Now these Possessions of the Monks, tho’ forfeited to the Crown by the Law, for having been fraudulently got, and unjustly kept, to maintain Laziness and Debauchery, are to this Hour claimed by our present Monks, as the undoubtd Successors of the other bald Vermin, in Purity of Doctrine and of Manners. Thus aiming in every Point to resemble these their pious Predecessors, they would willingly hold their Lands by Roguery and Divine Right.

The antient Monks were much more generous and reasonable than the present Set; for they gave their Bubbles an Equivalent for their Wealth ——— They would at any time Jockey away a small Tenement in Abraham’s Bosom for a rich Manor in England; whereas our modern Monks, notwithstanding their avowed Authority over their Maker, and his Dominions above, are so far from dealing like Chapmen, that, in Exchange for our Possessions, they do not so much as offer us a little Bargain in Paradise. If the Propriety of that Ground be theirs, they might at least tender a future Cottage for a present Palace, and the rather, because by Experience we know, that when we are at their Mercy, they allow us, in this Life, little else but Dungeons, Whips and Chains, and [I-135] the like Inducements, to reverence the Priesthood, who, for the Good of our Souls, use our Bodies bloody ill. And it cannot be denied, when the Ambassadors are let loose, they act as if they were, in Truth, the Scourges of God, by divine Right.

Now, I their Apologist, do earnestly perswade the Ambassadors to drop their Claim. All the Laicks who read the Bible know there is nothing of it in that Book, and they do not see that the Clergy live in so good an Understanding and Conformity with their Maker, as to merit from him a Grant of all the Lands in England by Word of Mouth.

What they have by human Right let them keep, and make much of it; nay, (to please them) let them wrangle and go to Law about it as much and as often as they will ——— But this is a Hint they do not want. A Parson’s Bull and his Grey Pad feed on Tithe-Hay and Corn, which is the Provender of these Brutes by Divine Right, and yet I never observed they grew fatter upon this divine Food than a Lay-Bull and a Lay-Stone-Horse, or were less addicted to Carnality and Lewdness.

I shall say nothing here of the Divine Right which doubtless the Ambassadors have to Pluralities and Non-Residence: Only by the by, suppose the Earl of Stair should desire his Majesty to make him Ambassador to half a dozen Courts beside that of France, and undertake to execute all these Employments by his Footmen, I fancy his Excellency would be roundly told, that Discharging an Ambassy by a Curate is such a Solœcism in Politicks as a Lay-Minister must not be guilty of.

I now proceed to another Catholick Topick which is run into prodigious Luxuriancy and Irregularity; I mean the good Art of Lying for the Church. I do not intend to debar the Ambassadors from their most righteous and most antient Practice of martyring their Conscience to their Cassock, and venturing their precious Souls against the dangerous and fanatical Encroachments of their old Foe, Truth, which was never a Friend to the Trade of the Tippit. It is to be wished, however, that their laudable Zeal for this venerable Usage were a little limited; and therefore that it may not grow useless by being altogether boundless, as it is at this Day, I, the [I-136] Apologist for the Church, prompted by pure Affection, will make bold to lay down two Rules to be observed by the Ambassadors, who are Liars for the good of it, as well as Sir Henry Wootton was for the good of the State.

And First, I implore them, as they love their precious Livings, not to fib out of the Bible. I know it is the hardest Thing in the World to break Men of a long and strong Habit, particularly when they much delight in it; but I pray them to consider that the Bible is the most aukward Creature under the Sun at fathering a Lie. You may easily know when he is quoted for a Falshood, for if you ask him, he will deal uprightly with you and tell you the naked Truth. It was a malicious Thing of our Ancestors, and great Blow upon the Ambassadors, to teach this Foreigner our Language; for ever since he has been naturalized, and taught English, he blabs out every Thing he knows.

Good Doctors, take Warning from the wretched Fate of a Brother Doctor, who in a furious Fit of Zeal, to destroy his Country, and save the Church, took a Passage or two out of the Bible, that were not in it. Upon this some unleavened Laymen, who had a singular Affection for Scripture, but were bitter Enemies to the Church, went and consulted their old Friend the Bible, who told them frankly, and like a Neighbour, that this Saviour of the Church had belied him; and, after spending some Moments in Admiration of the Doctor’s want of Memory, added, that the Doctor and he had never been, in the least, acquainted in all their Lives.

A sore Stroke this upon our Ambassador, but it did not rest here. These hard-hearted Laymen, preferring the Reputation of an obsolete Treatise to that of a modish Ambassador, hung up the Story at Westminster-hall, and then published it to all the World. Which dreadful Usage did so provoke the meek Ambassador, that from that Hour to this he could never endure Law, or Gospel, or Truth, or good Manners; but, being now both distracted and hardened to a Degree, he swears and rails, and lies more or less every Day in the Week, but most terribly on Sundays.

Behold the Damage which accrues to the Church from the aptness of the Bible to tell Tales.

This Boldness in us Lay-Animals, or, as a great Church Man loves to call us, The Beasts of the People, to meddle [I-137] with Knowledge, and study the Word of God, is undoubtedly a shameful Insult upon the Ambassadors, and a manifest Impropriation of their Rights and Profits. But there is no Help for it, the Laity will, against all Reason, be exercising their Reason, and judging in Thing which, though plain and necessary, ought to remain a profound Mystery. All this is the more intolerable, for that both the Prophets and Apostles give a very harsh and unkind Character of our present Orthodox Clergy. It is well for these Calumniaters and Low Churchmen, that they are dead.

Having now shewed the Ambassadors that it is by no Means safe, even when the Church is in the greatest Danger, to lie for its preservation out of the Holy Scriptures, which are ever backward to own and vindicate the Cause of the Cassock; I proceed to give them a Rule to lie by, when they fetch their Falshoods out of their own Heads———And it is only this, to lie with Probability. How many a glorious Catholick Forgery has been murdered by making it too Catholick, that is, too monstrous. What Pity it is there should be any Excess in Piety, and good Works.

In the Time of the late Rebellion I dined by Accident at a Gentleman’s House in the West, who made no secret of his being a Jacobite, or, as he explained it, a true Churchman. The Parson, I found, was gone to the next Village to cater for News, and, being impatiently expected by the Squire, arrived just as we were sitting down to Dinner. Well, Doctor, says his Worship, What is the Word? Mar, Mar, Sir, replied the Doctor, What should it be? Here all the Family chuckled, perceiving the good Man had got a Packet that pleased him. However, before he broached his best News, he let us know that King George (to whom he gave another Name) had got a Guard about him, consisting of five thousand Turks, and ten thousand Presbyterian Parsons. These ill Tidings made Madam sigh for the Church, and therefore the Doctor hastened to tell her better. Come, Madam, says he, hold up, Day dawns in the North, the brave Mar has two hundred thousand Highlanders well armed and principled, to serve your Ladyship and the Church; and three hundred and fourscore great French Ships of War, were [I-138] this Morning seen making towards Portsmouth. The Lady thanked God with an Ejaculation, and his Ambassador with a Glass of Sherry. He then proceeded to assure us, That the Duke of Argyle’s Army had deserted to a Man, and that his Grace, himself, was fled in a poor fishing Boat, to Greenland, or somewhere far away; that his Majesty had stole away from St. James’s, and was not to be found high nor low; and that the Duke of Marlborough bit his Thumbs, and looked as pale as Ashes. This great News procured the Ambassador the other Glass of Sherry, and Madam clapped the other Custard upon his Plate. He then assured us, of his own Knowledge, that the Duke of Berwick, had on some Occasion or other given the Earl of Stair a terrible Box on the Ear, and ordered him to leave the Kingdom in three Hours, on pain of being put in the Stocks. A brave Man this Duke of Berwick, says a Booby at the Parson’s Elbow, the Squire’s eldest Son. Ay, says the Parson, and

Here is to Berwick the bold,
And may his Grace live to grow old.

He went on in this Wantonness of Fancy, and lied and rhimed beyond all Bounds. The Squire squeezed him by the Hand, and put his Health round, and I saw nothing but Mirth and Gaiety. For myself, I laughed with the rest, and owned the Ambassador’s News to be wonderful strange. He was afterwards very Arch upon a brace of Turks, and a Garden of Turnips that he had planted in his Majesty’s Bed-chamber. But as he was going on in his News and Calumny, and just shipping off the Royal Family, for whom he had provided a Lodging somewhere in Holland, an honest Gentleman came in with the printed Account of both the Battle of Preston, and that of Dumblain; for, living far from a Post Town he had his Letters but once a Week. The Ambassador was instantly taken with an Occasion to make Water, and left both his News and his Custard unfinished. But I told the Gentleman the Wonders the Doctor had told us, and he shewed us the monstrous impossibility of them; which had so good an Effect, that tho’ he continues his Trade to this Day, and lies as fervently as ever, especially [I-139] from his wooden Sanctuary, yet the perverse People uncharitably refuse to be any longer his Rogues and Zealots; whereas before this his unhappy Detection he could set them a Railing and Swearing, and Mobbing at his Christian Pleasure. It is true, many of the good Women, are still his Believers and Conformists; but this is ascribed to a Cause not quite so spiritual.

Take Warning, O Reverend Ambassadors, from the forlorn Miscarriage of this your blundering Brother, who, transported with Orthodox Zeal, carried a well-meaning Lye beyond the Bounds of Likelihood, and has thereby utterly disabled himself from serving the Church and his Order, as long as he lives———Better, oh better he had been a Bed that inauspicious Day, though with his Handmaid as usual.

Not so the artful and eloquent Father Francis, who holds forth a Lye, and weeps over a Lye, with a praiseworthy Cunning and Dexterity. He dresses up the pretty Puppit so amiably, all at the Cost and Charges of his own Fancy, and laments over it so movingly, that there is not a dry Eye, nor a dry Handkerchief, in the whole Congregation. The Tears and Rage of his Hearers are equally in his Power; the whole Order would no doubt envy him, were he not, though greatly lewd an excellent Churchman.

He was once raising the Pity of his Hearers for a hopeful, unfortunate young Gentleman, who, though born to three great Estates, was so ill used, and persecuted, that he had not a Hovel to put his Catholick Head in. In short, he described the poor Lad’s Circumstances so artfully, and lamented him so pathetically, that I thrust my Hand into my Pocket, and, had the Pretender been within three Pews of me, I should infallibly have reached him half a Crown; a larger Charity than I give to every poor Body. I perceived the same Sympathy and Commiseration in the Looks of the whole Church.

On every Thirtieth of January, how many Butchers does he send Home, calling for their Cleavers, to hew in Pieces all the Presbyterian Demons, that had a Hand in the Slaughter of the Martyr! For it is a standing Maxim and Resolve amongst the Ambassadors, that all the Dissenters, who ever lived, or shall live, to the end of the [I-140] World, must be the individual Men that murdered King Charles the First, with their own Hands. Another Time he gave us a frightful Image and Description of Oliver Cromwell’s Time; but he threw so many Modern Incidents into the Character, that the whole Congregation mistook him to mean the present Reign, and I, like a Booby amongst the rest, was of the same Opinion; and he put me so out of Humour with the Court and the Ministry, that I snatched up my Hat and Cane, and went directly to expostulate with a Secretary of State, upon the dreadful Doings and Mismanagements which Friar Francis had pointed at: I likewise intended to admonish the Courtiers to be ruled by the Clergy, if they expected to prosper. But when I came to St. James’s, I found that Things had quite another Face there, than when they came out of the Mouth of Friar Francis. So I kept my Business to myself, and sneaked off, warned however to trust no more to the Representations of this Reverend Father in Guile.

But, I hope, for the sake of the Ambassadors, no Body else will take the same Pains to be untaught the Apostolical Forgeries, which their Excellencies may find it convenient to broach from Time to Time.———Such a rash Proceeding would utterly destroy the Credit of the Cassock throughout this Land. But my hononrable Friends know themselves very safe in the conformable Credulity of their Hearers: And yet I must still praise that wary Doctor most who lies best, that is, like Friar Francis, most artfully. He well knows, that the pious Art of Falshood is the only Engine they have left to defend the Reputation of the Crape, and to wound that of their great Rival for Power the Government. He therefore manages with Care and Art this last Shift.

I have already given a Reason sufficient, why Oaths ought not to Hamstring the Ambassadors, to which I will here add, in Defence of the innocent Sin of Perjury, that if their universal Custom and Practice in all Ages, be of any Force, as sometimes Custom alone creates Law, then here is an Apology, in a few Words, for such Genuine Clergymen as have forsworn to his present Majesty for the Preservation of their Cupboards and Tithes, of which the Holy-Church hath made them Overseers. It is not, therefore, without valuable Considerations, that the conscientious [I-141] Priests have reconciled themselves to this innocent Sin, and made Perjury the easiest Task under the Sun. Not but that the conformable, good Creatures can abstain from it (as much as they are used to it) when there is more got by Nonjuring.

I knew the Ambassador of a Parish near the Bath, who had for many Years sworn and prayed with constant Conformity, and enjoyed his Living and his October, without the least Tumult in his Conscience, till the beginning of the late Rebellion; but this same Conscience of his (being something of a Time server) no sooner heard the High-landers were risen, but it began to rise too, and gave the Doctor several Hints, which he thought were just and reasonable. In short it drew up a remonstrance to him by which it appeared, that if he did but handle the present Opportunity well, he might bid fair to get something, without losing any thing. The Doctor was ready to follow the Advice of so rational a Conscience, and so pretended to quit his Parish, because as he told the People in a doleful Discourse at parting, he could not with any Conscience, pray for a Prince who had no Right, and so forth. Thus the Doctor seemed to risk a small Living for the good of his poor Soul, and a Deanery: And only seemed, for being as cautious as he was Conscientious, he had his Church supplied with a Deputy Ambassador, vulgarly called a Curate. However, the Doctor enjoyed the Honour and Character of a Confessor for a few Weeks, and then the Defeats of Mar and Foster gave him such convincing Proofs of his Majesty’s Right, that his courteous Conscience, the best natured yielding Thing alive, made him and Perjury cordial Friends once more. He took the Oaths, and kept his Parish, and prays now for the Government with the same Sincerity as ever.

Before I have done, I must have a little Chat with my Friends, the Ambassadors, upon the Head of Politicks; and I cannot but conceive they are somewhat too fickle and changing in their Friendship and Enmity to Princes and States; and Inconstancy in Schemes is an essential Error in Statesmen.

The Ambassadors were, for some Time, exceeding fond of the late French King, who indeed took prevailing Methods to please them. In the first Place he exerted the [I-142] full Prerogative of a Monarch by Divine Right, upon his Lay-Subjects, and treated them as Slaves, born to breath but for his Pleasure. Secondly, He strove gloriously, by Frauds and Violence, to destroy the most powerful and most obnoxious Nest of Republicans in the World, dull Dutch-men, that will be for Trade and Liberty of Conscience, let our Clergy say what they will to the contrary—. Thirdly (O glorious Article!) He exercised such wholesome Severities on Dissenters, that every true Church-man ought to Worship him to all Eternity. And yet, after all this complicated Merit, they withdrew their Protection from him, as soon as he grew Friends with King William. But he quickly merited their Smiles; for he bravely broke his Faith, and fell a murdering the D—d Dutch again: And during the whole Course of the War, they continued to grieve for his Losses, and to curse the Duke of Marlborough for stopping the Course of his most Christian Cruelties. But still they grumbled at his Slowness in lending them a few Ships and Troops to do a certain Jobb which they had much at Heart, because it would have changed the ill-contrived Model of our Laws and Religion into a Form more pleasing to them.

The Regent too was honoured with their good Graces, while he was suspected of aiding the Rebellion for the Church; but, now it appears he has no Spight against their Country and Constitution, they have taken a mortal one at him.

Sweden was once the only Object of their Affection and their Prayers, whilst its King was expected with a Fleet and Army to rescue the Church, by Fire, and Sword, and Popery from the Danger of a Protestant Government. But Sweden failed them, and presently.

The Czar of Muscovy got into their Favour, and it was strongly hoped, that that meek Monarch would set Fire to the Nation, and help the Church; and though he baulked them, the Ambassadors are still fond of him, he having, by Humanity to his Son, and several others, shewn that he knows the use of wholesome Severities; besides, ’tis thought he has no Good-Will for England.

The Turk was at one Time a very popular Church-Man, for he was at War with the Christians, and therefore———great Things were expected from him by the Ambassadors [I-143] for the Prosperity of the Church: But Prince Eugene, who is not a good Church-Man, drove their Mahometan Friend back to his Whore-House again———

Even the Emperor himself, when he was reported he had given his Sister to the Pretender, was honoured with the Character of a Well-wisher to the Church of England; but that Lye not proving true, his Imperial Majesty lost Ground amongst the Ambassadors, and is at present in such Disgrace with them, that nothing, but his going to Mass, makes them keep Measures with him.

The Dutch were ever the Objects of their Indignation and utter Aversion, but at this present Time, even these Republicans, and No-Christians, by their Slowness in signing the Quadruple-Alliance, have won the Hearts of our Ambassadors, and the Hogan Mogans have now the good Fortune to be deemed judicious and moderate Schismaticks; but I am in great Dread, that they will very shortly anger the Church again.

But Parson Alberoni, my Client, is, of all the Potentates in Europe, the Pope himself not excepted, their present Favourite and Darling, as I, though unworthy, expect soon to be, for penning this unanswerable Encomium upon Him and Them.

Their Love of this Potent, High Church-Man, who, like another Cardinal Laud, leads his Pupil by the Nose, and the Purse-Strings, can proceed from nothing but their Fondness for Works of Charity, to which, it seems, my Client shews a strong Inclination, particularly, in an Instance or two that cannot but please the Church.

We all know there are several worthy English Gentlemen, the good Friends of our Ambassadors, and loyal Sufferers for the Church, who live like Vagrants in Italy, and are fed with Crumbs from the Pope’s Table. Now the loving Cardinal has, in his Royal Bounty, invited these pious Protestants into his Kingdom, offering them a Morsel, and a Bed, though it is feared the present Parliament hath taken such uncatholick Resolutions as may put the Cardinal’s Majesty out of Humour, and tempt him to change his Mind.

Sir George Bing too is never to be forgiven by any Man who wishes well to the Church and Uniformity, for creating such a dangerous Schism in the Cardinal’s Fleet, who [I-144] were too Orthodox Catholicks to digest the dreadful Heresy of Protestant Powder and Ball.

It was rude in St. George to break the Heads of so many civil Spaniards, who were Men of peaceable Behaviour, and no-wise addicted to Fighting. It is true they afterwards behaved themselves like Heroes, when they refought the English in the Marquis de Beretti Landi’s Papers, where his Excellency has made them shew the true Spanish Bravery, by beating Sir George bravely, and running away from him bloodily. And it is plain to all the World, that they shewed, by a bold Flight, they scorned to die to please that merciless Heretick.

I could add many Particulars to illustrate the Worth of my eminent Client Parson Alberoni, whose great Capacity to rule his Master is visible to Mankind. I could likewise insist that he has as good a Right as any other Priest or Vicar whatsoever, to act as becomes his Order, by nourishing War and Desolation.

But I will wave the Detail of these Points, tho’ there is a great deal in them, having a grand Thing to urge in his Behalf, which renders him singularly Dear to all true Church-Men——— Reader, a Word in your Ear; Parson Alberoni intends, if King George would but let him, to restore———and the Church-Lands;

O Sanctum, festumq; diem!———

Having left this important Whisper upon the Reader’s Memory, I shall say no more.

N. B. Not one of the numerous Answers which will be made to this Apology, will be worth reading, But, at the earnest Report of my Bookseller, I design to write and publish a Reply to myself, which I desire every Body to Buy.

[I-145]

An Apology for the Danger of the Church, Proving, that the Church is, and ought to be always in Danger; and that it would be dangerous for her to be out of Danger. Being a Second Part of the Apology for Parson Alberoni. By T. Gordon, Esq;↩

Anno 1719.

THE Prospect of doing great and useful Actions, or the Consideration of having done them, must needs be Matter of Pleasure and Triumph to a Mind honestly ambitious. It is therefore no little Joy to me to reflect, that I have been a Person of notable Moment and Significancy this Winter; by my strenuous Defence of High-Church, and the Trade thereof. I have placed its true Sons and Overseers in a true Light, in which every one may behold them, and bow down with his Face to the Earth.

As all pious Deeds meet with some Reward, either in the internal Satisfaction of the Mind, or from the Monuments of Praise erected by Mankind to the Doer, I have no Reason to say that my late Apology went without its Recompence; since by it I have gain’d, what I sincerely aim’d at, to the Genuine Priesthood all due Honour, and to myself ———. But it becomes me who am but a private Gentleman, to serve my Country for nothing.

