IN Answer to your Desire, to send you my own Thoughts, and those of our Friends here concerning the Arguments Pro and Con about a Standing Army, I have sent you them as follows, but must tell you that we are not Opinionative, and shall be glad, as al good Subjects ought to be, to acquiesce in whatever the Wisdom of the Nation, now Assembled in Parliament, shall think fit to determine in these Matters.

The Author of the Argument hath in my Opinion discovered a great deal of Reason and Wit, and no less Affection to his Prince and Country, however he may be traduc'd by some who are very much inferiour to him in alll those good Qualifications.

Yet I must beg his Leave to think that his Com­mendable Zeal for the Welfare and Security of his Country, hath carry'd him a little too far. So that instead of saying positively that a Standing Army is inconsistent with a Free Government, and absolutely de­structive to the English Monarchy, he ought to have qualified it thus, That a Standing Army in time of Peace, unless it be by Consent of Parliament, is Inconsi­stent with a Free Government, and absolutely destructive to the English Monarchy, or which is all one, against Law; and for this We have the Authority of the Con­vention sign'd with that of Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY, who accepted of the Crown upon Agreeing to this and other things relating to the Liberty of the Subject, as is to be seen in the Claim of Right.

But in the Threshold, I finding my self oblig'd to do the Author so much Justice as to say, that the Writers of the Reflections and Remarks upon him have shew'd a great deal more of Malice and Rashness than of Rea­son and Argument, when they brand him as a Ja­cobite, or a Republican: In my Opinion the Gentleman [Page 3]hath sufficiently provided against such Imputati­ons, by pleading all along against those things that he thinks destructive to the English Monarchy: but it hath been the Constant Practice of a Certain Party in the Nation, to blast all endeavours for the Liberty of their Countrey, with the Calumny of setting up for a Republick, in order to make the best Patriots hateful to the Court, and that they might either procure or be continued in places themselves, or at least to serve a Faction that are for Arbitrary Go­vernment; which of these, or whether all or any of them be the Motives of those Writers that have so rudely treated the Author of the Argument, I shall not so much as presume to Conjecture, because I am alto­gether unacquainted with their Persons and Chara­cters, as I am indeed with his.

But to come to the matter, The Case is now altered from what it was when either of them wrote, His Majesty, who is part of the Legislative Power, having declar'd His Opinion to the Parliament, that the Cir­cumstances of Affairs abroad are such, That for the present, England cannot be safe without a Land-force. I his coming from the Mouth of the King, who sits at the Helm of the Government, and of such a King as hath always demonstrated a fatherly care of his Sub­jects, and an inmitable Courage and Conduct in his Administration, sets the matter in quite another Light. Then seeing His Majesty is undoubtedly able to satisfy the Nation as to the Truth of his Assertion, [Page 4]The Question is about the necessity of a standing Army, how numerous that Army must be, of what Troops Composed, for how long they must be kept up, and what are the most proper methods to prevent the dangers which the Argument insists upon, to be the Natural Consequences of a standing Army, in case of His Majesties Death, and a Successor, who may perhaps be Acted by other Councils, and not endowed with the Royal Qualifications that all Men allow His Majesty to be blessed With. Now that this is necessary to be considered will be denied by no Man that wishes well to our Religion and Li­berties, seeing it must be granted, that His Ma­jesty is liable to a Violent or Natural Death as well as other Men, and more Obnoxious to the former, because of the Malicious Plots of his exe­crable Enemies.

What methods are most proper to reach those desirable Ends, must be left to the Wisdom of the King and Parliament to determine, but that there is a danger in keeping a standing Army, as well as in being without one, is so obvious that it cannot well be denied, and therefore there is a necessity of ma­king provision in both respects, which no doubt may be effected without such Heat and Clamour, as the Pamphletears against the Arguments are full of, The Letter for Ballancing excepted, which is indeed modest and to the point.

