Some reflections on a pamphlet lately published entituled An argument shewing that a standing army is inconsistent with a free government and absolutely destructive to the constitution of the English monarchy

Some reflections on a pamphlet lately published entituled An argument shewing that a standing army is inconsistent with a free government and absolutely destructive to the constitution of the English monarchy

Table of contents

Title page

The PREFACE.

Reflections on a late Scandalous Pamphlet, Entituled, An Argument against a Standing Army.

CONCLUSION.

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SOME REFLECTIONS On a Pamphlet lately Publish'd, Entituled, AN ARGUMENT Shewing that A Standing Army Is inconsistent with A Free Government, AND Absolutely Destructive to the Constitution of the English MONARCHY.

Hard words, Iealousies and Fears,

Sets Folks together by the Ears.

Hudibras Lib. 1.

The Second Edition.

LONDON: Printed for E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall. 1697.

The PREFACE.

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Mr. ABCDEFG, SIR,

SInce I am to Address to you Incognito, I must be excus'd if I mistake your Quality; and if I treat you with more or less Civility than is your due, with respect to the Names or Titles, by which you may be Dignified or Distinguish'd; but as you are in Print, you give your self a just Title to the scandalous Name of a Pamphleteer, a Scribler, a seditious broacher of Notions and Opinions, and what not, for as is the Book such is the Author.

I confess you are something difficult to be known, for your Note is so often chang'd, and your Trumpet gives such an uncertain sound, that no man can prepare himself to the Battle; sometimes you talk like a Common Wealths Man, sometimes you applaud our present Constitution, sometimes you give high Encomiums of the King; and then under the Covert of what Kings may be, you sufficiently Banter him; sometimes the Army are Ragamuffins, sometimes Men of Conduct and Bravery; sometimes our Militia are brave Fellows, and able enough to Guard us, and sometimes so inconsiderable, that a small Army may Ruine us, so that no Man alive knows where to have you.

Possibly I may not have made a particular Reply to a long Rapsody of Exclamatory Heads; for indeed, Sir, Railing is not my Talent: Had I more time to consult History, possibly I might have illustrated my Discourse with more lively instances; but I assure you I have not look'd in a Book during the Composure, for which reason I desire to be excus'd if I have committed any Errors, as to the Dates of any of my Quotations.

If I were a Member of the Army, I wou'd thank you mightily for the fine sweet words you give them at the end of your Book: you have a pretty way with you of talking of Kings, and then you don't mean this King; and then of Armies, but you don't mean this Army; no, by no means, and yet 'tis this King that must not be trusted with Men nor Arms, and 'tis this Army that must be Disbanded; and his Majesty is exceedingly obliged to you, Sir, for your usage of him as a Soldier; for 'tis plain you are for Disbanding him as well as the Army.

But of all things I magnifie you, Dear Sir, for that fine turn of [Page] Argument, that not to Disband the Army is the way to bring in King James; but to Disband them is the most effectual way to hinder them. You have read, no doubt, of the Fable, how the Sheep were perswaded to dismiss the Dogs who they had hired to defend them against the Wolves; the Application, Sir, is too plain; and this is the Clause makes me suspect you for a Iacobite.

Well you have driven furiously, and like Jehu called all the World to see your Zeal for the Lord; but like him too you have not Demolished the high Places; you have Demolish'd the Army, but you have not provided against Jacobitism; you take care to leave the King naked to the Villany of Assassines, for you are not for leaving him so much as his Guards; and you take care to leave the Nation naked to the insults of an Enemy, and the King and the People must defend themselves as well as they can. This is the way indeed to teach us Obedience with a Rod of Iron, and to make us pass under the Axes and Harrows of a barbarous Enemy.

All your Plea is Liberty, an alluring word; and I must tell you, Liberty or Religion has been the Mask for almost all the Publick Commotions of the World: but if Freedom be the English Man's Right, you ought to have given the King and his Parliament the Freedom of Debating this matter by themselves, without putting your self upon them to raise a Controversie, where for ought you know there may be no occasion.

What is there no way but an entire Disbanding the whole Army? Can no Expedient be found out to secure us from Enemies abroad, and from Oppression at home, &c. no way but this, Sir, How do you know what a Parliament may do?

Parliaments are Magnipotent, tho' they are not Omnipotent, and I must tell you, Sir, the Commons of England are not a Body that can be Enslaved with 20000 Men; and all that have ever attempted it, formed their own Ruine in it, and I hope ever will do so; but the Wicked fear where no fear is, and fly when none pursues.

Sir, I wish you wou'd let us know your Character, that we might judge of the Manners by the Man, for I am sure we cannot judge well of the Man by the Manners.

Your most Humble Servant, D.F.

Reflections on a late Scandalous Pamphlet, Entituled, An Argument against a Standing Army.

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SOME Men are so fond of their own Notions, and so impatient in the Pride of their own Opinions, that they cannot leave Business of Consequence to them to whom it specially and peculiarly belongs, but must, with as much Brass as Impertinence, meddle with a Cause before it comes before them, tho' it be only to show they have more Wit than Manners.

I observe this by the way, before I enter the List of Argument which a Nameless Author of a most Scandalous Pamphlet, call'd, An Argument against a standing Army.

If the Author of that Pamphlet be, as he wou'd be thought, a true honest spirited English-man, who out of his meer Zeal for the Safety, Liberty, and Honour of his Country, has made this false Step, he is the more to be consider'd: But if so, why shou'd he fear his Name? The days are over, God be thank'd, when speaking Truth was speaking Treason: Every Man may now be heard. What has any Man suffer'd in this Reign for speaking boldly, when Right and Truth has been on his side? Nay, how often has more Liberty been taken that way than consisted with good Manners, and yet the King himself never restrain'd it, or reprov'd it; witness Mr. Stephen's unmannerly Books, written to the King himself.