There is, however, some good Fortune generally attending the brave Man who draws in Defence of the Church. She is a lucky old Body, and few find Cause to repent of having done her a good Turn. I myself, her weak tho’ voluntary Champion, am two Pair of Shoes and a Beaver the richer, for wearing out three Pens, and exhausting a Halfp’ worth of Ink in her Service. I still [I-146] want a Sword-knot, and a Tooth-pick-case, which I make no Question of earning in a few Days from the Steeple. I have for that Purpose, at this very Juncture, seventeen Pamphlets in my Head, all carved out into proper Method and Paragraphs, and ten of them are already sold to my Bookseller, who purchases my Brains at so much a Sheet. I would willingly sell him the other seven, and throw two or three little ones into the Bargain; but he shakes his Ears, and seems to say, he has ventur’d enough already.

In this Manner is my pregnant Head become an Office of Wit and Manuscripts, to be employ’d wholly in the Interest of the Sacred Brood of Aaron.

Pursuant to this I have a Project now on Foot, which, if duly encouraged, will tend to the universal Credit and Emolument of this distress’d Church. In short, it is my Purpose to expose my Head, and the Furniture thereof, to Sale by Auction, at St. Paul’s Chapter-house, on the 30th of May next; at which Time and Place, I do hereby humbly hope and beg, the Presence and Encouragement of all the Reverend Zealots within this Realm. The Particulars are as follows.

A Dedication to a Great Man, concerning Dedications: discovering amongst other wonderful Secrets, what will be the present Posture of Affairs a Thousands Years hence. By T. Gordon, Esq; ↩

A Letter to the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury; proving, That his Grace cannot be the Author of the Letter to an eminent Presbyterian Clergyman in Swisserland, in which the present State of Religion, in England, is blackened and exposed, and the present Ministry are misrepresented and traducted. By T. Gordon, Esq;↩

My Lord,

THERE is lately printed in Swisserland, a Book entituled, Oratio Historica de Beneficiis in Ecclesiam Tigurinam collatis. “An Historical Oration concerning the Mercies bestowed upon the Church of Zurich.” In the 14th Page of which Oration he gives an Account of the present State of the English Church, as the same was transmitted from hence in an Epistle to a principal Person (or Ruler) there, from one of the like, or greater Character here.

As this Epistle gives a frightful Representation of the State of Religion amongst us, in general; and, more particularly, of the Distresses and Dangers, which accrue to the Church of England, from Schism, Heresy, and the Ministry, I herewith send it to your Grace. I have translated it for the Benefit of my less learned Readers, and made some Observations of my own to expose a lurking [Editor: illegible words] who deceives and prejudices the World abroad [Editor: illegible words] image of our Church Affairs under your [Editor: illegible words] administration. And I do it the rather, because, [I-193] my Lord, some People are so very ignorant and malicious as to surmise that your Grace was the Author of that Letter, which is so inconsistent with your former Life and Character.

[I-216]

A true Account of a Revelation lately discovered to Jeremiah van Husen, a German Physician. As be deliver’d it on Oath before John Shephered, Esq; One of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace; foretelling many strange Events; particularly, the End of the World. By T. Gordon, Esq;↩

Anno 1719.

THE Spaniards will reimbark June the 25th, 1719. and narrowly escape the English Fleet, June 30. of the same Month. July the 9th, they will land in Scotland with all their Force and warlike Stores. The 20th of the same Month their Fleet returning Home, will be shatter’d by a Storm, and drove on the Coast of Wales. August the 20th, the Pretender will be at the Head of all his Army on a Plain near England. On the 29th there will be a bloody Field Battle in Scotland. On November the 3d, there will be another in England. October the 2d, King GEORGE lands. January the 1st following, there will be a strange and pompous Procession through London. The 3d, 4th, and 5th, great and bloody Doings at Tower-Hill. A Massacre in Ireland next December. The French King dies on Christmas-day. Seventeen Provinces declare for Philip. March 1720, 10000 English land at Ostend. May that Year, a bloody Fight at Poictou. June, the Regent visits Lisle. King Philip sups at Blois that Month. July, the Spaniards revolt, and make Alberoni and Don Rodriguez Governors of the Kingdom, and Prince of Asturias. August 14, Philip and the Duke of Orleance engage in a Field Battle in Normandy. Philip is taken Prisoner. The Duke of Savoy enters Lorrain about this Time. August the 18th, 1720. the Turk, Muscovite, and Swede, enter into a Tripple Alliance. Princess Sobieski dies of Child Birth about this Time. The Pretender is also lost near the Coast of Norway. The English Fleet bombard Civitta Vecchia, The Emperor takes Rome this Winter, deposes the Pope; and names a Bishop. Summer 1721, the Italian Bishops deny the Infallibility and Supremacy. The Emperor dies in June. The Elector of Hanover chosen [I-219] Emperor. The French Church reforms. Peace with the North. 1722, the Turks embrace Christianity. September, this Year, the Great Mogul conquers Persia. Convocations dissolv’d by an Act of Parliament in England. A Shower of Rain like Milk, in Suabia. The Czar is Master of all Tartary. The Chinese turn Papists, and make Father Mezerial their Pope. The West-Indians universally dispossess and destroy the Europeans. 1723, Popery Establish’d at Genevv. September this Year, the Dutch are Tributary to the King of Prussia. King Philip dies in the Isle of Wight, Sweden conquers Pomerania. Poland is swallowed up by an Earthquake. Three Hundred Sixty Five Religions in Holland. None in England. The Barrier broken. Germany reforms. 1724, Spain builds a Fleet to conquer the West-Indies. England and France join with them. 1725, a Comet burns Tartary, China, and Muscovy. This Year a Toleration granted in France, Spain, and Italy. Venice is burnt this Year by an accidental Fire. 1726, Anti christ is first discover’d in Shropshire. In 1729 is manifest over all Europe. A War between Germany and England. Another between the Turk and Muscovite, about Transubstantiation. Geneva reforms again. The Swedes turn Turks. The English and Spanish Fleets quarrel, and fight at Rio de la Plata. The French Fleet revolt to the King of Mexico. A Battle in the Air seen at Vienna, Stockholm, and London, on the same Day. The Jews keep Christmas this Year. Laws against Immorality annull’d in England. The Greek Church turn’d Arians. Prophets arise and convert the Africans. The Devil worshipp’d at Jerusalem. A Civil War in England, about the Nature of Schism. Strange Alterations in the Climates all over Europe. Calabria and Sicily over-run with a Conflagration. Polygamy and Witchcraft very frequent in Ireland. The Scotch turn Mahometans. Swedes conquer Denmark, and establish Presbytery. The Line of Stanislaus made Viceroys of Denmark. Aurora Borealis burns up all Gothland and Finland. Strange Sea Monsters infest the English Coasts. At this Time there is no King in France. September this Year, all Arabia sinks under Water. December the Arabians embrace Popery. January 1730, Four Comets appear at the Four Cardinal [I-220] Points of the Hemisphere. February, the Mediterranean Sea overflows on each Side. Asia Minor depopulated with Sea Monsters. Popery laid aside all the World over. March, this Year, the Sun intensely hot over all the World. The Persians conquer Muscovy, June, the French and Spaniards join and destroy the Dutch. July, Anti-christ is discover’d in Asia, and Men universally there call themselves Biblists. Europe is all in one Apostasy. The West-Indians embrace Christianity universally, by the preaching of Prophets, and their Power of Miracles. In December, they convert Europe. The Sun rises Blew sometimes. Land falls in England. No Company at Jonathan’s. Africa is of one Mind and one Faith with America. Europe begins to repent. In January, the Great Beast is seen at Genoa and Stockholm at the same Time, and drowns himself at both Places. Strange Bulls infest Ireland. In March, England is Orthodox. Wonderful Storms all over the Face of the Sky. Wales is burned by Eruptions of Bituminous Matter. Scotland infested with breaking out of the Blood, and with Blains: Christ is own’d there. Narriadism very frequent in this World. Three General Councils, one in Germany, one in China, another in Madagascar. On September 15, it appears, that all Mankind agree. The Magazines every where blown up in France and Germany, by Meteors. The Ships burnt at Portsmouth and Chatham, by a subterraneous Fire. The Czar of Muscovy cuts his Throat. Heidegger dies of Fits. The Sun looks no bigger than a Cheshire Cheese. The Play-House shut up. Coach-makers turn Prophets. Cooks preach; Hail, Thunder, Lightning. September the 29th, the grand Pay-Day; at Twelve at Night, the End of the World.

[I-221]

A Comparison between the Proposals of the Bank and the South-Sea Company, wherein is shewn, that the Proposals of the First are much more advantageous to the Publick, than those of the Latter; if they do not offer such Terms to the Annuitants as they will accept of. By J. Trenchard, Esq;↩

Anno 1720.

AS I have compared in my own Mind, the constant Encrease of our Publick Debts, to a Cloud gathering over the Southern Seas, impregnated with Thunder and Lightning, and big with the Magazines of an Hurricane, which at last sweeps away Houses and Woods, as well as every thing else before it; so I receive the truest Pleasure in observing an universal Disposition in my Countrymen, to endeavour to discharge themselves honourably from so dreadful a Burthen. I think it is every honest Man’s Duty to give his utmost Assistance to so desirable a Work; and therefore I think myself obliged to offer such Considerations to my Superiors, as appear to me necessary to make the Attempt effectual; that it may not end in a Job to get Plumbs for a few Projectors, ruin Thousands, and disappoint the Publick.

I am unfashionable enough to declare my Thoughts openly, that as I think it is the highest Crime, so I wish the greatest Punishment was inflicted upon any Persons in his Majesty’s Councils, and the Management of his Finances who shall presume to Stock-job and Buffet about the Publick Revenues; and by the Knowledge of their own Intentions, to raise them and depress them at their Pleasure, and as they see their Advantage; and so to make Bargains, [I-222] for themselves, whilst they are ruining the Kingdoms. I hope there are no such now: But I doubt it is too melancholy a Truth, that to this Conduct in former Reigns, we owe the greatest part of our Miseries.

I dare own too, that I heartily wish the Bank of England had found it their Interest to have made such a Proposition as might have been acceptable to the Parliament; because I conceive they could have effected it with Advantage to themselves, as well as to the Publick, for the following Reasons.

1. They are in Possession of a great Credit, and by their Bills alone could have paid some Millions of the Debt.

2. They have near Four Millions of it already engrafted in their Stock, and without doubt have great Effects besides, which they have bought in the several Funds, and consequently they would have had so much less of the Publick Debts to have discharged.

3. They have oftener than once already saved the Kingdom, by bringing down the Price of Interest, assisting it in its greatest Exigencies, and have always acted with Reputation and Candour: And indeed, from the Nature of their Constitution, it is almost impracticable for them to do otherwise, or for their Directors to enrich themselves at the Society’s Cost; and therefore very many People would have engaged with them, who will not venture their Money in a Trading Company; where the Managers too often squander away and parcel out amongst themselves, their Relations and Followers, the Publick Money, under the Pretence of Traffick, and then must make their Proprietors Recompence, by dividing out their Capital, which they make them to believe is only Interest, and the Profit of the Trade; by which means, the more of their Principal is taken away (like a Hole in the Wall) the greater it grows, and for a Time sells for more too: But at last, the poor People find themselves beggared, and have no way to prevent their Ruin, but by selling out betimes, and ruining others.

4. If the Bank had undertaken it, there could have been little Danger threatened to the Publick from the Influence of so formidable a Society; because another great Body would be subsisting with Twelve Millions Capital: [I-223] Which, added to the Assistance of the East India Company, might, and probably would have been a great Ballance against it; besides there could have been no Danger of the Courtiers over-loading them with new Favours.

5. The Capital of the Bank is Seven Millions less than that of the South-sea Company; and therefore the Profits arising to the Proprietors, from paying off the othet Funds, and striking New Stock in lieu of them, must have been divided upon a proportionably less Capital; and consequently, they could have afforded to have allowed much greater Encouragement to the Annuitants, with yet greater Profit to themselves; and in Fact, they did openly and above board offer Seventeen Hundred Pounds Bank-Stock, for every Hundred Pounds per Annum of the long Annuities; which is Twenty Five Years Purchase and an Half, if their Stock continued at One Hundred and Fifty, and Thirty Four Years Purchase, if it ascended to Two Hundred; and in the like Proportion, according as it rose more or less.

However, as every true Englishman ought to have no View in an Affair of this great Importance, but what would most conduce to the publick Benefit; so all the Advantages above-mentioned did not, nor ought to have hindred the Acceptance of a better Proposal from the South-Sea Company, who have certainly offered more advantageous Terms to the Publick, provided they offer equal Terms too, to bring in the Annuitants, and are contented with their Bargain in the Manner it is made; which no one sure can doubt of, it being by their own Acknowledgment a very good one; since they, in effect, declared they were ready to give more, if any others would give as much.

Therefore I take the less Notice of the little Jobbing Tricks played, and Reports given about in the Alley, to raise Stock, viz. That New Advantages are to be given. New Trades annexed, and that since the Publick expect from them to raise such Sums of Money, they must find Means to enable them to do it: Such Artifices and such jugling Proceedings, can never enter into the Thoughts of any Member of that Honourable House, which accepted the Proposal. Who can suspect that the Guardians of the Publick Treasure, will ever wantonly squander [I-224] away any part of an advantageous Contract they have made for their Country; and give better Terms than are asked, if these can be performed? And if not, it is still more absurd to imagine, that they will reward any Number of Men whatsoever, for betraying the Publick, by offering a Project which they could not execute, and disappointing another, which could not have miscarried.

It will be embezzling the publick Treasure, and encreasing our Burthens, instead of lessening them, if we give away needlesly not only what is already Money or Wealth, but such Advantages and Privileges as will purchase them from any other Body of Men; for it will be ridiculous to say, any Concession will cost the Publick nothing, which will hurt and prejudice the Publick, or yield the Publick something: Besides, ’tis but common Justice to the Bank of England, (to those whose Conduct we are beholden even for the present Proposal) to give them the Preference; if by adding, curtailing, tossing, tumbling, or mangling the accepted Proposition, it should be rendered but equally advantageous to theirs, much more if it should become less so; the Breach of the Contract will lie at their Door alone, who decline to execute it, or confess they can’t execute it by demanding New Conditions.

The reason I think it necessary to say thus much is, because I find many Persons engaged in the South-Sea Company, who think, or pretend to think, that they have the Choice of the Alternative, either to buy in the Annuitants, or to pay Six Hundred Thousand Pounds in lieu of it, which I dare say is not the Thought of any Man in the Kingdom, besides some of themselves: We all understand, that they offered the Penalty only as an Earnest, to assure us that they intend to give such Conditions as the Annuitants will be inexcusable; if they do not accept of; which ought to be equal at least to those already offered by the Bank; and I could wish they would silence the Scruples of some, and the Calumnies of others, by obliging themselves to it in the Bill, or at least would make as open and frank a Declaration of their Intention, as the Bank has done.

[I-225]

For the Proposal of the Bank is exceedingly more advantageous than that of the South Sea; provided the Bank Proposition brings in the Annuitants, and the South Sea Company only pays the Penalty, even tho’ the Latter should be kept strictly to their Bargain; for all that then would accrue to the Publick by it, would be but four Millions Six Hundred Thousand Pounds, when it’s all paid: And ’tis more than probable, that Sum, as great as it is, will not in Reality lessen the publick Debts at all (it’s well if it does not encrease them) because the Annuities, in all likelihood, will rise in Value above Twenty Years Purchase (the Price the Publick are to redeem them at by this Proposal) more than that Sum will discharge: Whereas what the Bank offers, will effectually pay off so much of our Engagements.

They offer directly	l. 3,300,000
The difference in prompt Payment from what the South-Sea offer, more than	200,000
Offered to be allowed to the Annuitants	2,367,600
In all	l. 5,867,600

There is besides the Difference which might probably accrue to the Publick by the Bank’s offering to be redeemed at 1724, and the South-Sea’s accepted Alternative, to be redeemable at 1727; which by some is computed at more than Eleven Hundred Thousand Pounds, and by themselves at not less than Seven.

As I think I have fully shewn, that the Proposal of the Bank of England is vastly better to the Publick than that of the South Sea, if the First brings in the Annuitants, and the Others do not; so I will as plainly shew, that if the Latter are not obliged to offer them such Conditions as it will be their Interest to accept, that they must be Men of very uncommon Virtue, and intirely detached from all personal Considerations, if they do it of their own Accord.

[I-226]

’Tis evident, that all the Advantage which can accrue to them by this Bargain, (which they Purchase at so many Millions) over and above receiving good Interest for Seven Years, is the striking New Capital for as much as they pay of the publick Debt; that is to say, for every Hundred Pounds they discharge, they are to have the Liberty to add and sell to the fairest Bidder, One Hundred Pounds of New Stock; and if that can be sold at the current Price (which we will suppose to be One Hundred and Seventy) then Seventy Pounds will be got by the Company; which Profit arising equally upon near Sixteen Millions, there will remain more than Seven Million, clear Profit to the Company, after Four Millions paid to the Publick; and so proportionably more or less, as the Stock rises or falls.

Now it must be obvious to every one, that it can never be their Interest to bring in the Annuitants, before all the redeemable Funds are paid off, and the New Stock is struck and sold; for that would be to call in Shares to divide this great Sum with themselves, and lessen their own Profit above half, by admitting Fifteen Millions more Capital: They will hardly think it worth their Time to give the Publick Four Years and an Halfs Purchase for such Annuitants, and to give the Annuitant great Encouragement besides, to accept the aforesaid Favour; and if they do not, I am persuaded they have too much Modesty to expect the Annuitants to come in without it: Since, as is said before, almost the only Foundation of their Stock now bearing such a Price, is the Advantage which will arise from selling the New Interest.

Besides, how long can it be reasonably supposed, Twenty Seven Millions more of principal Stock will be selling off? (which Sum the whole will amount to at One Hundred and Seventy per Cent.) for if we could suppose (which I take to be a very sanguine Imagination) that the Sixteen Millions paid off would all be vested in this Company, there will yet remain Eleven Millions, for which fresh Money must be found.

It is very unlikely, that so great an Interest should be sold, without spending part of the Term in doing it, [I-227] or sinking the Stock, (which will spoil all) and then how can the South-Sea offer the Annuitants such Terms as the Bank have already proposed? For when the Advantage arising from this Bargainis at an end, the Seven Millions divided amongst the present Proprietors, and their Term of Seven Years shortned, what imaginary Hopes can there be, that their Stock will keep at the advanced Price? which it must do, to enable them to pay Four Years and a half Purchase to the Publick, and yet give such Encouragement, as the Annuitants will accept of; nor is it possible to suppose a Circumstance, how they shall be capable of doing all this, without its appearing at the first View, that it is more their Interest to pay the Penalty.

Therefore I hope I shall not deserve the Imputation of Calumny, if I surmise, that no Member of the South-Sea Company can oppose a Proposition so reasonable, as that they should be obliged to declare what Conditions they will give to the Annuitants; but such who design not the publick Interest, but their own; who intended us a Missisippi Company, would have had vastly greater Advantages squandered away for less than half the Sum which is now offered, and who have been cooking up a Project for Seven or Eight Months last past, under the Pretence of paying off the Publick Debts, but in Truth to new burthen the Publick, and enrich themselves; and who, if they are let alone, will turn this great Design into a private Job; and when they have worked up their Stock by Management to an unnatural Price, will draw out, and leave the Publick to shift for itself, till the Season comes round about for gathering new Plumbs.

[I-228]

Some Considerations upon the State of our Publick Debts in general, and of the Civil List in particular. By J. Trenchard, Esq;↩

Anno 1720.

IF by the social Laws of Life we are obliged to aid one another, and to do kind Offices undesired, it will follow that every Opportunity of doing good, is a call to do good; and this Duty must encrease in proportion to the Importance of the Occasion, and consequently the Publick has a Right to our first and best Service.

Armed with this Principle of Love to my Country, I set forth in an untrodden Path, and shall regard no Obstructions or Difficulties I meer in my Way; but will unasked, and I fear unthanked too, offer my Assistance to my Superiors, and endeavour to strengthen their Hands in promoting the Happiness of our Country, and removing its Burthens; which I hope to do, by shewing them a short way to those good Ends.

The Power and Happiness of any Country depends in a great Measure upon a skilful and frugal Management of the Publick Treasure, which my Lord Coke justly calls, Tutela Pacis & firmamentum Belli: By this Conduct chiefly the Seven Provinces, not of more Extent than Yorkshire, have proved their State as considerable as some of the greatest Powers in Europe; and by the neglect of it, we have seen, but few Years since, the once formidable Kingdom of Spain expecting its Fate and the Decision of its Empire from two inconsiderable Armies of Foreigners contending within its own Bowels; and the Spaniards themselves were little more than Spectators.