That we are in danger without a Standing Army is reasonably enough insisted on from the Power of the French King; his Levity in obser­ving former Treaties, which the Answers to the Argument make a mighty noise about, and to this may be added, that the Principles of that Religion, whereof the French King is the pro­fessed Champion, allows the Breach of the most Solemn Ties, and the Perpetration of the most horrid Crimes to advance the Roman Church. So that all those things consider'd, there is an absolute Necessity that we should be on our Guard: and as Matters are at present, how we can any way be reputed to be so without a Standing Force, is to me unconceivable.

I know that to alleviate those just Causes of Ap­prehension it is argued that he is now grown an­tient; that his Country is exhausted of Men, as are his Treasuries of Money, that his gaining so little by breach of former Treaties, hath convinc'd him that 'twill be his Interest to observe this, and that in short his Country stands in need of a time of breathing, so that there's nothing now to be fear'd from that Head.

To this it may be replied, that Marius Caius, the Roman Consul, recover'd himself, though an Ex­ile, sentenc'd to Death, and abandon'd by all Men, when well stricken in Years, and aveng'd himself sufficiently on those that had reduc'd him to those Straits; that though France be exhaust­ed of Men, yet the last Campaigne is enough to demonstrate that he's still able to match the Allies for Numbers; and though it must be granted that his Treasures are pretty well emp­tied, yet if it be well consider'd what an Inge­nious Author of that Country did lately write in the Ruin and Desolation of France, demon­strated his Clergy, who possess one half of all the Estates Real and Personal in that Kingdom, are still in a manner untouch'd, though possess'd of Immense Riches; so that if he should take the same Measures with his Popish Clergy, as Gustavus Erickson, King of Sweden, did with his, or as our Henry VIII. did with ours; that is to say, turn them out of their Monasteries, Ab­bies and Riches, which is easie for him to do with his Standing Army, who by the sacking of Churches and Religious Houses in Germany and Flanders, have given proof enough to the World that they have no Scruple of Conscience to be so imploy'd: I say, If he should take this [Page 7]Course, he would quickly abound with Men and Money, and as easily overflow his Neigh­bouring Countrys, if they had no Standing Ar­mies to resist him, as the Sea driven by a strong Wind, would overflow West-Friezland and Holland, if they should demolish their Banks and Dikes.

Then, as to the Desolation of his Country, it's rather an Argument that he is to be dread­ed than despised, considering what vast Numbers of Disciplined Troops he has on foot; who to be sure, if they had their choice, had rather be plundering their rich Neighbours, live in Plenty, and enjoy all the Liberty that's commonly allow'd Soldiers in an Enemy's Country, than be expos'd at home to mannure Desolate Lands, and cultivate Ruin'd Vineyards, without the Prospect of any higher Reward than Wooden-Shooes or Canvas-Shirts, and at the same time to be liable to all manner of Exorbitant Taxes. And as a Military Life, must needs be more Eligible to them after so ma­ny Years being accustomed to it, there's no doubt but it would likewise be more agreeable to his Aspi­ring Genius, if he did not find himself in danger of being overmatch'd; and if we consult the Histories of the Goths, Vandals, Alans, Huns, &c. who like an Inundation, did overspread Europe successively, [Page 8]we shall find that their want of a comfortable Sub­sistance at home was one of the main Causes of those Eruptions they made upon their Neighbours abroad, and there's no Body acquainted with the present Condition of France, but knows that the Soldiers liv'd much better in the Armies than the Peasants and ordinary Tradesmen did at home, and that was one great Reason why his Armies were always so Numerous.

As to his being convinc'd by his gaining so lit­tle by the Breach of other Treaties, that 'twill be his Interest to observe this, I shall be very willing to allow that he is possess'd with so Generous and Magnanimous a Soul, that he abhors to do any thing that's base; but seeing he is so unhappy as to be of a Church which pretends to hallow the ungodliest Means, so they be but effectual to attain their end, they transform Vice in Virtue, and make him to think it his greatest Glory to perpetrate such things; which without that Biass he would think highly dishonourable. Then as to his Gains by for­mer Breaches, tho it's true he hath had a secret Vo­mit, which hath made him to disgorge many Towns and Countries, yet he is still a great Gainer by the Bargain, and retains considerable Conquests both from Spain and the Empire.

