REFLECTIONS ON THE Short History OF Standing Armies IN ENGLAND.  
In Vindication of His Majesty and Government.  
WITH Some Animadversions on a Paper, entitled, Considerations upon the Choice of a Speaker.  
— En quo discordia Cives  
Perduxit miseros—  Virg. Ecl. 1. 
LONDON, Printed in the Year 1699.   

PREFACE.  
THE repeated Attempts of a Restless Party to embroil these Nations in New Contests with their sovereign, make it the indispensible Duty of every good Subject to contribute his Mite to the Common Repose, and to the creating of a good Understanding betwixt Prince and People. As in the Natural, so in the politic Body, all Obstructions of a Mutual Communication of Friendly Influence betwixt the Head and the Members, tend to the Dissolution and Destruction of the whole; therefore it is absolutely necessary to apply timely Remedies to such a threatening Distemper. It is not the Design of the following Sheets to prescribe the Antichristian Recipe of utere jure tuo Caesar, though sometimes it may be absolutely necessary in Government, as well as in Chirurgery, to practise the Maxim of 
— Immedicabile Vulnus,  
Ense recidendum ne pars sincera trahatur.  The Author wishes the Conversion, not the Destruction of the Opposite Party, and that they would apply Cordials, and not Corrosives to Three Languishing Nations, whose Divisions have well-nigh undone them already. They may rest assured that he hath no Prejudice against their Persons whatever dislike he entert●in● of their Principles; and that as he is under no Obligation to the Present Government by Place of Profit or Trust, he does not engage in the controversy either out of a desire or expectation of other Reward, but that of a Good Conscience, in doing his Endeavours, as People ought to do in a General Conflagration, to extinguish the Flames that threaten our Destruction. He wishes that the Persons whom he opposes may Act from Principles equally harmless, and submits his hasty Conceptions to the Censure of the public, for whose Service they are wholly designed.   

REFLECTIONS ON THE History of Standing Armies IN ENGLAND, &c.  
THE Authors of the History of the Standing Army, lay down this Excellent Proposition in their Preface, That the whole Mystery of Government is to make the Interest of the Governours and Governed the same. But the Difficulty is how to convince those concerned, that it is so, and to bring them to a right Understanding of what is really their joint Interest; for sometimes one, sometimes both, are mistaken in that Point, as may be easily evinced by the following Instances. The People of England judged truly that it was their Interest to have had the Bill of Exclusion pass against the Duke of York, but the Court thought the contrary. His Present Majesty judged truly, that it was his and the Nation's joint Interest that his Protestant Subjects of all Denominations should be rendered equally capable of serving him in Places of Power and Trust; but hitherto the Parliament have thought the contrary. It were the Interest of the Kings of France and Spain, and their Subjects too, to embrace the Reformed Religion, as might be easily demonstrated; but hitherto both the Governours and Governed have judged otherwise.  
So that tho' the Rule be true, yet both Rulers and People are often mistaken in the Application of it, and make their Humour their Interest; which can be ascribed to no other Cause, but the general Weakness and Corruption of Mankind, tho' our Author seems to deny it in the beginning of his Preface, upon what Account, or from what Principle, is best known to himself. Nor is this Opinion of the Depravation of Men, chargeable with that lazy Consequence they fasten upon it, That therefore People submit patiently to their Countries Calamities, and think a Reformation impossible; on the contrary they ought to take the more Care to guard against public Mis●arriages, as they generally do in all Revolutions and new Settlements, because the Corruption of Mankind must be restrained by the Fetters of Law, and have been thus effectually restrained in all Ages, when such Laws have been daily put in execution, as History and Experience testify.  
But to come closer to our Authors. What if it should happen that they act contrary to this Rule themselves, by suggesting such Miscarriages in the present Administration, and improving them to that bad End of persuading the People that the present Government carries on a distinct Interest from theirs, when no such thing can be demonstrated? Certainly such a Practise is against the Interest both of the Governours and Governed: Nor is it a probable way of obtaining Redress from a Parliament, which they tell us is the Fountain Head from whence the People expect all their Happiness, and Redress of Grievances, to insinuate that they are chosen by external Force or Bribery. Neither does it seem to carry any great sign of Affection to His Majesty, to tell the People that the Parliament is the Fountain from whence they must expect all their Happiness. Time was when our Parliament could have but done very little towards our Relief, if he had not come in to their Assistance; and seeing he was so kind and generous then, when he had no other Concern in us but a remote Prospect of Succession, and the Preservation of our Religion and Liberties, why should he be excluded now from making up part of the Fountain at least, whence we are to hope for Relief and Redress?  