’Tis with Grief and Indignation I say it, that England too, which seems designed by Nature and Situation to be [I-229] the Pride and Glory of the World, that has so large a Dominion, so extensive a Trade and immense Revenue, should be sunk and oppressed by Debts and Anticipations, by needless Offices and Sallaries, and, I wish I could say only, as needless Pensions, to such a Degree as to be scarce a Match for the lesser States of Christendom: We too plainly confess the Truth of this by our Manner of carrying on the present War; for though France and the Emperor are our Allies, and we have no Land Armies to maintain upon the Continent, nor expensive Expeditions to the West-Indies, yet we run in Debt every Year greatly to maintain in Effect only a defensive War against a Country, which was of no Weight during the last and former Contests, in the contrary Scale.

Upon this Occasion I cannot but wonder at the Stupidity and mistaken Avarice of too many of my Countrymen, who in a late Reign thought it worth their Time to purchase little seeming Advantages to themselves and Families at the expence of their Country’s Ruin, and were contending with so much eagerness for a narrow Cabbin, when the Ship itself is sinking: ’Twas stupendious to see Men of great Families and greater Estates watching the Smiles and Nods of hungry Courtiers, courting Dependance, and worshipping those who must otherwise have worshipped them, and this often too, for such Considerations as did scarce defray the Charge of bringing themselves into this State of Servitude.

What was then become of the noble Spirit of our illustirous Ancestors, who made the proudest Ministers to tremble, and regarded neither the Smiles or Frowns even of Princes, when they stood between them and their Duty to their Country. In those Days they scorned to sacrifice their own Honour and Liberty, as well as the Publick Good, to a Paultry Pension, which they were able to give; nor did they quit their Family Seats (where they lived with a becoming Splendor, and received a willing Homage from their obliged and grateful Neighbours) to dance Attendance with a White Wand, or perhaps only for the Use of a Box and Dice. O Tempora! O Mores! Who would have expected to have seen grave Patriots transformed into Harlequins, and our haughtiest Pretenders become Gentlemen Ushers?

[I-230]

But it’s still more amazing that Men of vast Fortunes, all depending upon the prudent Administration of the Publick Affairs, and the frugal Management of our Finances, should be so very Indolent, as to give themselves no Thought, but how to form new Funds, and make new Bargains, without once considering how the Old can be supported.

I wish they would now and then put the Case to themselves, That ’tis possible we may have a new War with France, and that the Kingdom will, and ought to be saved, whatever becomes of them and their Interests; That there is no Expedient within the reach of Politicks to prevent a War with a Potent Neighbour, but by being able to make it; That the People are not capable of paying Ten Shillings in the Pound, nor will ever consent to do it; That ’twill soon be impossible to find out new Funds; and then let them reflect what is next to be done.

I wish they would not spend all their Time in the Alley, and in carousing with one another over Champain and Burgundy, but would now and then descend to drink a Cup of Ale in the Company of poor despised and mortgaged Country Gentlemen, where it may be of Use to them to hear other Languages: It’s true their Ears will be offended with the unusual and ungrateful Sounds of Extortion and Bribery, of juggling Bargains, made between former Ministers and Stock-Jobbers, Money then borrowed by the same Persons in one Capacity and lent in another; desperate Debts bought up by Confederacy for trifling Sums, and then made good; Publick Money got into private Hands, and then lent to the Publick again for great Præmiums, and a great Interest, and afterwards squandred away to make room for new Projects: It’s possible too some of these Rusticks may shew a little Uneasiness to see those, who but few Years since would not have kept on their Hats before them, ride now about in Coaches and Six, with pompous Liveries and Attendants, maintained out of their Estates, whilst themselves walk on Foot; and all this while possibly their Country-Understandings, may not find out the least Merit, Virtue, or Publick Services done, by these shining Gallants to countenance such a Distinction.

[I-231]

How unreasonable soever these Suggestions and Discourses are (which perhaps may be said to proceed from Emulation, Envy, and often from Disaffection) yet ’tis certain they come from those who have and always will have a great share in our Legislature, in spight of all that can be done to prevent it.

Those too, who are most depended upon, will, I doubt not, then, like another sort of Vermin, know how to quit a falling House, and speak in a different Strain; They will tell us that nothing is just or unjust, but as it promotes or hinders the Publick Good.

They will tell us it’s barbarous to blow up Houses, and sometimes shut them up with People in them; and yet ’tis often done to prevent the spreading of Fires, and infectious Distempers, and no Law gives Remedy for such Injuries.

We shall be told Towns, Countries, and Provinces are laid waste by those whose Duty ’tis to protect them, when ’tis necessary to oppose or distress a Publick Enemy, without the Imputation of Cruelty or Want of Humanity.

We shall be told Towns besieged have thought it lawful to eat one another, rather than submit to a barbarous Enemy.

They will tell us such Exigencies may happen to a State, that it may not only be lawful, but the Duty of Legislators, to seize Wealth and Treasure wherever they find it; and the want of such a seasonable Resolution, lost Constantinople to the Turks.

God forbid that this Nation should ever be reduced to such a fatal Necessity! My Heart akes, and my Pen trembles when I mention it: I abominate the Thought; and the Intent of this Paper is to prevent it, and to call upon my Countrymen to join Hand and Heart, and to lay aside their little Party Animosities, and unite this once to save themselves and Country; which must be done by curbing those who will otherwise curb us; by contracting the Publick Expences of all Kinds, by cutting off and retrenching Pensions, as well as useless and exorbitant Salaries, (if any such there be) by examining into every Branch of the Publick Revenue, as well as the Publick Expence, and seeing it be brought in carefully, and laid out frugally.

[I-232]

What can be more invidious than for a Nation, staggering under the Weight and Oppression of its Debts, eaten up with Usury, and exhausted with Payments, to have the additional Mortification of seeing private and worthless Men riot in their Calamities, and grow rich whilst they grow Poor; to see the Town every Day glittering with New and Pompous Equipages, whilst they are mortgaging and selling their Estates; to see blazing Meteor, suddenly exhaled out of their Jakes, and their Mud (as in Egypt) warmed into Monsters.

No Man, who has the least regard to Publick or Private Happiness, will complain of, or regret, those Expences which have a visible Tendency to his Country’s Good: Every Man receives again with Interest his Proportion of such Taxes, which he pays with one Hand and receives with the other, and his Share in the general Felicity is his ample Recompence; but then he has a Right to expect they be laid out to the Uses for which they are given, and with the greatest Frugality, and that private Men be not enriched at the Publick Cost, but as they have contributed to the Publick Good.

I hope I may without Offence to any honest Man affirm, that all which I have complained of, was our own Case during the last four Years of the Queen’s Reign. I hope it is otherwise now. I saw then, as I thought, the Nation sinking under a most corrupt and foolish Administration, just ready to be delivered up to its Hereditary and most inveterate Enemy, enervated by a long and tedious War, its Traffick betrayed, its Finances discomposed, its People disaffected, its Clergy corrupted, and every Thing, tending to an universal Ruin and Desolation; when I seemed to hear a Voice from Heaven, which promised us a second Redemption.

If any one had then known that we should be blessed with the best Prince living, who desired nothing of us but to make ourselves happy, and to whose Favour we could no otherwise address ourselves, but by Professions to serve our Country; who shared in all our Feelings, and panted to case them; and in order to it chose his Ministry out of the most remarkable Opposers of the former wicked Administration: If this Person had then told us, that the late vile Miscreants should escape untouched, and carry off [I-233] their Plunder with Impunity; That little should be attempted to reform the People, and less the Clergy; That nothing considerable should be done to lessen the Publick Burthens; but on the contrary Pensions, Salaries and Fees should encrease immensely; That in four Years time, the National Debts should be encreased by many Millions, without any visible Advantage accruing to the Publick; nay, that the most considerable if not the only Advantage stipulated for us by the Projectors of the last treacherous Peace, should be but once thought of being given up; I say, whoever should have surmised all this, must have passed for a Madman or Traytor.

As for myself, I am thoroughly satisfied that nothing has been wanting on his Majesty’s Part, and I hope those whose Business it is, will convince us by their hearty and vigorous Efforts this present Sessions, that no Lukewarmness, affected Difficulties, or worse Views, but true and real Disappointments, have hindered it on theirs.

If it was proper for me to put my Name to this Paper, I am perswaded all who know me will do me the Justice to own, I was long partial to these Gentlemens Interests, often fought their Battles, and sincerely wish for a fair Occasion to do so again; not by receiving any particular or personal Favours to my self, which I neither expect, want or desire, but in common to my Countrymen and Fellow Subjects.

With Impatience I expect this Satisfaction, and with Pleasure and Transport hear, that the Blessing is near of an honourable and advantageous Peace, and doubt not but my Countrymen will take this Opportunity to compleat their Happiness, and endeavour to extricate the Nation out of all its Difficulties: We are in no Circumstances of engaging in Fairy and Fantastical Wars, or of making fruitless and wanton Expeditions, or indeed any at all, which are not indispensably necessary to our own Preservation.

Every Man ought to contribute his utmost to save himself and Country: Those who have long enjoyed useless Offices, or more useless Pensions ought of their own accord to throw them into the Publick Stock: Such as worthily execute Employments beneficial to their Country, ought to content themselves with moderate Rewards, and [I-234] accept their own and the Publick Security, as Part of their Recompence. Those whose Fortunes depend more immediately upon the present Establishment, ought not to dinn our Ears with Bargains founded in Watonness, (not to say Corruption) but willingly acquiesce with less Interest to secure the Principal; and I hope the Landed Interest will contribute freely towards paying off those Debts of which every Man owes a Part in Proportion to his Estate; and I could wish too the Parliament would oblige all Officers to bring in a List of their Fees, have them compared with what they were anciently, and settle them for the future in such Manner that every one may know what he is to pay, with the severest Penalties upon those who extort more.

This Conduct will make us great and happy, the Terror of our Enemies and the Refuge of our Friends; but then the Money so raised or saved must be applied to the Discharge of the Public Burthens, and not made Stales and Funds for new Ones; which will be to encrease our Calamity, and make our Condition desperate. I hope every Member of the House of Commons, conscious of his own Abilities, will propose what he conceives conducive to this great End; not think it the Province of particular Men, and so wait for Projects cook’d up by Stock-Jobbers, to serve present Views, and enrich those further, who are too rich already, by making their Country poor.

As for my own Part, since I am at Liberty to speak my Mind where it might be of greater Use, I will do it where and how I can; and ’till I see that I am stopping the Tide with my Thumb, will do my best to save my Prince and Country, nor shall regard whom I please or offend; I will neither be frightned, bribed or provoked out of the Principles I have always professed, and always practis’d.

My fix’d Purpose is, if this Essay meets with a Reception answerable to the Good I intend, to enquire further into the Causes of all our Misfortunes; to probe and search our Wounds to the Core, and to offer at an adequate Remedy, which I shall submit to my Superiors Consideration; but, in this Paper I shall only animadvert upon the present State of the Civil List, and hope to [I-235] propose a Way to render it most advantageous to His Majesty, and the least burthensome to his People.

I bless God that I can lay my Hand upon my Heart, and safely declare, That I am, ever was, and believe ever shall be, heartily and affectionately attached to His Majesty’s Person and Title, which I sincerely esteem to be the best, if not the only, Right any mortal Man can have to Dominion over his Fellow-Creatures: As upon the most disinterested Observation of his Actions, and the truest Information I can get of his Temper and Inclinations, I am fully convinced he has all those Imperial Qualities, which are necessary, to make a People great and happy; so I cannot but exceedingly lament that our Corruptions, Factions and Follies should render us incapable of making the true Use and Advantage of Virtues uncommon to so high a Station: Like Beneficent Heaven, he bids us be wise, great and happy, and we return the Gift upon his Hands, and long and lust again for our Egyptian Bondage.

Therefore if any Errors or Abuses should creep into the Administration, or the old Ones be not enough reformed, they ought not, nor will be imputable to him; but they alone ought to be answerable, whose Posts and Stations give them admittance to his Royal Ear, and whose Business and Duty it is to acquaint him with his own Affairs, and to represent to him fairly and undisguisedly the Circumstances and Wants of his People; the Neglect of which Duty ought to be Capital.

But to return to the Subject I am to treat upon: The Civil List was not excessive, till the Reign of Charles the 2d, who bringing over with him French Inclinations, a French Religion, and French Luxury, and soon after having also got a French Mistress, and procured the whole Publick Revenue to be settled upon himself for Life, amongst other Instances of his Frugality advanced the Establishment of the Civil List to near Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand Pounds per Ann, which then answered the Purposes of that corrupt and vicious Court, and enabled it to make the first Essays of Pensioning Parliaments. It was something retrenched in King James’s time, though the Queen Regnant, Queen Dowager, and Princess Anne’s Courts were kept out of it.

[I-236]

When King William was settled upon the Throne, it was thought by many, who were most Zealous for fixing him there, that this Excess of the Civil List ought to be remedied, especially considering what an expensive War we were engaged in. They thought it very strange that he, who had received three Crowns from the Peoples Gift, should contribute nothing, nor abate the least from the Demands of the two former Kings to maintain a War, entered into to support him in the Throne he sate upon; but this was esteemed by others of more Breeding uncourtly Language, ungrateful to a Benefactor, who condescended to wear the Crown only for our Sakes; and so these unfashionable People were deemed Male-contents, Whimsical, Grumblers, never satisfied with any Government, and not much better than Jacobites, and at last were forced to acquiesce, and consent that as the King deserved more than any of his Predecessors, so his Civil List ought at least to be as great as any of theirs; and the general Opinion was that Six Hundred Thousand Pounds per Annum, bein gan even Sum, should be given for that Purpose.

But even this was not thought enough for some Gentlemens Purposes, who by a new Feat of Legerdemain, carried on by the Assistance of an ancient and a dexterous Member, (who knew how to serve himself and the Court by seeming to oppose it, which I thank God is not the Providence of any Persons now) obtained a Revenue of Seven Hundred Thousand Pounds per Annum, to be granted to the King for Life, and to be first raised out of certain Funds, which produced a larger Sum, applicable afterwards to such Uses as the Parliament should appoint; which had this further Inconvenience also attending it, that the Courtiers not being to receive any Advantage by the Surplus were nor likely to be very solicitous what become of it, provided the Fund given produced enough to answer their own Demands, and therefore might possibly think themselves at Liberty to gratify their Friends and Creatures, by charging it with needless Officers, and indulging them afterwards in making their Fortunes as they could.

This Proceeding gave a general Offence, nor did the Parliament long acquiesce under it; but as soon as they [I-237] had a little manumitted themselves from the Influence of the Conjurur’s Wand, determined to resume an Hundred Thousand Pounds per Ann. of what they had unwarily given, and not suffer the Courtiers to riot in Luxury and Corruption, whilst they were exhausting their very Vitals, and sinking under the Load of their Debts and Payments. This Resolution was not to be withstood; so the Court Managers were forced to consent that Three Thousand Seven Hundred Pounds per Week should be first taken out of the appropriated Funds and applied to other Uses, and the Remainder, which was valued at about Six Hundred Thousand Pounds per Ann. was given to the Crown, with Expectation that the Court when it was their own would manage it better.

This was the Circumstance of the Civil List in King William’s time, and such it was continued to Queen Anne, who gave in one Year a Hundred Thousand Pounds to the Use of the War, maintained her own and Prince George’s Courts out of it, gave Fifty Thousand Pounds per Ann. to the Building of Blenheim, as much more as ’tis said somewhere else, and the Managers are foully belied too, if they did not find out extraordinary Recompences for extraordinary Services; nor do I remember to have ever heard of any Defect in the Civil List, till an ignominious Peace was to be ignominiously defended, and an English Parliament was to be chosen to bring about a French Revolution.

In order to these worthy Ends, we were told, that the Funds given for the Civil List had near produced the Sum intended; That the Queen had given the first Fruits to the pious Clergy; not without proper Hints besides, that the Fifty Thousand Pounds per Ann. had been punctually paid; by which Means the Civil List was much in Arrears, and that the Sum of Five Hundred Thousand Pounds was wanting, without which God knows what would became of the Ch———h and the P———r.

All honest Men then saw and lamented what might be the Consequence of such an Attempt: They dreaded a Precedent which might and probably would be followed by every succeeding Ministry; and then what must [I-238] become of the Kingdom, when the abusing of an old Trust is a sufficient Pretence for asking a new one? Prodigailty is to be furnished with new Means of Profusion, and embezelling the Publick Treasure is a Reason for a Parliament to give more, to answer Purposes which they never approved, and perhaps will never know.

If the Nation shall encourage the Exceeding of that Income by paying them off, the Royal Revenue, and consequently the Royal Authority, will have no Bounds but will run behind again, in order to be cleared again, and so create a new Circulation of Wants and Supplies, as if there were enough already, and we must ever hereafter give what any aew Ministry shall think fit to ask. A new and dangerous Method of squeezing the Kingdom, when it had given almost its all before!

But so it was resolved, for an extraordinary Occasion required extraordinary Measures, which were however happily disappointed by his Majesty’s coming to the Crown; nor can it be wondered if in the first Transports of a People just rescued from Misery and Destruction, they thought nothing too much for their great Benefactor.

Notwithstanding our heavy Load of Debts, they gave him a Civil List greater than any of his Predecessors, as it was not charged with their Burthens, nor liable to any Deficiencies, as King William’s and the Queen’s were.

King Charles the 2d maintained the Queen’s Court, and his numerous Descendants, out of his. King James maintained his Queen’s Court, the Queen Dowager’s, and the Princess Anne’s Family. King William maintained also the Princess Anne, the Queen Dowager, and the Duke of Gloucester; and Queen Anne, all which is abovementioned; whereas a separate Revenue of an Hundred Thousand Pounds per Ann. is granted to the Prince for the Appenage of himself and Family.

Nor was the least regard had to his Majesty’s other Dominions, which might reasonably contribute to the Support of their King’s Court, who honours them so often with his Presence, and leaves the mediate Heir to his Crown amongst them.

[I-239]

As I heartily rejoice at this Zeal and Affection shewn to his Person and Government, so the Intent of this Paper is to make it as useful and advantageous to him, as it is chargeable to his Subjects, which will take off all Pretences of new Demands in future Reigns, (for we are sure of no such in this) and though they will be then made in the Name of the Crown, yet may be afterwards squandred to fatten Horse leeches by sucking the Hearts Blood of the People.

As the Crown never was, so it’s ridiculous to believe it ever will be better, for such irregular Supplies: The Demands upon it will rise in exact proportion to their fancied Riches, and the Weakness of the Ministry; Every one will think he has a right to share in the Profit, who has had a share in the Guilt, and endless Importunities must distract the Court, as well as exhaust the Nation. Whereas a general good Husbandry will soon put an end to all wild and impertinent Solicitations: No one will pretend to what no one has: Worthless Men will not spend their Substance, in hopes to repair themselves out of the Kingdom’s Ruins; bur the Direction of the publick Affairs will fall naturally into Hands, who have Interest but in the publick Happiness.

It must have been an unspeakable Dissatisfaction to a Prince so famous thro’ the World for the Government of his Family, for his Frugality in laying out his Revenues, and known Oeconomy of all his Affairs in his other Dominions, to see People here so overwhelmed with Vice and Faction, with Corruption and Prodigality, that no Incomes will satisfy them, no Gratification oblige them, nor no Principles influence them. How must he have been surprised when he first heard of a Custom in the latter Part of the Queen’s Reign, of hiring Men to be preferr’d, and of giving great Sums to them to accept of great Places; as if there was any Office in England could be filled but with one Man, and that no other Person could be found who would emhrace it upon the Motives of its native Honour and Advantage; Without doubt he made the Reflection, that such Officer was to abuse and pervert the Authority of his Place, to do Work which he knew was unjustifiable and unsase, and therefore when he ventured his Head he was to be [I-240] considered and rewarded for his Boldness and his Danger.

How much must he have been amazed when he was told of another Practice then, of giving great Pensions to Men of great Fortunes when they were dismiss’d from their Employments, and often for Crimes; That one was to be rewarded for being turn’d out of a profitable Office, and another for accepting it, and that the Nation was to pay them both. Certainly he ask’d, if they deserved their Employments, why were they turned out of them; and if not, why must they have an Equivalent? But the Mystery was unravelled when he was informed, that dirty Work had been, and was still to be done, and that no one who had once been in the Secret, was ever to be disobliged; That their Successors had no Quarrel to their Conduct, but to their Places, and were resolved to proceed in the same Methods, and so were providing only for themselves and their own Security in Reversion.