[Page]But since the Author Conceals himself from all the World, how can we guess him any thing but a Male-content, a Grumbletonian, to use a foolish term, a Person dissatisfied with his not being Rewarded according to his wonderful Merit, a Ferg—, a Man—, or the like. Or a down-right Iacobite, who finding a French War won't do, wou'd fain bring in Fears and Jealousies to try if a Civil War will. I confess I cannot affirm which of these; but I am of the Opinion he is the latter of the two, because his Insinuations are so like the Common Places of that Party, and his Sawcy Reflections on the King's Person, bear so exact a Resemblance to their usual Treatment of him, that it seems to be the very stile of a Malignant.

I may be readily answer'd to this (I confess) Let me be what I will, what's that to you, Answer my Argument; If the Doctrine be true, let the Devil be the Parson; Speak to the Point.

In good time I shall: And to begin with him, I agree with him in all he says, or most part at least of his Preamble, saving some triflng Matters of Stile and of Notion, and we won't stand with him for small things. And thus I bring him to his Fourth Page without any trouble; for indeed he might have spar'd all the Three Pages for any great signification they have, or relation to what comes after.

The Fifth Paragragh in his Fourth Page, and indeed the Substance of the whole Book brings the Dispute to this short Point; That any Army in England is inconsistent with the Safety of the Kingdom; That Liberty and an Army are incompatible; That the King is not to be trusted with either Men, Arms, nor Money, for the last will be the Consequence of the former; lest he that has ventur'd his Life in the Extreamest Dangers for us, shou'd turn our [Page]Devourer and destroy us. A great deal of very handsome Language he bestows upon the King on this account, calling him, with a tacit sort of necessary Consequence, Wolf, Beast, Tyrant, and the like.

He tells us, Page 3. All the Nations round us have lost their Liberty by their permitting standing Armies; and that they permitted them from Necessity or Indiscretion. If from Necessity, 'twas their Misfortune not their Fault. If from Indiscretion, that was their Fault indeed.

But he is not pleas'd to give us one Instance of any People who were brought under that Necessity, and lost their Liberty by it; and yet if he had, 'twas no Argument, but that if we were reduc'd to the same Necessity, we must run the risque of it: Of which more by and by.

In the same Page he lays down the Draught of our Constitution. Depending on a due Ballance between King, Lords and Commons; and affirms from thence, That this Constitution must break the Army, or the Army destroy this Constitution: and affirms absolutely, with a Confidence Peculiar to himself, That no Nation can preserve its freedom, which maintains any other Army than such as is composed of a Militia of its own Gentry and Freeholders. And being gotten into a Positive vein, he says, What happen'd yesterday, will come to pass again; and the same Causes will produce like Effects in all Ages. And indeed all is alike true, since nothing is more frequent, than for the same Causes to produce different Effects; and what happened yesterday may never happen again while the World stands, of which King Iames is a visible Instance. But to descend to Particulars.

I shall give you only this remarkable Instance; King Henry VIII made as vigorous and irregular Efforts to destroy the Religion of the Kingdom (as then 'twas establish'd) [Page] as ever King Iames did, and perhaps his Methods were more than ordinarily parallel; he Govern'd this Nation with as absolute a despotical Power, though the Constitution was then the same it is now, as ever King Charles II. or King Iames II. attempted to have done, and yet the Effects were not Abdication, or calling in a Foreign Aid. I could go back to other Kings of this Nation, whose Stories might illustrate this; but the Gentleman is Historian good enough, I perceive, to know it; and by the way, 'tis to be observed also, that he did this without the help of a Standing Army: From whence I only observe, as all the present use I shall make of this Instance, that there are ways for a King to tyrannize without a standing Army, if he be so resolv'd: è contra, there may be ways to prevent it with an Army, and also that I think this proves, that the same Causes does not always produce the same Effects; and a little further, if the same Causes will produce the like Effects in all Age, why then, Sir, pray lay by your Fears, for if ever King William (which we are sure he won't) or any King else, goes about to destroy our Constitution, and overturn our Liberties, as King Iames did, the People will call in a Foreign Aid, and cause him to run away, as they did then; for what happened Yesterday will come to pass again, and the same Causes will produce the like Effects in all Ages.

Page the Sixth he begins very honestly, with a Recognition of our Security under the present King, and softens his Reader into a belief of his Honesty, by his Encomiums on his Majesty's Person, which would be well compar'd with his Seventeenth Page, to shew how he can frame his Stile to his Occasion; but in short, concludes, that when he is dead, we know not who will come next; nay, the Army may come and make who [Page] they please King, and turn the Parliament out of Doors and therefore in short, we ought not to trust any thing to him, that we wou'd not trust to the greatest Tyrant that may succeed him. So that our Condition is very hard, that the Person of a King is no part of the Consideration, but a King, be he Angel or Devil, 'tis all one, is a Bugbear, and not to be trusted. A fine Story indeed, and our great Deliverer (as he calls the King) must not regret this, but be contented: that now he has cleared the World of all our Enemies, but himself, he should be esteem'd the great Charibdis which the Na [...]ion was to be split upon, and we must entirely disarm him, as a Wolf who ought not to be trusted with Teeth; for these are his own Words.

Then he tells us, No Legislators ever establisht a Free Government, but avoided this, as the Israelites, Athenians, Corinthians, Accaians, Lacedemonians, Thebanes, Sammites, Romans. Now 'tis notoriously known, that all these were first establish'd Commonwealths, not Monarchies: and if this Gentleman wou'd have us return to that Estate, then I have done with him; but I appeal to himself, if all these Governments, when they became Regal, did not maintain a Millitary Power more or less: Nay, God himself, when the Israelites would have a King, told them this would be a Consequence: as if it might be inferr'd as of absolute necessity, that a Military Power must be made use of with a Regal Power; and as it may follow no King, no Army, so it may as well follow, no Army no King. Not that I think an Army necessary to maintain the King in his Throne, with regard to his Subjects, for I believe no Man in the World was ever the Peoples King more than his present Majesty. But I shall endeavour a little to examine by and by, what the King and Nation, so as [Page] Matters now stand in the World, wou'd be without an Army.