Our Authors say true, That most of our Grievances and Corruptions are owing to King Charles II. being allowed a mercenary Army, and such large Revenues, as enabled him both to make use of Force and Bribery, in choosing Parliament Men, and bringing Parliaments to a Compliance: But what Comparison is there betwixt that Reign and this? Does not the World know that that Prince had no such Occasion for either as this Government hath had, and still has? He talked indeed of an actual War with France, but 'twas no longer than till he had actually got Money out of our Pockets But it's plain we had an actual and tedious War now, which could never have been carried on without Money.  
This Insinuation, that the Great Offices of State were better in the Hands of the Nobility, and of single Persons, than in the Hands of Commoners, and those of Five, Seven, Nine, Fourteen, Ten, Eight, Sixteen, Two, and Four at a time, as the Treasury, Admiralty, Customs, Excise, Navy-Office, &c. are now managed, does not seem to be very favourale to their pretended Design of the Peoples Interest, which certainly is better consulted, by distributing profitable Offices amongst as many of 'em as possible, than by enriching One Person with an overgrown salary; and besides, it is the Dictate both of Scripture and Reason, That in the Multitude of Counsellors there is Safety; otherwise, if we may be allowed to compare small Things with great, our Author's Argument will pled as strongly for absolute Monarchy, without the Assistance of a Parliament, as for having those Offices he speaks of entrusted in the Hands of single Persons. I am far from thinking they designed the Friends of Despotical Power so much Kindness as to argue for them, because it is plain, that the Blow is aimed at the present Government; for speaking of King Charles II. they say, He had not Places enough in his Disposal to secure a Majority in the House; for in those early Days the Art was not found out, of splitting and multiplying Places; as instead of a Lord-Treasurer, to have Five Lords of the Treasury, &c. Envy and Malice knows no Bounds, but is so directly opposite to Charity, that thinks no Evil, that it will be sure to put the worst Sense upon every thing it will bear. Good Nature and untainted Loyalty would put a Construction of a contrary Tendency, upon this practise of the present Government, that whereas former Governours, who designed to swallow up Property by Prerogative, did all they could to render their Ministers as Despotical in their several Stations, as themselves; and that they might have the fewer Witnesses of their Designs to bereave the People of their Money and Liberty, put the chief Places of Profit and Trust, into as few Hands as they could: The present governor, who came to redress the Grievances committed by his Predecessors, takes a contrary Method, and is willing that those Offices of Power and Trust should be entrusted in more Hands, that the People might be better secured against the Bribery of the Court, or a Foreign Potentate, than they were in former Reigns, it being highly improbable that Seven Lords of the Admiralty would connive at sending our Naval Stores, Ammunition, &c. to our Enemies of France, though One Lord-Admiral did, and so of the rest, it being certainly much harder to Debauch so many, than to Debauch One; and if Care be taken to fill those Places with Gentlemen of true English Principles, as many of those at least who enjoy them at present are known to be; the greater the Number of such Persons entrusted, the more is the Nation secured.  
The Gentlemen's Argument that when these Offices were managed by Lords, the Commons were severe Inquisitors into their Actions, is no very friendly Discovery, nor does it any ways seem to be calculated for promoting a good Understanding betwixt the Two Houses, no more than betwixt the Lords and the King, who is hereby accused of giving that away from them, which according to our Authors they might well pled as their own by Prescription; seeing they would seem to say, that this, and other things they there mention, was the English Government from the time of the Romans to that of King Charles I. But as to the force of the Argument, they would do well to produce their Reasons, why the Commons should not be as severe Inquisitors into the Actions of some of their own Number, seeing he himself tells us that the Advancement of Strafford and Noy by King Charles I. served only to Exasperate the rest of the Commons, because he had not Places enough for all that expected them, nor Money enough to bribe them; it being equally impossible for his present Majesty to provide Places for all of the Commoners that may now expect them, or to find Money enough to bribe them, except he should split all the Places of Power and Trust in the Kingdom in Infinitum, as our Authors say; but then I am afraid that no Body would think them a Bribe worth the accepting, and so it may ease them of the Horror which they say they are so much troubled with, to think what danger this[ splitting of Places] may be to our Constitution. But to return to the Argument of our Authors again. Let them oblige the World with their Reasons why those Commons that are disappointed of their Expectations of Places and Money now, should not be as severe Inquisitors into the Actions of those that have been happier, as to that Matter, than themselves, as the Commons were into those of Strafford and Noy, in the Reign of King Charles I.  