How must he have lamented the poor Queen’s Unhappiness to be served by so weak and corrupt a Ministry, that though her People, without regard to the heavy Pressures they lay under, had given her a most ample and truly Royal Revenue to support the Splendor and Magnificence of her Court; yet like Æneas’s Banquet it was almost devoured, or snatch’d away by the polluted Claws of obscure and ravenous Harpies; so that what remained was scarce enough to maintain her Table and private Expences, and she herself, like Tantalus, was the only Person that wanted in the midst of Profusion: When he was informed that Part of it was eaten up by supernumerary Officers of no Use to her State, or Service to her Person: that more of it was swallowed by the exorbitant Bills of Stationers, Gardeners, Builders of all Kinds, Officers of the Kitchen and Houshold, and many others who claimed a sort of Prescription to Roguery, and would think themselves injured if they could not wrong the Crown, and like Pellicans pull out the Entrials of the Parent who fed and raised them. But how much more yet must he have been astonish’d, when he was told that the greatest Part of his Revenue was lavish’d in Pensions, and given away to those who were not only [I-241] possess’d of most of the great Employments in England before, but had every Day new ones created for them, without regard to any other Merit or Qualifications, but knowing how to make a proper Application of two Monosyllables.

So wife a King could not avoid making the natural Observations which resulted from this unhappy Conduct: Undoubtedly he pitied the Condition of Princes, who in the midst of all the outward Shew and Pageantry of Greatness are often encompass’d, and I may almost say imprisoned, by the most ambitious and corrupt of Men; that they must see with such Mens Eyes, and hear with their Ears; that vertuous Men always are endeavoured to be kept from their Presence by such Miscreants, more than an infectious Distemper, knowing that Vice and Folly must fly before them, like Phantoms at the Approach of the Morning Sun. He knew well that as such Insects are raised out of corrupted Matter, by the Heat of a Summer’s Day; so they always fly and seek for new Shelter upon the Appearance of a Shower, or the Approach of the Evening Star.

In the prosperous Condition of their Affairs such a servile Crew, like the Scum of fermented Liquors, will rise uppermost, and appear always in sight, haunting their Courts, flattering their Persons, indulging their Vices, and promoting their Expences; whilst wise and good Men, conscious of their own Virtue, and Abilities, will expect to be sought after, tho’ are seldom enquired for, till the Remedy is too late, and ’tis out of their Power to help their Prince, and save their Country.

He easily perceived from what Sources such Mischiefs flowed upon the Queen and People. He saw that her Ministry by their Folly and Crimes had reduced themselves even to a Necessity of bribing Men to do their own Business, and paying them to serve themselves. Having first resolved to raise their own Fortunes upon the Publick Ruins, and to sacrifice their Prince’s and Country’s Happiness to their own Ambition and Covetousness, they were obliged to make use of the private Interests and Passions of Men, and endeavour to subdue every Spirit of Opposition, and every popular Tongue upon any Terms: They knew by Experience that a good Gift [I-242] would soften an angry Heart, and a good Post convince a refractory Enemy or a Publick Spirit, who by such Means would roundly and readily come into Motions and Measures which before had appear’d monstrous and dangerous; some were paid for speaking, others for holding their Tongues, some for assisting, others for not opposing: Nor did they value the Expence, knowing a Bucket full of Water thrown into a Pump will fetch up all that is in the Well.

He then saw clearly the Reason why the Nation had never resented the most exorbitant Offences, viz. because the Ministry would not make a Rod for themselves, and punish Crimes which they were resolved to commit; and why any Method was never sincerely propos’d by them, or thought of to reduce the national Expences, which were the Harvest of the Managers, and the Mines out of which they dug their Wealth. And ’tis indeed but too true if there ever appear’d any faint or seeming Offer to ease the National Debts, it always terminated in a Jobb to enrich private Men, and encrease our Burthens.

He saw the Folly and Ridicule of heaping up Places and Pensions often upon Men, who must have starved if they were to have got but Five Pounds by their Merit. He was too well acquainted with Mankind not to know, that the Clamours and Importunities of such Wretches are endless and infinite; who never know what is fit to ask, when they have to do with those who do not know what is fit to give; That such Demands will multiply upon a Ministry faster than the Hydra’s Heads, and the gratifying One will produce an Hundred.

Men who are contented in their own Obscurity, when they see Worthlessness rewarded and bought up at a high Price, will put in their Claim too; and think themselves upon a level in Merit with those that have none, and so ruin themselves and Country in spight, if they are not gratified. When Pensions grow common, and are promiscuously given to those who have deserved them, and those who have not, the Demand and Application for them will grow universal: Every one will esteem it a sort of Contempt to him to be left out, and think himself as well intitled, as another who is not intitled at all. So that what is taken from the People’s Industry, and [I-243] given for the People’s Protection will be squandred away to support Laziness, Prodigality and Vice, and the Bread of the Children will be thrown to Dogs.

He must have again condoled the unhappy Queen’s Circumstances, whose foolish and depraved Ministry in the latter Part of her Reign had servilely flatter’d and co-operated with a few Male and Female Parasites, who besieged her Person and poisoned her Ears, who were every Day lessening their Prince’s Interest with her People, and ungratefully sacrificing their Benefactor’s Honour, Happiness and Security to their own sordid Avarice and insatiable Pride, by engaging her in Alliances and Treaties unacceptable to her Subjects, and by keeping an open Market, and selling to the fairest Bidder all Offices and Employments which were not as before dispos’d of, and by that means perverting the National Justice, impairing the Publick Revenue, and adding greatly to her People’s burthens; for undoubtedly whoever is vile enough so to buy an Employment, will think it Lawful to make the best of it afterwards, and will stick at no Methods to do it, when he is sure of Protection from those who have received his Money.

All this must have made him reflect upon the Vicissitude of humane Affairs, and wonder at the Corruption and Degeneracy of a Nation, so famous through the World for being tenacious of their Liberties, and often defending them at the hazard of their Lives, and every thing else that was dear to them; that they should be in his time sunk so low, and become so contemptible, that not one single Briton should dare to open his Mouth, and but breathe his Resentments against these glaring and exorbitant Abuses.

He certainly look’d upon this as an Opportunity put by Heaven into his Hands, to acquire Reputation to himself and do good to Mankind, and formed a generous and steady Resolution to call up all our ancient Virtue, and restore so great a People to themselves. Almighty God cannot open a larger or nobler Scene to a truly Great Man for the Exercise of his Virtues, than to set him at the Head of a corrupted People, that he may have the Honour of restoring and reforming them, which [I-244] is a Glory beyond all the gaudy Triumphs of fabulous and imaginary Heroes.

But every honest Man ought to give his Help too, to this great Work, and to assist our Illustrious Benefactor in his Generous Design, and first shew our Gratitude to him by endeavouring to lighten his Crown and make it sit easy upon his Head; which can be only done by supporting his Dignity in the Manner which will most endear him to his People.

As the Parliament has given him a large and most noble Revenue, so it cannot be doubted from their known Loyalty but they will do every Thing in their Power to make it effectual to him, and render their own Gifts compleat; that he may receive what his People pay, and they have the Pleasure to see that they are contributing to the Honour and Splendor of the Crown, and not to the enriching of some of the worst Men amongst them, as has been the Case in former Reigns.

Indeed this Distemper by long Habit seems to be grown so inveterate, and so many private Interests are concerned in preventing the Remedy, that it is become a Work equal to the Legislative Power. Besides, the Royal Authority ought always to be screen’d from the Load of Envy and Anger, which will always attend a Reformation of this Kind. As there are great Numbers whose Interest will be affected by it, and their darling Gain be at an End, so those that undertake it must expect all the Resentments which can be suggested by Rage and Disappointment.

Nor can this Regulation be expected from the Favourites of Princes and the Followers of their Courts and Fortunes: It would be Cruelty as well as Folly to hope for such Assistance. Interest and Self-love will stand in the Way, and they must hurt themselves to serve the Publick, and lessen their own Income to encrease their Master’s: But the Body of a grateful People can have no Interest but in their Prince’s Felicity, nor can they give a greater Instance of their Affection and Duty to him, than to rescue his Person and Revenue out of Jaws which would devour them both, if ever that should happen to be the Case; nor can a Parliament of England do a [I-245] more acceptable Action, or better recommend themselves to their Principals, against a succeeding Election.

At present, I thank God, we have nothing to fear from our industrious, publick-spirited and upright Ministry; but considering the usual Jumble and Rotation of Factions in this Kingdom, who knows how long we may be bless’d with them? Therefore we have Reason to hope from the known Justice and Wisdom of our Representatives, that an effectual Method will be found out to hinder us from relapsing into the Calamities before complained of, and which have proved so fatal to both Prince and People.

I am sufficiently sensible of my own Inability to propose a proper Remedy for these Evils, and know well that there are many others more equal to the Undertaking; which they have hitherto neglected either from Despair of the Cure, or worse Reasons; but I have sometimes known a Patient given over by a famed Physician, and cured by an Empirick.

It is one Degree of public Virtue not to despair of the public Happiness. The Romans, the best Judges of Merit, received honourably a Run-a-way General, quia non desperavit de republica: Many a State has been destroyed by weak and worthless Instruments, and why may not one be saved by them? A Flock of Geese once saved the Capitol by their cackling. Therefore encouraged by these Reasons and Examples, I offer to the Consideration of my Representatives,

First, That a Commission be established by the Legislature, who shall be empowered to enquire by Oath into the Abuses of Collecting and Managing every Branch of the Publick Revenue, as well as of the civil List; to examine into the supernumerary and useless Offices, as well as exorbitant Salaries and extorted Fees; to look into the Bills of the lower Officers of the Houshold, of the Builders, Stationers, Gardeners, with all the ravenous Crew; to search into the Pensions and the pretences for granting them, and indeed into every Part of the Expence of the Civil List except his Majesty’s Privy Purse, and lay this Enquiry before the Parliament in the succeeding Sessions, and under what Heads they conceive there may be a Regulation of the Expence.

[I-246]

Secondly, That it be made High Treason for any Person to pay, or any Member of Parliament to receive, in trust or otherwise, any Pension, Sum of Money or other Gratuity from the Crown, unless it be entered in a publick Office, with the Reasons for giving or granting it, to which Office every one may have Admittance, and that all present Pensions be resumed.

Such a Proceeding would be worthy of an English Parliament, worthy the Respect they owe to their King, and giving him a substantial and truly Royal Income to himself, instead of making him a Nominal Trustee to receive his Revenue only for the use of others. This would be doing it in the most acceptable and grateful Method, by taking the Odium to themselves, and leaving the whole Benefit to their Prince. This must be also most engaging to his Virtuous Ministry, who will have the Joy and Transport of seeing and sharing in a proper Degree his Grandeur and Magnificence, without the uneasy Task of their Predecessors, (viz) of making new and ungrateful Demands upon an exhausted People. It must be an unspeakable Satisfaction to them too, to be freed from the daily and restless Importunities of clamorous Pretenders to Pensions, by having an Answer always ready in their Mouths, which must silence every impertinent and unreasonable Demand.

It cannot therefore be questioned but Persons of their Sagacity and tender Sense of Virtue, must rejoice and heartily concur in a Design so glorious to his Majesty, advantageous to his People, and conducive to their own Honour and Quiet, and will undoubtedly give all private and prudent Assistance to it in their Power. What a Pleasure must it be to them to see, during their Administration, their Country eased of its heavy Burthens; and as it were, relieved from the Jaws of Death, and become again a flourishing and most Potent Kingdom! All who had the Honour to know them before they were worthily advanced to their present Greatness, have heard them frequently exert their known Eloquence upon this Subject, and have Reason to hope, indeed I may say expect, that they will now make good their repeated Promises.

[I-247]

As to myself, who own many Obligations to their Goodness, as well upon the Publick Account, as for a very late Favour personally intended me, I shall take every Opportunity of acknowledging my Gratitude; and, being sensible I can no way make myself so acceptable to them, as by endeavouring to serve my Country, intend to continue in the same Method, and hope, in due time, to lay before them, what Sums may be saved in the Collection of the Publick Revenues, as well as in the Expence.

I believe it may be easily made out, that the Management of the Revenues alone in the late Reign, cost the People more than the whole Produce amounted to in Queen Elizabeth’s Time. And in this, I do not include the immense Advantages then got by indirect Means, in all the Offices, and particularly in the Navy, which cost the Kingdom many times as much as the Officers could get to themselves, not only by greatly enhancing the Price of all Stores and Provisions, but in discontenting the Seamen, and driving them into Foreign Service, without which it’s thought our present Enemies could not have appeared upon the Seas.

At present I shall put them in Mind only of the different Management of the Directors of two of the City Companies, and the late Directors for the Publick.

783. 784.

	£.
Governors and Directors	5500
Treasurer	200
Deputy Treasurer	150
Secretary	200
Accountant	200
Two other Accountants	250
Four Clerks	230
Four Treasurers Clerks	220
House-Keeper, Door-Keepers and Beadle	180
Incidents about	600
In all not more per Annum than	8000

[I-248]

785. 786.

	£.
Governor, Deputy Governor, and Directors	4000
Secretary	200
Accountant	200
One Cashier	250
Three other Cashiers	450
Other Clerks,	about 5000
In all something more per Annum than	10000

As I do not pretend to be exact in the Computation aforesaid, so I can be much less so in the supposed Profits of the Exchequer Offices, for obvious Reasons; and therefore I can only estimate them at the reputed Values, in which I am persuaded I do not exceed the Truth.

	£.
Lord Treasurer	8000
Secretary	8000
Four 1st Clerks	6000
Auditor General	8000
Clerks	3000
Tellers and Clerks	10000
Pells and Clerks	5000
Remembrancers	6000
Auditors of the Revenue	3000
Auditors of the Imprest	8000
Pipe	5000
Other Officers	5000
Incident Charges	15000
In all	90000

I thing it will not be denied, notwithstanding this great difference in the Expence, that the Receipts and Payments are greater in the Bank than in the Exchequer; nay ’tis remarkable that most of the Publick Payments are now made at the Bank, there being an Officer from thence constantly attending the Exchequer, ready to give Bank Bills to all who have Demands of Money. So that many of the Offices there are now become Sine-cures, as others of them were before.

[I-249]

Before I conclude, I think myself obliged to do all Right to the late Officers of the Exchequer; and as I have without reserve censured their Errors, so I ought equally to applaud their Vertues, and to own that the Revenue which passed through their Hands was really and in truth manag’d by Under-Clerks, at less Expence than even in the Bank itself; insomuch, as I am told, the great Accounts of the Army, which amounted to so many Millions, as well as the Customs, &c. were passed and checqued only by Deputy Clerks, with small Salaries in the Auditors of the Imprests Offices? nay, it’s said the Frugality was then so great, that the vast Sums gained during the last War by the returning of the Publick Money abroad were not accounted for at all; to which happy Parsimony we owe the Discoveries of many of the brightest Genius’s of the Age, who in all Appearance might have been otherwise buried in Obscurity, and so lost to the World for want of proper Opportunities to exert their great Talents.

Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat
Res augusta Domi.

 

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[I-284]

 

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[I-302]

A Native of Great Britain, and Person in a publick Office, where he had the Management of publick Money, being suspected of Maiversation, was personally and juridically cited to appear before competent Judges, to answer to Interrogatories relating to certain Facts laid to his Charge; which was comply’d with accordingly: But he (fearing a Decree against him of bodily Imprisonment) takes his Measure to escape, and actually flies the Kingdom; carrying with him (as ’tis presumed) considerable Sums, as well in Money as Effects. And after having crossed the Sea, and Flanders, and Brabant, as far as to Tirlemont, (with an apparent Intention of leaving Brabant) he there is overtaken and seized by the Authority of the Government.

The Question is,

Whether any Potentate, Authority, or Judge, being thereto duly required, can, with Justice, refuse to surrender the Person so arrested, and hinder his transport out of Brabant; in order to be delivered to the Power so claiming and demanding him?

The Opinion is in the Negative.

In order to consider the Question thoroughly, we must in the first place examine, upon what Eoundation such a Refufal can be supposed to be laid; and shew that none of them are of any Avail in the present Case.

This Refusal may be founded upon two Heads;

The First, is the Right of Azylum or Refuge simple and common.

The Second, is the particular Privileges of Brabant, granted to them by the 17th Article of the Joyful Entry [*] , which forbids the transporting of a Prisoner out of the Province.

[I-303]

As to the Right of Azylum or Refuge, ’tis neither founded upon Divine Right, nor the Right of Nature, nor the Right of Nations, but purely positive. [Ains purement positif.] On the contrary: Suum cuique tribuere, & crimina non relinquere impunita, [to give to every Man his Due, and not to leave Crimes unpunished,] is agreeable to all Right. And in order to distinguish, whether the pretended Right of Azylum can take place, we must consider the Case either as Criminal or Civil.

It is most certain, that even in Germany (where by Reason of the great Numbers of Princes and States, the Jealousy of their Privileges, in relation to the Azylum, or of giving Refuge and Protection [called Freijhung] is greater than any where else) the Person now arrested, would never have had the Privilege of Azylum: For there ’tis properly designed, pro subditis & etiam forensibus in principis territorio delinquentibus, [For Subjects, and also, for Strangers transgressing within the Territories of the Prince.] For which, the decisive Reason in the Case of Foreigners is, That the Person committing the Fault or Delinquency within the Territory of the Prince, may be said to violate only the Jurisdiction of the Lord, and not of any other Prince; and therefore he against whom the Crime is committed, may remit the Crime: [tit. Pro Forensibus: Quod delinquens in Prinipis territorio solummodo jurisdictionem Domini, (non verò alterius Principis) violare dicatur. Ideo hanc injuriam quoque remittere potest is in quem injuria commissa est. Quod variis rationibus confirmat Nicolaus ab Ehrenbach Tract. de jure Azyli.]

And although that upon the Dispute, Whether a Prince of the Empire, setting up an Azylum or Right of Refuge in any City of his Dominions, can bestow upon it so great a Privilege, as that a Foreigner being a Delinquent, or committing his Crime out of the Dominions of the said Prince, [which is the present Case] can enjoy so far an Immunity, that this Azylum or Right of Refuge can be of Force and Extension to all the Criminals in the Empire? I say, although the Affirmative of the Case thus stated may be probable, grounded principally upon this, Because the Avocations and Commissions of Delinquents [I-304] do now depend upon the Will and Pleasure of the Prince of the Territory, whether he will send back the Delinquent at the Instance of the Requirer or not? Yet all Authors agree, That these sort of Azylums (so commended in Deuteronomy and Joshua) are only so far praise-worthy, and ought of right to subsist, whilst they afford Protection (not to voluntary Delinquents, nor to deceitful ones) but to imprudent Persons: Haec Azyla tantum Laudem mereri, & de Jure subsistere, quando patrocinantur non voluntariis nec dolosis [Den Muthwinligen und vorsetzlichen] sed imprudentibus.

Now that the Malversations which a Person commits, in his Office, and in the Money depending thereon, are voluntary and deceitful Crimes, is as clear as possible, and is further confirmed by the Flight of the Delinquent out of Great Britain; which excludes him from the Right of Azylum in all Nations; more especially he having been personally cited, and having answered to Interrogatories, (which is a Commencement of a criminal Procedure) the Delinquent being fixed and limited to a certain Town, Province, or Kingdom for his Prison; in which Case; (were there no other) the Right of Refuge in a Foreign Country is very disputable; I say, upon this very Head.

And without entering into the Discussion of this Question, ’tis not to be believed, that the Sovereign will ever grant a Protection or Azylum in his Territories to a Delinquent who was but a Passenger thorough them, and was already upon the utmost Limits of them, in order to save himself in some other Country.

Besides, it is to be observed, That the German Authors, treating of this Matter, spake, de forensibus, sed sub Imperio; [of Foreigners, but such as are under the Jurisdiction] and not of absolute Strangers: Forasmuch as ’tis commonly received among all Potentates of the Earth, who are not in actual War, (and in particular, by the Great Allies) that Princes take not the Subjects or Vassals of each other into their Protection, without their Prince’s particular Consent, let the Case be either Criminal or Civil (as Bodin, in his Treatise, de Republicâ, very well observes;) unless the Person so protected were [I-305] banished by his Prince. This agrees with Solon’s Law, which forbids, that any Foreigner should have the Right of Burgessship in Athens, who was not banished from his own Country; and without giving these Instances, we may generally say, in the Terms of the Law, That the Right of Burgessship is not lost, nor the Power of the natural Prince over his Subject taken away by Reason of his changing his Place or Country.