But our Adversary rests not here, but Page 7. he proceeds; truly he wou'd not have the King trusted with an Army; no, nor so much as with Arms, all the Magazines too must be taken from him. And referring to the Estates, mentioned before, he says, They knew that the Sword and the Sovereignty marcht Hand in Hand, and therefore a general exercise of the People in Arms, was the Bulwark of their Liberties, and their Arms, that is, Magazines of Amunition, &c. for the Term is now changed, w [...]re never lodg'd in the Hands of any but the People: for so the following Words directly imply. The best and bravest of their Generals came from the Plough, and contentedly return'd to it again when the War was over. We shou'd have made a fine War against France indeed, if it had been so here. And then he goes on with Instances of Nations who lost their Liberties when ever they deviated from these Rules. At the end of these Examples, our Author tells all the World in short what he would be at: For there he has, like God Almighty, divided the World, and he has set the Sheep on his right hand, and the Goats on his left; for he has reckon'd up all the Monarchal Governments in the World, with a Go ye cursed into the most abandon'd Slavery, as he calls it; and all the Commonwealths in the World, on the other side, with a Come ye blessed into freedom from Kings standing Armies, &c.

Nay he has brought Algiers and Tunis in for People who enjoy their Liberty, and are free. I suppose he has never been there: and truly, I believe the Freedom he mentions here, wou'd be very like that, or like the Days when there was no King in Israel, but every Man, did what was right in his own Eyes.

[Page]Thus far I have follow'd him only with Remarks in general to Page 13. he proceeds then to tell us the Danger of an Army, and the Misfortune of all Countries to be forc'd sometimes to take up Arms against their Governours. A Man ought to be an universal Historian to affirm that, and I have not time to examine it now. From hence he draws this Assertion, That 'tis therefore necessary to put us into a Capacity always to be able to Correct our Kings, that we may have no occasion for it; for when we are enabled to do it, we shall never be put upon it. The English is this, Keep your King so weak that he may always be afraid of you, and he will never provoke you to hurt him. For, says he, that Nation shall be sure to live in Peace which is most capable of making War: But if the King has 20000 Men before-hand with us, observe it [with us] in totidem verbis I leave his meaning to be construed, the People can make no Efforts without the Assistance of a Foreign Power.

Another Consequence of an Army is, They may come and force the People to choose what Members they please, to sit in Parliament, or they may besiege the Parliament-House, and the like. Now it happened that both these things have been done in England, and yet the People preserved their Liberties, which is a Demonstration beyond the Power of Words, from his old Maxim, What happen'd Yesterday, will come to pass again, and like Causes will have like Effects: The choice of Members of Parliament were obstructed, and the House of Parliament was besieged and insulted by the Soldiers, and yet the People were not depriv'd of their Liberties; therefore it may be so again, for what happen'd Yesterday will come to pass again.

[Page]Page 14. He descends to a particular, which reverst, I think, is a lively Instance what a vigorous Opposition may do against a far greater Force than 20000 Men: If King Charles the First, says he, had had but 5000 Men, the People cou'd never have struck a Stroak for their Liberties.

Turn this Story, and let us but recollect what Force the Parliament had, and what the King had, and yet how many Stroaks he struck for his Crown.

The Parliament had the Navy, all the Forts, Magazines and Men in their Hands: The King, when he erected his Standard at Nottingham, had neither Ships, Men, Arms, Ammunition or Money, but seem'd to be turn'd loose into the Field, to fight with the Commons of England, and all the Militia was in the Hands of the Parliament by the Commission of Array, and yet the King was ready in Keynton Field, and at the Head of an Army, sooner than the Parliament were ready to fight him, nor do the Writers of that Side pretend to call that a Victory.

Then he comes to King Iames, and says he, If he had not attempted Religion▪ but been contented with Arbitrary Power, we shou'd ha' let him bound us Hand and Foot; and tho' King James had all the Nation, and his own Army against him, yet we account the Revolution next to a Miracle. To this I reply, No, Sir; no Miracle at all on that Score; for the Nobility, Gentry, and People of England did not question but they shou'd reduce him to reason, else they had never call'd in the present King, for they did not expect him to work Miracles, but to procure a Free Parliament, &c. as is at large express'd in his Majesties Decla [...]ation. But here lay the Miracle of the Revolution:

[Page]The Providential Removal of the French Kings Forces to the Siege of Philipsburgh, against all manner of Policy, when if he had made but a feint on the Frontiers of the Dutch, they could neither have spar'd their Troops nor their Stadtholder.

The wonderful Disposition of the Wind and Weather which lockt up King Iames's Fleet, so as to make the Descent easie and safe.

And at last the Flight of King Iames, and the Re-settlement of the whole Kingdom without a Civil War, which was contrary to the Expectations of all the World; this was that which was next to Miraculous.

Now we must come to examine his Quotations, by which I must be excus'd to guess at the rest of his Instances, which indeed, generally speaking, are chosen very remote; he tells us, a very small Army is capable to make a Revolution; Oliver Cromwel left behind him but 17000, Oportet Mendacem esse Memorem; Oliver Cromwel did not work the Revolution which he brought to pass on the Parliament with less than 35000 Men, and if he left but 17000 behind him, which nevertheless I do not grant, there must be reckoned the Army left in Scotland, with General Monk, which was at least 12000, and the Settlement in Ireland, which at least also took off from the old Army above 10000 Men more, besides those which had chang'd Parties and laid down their Arms: As to the Pretorian Soldiers, I don't read that they by themselves made any Revolution in the Roman Empire. Iulius Caesar had a much greater Force when he March'd out of Gaul; and they were great Armies who Declared Galba, Otho, and Vespasian Emperors. Then as to the Ottoman Empire, of which this Author, I suppose, knows very little; the Ianisaries have not been less in that Empire till this [Page] War, than 70000 Men; what he calls the Court Ianisaries I know not, but when Selimus Depos'd and Murther'd his Father Amurath, you will find above 50000 Ianisaries and Spahis in the Action; but if an Army of 17000 Men can enslave this Nation, as he foolishly supposes, our Militia are good for much at the same time.