I must also beg leave of our Authors, to remark by the way, that notwithstanding their mighty Kindness to the People of England, and their Zeal for their Liberties and Laws, they seem to deal very unkindly with those Noble Patriots, that asserted our Liberties in 1641. when they reflect upon 'em as being exasperated because they had not the Money and Places they expected. What could the most embittered Cavalier have said more? This is in downright Terms to accuse them of the most abominable hypocrisy, and Rebellion, that ever was in the World. Whether this was the Design of our Authors or only an advised dash of their Pen, I know not; but I am afraid there's a Snake in the Grass, when neither the Patriots of those, nor of these times escape their Lash. That Parliament which Rescued the Expiring Liberties of the Nation, did it because the King did not bribe them; and the bravest Prince in the Universe, who hath not only Rescued Three Nations, but the Protestant Religion, and the Common Liberty of Europe, must be slily accused of bribing his Parliaments, to carry on an Interest distinct from that of his People.  
Our Authors are mighty solicitous to think what will become of our Liberty, if in Ages to come all the Places should be given to Parliament Men. What shall be done( say they) when the Criminal becomes the Judge, and the Malefactors are left to try themselves? We may be sure their Common Danger will Unite them, and they will all Stand by one another. The Country will be Unhappy indeed if that ever come to be the Case; but as I have seen the same Charge, or one much like it, in other Pamphlets against the Age that now is, if our Authors think that the Charge is true, it had been more Ingenuous in them to speak out boldly, and not to lay the Plot in Ages to come. I am as far from approving such an Abuse, as they or any Men alive, it being highly unreasonable that a King should have the Legislative Power so much at Command, by making Members of the House of Commons, when he has such an Interest in the Upper House by his domestics, Officers of State, by creating new Lords, and making new Bishops, upon every Vacancy: But why all this Clamour against the present Government? Have not many of those Officers who have been formerly, or are now chosen Members of Parliament, deserved well both of their Prince and Country? And is it not possible that they can be true to the one, without betraying the other? I will put the Case, that his Majesty should have kept up the Army of Volunteers that assembled to assist him at the Revolution, or at least as many of them as would have been willing to have continued in Arms till their own and the common Interest of Europe had been secured, which many are of Opinion had in that Case been much sooner and easier effected, could Offices Civil and Military have been more deservedly bestowed, than upon those Gentlemen that ventured their Lives and Estates in so good a Cause; And must none of those have been chosen Parliament Men, because they were in Office under the King? Certainly they cannot but own the Absurdity of such a Consequence. But to come nearer them, it has been observed by some( truly, or otherwise, I shall not determine) that in many Places where the Clergy had most Interest, such Men have been chosen, as are commonly reputed Jacobites, or that way inclined; and itis but reasonable to believe it, because that Order of Men was universally tainted with the Doctrines of Nonresistance, and Passive-Obedience; and those that continue so, must needs be Enemies to the present Constitution. Then, supposing it to be so, and considering the Interest the Clergy have in England, are any Men more like to be a Balance to Jacobites of their choosing, and to oppose their sly and unfriendly Motions in Parliament, than those that are engaged by Interest, as well as Affection, to support his Majesty's Title.  