’Tis very true, that often Princes do draw, and entice Strangers to them, either upon the Score of Religion, or to People their Country, or in order to weaken the Power of their Neighbours, or to gain excellent Artificers, and Persons of superior Abilities, or upon other Views. But on the other hand, we likewise see that all Princes do what is in their Power to hinder this Practice, by forbidding their Subjects to quit their Dominions without Leave: Thus ’tis in Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Naples, and elsewhere; the Nobility of which cannot absent themselves without Permission.

And altho’ the Low Countries (especially Brabant) be a very free Country, where, according to the Ordinances of the Year 1312, Strangers might come and establish their Housholds, and these might afterwards remove themselves whither they pleased: Yet the several Placards of the 18th of September, 1567; the 1st of July, 1609; the 15th of November, 1627, with the Notes of Zipens de notitiâ Juris Belgici, according to the Customs of Flanders, by him cited, shew that this Liberty is very much limited in several Particulars; and even in our Days we see the Fiscals exert themselves, when the Case touches the Conservation of the Good of the State, in whatsoever Province, City, or Fraternities of Trade (wherein the Diminution, or Disadvantage of the Publick, may be concerned) it may happen. And therefore (over and above the several Treaties) Princes make By-Laws and Ordinances for the Conservation of the State, which ought certainly to be reckoned among the Fundamental Laws, tho’ they may not perhaps be called by that Name. And we may conclude with Bodinus, that Princes are accustomed among themselves for this Reason to put in force Rogatory Commissions, or Letters of Marque, [I-306] to make their Subjects obey, and to evoke or reclaim the Causes and Pursuits against them, (except in Cases of Right determined;) and upon this Point we often see War declared between the Princes requiring and refusing.

Now as to the Second Head founded upon the particular Privileges of Brabant, this ought not to come under Consideration till the Person arrested has declared, by some Remonstrance, that he insists upon it, and pretends to make his use of it. For whosoever builds upon a Privilege, ought to alledge and prove it first. Notwithstanding, whilst we are in the Dark, whether such Remonstrance was ever made or not, we may venture to say, that this Privilege can no way operate in the present Case. All that the Person arrested can alledge must be, that the Text of the Joyful Entry, in the 17th Article, wherein it is said, So what Person; Whatsoever Person, &c. comprehends in general, and without Distinction, Restriction, or Modification (in respect to the Person arrested) all sorts of People, whether of Brabant, or of all the Low Countries, or any other way a Subject of the Prince, or an utter Stranger; and that this Privilege is real, and attached and annexed to the Land of Brabant. But if any one wou’d penetrate into the true Sense of this they wou’d find that the Meaning of it must be, that when a Brabander is made a Prisoner in Brabant, the Duke shall neither cause, nor suffer him to be conveyed a Prisoner out of the Land of Brabant. The Word So what Person, finds its Signification in the Person of a Subject of Brabant, of whatsoever Condition or Sex it may be, whether Man or Woman, Ecclesiastick or Secular, Noble or Ignoble. The Word Gevangen, or Prisoner, signifies properly a Criminal Prisoner; and the meaning is, that a Brabander being there made Prisoner, shall be absolutely and finally judged by Judges of Brabant, and according to the Laws of Brabant [as in England, all Persons are to be tried by the Vicinage.] This Law, in its self is good and just, and this corresponds with many other of the Articles in the same Joyful Entry, which speak of Judges, and the Execution of Justice; but if we should stretch the Interpretation of it to Strangers [I-307] indifferently, it wou’d become very unjust.

All Privileges are to be regularly taken upon the Foot of Remuneration; and shou’d this Article be construed so generally, as to extend to Strangers, it wou’d follow, that all Nations in the World had merited from the Brabanders and their Duke.

In the Duke of Alva’s Time, this Matter was pushed very far in favour of the Belgian Provinces in general (they being all then united under the same Sovereign) but never in favour of absolute Strangers. And altho’ we should suppose that Great Britain had merited very much at the Brabanders Hands, wou’d it therefore follow, or be thought to be allowed in favour of a particular Subject of Great Britain, to the Disadvantage of that King, the Kingdom, or the States of it? Ought this Merit to be recompenced the quite contrary way?

In fine, let us take this Privilege in the most general and comprehensive Sense; and for as strong and fundamental a Law as some wou’d have it: I am going to prove, that it can have no manner of Operation in the present Case.

By the 24th Article of the Joyful Entry ’tis stipulated, That the Duke shall not suffer his Subjects of Brabant to arrest or implead each other out of the Jurisdiction of Brabant: And you may note, by the way, that this Law binds and obliges a Subject of Brabant, tho’ he be out out of the Prince’s Territory; and this shews you, that as well in Brabant as elsewhere, what we averred before is true, viz. that the Power of the Prince over his Subject is not lost or diminished by the changing his Place of Abode or Country; and most certainly can never be supposed otherwise, quando mutatio est momentanea, when this Change is of a sudden, and but for a short time: And every Man will readily believe, that if this case should happen in Great Britain, the King would give a speedy Redress upon the first Requisition and Instance of the Duke of Brabant. These two Privileges, contained in the 17th and 24th Articles (whereof the Second, taken generally, is more strong than the First) ought, with great Reason, to lie under the same Restrictions and Modifications. The Second is actually modified [I-308] in Terms by the said 24th Article, wherein these Words follow immediately those before quoted, unless the Person to be arrested be a Fugitive; if then, a Brabander may lawfully arrest his Debtor Brabander out of that Country, in case he be a Fugitive; it is much more equitable to grant the same Privilege in Brabant to Strangers.

But further, whoever peruses the Treaties between England and the Sovereign of Brabant, will find by them, that the Obligations between these two Nations are much stronger than between Brabant and any other Foreign Country. The Treaty of 1495, confirmed by several subsequent Treaties, viz. those of 1604, 1630, and 1660, contains this Clause, as translated out of the Latin, Chap. 27, That any Subject of either of the two Princes, alledging, That his Debitor is justly suspected to be a Fugitive, the said Debitor ought to be put and held under Arrest, unless he proves, that he ought not to be suspected of being such Fugitive. But here the Question is not between particular Subjects of the different Potentates, whereof the one is barely suspected of Flight; but wherein a King, a Kingdom, a whole Nation is concerned, pursuing a Subject, truly a Fugitive, by such plain Proofs as admit of no Contradiction: A Subject in a publick Office, entrusted with the Management and Disposal of vast Sums of Money, whereon depends the Publick Credit of the whole Nation: A Person who ought to be sent back to be judged according to the Laws of his own Country; it being a Thing impossible, that those Laws should be thoroughly understood by any Judges of a strange Country.

And who can imagine, that the Sovereign of Brabant should refuse to send him home, considering, that by the Stipulations in the Treaties, the two Princes have obliged themselves reciprocally to procure and promote, in all Things, whatsoever shall be to the Advantage of each of them and of his Nation; and also, to hinder every thing that may be any ways hurtful? And as to the States of Brabant, how should they dare to oppose the Surrender and Return of such a Criminal? Surely, they would not be willing that the like should happen [I-309] in their own Case, if one of the Receivers of publick Money should run away and take shelter in Great Britain. There is a Rule which is very good and natural, which dictates, Quod tibi non nocet, Alteri Prodest, facile est concedendum! maxime dum non solum non prodesset, sed multum noceret si non fieret. Whatever does you no harm, and does Another Person good, ought to be easily granted; but especially, when it would do no good, but might do a great deal of harm if it were not done. Now No-body can see what Harm or Wrong it would do the Brabanders, if the Person arrested were sent over; or to their Privilege, whereof the Sense and Meaning has been declared dubious by the Act of the Magistrate of Brussels, made the 6th Day of October, 1692, and signed, H. Jacobs, at the Instance of the Scout of Amsterdam against Peter Baltazar Lievens, a Bankrupt of Amsterdam, detained a Prisoner in the Vrunt, (a Prison so called at that Time) the Words of that Act are, That whereas the Prisoner pleaded, that the Privileges of Brabant ought to operate in his Favour, altho’ he was neither a Brabander nor a Subject of his Majesty; under the Pretext, that the Article was couched in general Terms; therefore, in order to avoid any Infraction, it was resolved, to leave the Sense and Iaterpretation of it to the Council of Brabant: Which at last was finally determined and put beyond all doubt by the Decree of the Governour General, with the Advice and Consent of the said Council and of the Estates. By Virtue of which, the Prisoner was surrendered, and put into the Possession of the Resident of the States-General of the United Provinces.

There were these further Differences and Singularities between this and the present Case; That the said Lievens was a Roman Catholick; and alledged, that he retired into Brabant in order to have the freer Exercise of his Religion. That he came into Brabant, with a Design to fix his Houshold and Family there; that he had already for a long time dwelt there. That the Jurisdiction of the Judge over him in Holland, was not yet thoroughly founded by any Act of Summons, or otherwise.

In the present Case it is therefore most certain, that the Requisitories, or Instances of his Majesty of Great [I-310] Britain’s Ministers ought to take place, notwithstanding all Privileges of this Nature; which according to the Opinion of the before-cited Zipeus, (in his Introduction) might even be abrogated. His Words are as follows———Sed & hæc ipsa (privilegia) frequentem patiuntur abrogationem, si quod in utilitatem publicæ considerationis concessum est incipiat vergere in nimium damnum, vel etiam modum excedat: Et etiam possunt ipsi ordines privilegia concessa remittere, dummodo causa aliqua subsit; imo potest princeps Leges publicas & promissas non tenere si irrationibiles sint vel deveniant, & aliud salus publica exigat.——— But the very Privileges do frequently bear an Abrogation, if what was at first granted for the Sake of the publick Utility, should begin to turn to its great Damage, or should exceed a just Measure; and the very States themselves can, upon Occasion, remit the Privileges granted to them: Nay the Prince may suspend the publick Laws and his Promises, if they be or become unreasonable, and the Publick Safety require it.

And ’tis believed, for this very Reason, at the Time of the Joyful Entry of Philip the Second [Charles the 5th of immortal Memory, being then present and assisting, in the Year 1549] after several Conferences and Debates held between the Prince and the States (by Commissaries, who thoroughly understood the Authority and Superiority of the Prince, as well as the Original Rights and Privileges of the Country) upon occasion of changing or moderating the Articles, according as they should be observable, or non-observable, in respect to the Promise made by the Prince, to observe them in the last Article but one that this Clause was added,——— so far as the said Articles are to be observed, or are observable; which Clause has ever since been inserted in all the subsequent Joyful Entries. And we think ’tis sufficiently demonstrated, that the Privilege in Question is among the Number of the Non-observables with Regard to Foreigners. And namely, in the Case of a Subject of Great Britain; who besides of all the foregoing Reasons, was in procinctu, just ready to run out of Brabant itself, and has thereby rendered himself unworthy of any Privileges belonging to a Brabander.

[I-311]

The Character of an Independent Whig. By T. Gordon, Esq;↩

Anno 1720.

INdependency at Court is a Heresy in Politicks, never pardoned, much less countenanced there. Our Whig, therefore, adheres to his Principles, and has no Pretensions to a Place.

—Caret invidenda sobrius aula. He scorns all implicit Faith in the State, as well as the Church. The Authority of Names is nothing to him; he judges all Men by their Actions and Behaviour, and hates a Knave of his own Party, as much as he despises a Fool of another. He consents not that any Man, or Body of Men, shall do what they please. He claims a Right of examining all publick Measures, and, if they deserve it, of censuring them. As he never saw much Power possessed without some Abuse, he takes upon him to watch those that have it; and to acquit or expose them, according as they apply it, to the Good of their Country, or their own crooked Purposes.

As to Religion, our Whig is a Protestant; not because he was born so, according to the canting Absurdity in Vogue; or bred so, since in Infancy Religion is acquired like a Lesson in Grammar, purely by the Help of Memory; and therefore Children learn it, whether it be good or bad, as they do Language, from their Nurse, or their Parents. But he is a Protestant because his Judgment and his Eyes inform him, that the Principles of that Faith are warranted by the Bible, and consistent with our Civil Liberties; and he thinks every System which is not so, to be Forgery and Imposture, however dignified or distinguished.

In Consequence of this, he has a great Respect for the Office of a Clergyman; and for his Person, if he deserves [I-312] it. But if his Doctrine or Practice disgraces his Order, our Whig owns his Contempt for the Men. The Clergy are the best or the worst of Men; and as the first cannot be too much honoured, the latter cannot be too much despised. It is of good Example, and there is equal Reason in it. Why should Virtue and Villany fare alike? Names do not change Qualities, nor Habits Men. Where is the Equity of Rewards and Punishments, and consequently the Force of all Laws, human and divine, if vile Men must be reverenced, and the good can be no more?

It is but reasonable that all Men should be judged by their Actions, and reverenced, or scorned, according to the Goodness or Wickedness of their Lives, without any Regard had to their Titles or Garbs; which signify no more than a Breath of Wind, or the Bark of a Tree.

There is not a greater Insult upon the Understandings of Mankind, than for Priests to challenge Respect from their Habit, when they have forfeited it by their Behaviour. There is no Sanctity in Garments. A Rose in a Man’s Hat does not enlarge his Piety. Grace is not conveyed by a Piece of Lawn, or Chastity by the wearing of a Girdle. A black Gown has neither Sense, nor better Manners, than a black Cloak. Nor is a black Cloak more edifying than a Fustian Frock; no more than a Cambrick Bib is an Antidote against Lewdness, or an Atonement for it.

This consecrating of Garments, and deriving Veneration from a Suit of Cloaths, is barefac’d Priestcraft. It is teaching the Practice of Idolatry to a Gown and Cassock. If a little senseless Pedant, who is a living Contradiction of Virtue and Breeding, can but whip into Orders, and cover himself with Crape, the first Thing he does is to overlook and affront all Mankind, and then demand their Reverence. His Surplice is his Citadel, and he claims the Impunity of an Ambassador for being graceless and saucy.

As to the common Defence which is made for their Immoralities; namely, That they are Flesh and Blood as well as other Men, it is a wretched Piece of Sophistry. If they are not better than others, how are they fit to mend others? And if they cannot leave their Captivity [I-313] to Sin and Satan, how come they to claim so near an Alliance with Heaven? If they have God’s Commission in their Pockets, and yet will engage in another Service, what Name and Treatment do they deserve? We know the Fate of Rebels and Deserters in a Lay Government. Can Men succeed to the Apostles with the Qualities and Behaviour of Apostales? How will they reconcile a holy Calling to infamous Lives? A Clergyman who is as bad as an ill Layman, is confequently worse. In that Character there is no Medium between doing Good and doing Mischief; since the Influence of Example is stronger than that of Precept. As the Doctrine and Practice of Piety, make up the Profession of a Clergyman, he who deserts Truth and Holiness deserts his Profession, and ought to be no longer owned for a Teacher of Religion, but shunned and hated, as a Foe to Religion and Mankind.

The Clergy have made such a terrible and inhuman Use of Power, in all Ages and Countries where they could come at it, that our Whig is for keeping their Nails always par’d, and their Wings clipp’d, in this Particular. Reason and Liberty are the Two greatest Gifts and Blessings which God has given us, and yet where-ever a priestly Authority prevails, they must either fly or suffer. They are Enemies to the Craft, and must expect no Toleration. Darkness and Chains are the surest Pillars of the sacerdotal Empire, and it cannot stand without them.

Let us remember Archbishop Laud, who having got the Regal Power out of a weak Prince’s Hands, into his own, set his Face against Truth, Property, Conscience, and Liberty, and trampled them all under Foot for several Years together. A Spirit of Cruelty and Dominion govern’d this Man, and he govern’d King and People. His Heart was so impiously bent upon destroying Conscience and the Constitution, and exalting the Priesthood, that when any Man was oppressed in a paltry, tyrannical, Bishop’s Court, the Judges in Westminster-hall durst not obey their Oaths, and the Law, by relieving him; but were forced to be forsworn, to avoid the Anger of his Grace. This upstart, Plebeian Priest, hoped to see the Time, when ne’er a Jack Gentleman in [I-314] England would dare to stand before a Parson with his Hat on. A fine Scene truly! to see a Gentleman of Fortune and Breeding, stand stooping, and bare-headed, to a small, ill-nurtured Vicar; who had, perhaps, formerly clean’d his Shoes, and lived upon the Crumbs that came from his Table!

Let us look back into former Ages, and round Europe at this Day, and see whether abject Slavery in the People is not, and always has been, the certain Consequence of Power in the Priests. It cannot be denied.

I thank God I know no Power our Clergy have, but that of suing for Tithes, and the like Privileges, which they receive from the Law alone. Those Ecclesiasticks who claim, by Divine Right, any other Power, than that of Exhortation, talk Nonsense, and bely the New Testament. To the Law, and the People who made that Law, they owe their Bread; and to set up for an Independency in Opposition to both, and pretend to a Mastership over them, is arrogant, dangerous, and ought to be penal. I am told it is capital, here in England, for a Protestant to go over to the Romish Religion; and yet shall a Priest dare publickly, from the Press and the Pulpit, to claim, and justify, the most essential, and most formidable Principles of Popery; and thereby declare his Reconciliation with that bloody Religion, which is supported by Fraud, Bondage, and human Slaughter: And shall he for all this go unquestioned? This, in my Opinion, is to contend with Impunity for Usurpation and Rebellion.

Some would seem to qualify these Pretensions, by saying, That they claim a Power. Which seems, in this Case, a Sort of a Contradiction. For if it is a Power, and yet depends upon another Power, then is it, properly speaking, a Jurisdiction of Subjection, and an Authority under an Authority. And while the Law and the Hierarchy are thus own’d to be Master and Man, we desire no more.

Our Whig is for an unlimited Toleration of all Dissenters whatsoever, who own the Laws and our Civil Form of Government. As to their religious Opinions, they are justified in them by Sincerity; and even where that is wanting, God alone is able to judge, and alone [I-315] has a Right to punish. In Matters of Conscience, he who does his best does well, though he is mistaken. Here all Men must determine for themselves: He who follows another in this Case, without Enquiry, is Man’s Votary, and not God’s. As we have a Right to enquire into the Truth of any Religion, we have also a Right to leave it, if it appears false: But if it stands the Test of Examination, and appears true, then is our Adherence to it founded upon our own Judgment, and not upon Authority. If there be no Right of Inquiry, where is the Use of Perswasion, which implies Doubt? Or of reading the Scripture, which implies Understanding? We believe not a Thing ’till we think it true; and cannot believe it, if we think it false: And to punish Men for having Eyes, or having none, is equally diabolical and tyrannical.

Men disagree daily about Matters, which are subject to the Examination of Sense; and is it likely that we can be all of a Mind about Things which are invisible and disputable? Doctors themselves are daily cavilling; every one contradicts another, and yet all are in the right, and each demands our Faith to his particular Invention. We cannot follow all; and among equal Authorities pray which is the best? For the same Reason that we cannot believe every one of them, we need believe none of them, upon their own Word.

Our Whig goes farther, and thinks that all Protestants ought to be equally employed in a State to which they are equally well affected. The Magistrate has nothing to do with Speculations that purely concern another Life: Nor is it of any Consequence to him, whether his Subjects have a greater Fondness for a Cloak or a Surplice: Their Affections to the political Power, and their Capacity to serve it, are only to be consulted and encouraged. Provided a Man loves Liberty and his Country, what is it to the Commonwealth whether he sings his Prayers or says them? Or whether he thinks a Bishop or a Presbyter the nearer Relation to St. Paul.

These Two Words (Bishop and Presbyter) signify, in Scripture, one and the same Thing, and are equally used to signify one and the fame Officer. Our great Churchmen, indeed, have been pleased to think the Bible mistaken [I-316] in this Matter, and to be in the right themselves they have made Episcopacy and Presbytery as opposite to each other as Paradise and Purgatory; and have frequently gone to cutting of Throats to prove their Point.

I must confess a Diocese, and a Seat in the House of Lords, are unanswerable Reasons for the Divine Right of Episcopacy. There is no Way of confuting them. You may as well argue with a Guinea-Merchant against the selling of Slaves.

Besides, a lordly Creature, who never preaches (Miracles having long ago ceased) and keeps a great Table and Equipage, and enjoys all the great and good Things of this Life, carries in all these Marks such an Evidence of his being St. Paul’s right Heir, in a lineal Descent, that I wonder any Body dare doubt it.

However, as the plainest Things in Faith are made doubtful among Divines, who have an admirable Knack at starting Difficulties, where no Body else would expect them; our Whig is of Opinion, that the Teacher who walks on Foot, has as good a Title to dispute about Religion, and maintain his own, as the Right Reverend Doctor, who supports his Orthodoxy with a Coach and Six; and should be as much encouraged by the Civil Magistrate, if his Principles and Behaviour square with the Constitution. Is a Man a better Neighbour, or Subject, for nodding to a Table, at the upper End of a Chancel, or for pronouncing his Faith towards the East? Our Churchmen may find good Cause to enjoin these necessary Things, which the Scripture had forgot, and enjoy great Benefit and Obedience from the Practice of them; but in temporal Matters, I am not fully convinced that they make a Man’s Head wiser, or his Heart honester.