As to his Paragraph, p. 15. wherein he says, we are told, this Army is to be but for a time, and not to be part of our Constitution. I must say to him, I never have been told so, but I am of the Opinion, and shall acquiesce in it, that such an Army and no other, as the King and Parliament shall think needful for our Preservation shall be kept on Foot, so and so long as the said King and Parliament shall think fit; and from them I dare say no Danger can befal our Liberty. We have a blessed happy Union between the King and the Parliament; the King offers not to invade the Peoples Liberties, nor they his Prerogative; he will desire no Army but for their safety, nor they will deny none that is: But here is an Author, who in the beginning of his Pamphlet says, the Safety of the Kingdoms depends upon a due Ballance; and at the same time tells us, our Armies, no nor our Magazins, are not to be trusted with the King; is that a due Ballance?

Then he tells you, that saying the Purse is in the Hands of the People, is no Argument at all, and that an Army will raise Money, as well as Money raise an Army; he suggests indeed, that 'tis too desperate a Course, as well he may; for I wou'd only ask him, if he thinks an Army of 20000 Men could suppress this whole Kingdom, and live upon Free Quarter on the Inhabitants by Force. I wou'd put him in mind of the Alarum Ship Money made in England, and yet King Charles had then an Army and no Parliament Sitting. Then he supposes a shutting [Page] up the Exchequer, for indeed he is upon the Point of Supposing every thing that has but a Possibility in it, and what if the Exchequer should be shut up? why this Gentleman wants to be told that the Money is not in Specie in the Exchequer, and it must be raised and brought thither by the Help of the Army; so that all that amounts to the same thing as the other, raising Money by Troops of Horse, which has been try'd in England, to the Destruction of the Contrivers; and what has been, he says, will always be again.

From this he proceeds to an insolent saucy Banter on his Majesty's Person, whose Vertue, he says, we ought not to hazard by leading it into Temptation: Our Heroes, he says, are of a course Allay, and he has observed most Men to do all the Mischief they can, and therefore he is for dealing with them as with Children and Mad Men, that is, take away all Weapons from them, by which they may do either themselves or others any Mischief; as the Sheep who addrest to Apollo, that for the future the Wolves might have no Teeth.

His placing this in the Plural, the Courtiers, is too thin a Screen to blind any Man's Eyes; but 'tis as plain as if it had been said in so many Words, that all this is meant directly of the King; for who is it we have been speaking of? 'tis the King, who is not to be trusted with an Army, or with the Arms of the Kingdom; 'tis the King who must be the Tyrant, and must raise Money, and shut up the Exchequer, and the like; and he speaks here of nothing but what the King only can be supposed to do.

In Confutation of his 18th Page, I could very plainly demonstrate, that even a Slavery under a Protestant Army would differ very much from a Slavery under a Popish and French Army. England has felt the First, [Page] and seen others feel the last: there is a Difference in Slavery, Algiers is better than Sally; and there are Degrees of Misery; and this is no putting an Epethite upon Tyranny, ask the Protestants of Languedoc if the French Dragoons were not worse than the Spanish Inquisition: But this is Foreign to the Point, it does not appear to any considerate Person, that here is any of these Slaveries in view, and therefore, I thank God, we are not put to the Choice.

I shall leave him now, and discourse a little in Particular of the thing it self, and what other Pretensions he makes will meet their Answer in the process of the Story as they come in my way.

As I said at the Beginning, what's all this to us? we who are English Men have the least Reason of any People in the World, to complain of any of our Laws, or of any Publick Affairs, because nothing is or can be done, but I, and every individual Free holder in England, do it our selves, we consent to it, and tacitly do it by our Representatives in the Parliament; and since then our Liberties, aye and our Lives are committed to them, who are you, Sir? that you shou'd run before you are sent, and dictate to the Collective Body of the Nation, what they ought or ought not to do? if the House of Commons think fit to continue 50000 Men, there is no doubt but they will find ways so to keep them at their dispose, that even that Army shall be the Preserver of our Liberties, not the Destroyer of them, and to them let us leave it.

But 'tis the King is the Bugbear, a Royal Army shall destroy us, but a Parliament Army shall protect us. Page 11. Commonwealths, he says, may have Armies, but Kings may not. Now if putting Arms into the Hands of Servants is so fatal, why it's as dangerous to make a general Muster of the Militia, as 'twas to the French in [Page] the West-Indies, to give their Arms to their Servants, a standing Militia regulated and disciplin'd, such as the Vaudois or Miquelets, why that's a Standing Army, and shall be as insolent as they, if you give them an Opportunity, and a Standing Army, as they may be regulated, shall be as safe and as far from Tyrannizing as they.

And with this Gentleman's leave, I believe I could form a Proposal how an Army of 20000 Men might be kept in England, which should be so far from being destructive of, that, they should on all Occasions be the Preservers and Protectors of the Peoples Liberties, in case of a Court Invasion, for that is the Out-cry; I confess, I do rather beg the Question here, than produce my Schemes of that Nature, because I do not think it becomes me to dictate to my Superiors, who without Question, know better what to do in that great Concern of the Government, than I could direct.

The Question here may be more properly, What sort of an Army we talk of? If 'twere an Army Independant of the People, to be paid by the King, and so entirely at his absolute dispose. If 'twere to be an Army of 50000 Men, why then something may be said; but our Gentleman has not talk'd of above 20000, and I presume he speaks of that without any Authority too, and at the same time talks of the Valour and Performances of the Militia, and wou'd have Sixty thousand of them settled and regulated. This Argument of the Militia is strangely turn'd about by him; sometimes they are such Hero's that they are able to defend us, and why should they not, and the like, page 20, 21. and sometimes so weak that 20000 Men will ruine us all; nay, any thing of an Army. If they are strong enough to defend us from all the World, a small number of standing Troops cannot hurt us; if they are not, then we must [Page] have an Army, or be exposed to every Invader.

I wonder therefore this Gentleman does not descend to show us a time when the Militia of any Country did any Service singly, without the help of the Regulated Troops; I can give him a great many Instances when they did not. The best time that ever the Militia of England can boast of doing any Service, was in our Civil War; and yet I can name a Gentleman, who is now alive, who was an Officer of Horse in the Parliament Army, he was posted by the General at a Defile, to dispute the Passage of some of the King's Horse, who advanc'd from Warrington-Bridge in Cheshire, finding himself prest, he sent away to the General for some Foot to support him: He sent him a Company of Foot of the Militia, and a Detachment of Dragoons; the Foot were plac'd behind the Hedges to line the Pass where they might have fir'd almost under Covert, as behind a Breast-work; but as soon as ever the King's Horse appear'd, without firing one shot, they run all away. These were Regulated Militia. But our Author gives us three Instances of Countries, whose Militia defend them; and three more of the bravery of a Country Militia, which Instances I must a little examine.