It is also further to be observed, that tho the French King cannot so easily invade us as he can do his Neighbours on the Continent, yet by this Peace he hath in some measure dissolv'd the League, that 'twill not be easie to assemble again so many Troops belonging to so many different Princes to oppose him, and he hath moreover thrown in a Bone of Contention betwixt the Protestant Princes of the Empire, and the Emperour who hath con­sented to the Robbing of the Protestants of so many of their Churches, which no doubt will highten those mis-understandings, that have been observable enough betwixt the Protestants and Pa­pists in Germany during the War, and whilst they are divided amongst themselves upon a Religious Account, there's little appearance that either Branch of the House of Austria will give any assistance to us, and for the Protestants of Germany, they are likely to have work enough to defend themselves, if any Rupture happen on the Account of Religi­on, so that we seem to be under an absolute ne­cessity of putting our selves in such a Condition, as we may be able to stand on our own bot­tom.

There's another thing still, which is of very great Consequence, tho some perhaps may think it re­mote, and that is the fair Prospect which the House of Bourbon has, of having the Crown of Spain United to that of Etance — Their hopes in this matter seem not ill founded nor remote, con­sidering that weak State of the King of Spains Health, their being no likelihood of his having any Issue, the strong Faction which the French King has in Spain, the weakness of that Kingdom to re­sist him in case of an Invasion, and then being cut off from all Prospect of help (if they make any Efforts to preserve their Liberties) but what they may probably have from us. This Consideration alone shews the necessity of our having a Land-Force in readiness, either to defend. Flanders, our Natural Barrier from being swallowed up by the French King, who will then have a better Title to it than ever, or to be Transported to the assistance of the Spaniards in their own Country; for if the Crown of France become once possess'd of Spain in Flanders, we are, humanely speaking, blockt up on all sides, our Trade must every where be at their Mercy, and we are liable to their Invasions, without any Prospect of relief; for as I have ob­serv'd already, they have Created a diversion for the German Protestants, the United Provinces are in the very Mouth of the Lion, and the French will take care to dash the Northern Crowns one [Page 11]against another. All these things being considered, do in my Opinion demonstrates an unavoidable danger from the Circumstances of Affairs abroad, if we be left without a Land Force at home, and therefore tho the Court insist upon it, there's no Reason to suspect that they have any Design up­on the Liberties of their own Subjects, when there's so much cause to provide against Forreign Enemies.

But now on the other Hand, that there is danger from a standing Army at home, is equal­ly demonstrable; as will appear from the following Reasons.

1. The Country hath always look'd upon them as a Grievance in time of Peace, could never di­gest their Rude behaviour and slow pay, and were much disgusted by their ill Morals.

2. The renewed attempts of the Court in the Late Reigns, to enslave the Country by standing Armies, hath made their aversion to them Natural and in a manner Hereditary, so that the Jea­lousie on that Head is almost incurable.

3. So long as there's a Party in the Kingdom that is not sufficiently purged of the old Leaven of Passive Obedience, and the Army not reform'd in Morals; the present Government, which is found­ed upon Principles diametrically opposite to the former, and hath alway, declar'd it self against Debauchery, can never be safe, if ever the late King or his pretended Son should land with a French Power, except the Army be othtrwise modell'd than at present; for if the debauch'd Soldiers be once possess'd by these Passive Obedience-Men, and the Jacobite Gentry in the Country, who have always declar'd a greater good Liking to Popery than to Dissenters; that the present Government is not throughly well affected to the Church, which is the common Topick of the disaffected Party, be­cause of the King's being bred in Holland, his grant­ing Liberty of Conscience in England, and establish­ing Presbytry in Scotland; I say, that if once the Army be poyson'd with those Suggestions, that to gether with the continual Exclamations of the Jacobite Party against the Dutch, may very much endanger the present government, by the revolt of such a Standing Army, in case of any such Invasion as above men­tioned.