I cannot here omit taking Notice of an old fallacious Cry, which has long rung in our Ears; namely, that of no Bishop, no King. This solid Argument was used, with Royal Success, by King James the first, when he sate Deputy for the Clergy, and disputed with the Puritans, at the Conference at Hampton-Court. It was indeed, the best he could use; however he strengthned, and embellished it, with several imperial Oaths, which he swore [I-317] on that Occasion, to the utter Confusion of his Antagonists, and the great Triumph of the genuine Clergy and the Archbishop; who bestowed the Holy Ghost upon his Majesty, for his Zeal and Swearing on the Church’s Side.

This stupid Saying has formerly filled our Prisons with Dissenters, and chased many of them to America; and by this Means weakened the Kingdom and the Protestant Religion, to keep up good Neighbourhood between the Bishops, and the Prince. But they were neither the Bishops, nor their Creatures, that restored King Charles the second, but a Set of true Presbyterians, who were rewarded for it with Gaol, Fines, and Silent Sabbaths.

Loyalty is not confined to the Mitre. Bishops have given more Disturbance, and occasioned more Distresses to Prince and People, than any other Sort of Men upon Earth. This I can prove. Our own Bishops, for near an hundred Years before the Revolution, were in every Scheme for promoting Tyranny and Bondage. On the other Hand, our Dissenters were ever eminent Opposers of Arbitrary Power, and alway lived peaceably under those Princes who used them like Subjects. If they took up Arms when they were oppressed, Churchmen have done the same, and often without that Cause.

Had it not been for Dissenters, I question whether we should now have had either this Constitution, this King, or this Religion. It is well known that a great Majority of our Churchmen have got Claims and Principles utterly irreconcileable to either. The most mischievous Tenets of Popery are adopted and maintained, and the Ground upon which our Security and Succession stand, is boldly undermined. It is dreadful, and incredible what a Reprobate Spirit reigns amongst the High Clergy.

The Convocation have fallen fiercely upon those who have fallen upon Popery and Jacobitism. And what a Popish, Impious and Rebellious Spirit reigns at Oxford, they themselves save me the Trouble of declaring. Disaffection is promoted; open and black Perjury is justified; and it is held lawful to defy Almighty Vengeance for a Morsel of Bread. A Man’s Conscience is tried by an Oath, and he that can swallow any has none.

[I-318]

But it is not enough to shipwreck their Souls for their Livings, nor to keep this hellish Corruption at Home. As they practise so they teach, and the spreading of their own Guilt, and the making others as bad as themselves (if Laymen can be so) is made the Duty of their Functions, and the Business of their Lives. Can Antichrist do worse? And are these Men who walk in the Paths of Atheism and Perdition, fit to lead others to Holiness and Eternal Life?

One of the greatest Men of the last Age told King William, That the Universities, if they continued upon the present Foot, would destroy Him, or the Nation, or some of his Successors. And they have ever since been endeavouring to make good his Words. That Prince was so thoroughly apprized of the dangerous Genius and Principles of these two Bodies of Men, that he intended a Regulation, but, as it is said, was prevented by the pernicious Advice of the late Duke of S———, who had at that Time gained the King’s Confidence, and was at the Head of the Whigs, but was betraying both, and making a Party with the Tories, as afterwards plainly enough appeared.

How far, and how fast, these Seminaries have since then corrupted and inflamed the People, every Body knows, and the Nation feels. Had it not been for them we should have lighter Taxes and fewer Soldiers.

Upon the Coming in of his present Majesty, we thought we had a Right to expect such Measures of Government as would not only secure Us for the Time being, but prevent a Relapse into the Dangers out of which Providence had just plucked Us by the Death of——— It is certain that the King brought along with him, and still preserves a Disposition to do Us all the Good which we can propose or desire.

All those Whigs therefore who had no secret Ends to serve by dark Dealings with the Tories, nor private Fortunes to raise by neglecting or perplexing the Publick, insisted upon the Punishment of those who had bargained away the Nation, and upon a Visitation of the Universities, and both were undertaken and promised. But why neither was done, they who are concerned can best [I-319] tell, if telling was proper. In the mean Time they cannot blame us for guessing.

I am only sorry that the great and surprizing Tenderness, which some have shewn for the High Clergy, has not been able to produce one Instance of Loyalty or Moderation. Perhaps the Priesthood will accept of no Alliance without a total Alteration; and that the Adoption of two or three eminent Persons of their Faction into Partnership with some other eminent Persons, pretending to be of a different Faction, will not do.

However that be, the Universities seem to dread no such Things as a Visitation. Whether they take their Conjectures from our other Measures for Reformation, I cannot say.

The same Spirit which leads us to lessen our Taxes and clear the Publick, and to enlarge the Bottom of Liberty and the Protestant Faith by unyoking of Dissenters, will carry us also to remove the Corruption of our Seminaries, and their disaffected Spawn in too many Parishes. But when such a Spirit will arise, we are not able to foretel. We have been already long deluded with many Prophecies and Promises of that Kind, which, as positive as they were, and as probable as they appeared, have never been fulfilled. We have been even tired with hoping and believing, and now Despair and Infidelity have succeeded, and are like to last as long as their Causes last.

Our Liberties, in the mean Time, lye exceeding precarious. The High Clergy have still the same Engines to play against them, which in Time past have gone very near utterly to overturn them. Their Divine Right is preserved as the Apple of their Eye; a blind Belief in them is inculcated with all their Might; and a blind Obedience to any Royal Idol, who will purchase their Flattery by worshipping them, is at all Times the Burden of their Harangues. As to this last Article, we are I thank God, very safe at present; but the present will not be always.

I could here wonder, for two or three Pages, at the marvellous Strength of Nonsense, and the pitiful Weakness of Human Minds, who by the Perswasion of Falshood and Contradiction can grow zealous for their own Bonds [I-320] and Wretchedness. And yet is it not so in most Countries, where People are miserable by the Advice of their Priests to please a Tyrant?

There are Bounds set to the Power of our Princes by the same Laws which made them Princes. An English King is limited as well, though not as much as a Dutch Stadtholder, and for the same Reason. The Difference of Names alters not the Case. Would a Dutch Priest dare, in that free Country, to tell the People, that they ought to be Slaves to an Officer of their own making, and yet go without a Whipping, or a Dismission, or something still worse? Is it High Treason to assert that a King has no Title, and ought to be deposed? And is it no Crime to argue and maintain that the People are Slaves, and their Lives and Property at the Mercy of one whom they created, and whose Duty it is, to defend those Lives and that Property?

It is true, too many of the High Clergy never once practise this Doctrine themselves and never encourage it in others but for profitable Purposes. But such is their want of Shame, that they never quit it, and yet never observe it. They preach against Rebellion, and practise Rebellion, just as they are pleased or out of Humour.

Our Whig sees with Pain and Fear the dangerous Condition of our Debts and Taxes. They are a heavy and melancholy Load upon the Nation, and will be so, till it pleases God to raise up proper Hands to relieve us, and who will set about it while it is yet practicable, before more new Wars have puzzled and encreased our Accounts beyond a Possibility of clearing them. They are at present a Canker in the Hearts of many People, and create numerous Foes, whom we in vain strive to terrify or reconcile, if we do not lessen their Burdens.

From hence the Enemies of our Peace and Liberty take Pretence, and find ample Materials, for sowing Disaffection; and we in vain confront, or contradict them. If we are asked, when we shall have done fighting and taxing? we either know not what to answer, or if we name a Time for their ending, at least for their beginning to end, they will not take our Word.

[I-321]

With the Cure of publick Evils Disaffection will be cured also. All Men, therefore, who are Friends to the King, or the Nation, will labour this Happiness; will avoid entring into all Wars which are not absolutely necessary to the publick Security, and will take every Opportunity to end those which are so, upon honourable Terms: And by this Test let them be tried: We have before our Eyes a pregnant Instance in France (and, I doubt, a dangerous one too for its Neighbours) where an almost universal Disaffection is changed into an universal Love to the Administration, upon the Appearance of its acting for the publick Good.

We have so good a Prince, that let our Debts be ever so high and embarrassed, we have no Reason to fear a Sponge, or a Standing Army, to clear the Kingdom of its Mortgages, though it could be done no other Way: And in his Goodness is our greatest Hope. There are many good Subjects who terrify themselves with such Indignations, which, indeed, are truly terrible, where they well grounded. But his Majesty’s Virtue, and the importunate Call of the Nation, will, no doubt, be too hard, at last, for all ill Management or worse Designs of any who may find their Account in dabling in publick Misfortunes; and who, whilst they think they tread upon a Worm, may rouse a Lion.

Let us remember the sad Fate of Sweden and Denmark. They run into Debts by running into Wars, and the Court took Advantage of their Necessities to seize their Liberties. They grew Slaves by growing insolent. Under his Majesty’s Reign we fear no such thing; and I hope, we shall scorn to suffer it under any other. Besides, as we are told a Remedy is intended, I doubt not but we shall see it the ensuing Sessions, when our Burdens will be eased, and our Difficulties removed. There is a noble Fund of Wealth in the Nation, and we are yet redeemable, if proper Persons offer to undertake it.

Our Whig is a declared Enemy to all Wars, if they are not absolutely necessary. Though he honours a Soldier as he does a Physician, yet he prays to God that he may never have Occasion for either. Arbitrary Courts abroad, are, for the most Part, composed of Officers of the Army; and our Whig has so great a Weakness [I-322] about him, that he cannot, without very uneasy Images, fee a Glare of Scarlet where he would least wish it. He would not have the Men of the Sword grow familiar to the Eyes of the People, nor become the Equipage of our British Kings.

Military Men are a proper Equipage for those Princes who are Fathers of their People against their Will; who lay the Foundations of Justice in Fear and Blood, and use the Sword as the most natural Means to support those Foundations. In Countries that are enslav’d, the Sword is the Civil Magistrate: That it is not ours is almost a Wonder, considering the Disposition in many of our former Princes to Armies. Our Kings of the Norman Race were perpetually raising English Forces for the Preservation of their French Dominions, and engaging us in eternal Wars on that Score. The Army that enslaved Sweden was raised for the Defence and Enlargement of their German Provinces, which were always a Burden to that Kingdom, and, at length, its utter Ruin.

We do not at present see in Great Britain many more Forces than are necessary to the Civil List; and I hope in proper Time there will not be one more. They furnish another Topick for Clamour to the disaffected, who raise Rebellions, and when they have given Occasion for more Soldiers and more Taxes, cry out, Oppression! Oppression! Sure these People are mad; they dread the Power of the Court, and yet are every Day helping it to more.

If a right Use had been made of the late Rebellion, we might have had now no new ones to fear. But, for whatever Reasons I will not pretend to guess, the Surgeons of that Time were so exceeding gentle in their Operations, that they left a Core in the Wound. Without doubt the Motives for Clemency were irresistible.

I must here acquit His Majesty from the Imputation of any Fondness for a Standing Army. I dare say the Proposal to Disband our Forces after the Rebellion, met with no delay from Him; and I have been told that he lately refused a very importunate Request to increase His Troops. I must also do Justice to the Gentlemen of the Army for having so well done their Duty. If our High Clergy were but equally faithful to their Oaths, and equally [I-323] Friends to their Country, we should have seen neither new Troops, nor Rebellions. The Army has saved us from the High Church. But for all that I have said, I should be sorry to see the People of England either Love or Fear a standing Force: To do either infers Danger.

I doubt not but when his Majesty shall think fit to Disband more Troops, his Ministry will act with Alacrity and without Art: Because the dismissing of some common Soldiers only, after much Expectation from one Party, and more Noise from another, will be subject to unkind Interpretations.

I hope the Power of Quartering Soldiers is always impartially executed, and that no Consideration is of any Force on this Occasion, but that of the publick Security, and the Loyalty or Disloyalty of the Towns. I am perswaded we shall never hereafter see a Regiment removed out of a Town avowedly disaffected, into another which does not want Dragoons to keep it quiet, purely because the commanding Officer has it in his Eye to stand Candidate for that Town, if ever there should be another Occasion; as I am informed has been practised in former Reigns.

Our Whig was well enough pleased with our Attack upon the Spanish Fleet. It became us, as Sovereigns of the Sea, to pull down betimes the rising Maritime Power of Spain, and thereby secure our Dignity and Trade. But whether the Blow was well pursued, I am not a proper Judge. I shall only say, for the Honour of Great Britain, that we are certainly the best Allies in the whole World and have the most civil way of fighting our Neighbours Battles for them.

It is a very uncommon, though perhaps a necessary Kindness to employ at an immense Expence the Royal Navy of England as Transports for the Emperor’s Troops, and to cruise about a Country at such a distance from us, and for so long a Time together. I doubt not but there will be very good Reasons given for it, if the Parliament shall ever think fit to call for them.

I must here do our Superiors the Justice to own that they take effectual and speedy Methods to finish the [I-324] Spanish War. For notwithstanding that we had a great Fleet in the Streights, and another in the Baltick, a Third was dispatched with much Resolution and Expence to frighten the Cardinal into pacifick Measures, and to conquer Vigo, tho’ we were threatned at the same Time at Home with a dreadful Invasion from the late Duke of Ormond. But no domestick Danger can hinder a brave People from exerting their martial Genius, and making a heroick Figure abroad.

In this Vigo Expedition it is said we have had wonderful Success. For not to mention that the Town would infallibly have been plundered, had not the Inhabitants gutted their Houses when they run away, it is certain that we have vanquished several great Guns and brought them away Captives. It is also credibly reported, that we have taken from the Enemy some of their Fishing Tackle.

Our Whig allows Great Men to have their private Failings and Passions. It cannot be otherwise; and they are unreasonable and ill bred who upbraid them with it. But in the Name of God let them not indulge them at the Expence of the Nation. Let them not postpone the Care of the publick Welfare to mind their own. Let them not out of personal Piques give up Whig Boroughs into Jacobite Hands. Let them not for the sake of a Mistress or a Crony disable worthy Men, and patronise worthyless. Let them not run into mad Dangers, and then endeavour to alter and confound the Constitution for their personal Security from those Dangers. Let them not out of Self-ends, and for secret (perhaps pernicious Jobs) be tampering and juggling with the Nation’s Enemies, and deserting and betraying that Party which is eminent for its Love of Liberty, to those who are its stigmatized Enemies.

The Duke of Buckingham, chief Minister to the blessed Martyr, involved his Country in two Wars at a Time, when the Exchequer was empty, with the two great neighbouring Kingdoms, because he was baulked in his lustful Designs upon a French Lady and a Spanish. And the Duke of Lauderdale, because he was disobliged by the Kirk, a Member of which he once was, ruled his [I-325] native Kingdom of Scotland by a great Army and sanguinary Laws, all the Reign of King Charles the Second.

I cannot forbear digressing a little here, to shew the wretched State of Scotland at that Time. High Church, which by Force and Cruelty had expelled Presbytery, enjoyed then a rare Time of revelling in the Blood of Schismaticks. The Orthodox Priests became every where Informers against the Preaching and Praying of Nonconformists, and the Soldiers, to please the Priests, became their Butchers. And the poor religious People, when caught provoking the Clergy by Devotion, were unmercifully put to Death without Law, Jury, or Record. So were those Men rewarded, who had received, and crowned that King, when his Life was sought by those who took away his Father’s.

But to return. I can prove it, that the whole Legislative Power of this Nation has been in former Reigns engaged in gratifying a diabolical Passion of one Man; and our Security and Liberties have been sacrificed to Humour or a Mistress. When a Minister makes haste to be rich, the Service of his Country must either lye still, or go on no faster than he gets by it. A whole People was finely employed when they were labouring for the Pocket of one who was betraying them at the same Time. Most Men are willing to allow a great Officer, if he would but carefully cook the Nation’s Money, to lick his own Fingers and thrive upon his Employment. But he who exhausts the Nation for his own Use, is a publick Highwayman, and the whole Kingdom should be his Prosecutors. I do not believe that there are such Practices at present——— I pray God defend us from the future. That such Things may be safely done, is evident from hence, that of all the overgrown Leeches of the last Reigns (for I suppose there have been none in this) not one has been yet drained of his ill got Wealth.

Gaming is so dreadful a Vice, especially in those who are any way intrusted with our Liberties, that I cannot pass over it in silence.

A Man who will venture his Estate will venture his Country. He who is mad enough to commit his All to [I-326] the Chance of a Dye, is like to prove but a faithless Guardian of the Publick, in which he has perhaps no longer any Stake. It is a Jest, and something worse in a Man who flings away his Fortune this way, to pretend any Regard for the good of Mankind. His Actions give his Words the Lie. He sacrifices his own Happiness, and that of his Family and Posterity, to a Sharper or an Amusemen, and by doing it shews that he is utterly destitute of common Prudence and natural Affection; and on the contrary, an Encourager and Example of the most destructive Corruption; and after all this ridiculously talks of his Zeal for his Country, which consist in good Sense and Virtue joined to a Tenderness for one’s Fellow Creatures. When he has wantonly reduced himself to a Morsel of Bread, he will be easily perswaded to forsake his Wretchedness and accept of a Bribe. Who would trust their Property with one who cannot keep his own? The same vicious Imbecility of Mind which makes a Man a Fool to himself, will make him a Knave to other People. So that this wicked Proneness to play, which is only the impious Art of undoing and being undone, cuts off every Man who is possessed with it, from all pretence either to Honesty or Capacity. I doubt England has paid dear for such Extravagancies. A Law-maker and a Gamester, is a Character big with Absurdity and Danger. I wish that in every Member of either House Gaming were attended with Expulsion and Degradation; and, in every Officer Civil or Military, with the Loss of his Place. A Law enjoining this Penalty would be effectual, and no other can. We see it goes on, upon the present Foot, in spight of Satyr and Acts of Parliament. I would have this execrable Corruption meet with no Encouragement. The Frowns of the Court would certainly put a check to it, but then there must not be an Office kept on purpose for it.

Our Whig has an equal Aversion to Masquerades. They are a Market for Maidenheads and Adultery; a dangerous Luxury opposite to Virtue and Liberty. There was something like them formerly in the Reigns of our worst Princes, by the Name of Masks. As the present Reign resembles these in nothing else, so neither would [I-327] I have it resemble them in this. They were revived, or rather introduced, after the French way by a Foreign Ambassador, whose only Errand then in England could be but to corrupt and enslave us, and for that End this mad and indecent Diversion was practis’d and exhibited by him as a popular Engine to catch loose Minds, or to make them so, with great Success. What good Purpose they can serve now, I would be glad to know;——— The Mischief of them is manifest both to the Publick, and private Persons; a Handle is taken from them to traduce some great Characters, whom I would have always reverenced; and they are visibly an Opportunity and Invitation to Lewdness.

If People will have Amusements, let them have warrantable and decent ones; as to Masquerades, they are so much the School of Vice, that excepting a Law to declare it innocent and safe, I question whether Human Invention can contrive a more successful Method of propagating it.

The Practice of the Commonalty is formed upon the Example of the Great, and what the latter do the former think they may do. If a City Wife has it in her Head, against her Husband’s Inclinations, to take the Pleasures of the Masquerade, she has but to tell him that my Lady Dutchess ——— is to be there (no doubt upon the same Errand) and the poor, sober, saving Man must submit, and be content to be in the Class of his Betters.

From this Source of Prostitution I fear many a worthy Man takes to his Arms a tainted and vicious Wife, and finds in her a melancholy Reason both for himself and his Posterity to curse and detest Masquerades, and all those that encouraged them. I was in hopes they were at an end. I heard that the Theatre in the Hay-Market was to be used intirely another way, and that our Understandings were only to be affronted this Winter in that Place with Italian Quavers and Cremona Fiddles; for which I was not sorry, since the leaving of Debauchery for the sake of Nonsense, is still some degree of Reformation. Let us make much of it———Though I would feign hope it is not the only one we are like to see.

Some weak People would insinuate, as if those in high Place promoted these infamous Amusements as a Means [I-328] to divert busy Heads from diving into their Actions——— But this must be a malicious and sensless Slander, since all the Measures of these Gentlemen are so clear and honourable that they themselves need fear no Scrutiny.

Having neither Wife nor Daughter of my own I am anxious only for the Ease and Reputation of those that have. So that I have no Motive but the Love of publick Virtue to say what I have said upon this Theme.