Poland, Switzerland, and the Grisons are his Instances of Nations who defend themselves against powerful Neighbours without a standing Army. As to Poland, I shall shew afterward at what a rate they have defended themselves. The Swiss and Grisons subsist between formidable Enemies, just as the Duke of Savoy defends himself between the French and the Spaniards, or as Hamburgh between the Danes and the Dukes of Zel, or as Geneva between the French and the Saveyard; not but that eithre side is able to devour them, but because when ever one side Ataques them, the others defend them; for 'tis [Page] neither sides Interest to see the others have them.

But now we come to the Militia, the London Apprentices in the late War, and the Vaudois and Miquelets in this. As to the London Auxiliaries, which they call Apprentices, they behav'd themselves very well, but it was in Conjunction with the Regulated Troops, when I must also say, the King's Army at that time were but raw, and not much better than themselves.

The Vaudois are Les Enfans perdue, a People grown desperate by all the Extremities which make Cowards fight; a small handful of Ruin'd Men, exasperated by the Murder of their Families, and loss of their Estates, and are to be lookt upon as Men metamorphised into Dragons and Furies; and yet even the Vaudois have never fought but on Parties, Skirmishes, Surprizes, Beating up Quarters, and the like, back'd with Retreats into inaccessible Rocks, and skulking behind the Cliffs, from whence, like Lightning, they break out on the Enemy, and are gone before they could well find where they were.

The Miquelets in Catalonia are another Instance, and these are but People, who by the Advantages of the Mountains, lye in wait to intercept Convoys, and surprize Parties, and have done the French exceeding Dammage, on account of the Distance of the French Armies in that Country from their Magazines; for 'tis necessary to state Matters very exactly, to debate with so cunning a Disputant. But for the Service of either the Vaudois or Miquelets in the open Field, it has not been extraordinary. As to the Militia in Ireland, all their Fame is owing to the despicable wretched Conduct of the Irish; for what Army but that of a Rabble of Irish, could Iniskilling and London-Derry have stood out against, at the rate they did. So that these Wonders of the Militia are all Phantosms, [Page] and not applicable to the present Case at all.

I shall a little urge here by way of Reply, That there seems to be a Necessity upon the People of England at this time, to stand in a Posture of Defence more than usually; if I cannot prove this, then I say nothing

First, This Necessity arises from the Posture of our Neighbours: In former times, says our Authour, there was no difference betweon the Citizen, the Souldier, and the Husband-man; but 'tis otherwise now, Sir, War is become a Science, and Arms an Employment, and all our Neighbours keep standing Forces, Troops of Veteran Experienced Soldiers; and we must be strangely expos'd if we do not.

In former times the way of Fighting was Common to all, and if Men ran from the Field to the Camp, so did their Neighbours, and 'twas as good for one as another. But how did the Romans preserve their Frontiers, and plant their Colonies? That was not done by Citizens of Rome, but by Legionary Troops; and shall we Disarm, while our Neighbours keep standing Armies of Disciplin'd Souldiers on foot? Who shall secure us against a sudden Rupture? Whoever will give himself the trouble to look into the Treaties of Westphalia and Nimeguen and to Examine the Conduct of the French King they will find, He did not then account Leagues such Sacred things as to bind him against a visible Advantage; and why should we lead him into Temptation? Let any one but reflect on the several Treaties between him and the Duke of Lorrain, the Duke of Savoy, and the Spaniards; after which ensued, the Prize of all Lorrain, the taking of all Savoy, and the taking of the City and Country of Luxemburgh; let them look on his surprising [Page] the Principality of Orange, directly contrary to the Peace of Nimeguen, and the like, and is this a Neighbour to live by Naked and without an Army? Who shall be Guarrantee that the French shall not insult us, if he finds us utterly Disarmed.

To answer this Necessity says this wise Gentleman, We will have an Equivalent; why, we will not have a Land Army, but we will have a Sea Army, that is, a good Fleet. A fine Tale truly, and is not this some of Mr. Iohnson's false Heraldry, as well as 'tother? Is it not all one to be Slaves to an Army of Masqueteers, as a Rabble of Tarrs. Our very Scituation, which the Author is in his Altitudes about, and blesses his God Neptune for at such a rate; that very Scituation exposes us to more Tyranny from a Navy, than from an Army: Nay I would undertake, if I were Admiral of a good Fleet, to Tyrannize more over this Nation, than I should if I were General of 40000 Men. I remember 'twas a great cry among the Iacobite Party, about four Year ago; what a vast Charge are we at about a War for the Confederates, Damn the Confederates, let us keep a good Fleet, and we are able to defend our selves against all the World; let who will go down, and who will go up, no Body will dare to meddle with us: But God be thanked, the King knew better than these, what was the true Interest of England; a War in Flanders is a War in England, let who will be the Invaders; for a good Barrier between a Kingdom and a powerful Enemy, is a thing of such Consequence, that the Dutch always thought it well worth the Charges of a War to assist the Spaniard; for thereby they kept the War from their own Borders and so do we.

In defending this silly Equivalent of a Fleet, he has the Vanity to say, If our Fleet be well mann'd, 'tis a ridiculous[Page]thing to think of any Princes Invading us; and yet we found it otherwise. This very War we found King Iames invaded Ireland, and the French sent him an Aid of 8000 Men, who stood their Ground so well at the Battle of the Boyn, that if King Iames had done his part as well, it might have been a dearer Victory than is was; after this he fetch'd those 8000 off again; and after that sent Monsieur St. Ruth; and after that a Relief to Limerick, tho' it came too late; and all this notwithstanding we had the greatest Fleet at Sea, that ever England had before th [...] time, since it was a Nation.