From all which it is easy to infer, that these Gentlemen, and others whose have writ of the same Side, ought to distinguish betwixt Times and Seasons. In the late Reigns the Court aimed visibly at the Subversion of our Religion and Liberties, and therefore it was dangerous indeed to the Nation to choose those that had Places and Offices under the Government, because generally none were employed by it but such as concurred in the same mischievous Design: But can Malice itself say any such thing of this Government? Hath not his present Majesty restored us to our ancient Liberty, and secured us from the Danger that threatened our Religion? Whence then do all these Jealousies of the Court now arise? Either they must proceed from the Papists and Jacobites, or from those that are Enemies to Kingly Government, or from both; And is not this a surprising Conjunction of Two such opposite Parties? The Jacobites indeed, act answerably to their Principles in so doing, for they are generally of Opinion, that Kingly Government, and a Lineal Succession, are Jure divino, both which have been so exploded since the Revolution, that they are only fit to be entertained by Men who have lost their Reason; but for any of those called Commonwealths-men who, though they think that Form the best, yet always profess it as their Opinion, that they ought to submit to any Species of Magistracy that answers the Ends of Government; It is mighty strange that any of them should now fall in with the Jacobites to render the present Government uneasy. It might have been reasonably hoped, that their being dropped by the Jacobites, last Session, in the Matter of Regulating the Militia, in Hopes of which, some of 'em had been inveagl'd to concur against the Standing Army, should have now convinced them of their Mistake, and created in 'em a generous Contempt of that mischievous Party, whose Name ought to be held in Execration by all that wish well to their Country, and the Protestant Religion, or that can remember their late Horrid Plot to Assassinate His Majesty, and bring in a French Army. Who then can have Patience to hear some, who pretend to be of opposite Principles, applaud the Choice of such Persons for Parliament Men, and express their Hopes of any thing that is good to the Nation from them?  
I know their principal Reason of joining with them, is, that they think they will oppose a Standing Army, and the choosing of those who have Places of Power and Trust under his Majesty for Members of Parliament; and that some of them are sensible too, that the Jacobites do this only to make way for the Return of the late King: Whereas they on the other hand oppose those things in this Reign, because they may be drawn into President in others, which the People may perhaps have no such Reason to trust. But then should they do Evil, that Good may come of it; should they unhinge and shake a good Government, because they are afraid they may fall under a bad one, Is not that the natural way to bring upon themselves the thing they fear? Suppose the present Government should be disabled by with-holding of Money, and denying it a Competent Land-Force, to support itself; and in that Case, that a French and Irish Army should again be invited over by our Jacobites, as formerly, and land upon upon us, whether do they think that the Commonwealth, or the Jacobite Party, would be most likely to prevail? Would they not find themselves obliged in Honour and Conscience to espouse King William's Cause in that Case? Could they find such another General for Authority, or Experience, to fight under? Why then should they take such Methods as naturally tend to bring us to that unhappy Condition?  
Is there no other way to prevent the Inconveniences that may happen by a Standing Army, and Officers being chosen Parliament Men in another Reign, but by exposing this? Had they not acted much more like true Patriots to have obliged his present Majesty by their Zeal and Affection for his Service, to have put them into such Posts as might have made them more Capable of preventing those Evils they fear, than ever now they are like to be? Must they because they are not employed themselves, which perhaps is none of his Majesty's fault, or that the Law does not allow it, must they therefore embroil his Affairs? Don't they know that in case his present Majesty should either be dethroned, or cut off by a violent Death,( which God forbid) that the Jacobites, and the high-flown Party of the Church, are like to have the Ascendant, and that they are sworn Enemies, not only to a Commonwealth, but to the Ancient English Constitution? What Hopes then can they entertain of a Commonwealth, or of having the Grievances they now complain of, redressed in such a Case? Don't they know, and hear every Day, that most of the Clergy are against Liberty of Conscience, and the Form of Government that they pled for? And have they not given such Instances of their Levity, as shows that most of 'em are not to be trusted? Of about Ten Thousand Clergymen, or as some will have it near that number of beneficed Men in England, don't they know that there are not above Two Thousand that adheard to the true English Principles, after King Charles the seconds Restoration; but all the rest swore to the Slavish Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Nonresistance, and many of 'em preached it up as necessary to be believed in order to Salvation? Of all that number again, who had so sworn and preached, there were scarcely Two Hundred that held out, but contrary to their said Oaths and Doctrine, submitted to the present Government, many of them cheating themselves and the public with the knavish Distinction of a King de Jure, and de Facto, as they cheat the Church by signing her Doctrinal Articles, not as the Articles of their own Faith, but as Articles of Peace. What Confidence then can be put in those Men? What Reason have we to think that they would not with less Reluctancy declare for the late King James again, if he appeared in England with a Competent Force, than ever they declared for King William, whose Right they have never recognized by any Act of their Convocation, nor have they laid their Nonjurant Brethren, or those that absolved the Assassins, under any Ecclesiastical Censure; tho' they were ready enough to do so against Dissenters. The Case then being thus, the Commonwealth Party must necessary be ruined if this Government be overturned; and not only so, but all our English Liberties eternally lost.  