I could wish that those Reverend Gentlemen, whose Business and Duty it more properly is, to expose this Scene of Iniquity, had prevented me. If our Lent Preachers have omitted it, I can ascribe it to nothing but Forgetfulness, or their good Breeding. And yet where is there a more necessary, where a more affecting Subject? Here, O ye Bishops, Priests and Deacons, shew the Zeal with which you abound; here shew Danger, not to the Church indeed, but Danger to Virtue, Danger to Christianity! Here alarm your Peoples Ears, here rouse their Passions; and cease combating harmless Notions and dry Ideas, till you have utterly defeated glaring Vice and exorbitant Debauchery.

Our Whig is an irreconcilable Enemy to the selling of Places, or conferring them partially. To be given to the Worthiest, is the publick Voice upon this Occasion. They are the national Rewards for well deserving, or a Capacity of deserving well; and it is evident Injustice, and a kind of Robbery, to dispose of them upon other Motives. If the Candidate has Merit, the tacit Consent of the People is already on his Side; and why should he give Money for that which is his due? If he has not Merit, why should he have the Recompence of it? Freely you have received, freely give, is a Precept which has Reason as well as Inspiration to recommend and enforce it.

Most or all of the great Places are given Gratis to those who, as to their Fortunes, do not want them, and no Cause can be assigned but Avarice and want of Human Compassion why any of the small ones should be sold, when they are sought for the most part as the Means of Life and Subsistence.

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He that can bargain away a little Post, would from the same vile Principle dispose of a great Kingdom upon valuable Considerations; and sooner, as the Price must be greater, and consequently the Motives stronger.

Every Guilt of this kind, when detected, should be branded with Incapacity and a publick Mark of Infamy. It is making Traffick of one’s Country; It is plundering Worth of its Birthright; and it has a degree of Malignity and Vileness in it, which ought to be narrowly watched and severely punished. It is true this Villany cannot be always detected openly; but by observing Mens Circumstances we may guess whether they spend or lay up more than their honest Income; and if they do, we may take them for Criminals, and either oblige them to account for the Exceedings, or disable them from hurting us more in the same Station.

In King Charles the Second’s Time, a French Woman or two, and a Tribe of other hungry Courtiers who came with him from beyond Sea, did by the Connivance of the Ministry, and in Confederacy with them, make a fair Penny of the Birthright of Britains. The Parliament of that Time, who should have been the Guardians and Watchmen of the Publick, were themselves engaged in a Trade of Corruption, and spoke, or held their Tongues, as they were paid. In that Long Parliament there was a Majority of Pensioners, who overlooked these dark Dealings, and many more, particularly that of the arbitrary Encrease of the Prince’s Guards, which was the first Approach towards a standing Army. These Guards have never been reduced since. This shews the dreadful Danger of Precedents.

But neither ought Places to be bestowed out of private and personal Regards. I have heard of the Time, when a mean obscure Jacobite, was put into a fine Post for Life, purely for a Piece of Work which deserved no more than an Attorney’s Fee. Besides, the Publick had no concern in it. When at the same Time, very many deserving Whigs remain’d unprovided for, and even neglected, though they had done their Country more Service than some who had much better Luck.

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There were a Sort of Men amongst us many Years since, who being of great Consequence to themselves, had adopted the Craft of Churchmen, and very solemnly assured us that the Nation was always in imminent Danger when they were not in Place. But as soon as the Steerage was committed to them, and they were got into a way of thriving, all was safe, and yet nothing altered. It was of no Moment how other Posts were conferred, provided they enjoyed the greatest, and the Power of giving the smaller. If a Pretender was worth Money, or had done a private Job, no matter for his Parts and Principles; Worthlessness and Jacobitism were no Bars to Preserment; nay, the Tories were invited to accept of very good Places and welcome, provided they aimed not at the highest of all. But for the Whigs of the private and inferior Class, they were at Liberty to do what Good they pleased to their Country and to Mankind, without the least Pretensions to the Friendship of the Great: On the contrary, they were told they very arrogantly disobliged them, and marred their Schemes by their officious Behaviour.

I am persuaded it is otherwise now, and that in due Time we shall see the Bishop of Bangor preferred suitably to his great Merit. I hope it is not inconsistent with any Schemes. I am sure the Interests of Truth and Liberty are nearly concerned in it. For my part, I should not wonder if both Houses of Parliament adressed his Majesty to give his Lordship the best Bishoprick in England, as he is the best Defender of the Liberties of England.

I hope it is not true what I am told, namely, That the Bishop has not only met with hard Usage and Disappointment, but even hard Names from some People, for his keeping up a Spirit which hindered the Adoption of some true Sons of the Church into certain Schemes.

Let me alone and I will let you alone, is no longer the Language of Children at play. A much wiser sort of People have taken it up, and it appears to be the first Article of a certain Bargain, which all last Winter we were put in Hopes of.

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If such People could have their Will, the Seminaries and their Missionaries might go on to scatter their Poison, and level their Doctrines against the fundamental Security of this Nation; to strike at the Root of our Peace; to over-bear the most glaring Truths with bold and Dangerous Falshoods, and to have it in their Power to make us miserable Bondmen whenever they have a fair Opportunity. Then not a Stroke must be struck that may displease or disappoint them; not a Corruption be removed that they are fond of; not a Clergyman rewarded nor any Body else, who has writ in Defence of Liberty, and made them angry.

But Almighty God has been so merciful to this poor Nation, as to bless us with a Ministry, who, scorning all mean Transactions, will also scorn to enter into any Measures of Union and Confederacy with the High Clergy, till the whole Body of them have given us demonstrative Proofs of their Attachment to our present Settlement and Civil Rights; but will, on the contrary, enable the Dissenters, in the mean Time, to defend us and themselves against any future Attempts to disturb and enslave us.

While His Majesty reigns, let Him have what Counsellors He will, our Liberties will be secure. His very Person and Countenance shew Him to be a virtuous, wise and beneficent Prince, and every Action of His Life confirms it. But will He live for ever? And can we forget our many Struggles with the High Clergy for the Preservation of our Liberty? Are not these Men, whom we set up and maintain, for ever endeavouring to pull us down, and to make a Prey of our Prosperity, and Slaves of our Persons? Do they not claim our Lands for their Possessions, and us for their Vassals? Have we not been forced to wage War with our own Mercenaries?

May we not therefore expect during His Majesty’s Reign Security against the Time to come? Have we not been promised it? And will any Body dare to affirm that he refuses it? No, no. I wish others were as ready to ask as he will be to comply. His first and chief Care, the Nation’s Happiness, is concerned in it; and the Nation’s [I-332] Principal Care, the Security of His Person and Family, is also concerned in it: And they who oppose or neglect it, oppose and neglect both.

The Dissenters have undeniably proved themselves excellent Subjects and Englishmen; and it will always be their Interest to do so, while they have Protection and Encouragement, which God and Nature, and our Constitution allow them. They aim at no Independent Power. They have no Pretensions upon the Lands and Liberties of England. They have to a Man kept their Oaths to the Government, and opposed the Rebellion. They are a sober and industrious People, and Promoters of Morality and Trade, two great Props of Liberty. And the highest Objection against them is, That they will not kneel down to a Priest, nor worship a piece of Crape. Yet they still stand where they did, and are like to stand; for it seems there are many Asseverations and Oaths gone forth against them, That the Dissenters shall rise no higher.

It is fit the Dissenters should know that they deserve, in every Respect, the best Usage the Nation can give them; and the honest part of the Nation, to do it Justice, is not to blame if they want it.

Every Government stands by confiding in those that love it. The present Ministry owe their being so to their Principles of Liberty, and their Adherrence to the Succession. And is it not equally reasonable that the Dissenters, who have the same Plea, should possess in a proper Degree the same Favour? And yet have they any other Reward than Two or Three meer Negatives? They contributed largely to save the Nation, and therefore they are not persecuted. Exceeding kind and bountiful!

Their Zeal and Industry, to say nothing of their Expences, in chusing Protestant Members for the present Parliament, will, I don’t doubt, be powerful Motives with grateful Men to relieve these their Friends and Befactors from the Fetters of Tests which were intended against Papists. And the remarkable Spirit and Alacrity which they shewed in quelling the late Rebellion, tho’ at the Danger of Penalties and Prosecutions, was likewise [I-333] a loud Demand upon those who could take their Thoughts off themselves, and turn them to the publick Interest, to distinguish with Qualifications and Rewards such a numerous Body of well affected Men.

That such a publick Spirited Design could not have been carried through, will hardly be believed. Projects of a very different and and inferior Nature have been attended with surprizing Success. And not one Bill, or Scheme, that had the least Face of publick Good, has miscarried. No; we have been triumphant in our Undertakings in the House of Commons: Insomuch that it is hard to determine which is more remarkable, the Zeal of that House for the Ease and Interest of the Publick, or its commendable Faith in the Ministry.

A certain Project indeed was very justly, and very fortunately for Great Britain, received by all disinterested Persons with a general Abhorrence. What must some Men have done, when nothing can screen them but the altering and overturning of Foundations?

But to return, and put the Behaviour of High Church in Ballance with that of the Dissenters. The corrupt Clergy were through all England pushing at our Settlement with all their Might and Malice. Some of them indeed were wary and silent, but their good Will was never the less. So true is it, that they who are not for us, are against us? Even in their Neutrality they were forsworn. Thus the Ambassadors of Peace and Truth, and the great Advocates for Non-Resistance, became the Trumpeters of War, and the Patrons of Perjury and Rebellion.

If the Dissenters knew what Bargains are driven, and with what Contempt they are spoken of and what a mortal Antipathy there is in some People against giving them any substantial Advantages, they would not be so very free in drinking certain Healths, which are now, for good Causes, omitted by their truest Patrons in Town. But I am told they themselves begin to be pretty well cured of their wonted Fondness that way. God knows, they have sufficient Reason, Mr. W ——— was once their great Favourite: They see how he served them. Have [I-334] they found others much kinder? I wish that even their professed Plenipo’s, who lose nothing by being at the Head of their Affairs, do not now and then drop their Zeal for Separation, in Consideration of a Bank Bill, or a pretty Income. It is certain they go every Length; whether consistently with their Commission, let their Principals judge.

There has been lately a Motion made in the Irish Parliament, in favour of Protestant Dissenters in that Kingdom. I will not suppose they are beholding for this Favour to the Author of the Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury; but of this I dare be positive, That if some People have half as much Zeal for passing such a Bill in Ireland, as they had, and, I am told, still have, for passing another in England, it will not hereafter miscarry.

P. S. In the Second Part of this Character will be considered the Affair of a Northern War.

A Discourse of Standing Armies; Shewing the Folly, Uselesness, and Danger of Standing Armies in Great Britain. By T. Gordon, Esq;↩

Anno 1722.

When, in King William’s Reign, the Question was in Debate, Whether England should be ruled by Standing Armies? The Argument commonly used by some who had the Presumption to call themselves Whigs, and owned in the Ballancing Letter, supposed to be written by one who gave the Word to all the rest, [I-335] was, That all Governments must have their Periods one Time or other, and when that Time came, all Endeavours to preserve Liberty were fruitless; and shrewd Hints were given in that Letter, that England was reduced to such a Condition; that our Corruptions were so great, and the Dissatisfaction of the People was so general, that the publick Safety could not be preserved, but by encreasing the Power of the Crown: And this Argument was used by those shameless Men, who had caused all that Corruption, and all that Dissatisfaction.

But that Gentleman and his Followers were soon taught to speak other Language: They were remov’d from the Capacity of perplexing publick Affairs any more. The Nation shew’d a Spirit that would not submit to Slavery; and their unhappy and betrayed Master, from being the most popular Prince who ever sat upon the English Throne, became, through the Treachery of his Servants, suspected by many of his best Subjects, and was rendered unable, by their Jealousies, to defend himself and them; and so considerable a Faction was formed against his Administration, that no good Man can reflect without Concern and Horror, on the Difficulties which that Great and Good King was reduced to grapple with, during the Remainder of his troublesome Reign.

I have lately met with some Creatures and Tools of Power, who speak the same Language now: They tell us, that Matters are come to that Pass, that we must either receive the Pretender, or keep him out with Bribes and Standing Armies: That the Nation is so corrupt, that there is no governing it by any other Means; And, in short, that we must submit to this great Evil, to prevent a greater; as if any Mischief could be more terrible than the highest and most terrible of all Mischiefs, universal Corruption, and a military Government. It is indeed impossible for the Subtilty of Traitors, the Malice of Devils, or for the Cunning and Cruelty of our most implacable Enemies, to suggest stronger Motives, for the undermining and Overthrow of our excellent Establishment, which is built upon the Destruction of Tyranny, and can stand upon no other Bottom. It is [I-336] Madness in Extremity, to hope that a Government founded upon Liberty, and the free Choice of the Assertors of it, can be supported by other Principles; and whoever would maintain it by contrary ones, intends to blow it up, let him alledge what he will. This gives me every Day new Reasons to believe what I have long suspected; for, if ever a Question should arise, Whether a Nation shall submit to certain Ruin, or struggle for a Remedy? these Gentlemen well know which Side they will chuse, and certainly intend that which they must chuse.

I am willing to think, that these impotent Babblers speak not the Sense of their Superiors, but would make servile Court to them from Topicks which they abhor. Their Superiors must know, that it is Raving and Phrenzy to affirm, that a free People can be long govern’d by impotent Terrors; that Millions will consent to be ruin’d by the Corruptions of a few; or that those few will join in their Ruin any longer than the Corruption lasts: That every Day new and greater Demands will rise upon the Corruptors; that no Revenue, how great soever, will feed the Voraciousness of the Corrupted; and that every Disappointment will make them turn upon the Oppressors of their Country, and fall into its true Interest and their own: That there is no Way in Nature to preserve a Revolution in Government, but by making the People easy under it, and shewing them their Interest in it; and that Corruption, Bribery, and Terrors, will make no lasting Friends, but infinite and implacable Enemies; and that the best Security of a Prince amongst a free People, is the Affections of his People, which he can always gain by making their Interest his own, and by shewing that all his Views tend to their Good. They will then, as they love themselves, love him, and defend him who defends them. Upon this faithful Basis, his Safety will be better established, than upon the ambitious and variable Leaders of a few Legions, who may be corrupted, disoblig’d, or surpriz’d, and often have been so; and hence great Revolutions have been brought about, and great Nations undone, only by the Revolt of single Regiments.

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Shew a Nation their Interest, and they will certainly fall into it: A whole People can have no Ambition but to be governed justly; and when they are so, the Intrigues and Dissatisfactions of Particulars will fall upon their own Heads. What has any of our former Courts ever got by Corruption, but to disaffect the People, and weaken themselves? Let us now think of other Methods, if it is only for the Sake of the Experiment. The Ways of Corruption have been tried long enough in past Administrations: Let us try, in this, what publick Honesty will do, and not condemn it, before we have fully proved it, and found it ineffectual; and it will be Time enough to try other Methods, when this fails.

That we must either receive the Pretender, or keep up great Armies to keep him out, is frightful and unnatural Language to English Ears: It is an odd Way of dealing with us, that of offering us, or forcing upon us, an Alternative, where the Side which they would recommend, is full as formidable as the Side from which they would terrify us. If we are to be governed by Armies, it is all one to us, whether they be Protestant or Popish Armies; the Distinction is ridiculous, like that between a good and a bad Tyranny: We see, in Effect, that it is the Power and Arms of a Country, that forms and directs the Religion of a Country; and I have before shewn, that true Religion cannot subsist, where true Liberty does not. It was chiefly, if not wholly, King James’s usurped Power, and his many Forces, and not his being Papist, that rendered him dreadful to his People. Military Governments are all alike; nor does the Liberty and Property of the Subject fare a bit the better, or the worse, for the Faith and Opinion of the Soldiery. Nor does an Arbitrary Protestant Prince use his People better than an Arbitrary Popish Prince, and we have seen both Sorts of them changing the Religion of their Country, according to their Lust.

They are therefore stupid Politicians, who would derive Advantages from a Distinction which is manifestly without a Difference: It is like, however, that they may improve in their Subtilties, and come, in Time, to distinguish between corrupt Corruption, and uncorrupt Corruption, between a good ill Administration, and an [I-338] ill good Administration, between oppressive Oppression, and unoppressive Oppression, and between French Dragooning and English Dragooning; for there is scarce any other new Pitch of Nonsense and Contradiction left to such Men in their Reasoning upon Publick Affairs, and in the Part they act in them.

Of a Piece with the rest, is the stupid Cunning of some Sort of Statesmen, and practised by most Foreign Courts, to blame the poor People for the Misery they bring upon them. They say they are extremely corrupt, and so keep them starving and enslaved by Way of Protection. They corrupt them by all manner of Ways and Inventions, and then reproach them for being corrupt. A whole Nation cannot be bribed, and if its Representatives are, it is not the Fault, but the Misfortune of the Nation; and if the Corrupt save themselves by corrupting others, the People who suffer by the Corruptions of both, are to be pitied, and not abused. Nothing can be more shameless and provoking, than to bring a Nation by execrable Frauds and Extortions, against its daily Protestations and Remonstrances, into a miserable Pass, and then father all those Villanies upon the People who would have gladly hanged the Authors of them. At Rome, the whole People could be entertained, feasted, and bribed; but it is not so elsewhere, where the People are too numerous, and too far spread, to be debauched, cajoled, and purchased; and if any of their Leaders are, it is without the People’s Consent.

There is scarce such a Thing under the Sun as a corrupt People, where the Government is uncorrupt; it is that, and that alone, which makes them so; and to calumniate them for what they do not seek, but suffer by, is as great Impudence, as it would be to knock a Man down, and then rail at him for hurting himself. In what Instances do the People of any Country in the World throw away their Money by Millions, unless by trusting it to those who do so? Where do the People send great Fleets, at a great Charge, to be frozen up in one Climate, or to be eaten up by Worms in another, unless for their Trade and Advantage? Where do the People enter into mad Wars against their Interest, or, after victorious ones, make Peace, without stipulating for one [I-339] new Advantage for themselves; but, on the contrary, pay the Enemy for having beaten them? Where do the People plant Colonies, or purchase Provinces, at a vast Expence, without reaping, or expecting to reap, one Farthing from them, and yet still defend them at a further Expence? Where do the People make distracted Bargains, to get imaginary Millions, and after having lost by such Bargains almost all the real Millions they had, yet give more Millions to get rid of them? What wise or dutiful People consents to be without the Influence of the Presence of their Prince, and of his Virtues, or of those of his Family, who are to come after him? No— these Things are never done by any People; but, whereever they are done, they are done without their Consent; and yet all these Things have been done in former Ages, and in neighbouring Kingdoms.

For such guilty and corrupt Men, therefore, to charge the People with Corruption, whom either they have corrupted, or cannot corrupt, and, having brought great Misery upon them, to threaten them with more, is, in effect, to tell them plainly, ‘Gentlemen, we have used you very ill, for which you who are innocent of it, are to blame; we therefore find it necessary, for your Good, to use you no better, or rather worse; and if you will not accept of this our Kindness, which, however, we will force upon you, if we can we will give you up into the terrible Hands of raw Head and bloody Bones; who, being your Enemy, may do you as much Mischief, as we who are your Friends have done you.’ I appeal to common Sense, Whether this be not the Sum of such Threats and Reasonings in their native Colours.

The Partizans of Oliver Cromwell, when he was meditating Tyranny over the Three Natious, gave out, that it was the only Expedient to balance Factions, and to keep out Charles Stuart; and so they did worse Things to keep him out, than he could have done if they had let him in. And, after the King’s Restoration, when there was an Attempt made to make him absolute, by enabling him to raise Money without Parliament; an Attempt which every Courtier, except Lord Clarendon, came into; it was alledged to be the only Expedient to keep the Nation from falling back into a Commonwealth; as if [I-340] any Commonwealth upon Earth was not better than any Absolute Monarchy. His Courtiers foresaw, that by their mad and extravagant Measures, they should make the Nation mad, and were willing to save themselves by the fatal Destruction of the Nation; they therefore employed their Creatures to whisper abroad stupid and villainous Reasons why People should be content to be finally undone, lest something not near so bad should befall them.

Those who have, by abusing a Nation, forfeited its Affections, will never be for trusting a People, who, they know, do justly detest them; but having procured their Aversion and Enmity, will be for fortifying themselves against it by all proper Ways; and the Ways of Corruption, Depredation, and Force, being the only proper ones, they will not fail to be practised; and those who practise them, when they can no longer deny them, will be finding Reasons to justify them; and because they dare not avow the true Reasons, they must find such false ones as are most likely to amuse and terrify: And hence so much Nonsense and Improbability uttered in that Reign, and sometimes since, to vindicate guilty Men, and vilify an innocent People, who were so extravagantly fond of that Prince, that their Liberties were almost gone, before they would believe them in Danger.