Thus Experience Bafles this foolish Equivalent, for Armies are not Transported with so much Difficulty; and the Six hundred Sail the P. of Orange brought with him, had not been absolutely necessary for 14000 Men; but there were vast Stores, Artillery, Arms, and heavy Baggage with them, which are not always necessary; for we know Monsieur Pointy carried 4500 Men with him, on his Expedition to Cartagena in but 16 Ships; and the 8000 Men before-mentioned, sent to Ireland, were carried in not above 35 or 38 Sail.

Another wretched Equivalent, which this Author would have us trust to, is the Militia; and these he magnifies, as sufficient to defend us against all the Enemies in the World; and yet at the same time so Debases them, as to make them nothing in Comparison of a small Army: Nay, he owns, that notwithstanding these we are undone, and our Liberties destroyed, if the King be trusted but with a few Guards. This is such a piece of Logick as no Man can understand.

If a Militia be regulated and Disciplin'd, I say they may enslave us as well as an Army; and if not, they cannot be able to defend us; if they are unable to Defend us, they are insignificant; and if able, dangerous; [Page] But, says the Author, there is no danger from the Militia, for they are our selves, and their Officers are Country Gentlemen of Estates: And is not our Army full of English Gentlemen, of Estates and Fortunes; and have we not found them as inflexible to the Charms of Tyranny, when closetted in the late Reign; and as true to the Protestant Interest and Liberties of England, as any Country Gentlemen, or Freeholders, or Citizens in England. Did they not lay down their Commissions, did they not venture to disobey his illegal Commands? when the Cowardly Citizens address'd him with their nauseous Flattering, fulsome Harrangues; thank'd him for their Bondage, and gave up their Charters and Priviledges, even before he ask'd for them; These are the Persons that must guard our Liberties; and they would be finely Guarded, God help us. I remember a Speech which I have to show in Manuscript of Sir Walter Rawleigh, on the Subject of the Spanish Invasion, which comes directly to this Case. The Author of this Pamphlet, to instance in the prodigious Navy that is necessary to bring over a small Army, tells us, the Spanish Armado Embark'd but 18000 Men, but he forgot that they were to take the Prince of Parma on Board from Flanders with 28000 old Low Country Soldiers more▪ with which Army, as Sir Walter Rawleigh observ'd to that Gentleman, it was no improbable thing to think of Conquering this Kingdom; and Queen Elizabeth was so sensible of it, that she often told Sir Walter, that if they had not been beaten at Sea, they had been all undone, for her Armies were all Tumultuary Troops, Militia, and the like.

To proceed, I'll grant all the Improbabilities which he suggests of the French King's reviving a War, which has been so fatal to him: And as to King Iames Coming, [Page] truly I'll allow the Militia are fittest at all times to deal with him; but to use his own Method of supposing the worst, I'll suppose the French King waving the Ceremony of a League, and a Declaration of War, when he has recovered Breath a little, shou'd as much on a sudden as can be, break with us single, and pour in an Army of 50000 Men upon us; I'll suppose our Fleet may be by accident so lockt in, as King Iames's was, for what has been may be, and they take that Opportunity, and get on Shore, and to oppose their Army, truly we raise the Militia, a Fine Shew they wou'd make, but what wou'd they do against 60 Batalions of French and Swiss Infantry? wou'd this Gentleman venture to be hang'd if they run all away and did not fire a Gun at them? I am sure I wou'd not.

But on the other Hand, if the Militia are a sufficient Guard against a Foreign Power, so they are against a Home Power, especially since this Home Power may be kept down to a due Ballance, so as may but suffice to keep us from being insulted by a Foreign Enemy; for Instance, suppose the King were to entertain in constant Pay, 20000 Men, including his Guards and Garrisons, the Militia of England Regulated and Disciplin'd, join'd to these, might do somewhat, but by themselves nothing. I can give him innumerable Instances of the Services of the Militia, but I never heard or read of any real Bravery from them, but when join'd with Regular Troops.

To Instance once for all, 'tis notorious that when the Prince of Conde attackt the Citizens of Paris at Charento [...], that Populous City being all in an Uproar, sent a Detachment of 20000 Men to dislodge the Prince, who with 1500 Horse and Dragoons, drove them all away, and they never lookt behind them, till they got within the City Walls.

[Page]Another Necessity for keeping up a certain Number of Troops, is the vast Expence and Difficulty of making a New-rais'd Army fit for Service; I am bold to say, as the Nature of Fighting is now chang'd, and the Art of War improv'd, were the King now to raise a New Army, and to be Commanded by New Officers, Gentlemen who had seen no Service, it should cost him Three Years Time, and 30000 Mens Lives to bring them into a Capacity to face an Enemy. Fighting is not like what it has been; I find our Author is but a Book Soldier, for he says, Men may learn to be Engineers out of a Book; but I never heard that a Book Gunner could Bombard a Town; the Philosophy of it may be Demonstrated in Scales and Diagrams, but 'tis the Practice that produces the Experiments; 'tis not handling a Musket, and knowing the Words of Command, will raise a Man's Spirit, and teach him to Storm a Counterscarp; Men must make the Terrors of the War familiar to them by Custom, before they can be brought to those Degrees of Gallantry. Not that there is an intrinsick Value in a Red Coat; and yet the Argument is not at all enforced by the Foul Language he gives the Souldiers, while they are fighting in Flanders, and laying down their Lives in the Face of the Enemy to purchase our Liberty; 'tis hard and unkind to be treated by a rascally Pamphleteer with the scandalous Term of Ragamuffins, and Henroost Robbers. I am no Soldier, nor ever was, but I am sensible we enjoy the present Liberty, the King his Crown, and the Nation their Peace, bought with the Price of the Blood of these Ragamuffins, as he calls them, and I am for being civil to them at least.

I might descend a little to examine what a strange Country England would be, when quite dismantled of all her Heroes (as he calls them); truly were I but a [Page] Pirate with a Thousand Men, I wou'd engage to keep the Coast in a Constant Alarm. We must never pretend to bear any Reputation in the World: No Nation would value our Friendship, or fear to affront us. Not our Trade Abroad would be secure, nor our Trade at Home. Our Peace, which we see now establish'd on a good Foundation, what has procur'd it? a War, and the Valour of our Arms, speaking of Second Causes. And what will preserve it? truly nothing but the Reputation of the same Force; and if that be sunk, how long will it continue? Take away the Cause, and our Peace, which is the Effect, will certainly follow.