Upon all which it does naturally follow, that it is the part of every true Englishman and good Protestant, rather to think of Expedients how to render the present Government Impregnable and Secure against Violence from without, and Treachery from within; how to enable the Nation to defend themselves at home, and succour their Protestant Brethren abroad; how to put England in such a Condition, that as she has broken the Chains from off the Necks of all the Princes in Europe, she may also cut the Cords of the Ungodly Crew that draw long and deep Furrows upon the Back of the Reformed Churches, and have ungratefully begun a New Persecution upon our Brethren in Germany, who had assisted them to Recover their Common Liberty: But instead of that happy Temper and Disposition of Spirit, here's a Crew of Violent Churchmen on the one hand, and a Club of Factious Dissenters on the other; that make it their whole Business to run down the Presbyterians, as if the Nation were only in Danger from them; and here's the Papists and Jacobites on the one hand, and a parcel of Pretended-Commonwealths-Men on the other, that are undermining the present Government, as if there were no Tyranny or encroachment upon our Liberties to be feared, but from thence. These are exactly the Measures our Enemies would have us to take, and the only Methods by which they can effect our ruin. They have thrown an Apple of Disco d into the Empire of Germany, by stirring up the Treacherous Papists to invade the Rights of the Protestants, contrary to the Fundamental Laws of the Empire: They have divided the Kingdom of Spain by means of their Bribes, and Biggotted Clergy; and there's no Reason to doubt but they have a hand in our Divisions here; it being easy enough for them to find Tools for their Purpose, in all the different Parties of which this Nation is composed; especially, considering the Number of those that still profess themselves to be for the Late King, and that it was only to preserve their Estates and employments, that many others have submitted to his present Majesty.  
It is high time I should come now to consider the Body of this Pamphlet. It begins as if the Gentlemen who composed it had been in their Altitudes when the Ground-Plot was laid. If any Man( say they) doubts whether a Standing-Army is Slavery, Popery, Mahometism, Paganism, or any any thing, which they please, let him red, &c.  
The Passion wherewith this Commencement appears to have been writ, promises but little of solid Reason, from what is to follow. It perfectly bespeaks the Authors to have been in frantic Fits, and that the Thoughts of a Standing Army did so turn their Heads, that they knew not what they writ or said. What Man in his right Wits can think otherwise, to hear Men cry out, that a Standing Army is Slavery, Popery, Mahomatism, &c. where is the Slavery in Holland, a Commonwealth, though they have had a Standing Army for many Years, are they not the freest People perhaps in the World? Where's the Popery, Mahometism, &c. in the Elector of Brandenburgh's Dominions? yet the Magnanimous Prince his Father, of Glorious Memory, was never without one; nor has the present Elector cashiered his, since the Peace. I have neither Time, nor is it worth while to turn to the Stories of Matho and Spendius at Carthage; nor need we go so far back as the Mamalukes of Egypt; that of a latter Sultan deposed by his janissaries, is fresh in Memory. Their Instances of the Netherlands is foreign to the Purpose; there the Prince and the People differed in Religion; the Spaniards were animated by the Priests, against the Protestants, which, blessed be God, is not our Case. Our Prince is the greatest Protector, under God, of the Protestant Faith. We are not to fear any encroachment upon us on that Account. And the same Answer may serve for all their Instances in the Late Reigns.  
Our Princes were Papists, or governed by such, and were besides preached into Tyranny and Despotical Power by our Clergy: They had no Cause to fear an Invasion from France, because they were embarked in the same Interest and Design with that Crown. They were so far from endeavouring to prevent the Slavery of Europe, and the ruin of the Protestant Religion, that they contributed to both; nor were their Titles controverted by their Subjects, and an opposite Title maintained by a mighty Potentate. There was no Prince then beyond Sea that laid Claim to their Crown, or had a French and Irish Army at their Beck, whenever Opportunity offered to assert it, So that it was evident and plain that they could have no other work for a Standing Army, but to enslave their own Subjects. But they must be wilfully blind that don't perceive the Case to be otherwise now: Here we have a Prince that is the Object of the Malice of Popery and Tyranny, because he hath put a Stop to the Career of Both. He rescued his Native Country from them, when a Stripling, and is not yet allowed time to breath, since he hath delivered all Europe from them, and fought its Deliverance thro' Seas of Blood: Yet this is the only Tyrant we are now to dread; and his Army that knocked off our Chains, are the only Men that will put them on again. A grateful Reward to a gallant Prince and a valiant Army!  