So long as a standing Army continues on the pre­sent footing, not only the Dissenters, but all the moderate Church of England men, and those called Whiggs in general, will continue uneasie and be afraid of Invasi­ons, in case of his Majesty's Death, upon their Liberty and Property, as it happened in the late Reign, so that there is cause to fear that the Jealousies of the two Par­ties may throw the Nation into new Convulsions, and the Army, as in all probability it will, joining with the Court, Liberty and Property will be again in danger of being swallowed up, the Nation engag'd in a Civil War, and expos'd to a Foreign Conquest after the two Par­ties have weaken'd themselves by mutual Slaughter and Bloodshed.

The Case then being thus, and the dangers Great and Eminent in both respects, it follows of course, that the nearest ought to be provided against first, and that is to be done by a Land Force, till such time as the K. and Parliament are satisfied that the danger from abroad is over.

But then, considering on the other hand that we have no Lease of the Kings Life, provision ought to be made against the other as speedily as may be; but the me­thods of doing this must be chosen and determined by the King and Parliament.

The Argument proposes as a defence against Foreign Invasion, the Regulating the Militia, so as to make them serviceable: The training up of all the Subjects in the use of Arms, and keeping a good Fleet, so disposed in Convenient Ports as to prevent an Invasion.

This in my opinion is highly reasonable, and were it brought to pass, would prove a very effectual Remedy both against Invaders from abroad and Tyrants at home; but the mischief on't is, that it is neither done nor like to be done time enough to answer the Ends; and see­ing it is so, no reasonable Man can think that the Nation should be laid naked without a defence in the mean time; and this I confess is the main thing wherein I dissent from that Ingenious Paper: I am far from the opinion of his Adversaries, who reproach him as a Republican, Apostate Whigg, Jacobite, sowre Tem­per'd, Whimsical and Melancholy Fellow, nor do I think they discover much Judgment in ridiculing his propo­sal as to the Militia and Navy. It is ceretain that for­merly this Nation did as Remarkable Exploits against the French and Scotch when they had no standing Ar­my, as ever they have done since, and that the Battles betwixt the two Houses of Lancaster and York, and be­twixt the Barons and the King were fought with as much bravery and order, tho' the Armies consisted only of the Country Men and Retainers of either Party, as ever have been done since standing Armies came in fashion. Nor can there be any reason assigned why the Militia should not equal the Regular Forces, as they are now called, either for Valour or Discipline, provided they were equally Train'd as all the people of the Nation were in those times; but the true reason why the Mi­litia come so far short of the Regular Troops now is that the Court having in the late Reigns framed to them­selves a distinct Interest from the Country, they durst not entrust them with Arms, nor encourage their being train'd up in the use of them; but blessed be God the case is otherwise now, his Majesty is sensible, and hath [Page 15]from time to time express'd his sense of the Affections of his people, and declar'd That he neither has nor can have any Interest distinct from theirs. It was their affect­on settled him on the Throne, and hath ever since kept him in it, so that the better his Subjects are train'd up in martial Discipline, the more firmly is his Crown fix'd.

It is equally certain that there are fewer Mercenary Soldiers and Officers in the Militia; as Originally consti­tuted, and more of the Free-holders and Substantial Men of the Nation, than in a standing Army, and no man can doubt but the Master of a Family, his Son or trusty Servant, will fight with another sort of Zeal for their own Property and Possessions, than a Mercenary Soldier, who, as the Argument says too true, makes a Profession to be a Butcher of Men for 6 d. per. day with­out considering what Cause he engages in, and that there are too many such in our Army, cannot be denied by any Person that hath not bankrupt all his modesty; and as for those silly instances which his Advarsaries insist up­on of the Militia's not having acted their parts, the reason is plain they were not Disciplin'd, which was the fault of the Government and not of the people; it is moreover a very false way of Argumentation to conclude, because the Militia as neglected in the late Reigns, were not to be compared to the Regular Troop can never be brought to be as usefull in the defence o­ther Country as a standing Army in other Reigns, but the truth of the matter is, those Authors are not willing to have it put to the Experiment.