Let me now a little examine the History of Nations who have run the same risque this Gentleman would have us do, and not to go back to remote Stories of the Carthaginians, who the Romans could never vanquish till they got them to dismiss their Auxiliary Troops. The Citizens of Constantinople, who always deny'd their Emperor the Assistance of an Army, were presently ruin'd by the Turks. We will come nearer home: The Emperor Ferdinand II. over-run the whole Protestant Part of Germany, and was at the point of Dissolving the very Constitution of their Government, and all for what of their having a Competent Force on foot to defend themselves; and if they had not been deliver'd by the Great Gustavus Adolphus, God Almighty must have wrought a Miracle to have sav'd them Next look into Poland, which our Author reckons to be one of the Free Countries who defend themselves without a standing Army. First he must understand, for I perceive he knows little of the Matter, that Poland has not defended it self; or if it has, it has been at a very sorry rate, God knows, much such a one as we should do without an Army, or at much such a rate as we did of old, when the Picts and Scots were our Hostile Neighbours. [Page] Pray let us see how Poland, which enjoys its freedom without a standing Army, has defended it self: First, It has been ravag'd on the side of Lithuania by the Effeminate Muscovites, and tho' the Poles always beat them in the Field, yet they had devoured their Country first before the Polanders Militia could get together. On the other hand, the Tartars, in several volant Excursions, have over-run all Vpper Poland, Vkrania and Volhinia, even to the Gates of Crakow; and in about Fifty years 'tis allow'd they have carried away a Million of this wretchedly free People into Slavery, so that all Asia was full of Polish Slaves.

On the East side Carolus Gustavus, King of Sweden, overrun the whole Kingdom, took Warsaw, Crackow, and beat King Casimir out of the Country into Silesia, and all in one Campaign, and only indeed for want of a Force ready to meet him upon the Frontiers; for as soon as Casimir had time to recover himself, and Collect an Army, he lookt him in the Face, and with an Invinsible Resolution fought him wherever he met him: But the ruin of the Country was irrepairable in an Age.

To come nearer home, and nearer to the Matter in hand, our Neighbours the Dutch, in the Minority of the present King, and under the manage of Barnavelt's Principles reviv'd in the Persons of the De Witts, to preserve their Liberties, as they pretended, they would suppress the Power of the House of Orange, and Disband their old Army which had establish't their Freedom by the Terror of their Arms; and to secure themselves, they came to a regulated Militia, the very thing this Gentleman talks of: Nay, this Militia had the Face of an Army, and were entertain'd in Pay; but the Commissions were given to the Sons of the principal Burghers, and the Towns had Governors from among themselves. [Page] This is just what our Gentleman wou'd have; and what came of this? These brave Troops were plac'd in Garrisons in the Frontier Towns: And in the Year 1672. the French King, this very individual French King now regnant, during the continuance of the Sacred Peace of Westphalia, enters the Country at the Head of two dreadful Armies, and these Soldiers, that were the Bulwark of the Peoples Liberties, surrendred the most impregnable Towns, garrison'd some with 2000, some 3000 Men, nay some with 6000, without striking a stroke, nay faster than the French cou'd well take Possession of them; so that in about Forty days he had taken 42 strong Towns, which would cost him Seven years to take now, tho' no Army were in the Field to disturb him; and then the People saw their Error, and gave themselves the Satisfaction of Tearing to Pieces the Authors of that pernicious Advice.

And truly, I think these Instances are so lively, that I wonder our Author, who I perceive is not so ignorant, as not to know these things, shou'd not have provided some Answer to it, for he could not but expect it in any Reply to him.

These things may a little tell us what is the Effects of a Nations being disarm'd while their Neighbours are in Arms, and all this must be answer'd with a Fleet; and that may be answer'd with this, We may be invaded notwithstanding a Fleet, unless you can keep up such a Fleet as can Command the Seas in all parts at the same time, or can, as Queen Elizabeth did, forbid your Neighbours to build Ships. But the French King is none of those, and his Power at Sea is not be slighted: Nor is it so small, but it may with too much ease protect an Invasion, and it is not safe to put it to that hazard.

Another Necessity of an Army seems to me to lye among [Page] our [...]es: There are Accidents which require the help of an Army, tho' the King and People were all of a Mind, and all of a side. King Iames and his Parliament had a full understanding, and they were as Vigorous for him, as ever Parliament was for a King, and yet what had become of both if he had not had Regular Troops to have resisted the Duke of Monmouth? If they had been to be raised then, he must have gone to France then, as he did now, or have stay'd at home and have far'd worse; for they wou'd hardly have us'd him so tenderly as the present King did to my knowledge.

I am loth to mention the Iacobite Party as an Argument worth while, to maintain any thing of force, but just enough to prevent Assassinations and private Murthers on the King's Person; for as they never dar'd look him in the face when powerfully assisted by the French; so I dare say they will never have the Courage to disturb our Peace with Sword in hand; what they do, will be by Caballing to foment Distrusts and Discontents to embroil, if possible, the King with his People or by private villainous Assassinates to destroy him, and by that means to involve the whole Nation in Blood and Disorder.

I allow the Speech of Queen Elizabeth to the Duke D'Alanzon was very great and brave in her; but pray had Queen Elizabeth no standing Army? On the contrary, she was never without them; she never had less in the Low Countreys, in aid of the Dutch, in France in aid of the King of Navar, and in her Wars in Ireland, than 30000 Men; and all the difference was, that she kept them abroad, employ'd for the Assistance of her Neighbours, and had them absolutely at Command; and so sensible she was of the want of them on the approach of the Spanish Armado, that she never lest her self so bare of them afterwards: and therefore to compare her Enemies and ours, and her Force with ours, without an Army, as he does [Page] p. 19. is a Deceptio visus upon our Understanding, and a presumption that no body has read any History but himself.