It is as certain that King James II, wanted no Army to help him to preserve the Constitution, nor to reconcile the People to their own Interest: But, as he intended to invade and destroy both, nothing but Corruption and a Standing Army could enable him to do it; and, thank God, even his Army failed him, when he brought in Irish Troops to help them. This therefore was his true Design; but his Pretences were very different: He pleaded the Necessity of his Affairs, nay, of publick Affairs, and of keeping up a good Standing Force to preserve his Kingdoms forsooth from Insults at home and from abroad. This was the Bait; but his People, who had no longer any Faith in him, and to whom the Hook appeared threatening and bare would not believe him, nor swallow it; and if they were jealous of him, restless under him, and ready to rise against him, [I-341] he gave them sufficient Cause. He was under no Hardship nor Necessity but what he created to himself, nor did his People withdraw their Affections from him, till he had withdrawn his Right to those Affections. Those who have used you ill, will never forgive you; and it is no new Thing wantonly to make an Enemy, and then to calumniate and destroy him for being so.

When People, through continual ill Usage, grow weary of their present ill Condition, they will be so far from being frightn’d with a Change, that they will wish for one; and instead of terrifying them, by threatning them with one, you do but please them, even in Instances where they have no Reason to be pleased. Make them happy, and they will dread any Change; but while they are ill used, they will not fear the worst. The Authors of publick Misery and Plunder, may seek their only Safety in general Desolation; but, to the Pople, nothing can be worse than Ruin, from what Hand soever it comes: A Protestant Musket kills as sure as a Popish one, and an Oppressor is an Oppressor, to whatever Church he belongs: The Sword and the Gun are of every Church, and so are the Instruments of Oppression. The late Directors were all stanch Protestants; and Cromwell had a violent Aversion to Popery.

We are, doubtless, under great Necessities in our present Circumstances; but to increase them, in order to cure them, would be a preposterous Remedy, worthy only of them who brought them upon us; and who, if they had common Shame in them, would conceal, as far as they could, under Silence, the heavy Evils, which, tho’ they lie upon every Man’s Shoulders, yet lie only at the Doors of a few. The Plea of Necessity, if it can be taken, will justify any Mischief, and the worst Mischiefs. Private Necessity makes Men Thieves and Robbers; but publick Necessity requires that Robbers of all Sizes should be hanged. Publick Necessity therefore, and the Necessity of such pedant Politicians, are different and opposite Things. There is no Doubt, but Men guilty of great Crimes, would be glad of an enormous Power to protect them in the greatest; and then tell us there is a Necessity for it. Those against [I-342] whom Justice is armed, will never talk thus, and ever think it necessary to disarm her. But whatever sincere Services they may mean to themselves by it, they can mean none to his Majesty, who would be undone with his Subjects, by such treacherous and ruinous Services: And therefore it is fit that Mankind should know, and they themselves should know, that his Majesty can and will be defended against them and their Pretender, without Standing Armies, which would make him formidable only to his People, and contemptible to his Foes, who take justly the Measure of his Power from his Credit with his Subjects.

But I shall consider what present Occasion there is of keeping up more Troops than the usual Guards and Garrisons, and shall a little further animadvert upon the Arts and frivolous Pretences made Use of, in former Reigns, to reduce this Government to the Condition and Model of the pretended jure Divino-Monarchies, where Millions must be miserable and undone, to make one and a few of his Creatures lawless, rampant, and unsafe.

It is certain, that Liberty is never so much in danger, as upon a Deliverance from Slavery. The remaining Dread of the Mischiefs escaped, generally drives, or decoys Men into the same or greater; for then the Passions and Expections of some, run high; and the Fears of others make them submit to any Misfortunes to avoid an Evil that is over; and both Sorts concur in giving to a Deliverer all that they are delivered from: In the Transports of a Restoration, or Victory, or upon a Plot discovered, or a Rebellion quelled, nothing is thought too much for the Benefactor, nor any Power too great to be left to his Discretion, tho’ there can never be less Reason for giving it to him than at those Times; because, for the most part, the Danger is past, his Enemies are defeated and intimidated, and consequently that is a proper Juncture for the People to settle themselves, and secure their Liberties, since no one is likely to disturb them in doing so.

However, I confess, that Custom, from Time immemorial, is against me, and the same Custom has made most of Mankind Slaves: Agathocles saved the Syracusians, and afterwards destroyed them. Pisistratus pretending [I-343] to be wounded for protecting the People, prevailed with them to allow him a Guard for the Defence of his Person, and by the Help of that Guard usurp’d the Sovereignty: Cæsar and Marius delivered the Commons of Rome from the Tyranny of the Nobles, and made themselves Masters of both Commons and Nobles: Sylla delivered the Senate from the Insolence of the People, and did them more Mischief than the Rabble could have done in a Thousand Years: Gustavus Ericson delivered the Swedes from the Oppression of the Danes, and made large Steps towards enslaving them himself: The Antwerpians called in the Duke of Allencon, to defend them against the Spaniards; but he was no sooner got, as he thought, in full Possession of their Town, but he fell upon them himself with the Forces which he brought for their Defence. But the Townsmen happened to be too many for him, and drove these their new Protectors home again: Which Disappointment, and just Disgrace, broke that good Duke’s Heart. Oliver Cromwell headed an Army which pretended to fight for Liberty, and by that Army became a Bloody Tyrant; as I once saw a Hawk very generously rescue a Turtle Dove from the Persecutions of two Crows, and then eat him up himself.

Almost all Men desire Power, and few lose any Opportunity to get it, and all who are like to suffer under it, ought to be strictly upon their Guard in such Conjunctures as are most likely to encrease, and make it uncontroulable. There are but two Ways in Nature to enslave a People, and continue that Slavery over them; the first is Superstition, and the last is Force: By the one, we are perswaded that it is our Duty to be undone; and the other undoes us whether we will or no. I take it, that we are pretty much out of Danger of the first, at present; and, I think, we cannot be too much upon our guard against the other; for, tho’ we have nothing to fear from the best Prince in the World, yet we have every thing to fear from those who would give him a Power inconsistent with Liberty, and with a Constitution which has lasted almost a Thousand Years without such a Power, which will never be asked with an Intention to make no Use of it.

[I-344]

The Nation was so mad, upon the Restoration of King Charles II. that they gave to him all that he asked, and more than he asked: They complemented him with a vast Revenue for Life, and almost with our Liberties and Religion too; and if unforeseen Accidents had not happened to prevent it, without doubt we had lost both; and if his Successor could have had a little Patience, and had used no Rogues but his old Rogues, he might have accomplished the Business, and Popery and Arbitrary Power had been Jure Divino at this Day; but he made too much haste to be at the End of his Journey; and his Priests were in too much haste to be on Horseback too, and so the Beast grew skittish, and overthrew them both.

Then a new Set of Deliverers arose, who had saved us from King James’s Army, and wou’d have given us a bigger in the Room of it, and some of them Foreigners; and told us that the King longed for them, and it was a Pity that so good a Prince should lose his Longing, and miscarry; but he did lose it, and miscarried no otherwise than by losing a great Part of the Confidence which many of his best Subjects before had in his Moderation; which Loss, made the Remainder of his Reign uneasy to him, and to every good Man who saw it: I remember, all Men then declared against a Standing Army, and the Courtiers amongst the rest, who were only for a Land Force, to be kept up no longer than till the King of France disbanded his, and till the Kingdom was settled, and the People better satisfied with the Administration; and then there was nothing left to do, in order to perpetuate them, but to take Care that the People should never be satisfied: An Art often practis’d with an amazing Success.

The Reasons then given for keeping up an Army were, the great Number of Jacobites, the Disaffection of the Clergy and Universities, the Power and Enmity of France, and the Necessity of preserving so excellent a Body of Troops to maintain the Treaty of Partition, which they had newly and wisely made: But notwithstanding the Army was disbanded, no Plot, Conspiracy, or Rebellion, happened by their disbanding: The Partition [I-345] Treaty was broke; a new Army was raised, which won Ten times as many Victories as the former, and Europe, at last, is settled upon a much better Foot than it would have been by the Partition Treaty. The Emperor is as strong as he ought to be. The Dutch have a good Barrier. Another Power is raised in Europe to keep the Ballance even, which neither can nor will be formidable to us without our own Fault; France is undone, and the Regent must be our Friend, and have Dependance upon our Protection; so that some few of these Reasons are to do now, what altogether we could not do then, tho’ we are not the tenth Part so well able to maintain them as we were then

I should be glad to know in what Situation of our Affairs it can be safe to reduce our Troops to the usual Guards and Garrisons, if it cannot be done now? There is no Power in Europe considerable enough to threaten us, who can have any Motives to do so, if we pursue the old Maxims and natural Interest of Great Britain; which is, To meddle no farther with Foreign Squabbles than to keep the Ballance even between France and Spain: And this is less necessary too for us to do now, than formerly; because the Emperor and Holland are able to do it, and must and will do it without us, or at least with but little of our Assistance; but if we unnecessarily engage against the Interests of either, we must thank ourselves, if they endeavour to prevent the Effects of it, by finding us Work at Home.

When the Army was disbanded in King William’s Reign, a Prince was in Being who was personally known to many of his former Subjects, and had obliged great Numbers of them; who was supported by one of the most powerful Monarchs in the World, that had won numerous Victories, and had almost always defeated his Enemies, and who still preserved his Power and his Animosity: His pretended Son was then an Infant, and for any Thing that then appeared, might have proved an active and a dangerous Enemy, and it was to be feared, that his Tutors might have educated him a half Protestant or at least have taught him to have disguised his true Religion: At that Time, the Revolution, and Revolution-Principles, [I-346] were in their Infancy; and most of the Bishops and dignified Clergy, as well as many others in Employment, owed their Preferments and Principles to the abdicated Family, and the Reverse of this, in our Case now.

France has been torn to Pieces by numerous Defeats, its People and Manufactures destroyed by War, Famine, the Plague, and their Missisipi Company; and they are so divided at Home, that they will find enough to do to save themselves without troubling their Neighbours, and especially a Neighbour from whom the governing Powers there, hope for Protection. The Prince who pretended to the Thrones of these Kingdoms is dead, and he who calls himself his Heir is a bigotted Papist; and has given but little Cause to fear any Thing from his Abilities or his Prowess. The Principles of Liberty are now well understood, and few People in this Age, are Romantick enough to venture their Lives and Estates for the personal Interests of one they know nothing of, or nothing to his Advantage; and we ought to take Care that they shall not find their own Interest in doing it; and, I conceive, nothing is necessary to effect this, but to resolve upon it. Almost all the dignified Clergy, and all the Civil and Military Officers in the Kingdom, owe their Preferments to the Revolution, and are as loyal to his Majesty as he himself can wish. A very great Part of the Property of the Kingdom stands upon the same Bottom with the Revolution. Every Day’s Experience, shews us how devoted the Nobility are to gratify their King’s just Desires and Inclinations; and nothing can be more certain, than that the present House of Commons, are most dutifully and affectionately inclined to the true Interest of the Crown, and to the Principles to which his Majesty owes it. And besides all this Security, a new Conspiracy has been discovered and defeated; which gives full Occasion and Opportunity to prevent any such Attempts for the future; which can never be done, but by giving no Provocation to new ones; in both which, I hope, we shall have the hearty Concurrence of those who have the Honour to be employed by his Majesty; by which they will shew, that they are as zealous [I-347] to prevent the Necessity of Standing Armies, as I doubt not but the Parliament will be.

I presume, no Man will be audacious enough to propose, that we should make a Standing Army Part of our Constitution; and, if not, when can we reduce them to a competent Number better than at this Time? Shall we wait till France has recovered its present Difficulties; till it’s King is grown to full Age and Ripeness of Judgment; till he has dissipated all Factions and Discontents at home, and is fallen into the natural Interests of his Kingdom, or perhaps aspires to Empire again? Or shall we wait till the Emperor, and King of Spain, have divided the Bear’s Skin, and possibly become good Friends, as their Predecessors have been for the greatest Part of Two Centuries, and perhaps cement that Friendship, by uniting for the common Interests of their Religion? Or till Madam Sobiesky’s Heir is of Age, who may have Wit enough to think, that the Popish Religion is dearly bought at the Price of Three Kingdoms? Or are we never to Disband, till Europe is settled according to some modern Schemes? Or till there are no Malecontents in England, and no People out of Employments who desire to be in them.

’Tis certain, that all Parts of Europe which are enslaved, have been enslaved by Armies, and ’tis absolutely impossible, that any Nation which keeps them amongst themselves, can long preserve their Liberties; nor can any Nation perfectly lose their Liberties, who are without such Guests: And yet though all Men see this, and at Times confess it, yet all have joined, in their Turns, to bring this heavy Evil upon themselves and their Country. Charles the Second formed his Guards into a little Army, and his Successor encreased them to three or four Times then Number; and without doubt these Kingdoms had been enslaved, if known Events had not prevented it. We had no sooner escaped these Dangers, but King William’s Ministry formed Designs for an Army again, and neglected Ireland (which might have been reduced by a Message) till the Enemy was so strong, that a great Army was necessary to recover it; and when all was done Abroad, that an Army was wanted for, they [I-348] thought it convenient to find some Employment for them at Home. However, the Nation happened not to be of their Mind, and disbanded the greatest Part of them, without finding any of these Dangers they were threatned with from their Disbanding. A new Army was raised again, when it became necessary, and disbanded again, when there was no more Need of them; and his present Majesty came peaceably to his Crowns, by the Laws alone, notwithstanding all the Endeavours to keep him out, by long Measures concerted to that Purpose.

It could not be expected from the Nature of human Affairs, that those who had formed a Design for restoring the Pretender, had taken such large Steps towards it, and were sure to be supported in it by so powerful an Assistance as France was then capable of giving, should immediately lose Sight of so agreeable a Prospect of Wealth and Power, as they had before enjoyed in Imagination; yet it seems very plain to me, that all the Disturbance which afterwards happen’d, might have been prevented by a few timely Remedies; and when at last it was defeated with a vast Charge and Hazard, we had the Means in our Hands of rooting out all Seeds of Faction and future Rebellions, without doing any thing to provoke them; and ’tis certain, his Majesty was ready to do every thing on his Part to that Purpose, which others over and over promised us; and what they have done, besides obliging the Nation with a Septennial Parliament, encreasing the publick Debts a great many Millions, and by the South-Sea Project paying them off, I leave to themselves to declare.

However, I confess, an Army at last became necessary, and an Army was raised time enough to beat all who opposed it: Some of them have been knock’d on Head, many carried in Triumph, some hang’d and others confiscated, as they well deserved; and, I presume, the Nation would scarce have been in the Humour to have kept up an Army to fight their Ghosts, if a terrible Invasion had not threatned us from Sweden, which however, was at last frighted into a Fleet of Colliers, or naval Stores, indeed I have forgot which. This Danger being over, another succeeded, and had like to have stole upon us from Cales, notwithstanding all the Intelligence we could [I-349] possibly get from Gibraltar, which lies just by it; and this shews, by the way, the little Use of that Place: But we have miraculously escaped that Danger too; the greatest Part of their Fleet was dispersed in a Storm, and our Troops have actually defeated in the Highlands some Hundreds of the Enemy, before many People would believe they were there. Since this, we have been in great Fear of the Czar; and last Year, one Reason given by many for continuing the Army was, to preserve us against the Plague.

But now the King of Sweden is dead, the Czar is gone a Sophi-hunting, the Plague is ceased, and the King of Spain’s best Troops have taken up their Quarters in Italy, where if I guess right, they will have Employment enough, and what are we to keep up the Army now to do, unless to keep out the Small-Pox? Oh! but there is a better Reason than that, namely, a Plot is discovered, and we can’t find out yet all who are concerned in it, but we have pretty good Assurance, that all the Jacobites are for the Pretender, and therefore we ought to keep in Readiness a great Number of Troops (who are to sleep on Horseback, or lie in their Jack-Boots) which may be sufficient to beat them all together, if they had a Twelvemonth’s Time given them to beat up for Volunteers, to buy Horses and Arms, to form themselves into Regiments, and exercise them; lest, instead of lurking in Corners, and prating in Taverns, and at Cock-Matches, they should surprize Ten or Twelve Thousand armed Men in their Quarters: I dare appeal to any unprejudiced Person, whether this is not the Sum of some Mens Reasonings upon this Subject?

But I desire to know of these sagacious Gentlemen, in what Respect shall we be in a worse State of Defence than we are now, if the Army was reduced to the same Number as in King William’s Time, and in the latter End of the Queen’s Reign, and that it consisted of the same Proportion of Horse and Foot, that every Regiment had its compleat Number of Troops and Companies, and every Troop and Company had its Complement of private Men? ’Tis certain, upon any sudden Exigency, his Majesty would have as many Men at command as he has now, and, I presume, more common Soldiers, who are [I-350] most difficulty to be got upon such Occasions; for Officers will never be wanting, and all that are now regimented will be in Half-pay, and ready at Call to beat up and raise new Regiments, as the others could be filled up, and they may change any of the old Men into them, which reduces it to the same Thing. By this we shall save the Charge of double or treble Officering our Troops, and the Terror of keeping up the Corpse of Thirty or Forty Thousand Men, though they are called only Thirteen or Fourteen; and sure it is high Time to save all which can be saved, and, by removing all Causes of Jealousy, to unite all, who for the Cause of Liberty, are zealous for the present Establishment, in order to oppose effectually those who would destroy it.

I will suppose, for once, what I will not grant, that those call’d Whigs are the only Men amongst us who are heartily attached to his Majesty’s Interest; for I believe the greatest Part of the Tories, and the Clergy too, would tremble at the Thought of Popery and Arbitrary Power; which must come in with the Pretender. But taking it to be otherwise, ’tis certain that the Body of the Whigs, and indeed I may say almost all except the Possessors and Candidates for Employments or Pensions, have terrible Apprehensions of a Standing Army, as the Tories themselves; and dare any Man lay his Hand upon his Heart and say, that his Majesty will find greater Security in a few Thousand more Men already regimented, than in the Steady Affections of so many Hundred Thousands who will be always ready to be regimented; When the People are easy and satisfy’d, the whole Kingdom is his Army; and King James found what Dependance there was upon his Troops, when his People deserted him. Would not any wise and honest Minister desire, during his Administration, that the Publick Affairs should run glibly, and find the hearty Concurrence of the States of the Kingdom, rather than to carry their Measures by perpetual Struggles and Intrigues, to waste the Civil Lift by constant and needless Pensions and Gratuities, be always asking for new Supplies, and rendering themselves, and all who assist them, odious to their Country-Men?

[I-351]

In short, there can be but two Ways in Nature to govern a Nation, one is by their own Consent, and the other by Force: One gains their Hearts, and the other holds their Hands; The first is always chosen by those who design to govern the People for the People’s Interest, and the other by those who design to oppress them for their own; for whoever desires only to protect them, will covet no useless Power to injure them; There is no fear of a People’s acting against their own Interest, when they know what it is, and when, through ill Conduct or unfortunate Accidents, they become dissatisfied with their present Condition, the only effectual Way to avoid the threatning Evil, is to remove their Grievances.

When Charles Duke of Burgundy, with most of the Princes of France, at the Head of an Hundred Thousand Men, took up Arms against Lewis the Eleventh, that Prince sent an Embassy to Sforsa Duke of Milan, desiring that he would lend him some of his Veteran Troops; and the Duke returned him for Answer, That he could not be content to have them cut to Pieces, (as they would assuredly have been) but told him at the same time, That he would send him some Advice which would be worth Ten times as many Troops as he had; namely, that he should give Satisfaction to the Princes, and then they would disperse of Course; and the King improv’d so well upon the Advice, that he diverted the Storm, by giving but little Satisfaction to the Princes, and none at all to those who followed them. The Body of the People in all Countries are so desirous to live in quiet, that a few good Words, and a little good Usage from their Governors, will at any Time pacify them, and make them very often turn upon those Benefactors, who by their Pains, Expence, and Hazard, have obtained those Advantages for them; and indeed, when they are not outragiously oppressed and starved, are almost as ready to part with their Liberties, as others are to ask for them.

But what I have before said, I would not be understood, to declare absolutely against continuing our present Forces, or increasing them, if the Importance of the Occasion requires either; and the Evils threatened, are [I-352] not yet dissipated; But I could wish that, if such an Occasion appears, those who think them at this Time necessary, would declare effectually, and in the fullest Manner, that they design to keep them, no longer than during the present Emergency; and that, when it is over, they will be as ready to break them, as I believe the Nation will be to give them, when just Reasons offer themselves for doing so.

[I-355]

N. B. The above List is imperfect, there being more Forces upon the British Establishment than are here specify’d.