The Argument owns that the Militia is not so pro­per for Conpuests indeed as for Defence, and for Con­quests we have no occasion to make any, nor were we ever very happy in preserving them. Yet if all the Males of the Nation were brought up to the use of Arms on Holy-days, &c. which were a more commendable way of spending their time than has of late been practised. We should not need to fear our King's wanting disci­plined Men to go abroad with him on occasion, with­out putting the 10000 l. Men as one of the Pamphlets calls them to the trouble of doing so; nor is it very decent in any person to cast such an unbecomeing re­flection upon that Royal Regiment of Citizens, whom his Majesty honoured to be their Colonel himself, but persons of those Authors kidney had rather belike see Arms in the hands of a Dammee, than in the hands of a Sober Citizen: Vice is always afraid of Virtue, but specially when in a Capacity to suppress it. Some of the Gang remember the blows still they received from the hands of the Citizens, in the late Parliament Wars, and don't care to rencounter with such Adversaries any more, they had rather contribute to debauch them in Taverns and Play-houses, as being indeed the readier way to have their Wives and Daughters, nay and their Purses too at their Devotion.

The Argument does also propose a mixing of the Standing Army, or part of 'em at least with the Militia, in order to train them, and to provide for themselves, which his Adversaries do mightily ridicule and alledge that all the dangers he fancies from a Standing Army would continue in that case, but I must beg leave to dissent from those Gentlemen, they know well enough that the frequent exchange of Garisons on the Frontiers [Page 17]of Kingdoms is practised as an effectual means to pre­vent traiterous Corrispondences in those Garisons, and that the mixing of numerous Deserters among other Troops, is lookt on as a good way to prevent any ill de­signs they may have in deserting; then why should not the mixing of the Regular Troops amongst the whole Mi­litia of the Kingdom, where the Soldiers have neither the same Officers, Comrades nor the like opportunities to do mischief were they so inclined, as they had when in a separate standing Army: And moreover the Officers of the Militia are or ought all to be Men of Estate or Note, and of good Report and Credit where they live, and the Militia Men themselves not making War their Trade, but being only called out upon an Exigent for the Defence of their Country, they can never be sup­posed to be so rude and destructive to the places where they are quartered, as the Souldiers of a Standing Army generally are, many of whose Officers, especially since buying and selling of Commissions came in fashion, are known to be Men of no Estate nor Reputation, but preferr'd either for their Money or because perhaps they have been Valet de Chambres, or otherwise ferviceable to a Superiour Officer, and so have neither Honour nor Probity to restrain them from ill practises themselves, or to oblige them to punish them in others, as Gentle­men of Note in their respective Counties have or ought to have, or otherwise are not fit to be intrusted with Command.

These Gentlemen do likewise ridicule the Arguments proposal of a Good Fleet at Sea, as not sufficient to prevent an Invasion, because his present Majesty made his Descent notwithstanding K. James's Fleet; and that the French landed Men in Ireland, and have gone out [Page 18]and into their own Ports, when our Squadrons have been lying before them, and chiefly because they suppose that the same Wind which brings the French from their Coasts, may keep our fleet Wind-bound upon our own.

In this part as in all the rest, they deal very unfair­ly with our Ingenious Author, he does not propose the relying upon a Fleet only, but would have the whole Nation train'd in the Exercise of Arms, to oppose any Invader: Nor do they at all take notice of his Project, of having ur Fleet so disposed into Squadrons, as at the Lands End, Plimouth, &c. That it would be impra­cticable for the French to Invade us, let the Wind lie how it will, without exposing their Transport Ships at least to one or other of those Squadrons. As to their Instan­ces of the King's making his Descent notwithstanding King James's Fleet, it is nothing to the purpose, had the said Fleet been so dispos'd as our Author proposes the Dutch Fleet could not so easily have escaped them; but we are moreover to believe that the Prince of Orange had his Friends in the Fleet as well as in the Army, which does perfectly alter the Case.