Then we come to K. Charles the Second's time in p. 26. and then, he says, we thought a much less Army than is now contended for a grievance. To which I answer, Quatenus an Army, they were not thought a Grievance, but attended with the Circumstances of Popish Confederacies and Leagues, and a Popish Successor in view, and then visibly managing them they might be thought so; and yet the Grand Iury presenting them, made them no more a Grievance than if they had presented the Parliament which granted an establisht number of Troops to King Charles.

Another bold Assertion he makes p. 27. That a standing Army is the only way to bring in K. James. This is a strange preposterous Supposition, and has no Argument brought to prove it, but the uncertain capricious Humour of the Souldiery, who in all Ages have produc'd violent Revolutions, may bring it to pass; that is in short, the Thing is possible, and that is all he can say; and 'tis every jot as possible, that K. William himself should change his Mind, Abdicate the Throne, and Call in K. James again, therefore pray let us have no King at all, for really when all is done these Kings are strange things, and have occasion'd more violent Revolutions in the World than ever have been known in unarm'd Governments. Besides, if we had no King, then a standing Army might be safe enough; for he tells you, in Commonwealths they may be allow'd, p. 11. but in Monarchies they are the Devil and all: Nay he gives two Instances when we had Armies turn'd out their Masters, Oliver Cromwel and General Monk, and yet both these were in the time of a Commonwealth. Now I would know if ever an Army turn'd out their King; as for K Iames, his instance is false, he really run away from his Army, his Army did not turn him out; 'tis true, part of it deserted: but I am bold to say, had K. Iames, with the Remainder, made [Page] good his Retreat, Souldier like, either to London, or under the Canon of Portsmouth, or to both, which he might ha' done, for no Body pursued him, till the French King had reliev'd him, it might have been a Civil War to this Hour.

And thus I have followed him to his last Page, I think I have not omitted any of his material Arguments or Examples; whether he is answered or not, in point of Argument, I leave to the Reader: what I have discovered in his Sophistical straining of Arguments, and misapplying his Quotations to gild by his Wit the want of his Proof, is what I thought needful; his malicious Spirit every where discovers it self, and to me he seems to be a disconted unsatisfied sort of a Person, that is for any thing but what shou'd be, and borrows the Pretence of Liberty, to vent his Malice at the Government: Nor is it a new Invention, when ever any Person had a mind to disturb the Roman Government, Liberty was always the Word, and so it is now.

CONCLUSION.

I Shall say no more as to Argument, but desire the Favour of a Word in General, as to the present Controversy.

To me it seems one of the most impudent Actions that ever was suffered in this Age, that a Private Person shou'd thus attack the King, after all that he has done for the Preservation of our Liberties and the Establishing our Peace, after all the Hazards of his Person and Family, and the Fatiegues of a bloody War, to be represented at his Return, as a Person now as much to be feared as King James was; to be trusted no more than a Mad Man, and the like, before he so much as knows whether there shall ever be any Dispute about the Matter, or no.

Has the King demanded a Standing Army? Has he propos'd it? Does he insist upon it? How if no such thought be in him? 'Tis a Sign what a Government we live under, and 'tis a Sign what Spirit governs some Men, who will abuse the most indulgent Goodness. It had been but time to have wrote such an Invective upon the King and the Army, when we had found the Parliament of England strugling to disband them, and the King resolute to maintain them: But This! when the King and the House are all Union and Harmony! 'tis intollerable, and the King ought to have some Satisfaction made him, and I doubt not but he will.

I am not, nor, I think, I have no where shown as if I [Page] were for the Government by an Army; but I cannot but suppose, with Submission to the House of Commons, that they will find it necessary to keep us in a Posture of Defence sufficient to maintain that Peace which has cast so much Blood and Treasure to procure, and I leave the Method to them, and so I think this Author ought to have done. I do not question but in that great Assembly all things will be done for the Maintenance of our Liberty with a due respect to the Honour and Safety of his Majesty, that is possible: They have shown themselves the most steady and Zealous for his Interest and the Publick, of any Body that ever filled that House; and I could never see, and yet I have not been a slight observer of Affairs neither. I say, I could never see the least symptom of an Inclination in the King's Actions, to dislike or contradict what they offered: has he not left them to be the entire judges of their own Grievances, and freely left them to be as entire judges of the Remedies? Has he ever skreened a Malefactor from their Justice, or a Favourite from their Displeasure? Has he ever infring'd their Priviledges? and as to who shall come after, we have his Royal Declaration at his coming to these Kingdoms; That his Design was to establish our Liberties on such Foundations, as that it might not be in the power of any Prince for the future to invade them, and he has never yet attempted to break it; And how is this to be done? not at the direction of a Pamphlet, but by the King, Lords and Commons, who have not taken a false Step yet in the Matter; To them let it be left, and if they agree, be it with an Army, or without an Army; be it by a Militia regulated, or by an Army regulated, what is that to him?

I have indeed heard much of a Militia regulated into an Army, and truly I doubt not, but an Army might be regulated into a Militia, with Safety and Honour to the King, and the Peoples Liberties. But as I have said, I leave that to the Government to determine, and conclude with only this Observation; If ever the Gentleman who is the Author of this Pamphlet be trac'd, I verily believe he will appear to be one, who thinking he has deserv'd more Respect from the Government than he has found, has taken this Way to let them know, they ought to have us'd him better or us'd him worse.

FINIS.

[Page]

Information about this book

Title statement

Some reflections on a pamphlet lately published entituled An argument shewing that a standing army is inconsistent with a free government and absolutely destructive to the constitution of the English monarchy

Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.

Edition statement

1697

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Text Creation Partnership,

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Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

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2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

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A37441

ID [STC]

Wing D848

ID [STC]

ESTC R29705

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11195807

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ocm 11195807

ID [VID]

46672

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37441)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 46672)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1439:36)

Source

— Some reflections on a pamphlet lately published entituled An argument shewing that a standing army is inconsistent with a free government and absolutely destructive to the constitution of the English monarchy, Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.. The second edition..

Extent

[4], 28 p.

Printed for E. Whitlock ...,. London :: 1697.. (Attributed by Wing and NUC pre-1956 imprints to Daniel Defoe.) (Reproduction of the original in the Harvard University Library.)

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