Then as to the French having landed Men in Ireland, and gone out and into their own Ports, notwithstand­ing our Squadrons lying before them, the Authors know that in most or all of those Cases, there have been shrewd suspicions of Treachery, or a real or pretended want of Orders, Provisions, or somewhat: Nay, as I remem­ber, the escape of the Thoulon Fleet through the Straits once, and their getting into Brest at another time, have been questioned in Parliament, and there past a Vote in the House, that there was a notorious Treach­ery in some of our Miscarriages of that nature, so that [Page 19]the Answerers of the Argument can conclude nothing from this, for that Author always supposes our Fleet to be honest; and the King's Ships to be Commanded either by Gentlemen of known Integrity, or such true Tarrs as the Captain called Honour and Glory, and not by Lap dogs as one of our Lampoons represented them after Torrington's Defeat, who have spent more of their time in the School of Venus, than in that of Mars. Then as to the equal danger that those Authors sug­gest from a standing Fleet as from a standing Army, it is very easie to shew them their mistake. In the first place, they can give us no instance of it, that ever our Fleet pillaged or plundred their own Country, what­ever some few Ships may have done either under Charles II. when Prince of Wales, or at other times, whereas it is very well known that the Army under Charles the I, treated the Subjects in as barbarous a manner as a for­reign Enemy would almost have done— and the Country does still remeber what horrid disorders were committed by those of Charles and James II. In the next place, it is plain that if the Fleet should revolt against the nation, they forfeit all those pledges they have on shoar which are much more considerable in proportion than the those of the Land Army, for though we should grant that many of the Land Officers have Estates and Families, yet few of the Soldiers have, whereas the far greater part of the Marine Officers have Estates and Families and but few of the Seamen are without the latter; and to give them their due, they seem to have a better sense of the true Interest of the Nation than the Land Soldiers general­ly have, and hence it came to pass that the Wappeners were so much expos'd to Reflections in the late Reign, and that they have appear'd so Zealous for this, and from [Page 20]the same Cause it must needs proceed, that not one Ship of the Navy Revolted from the present Government tho' Dumbarton's and other Regiments of the standing Army did. But to give those Gentlemen all the scope they can desire, we will suppose what no man in his right Wits will ever suppose to be practicable, that the whole Navy should Revolt, and bring in a French Army up­on us; that could not hinder the Nation from calling in the assistance of the Dutch, Danish, and Swedish Men of War to oppose them, which their own Interest would soon prompt them to do, nor yet prevent the people's Arming like one Man to make head against the Fo­reign Invader, whereas if a standing Army should by the Authority of any succeeding Prince join with him to swallow up the Liberties of the people, they can effect it speedily, as being in the midst of us, where they have opportunity to cut off the whole Parliament at a blow, as Christiern of Denmark did that of Sweden, or to Lop of the opposite Nobility and Gentry by de­grees, and so the people having none to Conduct them must submit like Sheep without a Shepherd, and I wonder at those Gentlemen who think this impracti­cable, when Charles I. came into the Parliament House with an Armed Force and demanded the five Mem­bers, and Oliver by Military Force modelled the House as he himself pleas'd, so that in either of those Cases the King and the Usurper had not God restrain'd them, might have done the same thing as Christiern of Den­mark did —

There's another pleasant Fancy which one of those Authors has broached, viz. That there's no slavery to be fear'd but in Conjunction with Popery, when the whole Nation remembers to this day how near we were [Page 25]enslaved by Charles II. and many of them do still re­member that had it not been for the Scotch, Charles I. had swallowed up their Libertys after the defeat of the Parliaments Forces in the West, if not before ever the Parliament struck one stroke; and yet Father and Son and Oliver the Usurper too, were all three Protestants. And for those Gentlemen's further Conviction, let them look abroad into Denmark and Sweden, and tell us whe­ther those Nations did not lose their Liberty under Pro­testant Princes.

I shall agree with those Authors, that his present Ma­jesty is uncapable of any such thing, that the whole Tenour of his Life, both before and since his coming to the Crown, secures us against any such fears from himself; it is evident to the world that instead of his seeking after a Crown, there were three Crowns that sought after him, else we had never been troubled with such long and learned debates, whither there was an Abdication and Vacaney of the Throne or not. I shall moreover be as willing as any of them to suppose that none of those nam'd in the Succession as now limited will attempt any such thing: But we must grant what Solomon says to be true, That none knowns who shall suc­ceed him, whether a Wise Man or a Fool. We cannot al­ways promise our selves a Queen Elizabeth, or such an one as our late Queen Mary, nor yet, that every young Prince will prove an Edward VI. or that every Fo­reign Prince that may happen to be match'd with our Heiresses, shall have so near a Relation to the Crown as the Prince of Orange, or have so much Zeal, Cou­rage and Power as he to rescue us out of the Jaws of Oppressors; and therefore seeing it is the practice of all Wise Men to provide in a Calm against a Storm; [Page 20] [...] [Page 25] [...] [Page 26]I see no reason why the Author of the Argument should be treated as one disaffected to his Majesty's Person or Government. Charity, which is almost lost in this Age, would rather think that he has the high­est Opinion of his Majesty that can be, when he takes it for granted that he will agree to such Methods in his own Reign, as will secure us from Tyranny in those of others, which any Man with half an Eye may see to be unavoidable, if the Maxim of the Reflecti­ons be true, viz. No Army, no King, when all the World knows there have been and may be, great Kings with­out standing Armies.

I have exceeded the bounds that I intended at first, and shall now hasten to a Conclusion. It has been said already that it would seem now no more to be the de­bate, a standing Army or no standing Army, but how great an Army, of what Troops Compos'd, how long they must continue, and what Methods are proper to prevent those ill Consequences that the Argument suggests. It's certain the Parliament is the fittest Judges of all those things, yet seeing every one of the Answerers has proposed his own Methods, its hop'd they will not be angry if I tell them what I have heard proposed by others,

It has been a long time the opinion of some Men, that had his Majesty been advised to have kept that Volun­teer Army on foot, which rose for him on their own ac­count, we had prevented the Rebellion in Ireland and Sctoland, and brought France to reason much sooner; but some Men out of a pretended Zeal to the Church, prevail­ed to have the contrary method taken, to the no small danger of the State. But if reason may take place, now that the Church is secured as much as Law can secure [Page 27]her, and that she has a Test to assure her Discipline, or rather Government.

I say seeing she has a Test to secure her Government, its but reasonable the people should have a Test too, to preserve their Property: And their's a Friend of mine says that were he to have a Test of his making, it should be some such one as this, viz. That, whereas all men in the late Reigns, that came into places of Power and Trust, were obliged to abhore that Traterous position of taking up Arms by the Kings Authority against his Person, and that they declared there was no obligation upon themselves or any o­thers by that Treasoinable Oath, called the League and Co­venant. So now none should be admitted into any place of Power and Trust, without declaring their ab­horrence of the Tyranny of the late Reigns, complain'd of in the Claim of Right, and that they account themselves and others under no obligation to believe the Tyrannical Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-re­sistance, as explained and understood in the late Reign: But I know my Friend is hot Headed, and that this Pill is not well enough guilded to go down: Yet there are others who are more moderate, that are of opinion, if the Government think fit to allow of a standing Army, the Country would be the more satisfied if all or most of the Officers be Men of Estates and Interest in the Nation, and known to be such as think they may go to Heaven without believing the Doctrine of Passive Obedience, in the sense above mentioned; and that the said Army be composed as much as may be of those that have been raised, or are now well mixed by such Gentlemen as always opposed the Tyranny of the late Reigns, and that at the same time the Militia and Fleet be also put into such hands, and the former disciplin'd [Page 28]with as much speed as may be, now that we have plenty of experienced Officers and Soldiers to do it.

My Friends are also of opinion, that it is our Interest to Cultivate a Good Correspondence with Scotland, in order to which an Union of the Nations would be much more effectual than the Union of the Crowns; for that leaves room for Princes of Arbitrary Tempers to dash us one against another, and to make us the Instru­ments of their Tyranny by turns. Thus King Charles the I. threatned to Invade Scotland, and actually did it with an Army from England; and King Charles the II. procured an Act of Parliament in Scotland for 20000 Horse and Foot, with so many days Provisions, to march to any part of his Dominions that he pleased, which considering the party in this Nation that would have joyned them, might have been fatal to all the three Kingdoms, had not that Prince been more given to his pleasures than to his Sword. Such an Union, as no doubt it might be effected, to the Honour and Advan­tage of both Nations, would also secure this Nation ve­ry much in case of any future War with France, or o­thers; whereas if the Scotch be alays treated with Con­tempt, or govern'd by the Councils of a Party, this Na­tion that hates them, on the account of their Civil and Religious Principles, it may have ill Consequences at some­time or other. The Royal Line which Cements them at present, is not very numerous in Off-spring, and that failing, they have Princes of their own Blood at home, who if they strengthen themselves by powerful foreign Alliances may prove troublesome Neighbours, when we are engaged in a foreign War, especially consider­ing the great plantation of their Countrymen of the same Principles with themselves in Ireland.

Which Kingdom my Friends are also of opinion ought to be treated so as they may look upon themselves as fel­low Subjects, and that some stronger efforts should be made, and more Christian methods taken to Civilize and Convert the Popish Natives than have hitherto been practised, and then we shall be in no danger of having our Brethrens Throats cut by them in their Country, nor of being Invaded by them in our own, as in the time of Charles I. and James II. If Scotland and Ireland were both united to this Kingdom, upon terms Honourable and Advantagious to us and them, we might sit as Queen in the Seas, retain our Soveraignty undis­puted, keep the Ballance of Europe, nay, of the Uni­verse in our hands, be secure against Tyranny at home, and Invasion from abroad, and England would be the unenvi'd Head of the Union. I have also heard some Gen­tlemen give their opinion that 'twere the Interest of this Nation, to have methods laid down for entertaining a perpetual Amity with Holland, lest future Princes may dash us against one another as formerly, to the endan­gering of the Protestant Religion, and the Civil Liber­ties of Europe. The only thing that we can have any occasion to quarrel about, is our rivalling one another in point of Trade, and as Providence did formerly put an opportunity into the hands of this Nation, of taking away the Hereditary Enmity that had been for some Centuries betwixt us and Scotland, by uniting the Crowns, kind Heaven hath now also put an opportunity into our hands of fixing a perpetual Friendship with Holland, our King and their Stadholder being one and the same person, and equally the darling of both People; so that there's no reason to doubt, but in such an auspicious Con­juncture, matters may be so concerted by the Govern­ment [Page 30]of both Nations, as to prevent any such competition in time to come, as may occasion a Rupture. There's cer­tainly room enough in the World for both of us to Trade, and if we entertain a good Correspondence, we may in a manner divide the Trade of the Universe betwixt us; but if by the implacable malice of a certain Faction in this Kingdom against that Industrious and brave Peo­ple, because of their Government being founded upon Principles contrary to Passive Obedience, we be kept off from setling a parpetual Friendship with them, it will certainly argue our infatuation, for there's no Allies we can have that are in any capacity to assist us against France, in case that already over-grown Monarchy should be yet further aggrandiz'd by addition of the Do­minions of Spain, of which as I have said already, they have so fair and near a Prospect.

These are the hasty thoughts, Sir, of our Friends here in Town, as to the Arguments pro and con about a stand­ing Army, which are all at present the Common Sub­ject of Conversation. I am