Brisac is still detained by France, contrary to the Treaty: They threaten Military Execution upon the Protestants of Germany, for claiming the Freedom of their Religion, according to the Fundamental Laws of the Empire. They have Numerous Armies ready to Invade Italy, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands, as soon as the King of Spain dies. They solicit to have that Succession settled on one of the Princes of France, contrary to as solemn a Treaty and renunciation as was ever made in the World. Yet England has no cause to apprehended any thing, either from their Force or their Fraud; tho we have villainous Assassins at home ready to murder our King on every opportunity, and unnatural Rebells enough to invite over a French Army, to restore their old Mr. when ever the Blow can be given.  
Do these Gentlemen think that all the Assassins fell in Charnock, Perkins and Keys, or that all the Conspirators that solicited for the Great Blessing of a French Invasion were Executed with Fenwick and Friend. Is their no Earl still alive, whose Horses may be borrowed for a Turnham-Green Expedition? Are the Clergy-men butted that absolved the Assassins, and  told them, That going up to a Cart under Tyburn was the first step to Heaven?  
Is there no Great Prince in the World that owes King William a Grudge for making him Disgorge his Conquests, and balking his Design of the Universal Monarchy? Is there no old Cuff in St. Peter's Chair, that can Consecrate a Dagger to Stab a Prince that hath hindered the enlarging of St. Peter's Patrimony? Is there no old Angry Prince alive that had Sir Edmunbury Godfery Strangled, for taking the Discovery of the Popish Plot, and the Earl of Essex's throat Cut, because he formerly knew too much of his Measures? And is their no Cranburn or Keys that will do him the Service to be Orderly Men to dog his Rival, in order to Murder him? Is there no Young Perkin beyond-Sea, that may make a Match for a Daughter of F. and lay the Foundation of future Titles and Invasions? Have no Fr. Wh— s come over of late that were well versed in the mystery of Ploting in the days of Yore? and have they forgot what influence prostitution had of old to gain some Men to their Party? Are there no angry Clergymen in the Kingdom, that bear King Willam a grudge, because he was born in a Commonwealth? is descended of Progenitors that never believed one word of the Doctrine of Passive Obedience? Is there none of 'em bear him ill will because he was bread amongst Dutch Presbyterians? hath restored taffeta in Scotland, and given Liberty of Conscience in England. Is there none of the Faction remaining that branded all the Religions, and Sobermen of the Church of England with the name of Trimers, and Presbyterians in Masquerade, that preached from their Pulpits they loved the Papists better than they did them, and that ridiculed the belief of Popish Plots? Are there none who use endeavours to divide the moderate Church of England-men, and the Dissenters among themselves, because they know they are King William's Strength, and that thro their sides they might wound him under the fifth rib? If there be none of those things in Nature, then we stand in need of no defence, we may beat our Spears into Plowshares and our Swords into Pruning-hooks; but if their be such things, then let the World judge what Friends they are to the Protestant Interest, and the Welfare of England, that would have us deprived of a Land-force in our present Circumstances.  
It were to be wished that these Men in their Lucid Intervals would be pleased to consider, whether it be impossible for our Fleet ever to be surprised in a Harbour, as it well nigh happened not many years ago; whether they may not be wind-bound upon our own Coasts, whilst that of our Enemies is brought upon us, as our Fleet was in plymouth Harbour, when the Spanish Armada came into the Channel, and had not God Infatuated them, and made the Stars in their Courses to fight against them, might have blocked us up there whilst the Prince of Parma had Landed his Army in England.  
They would do well likewise to consider whether a certain Prince, who was never a Slave to his Word, and seldom misses to lay hold of his opportunitys, would not think it a very good one to revenge himself upon a Prince and Nation, that have broken all his Political and Ecclesiastical Measures, if once he found them without a Defence, and could a better opportunity be desired than to have him and his Parliament set at Variance; his Troops disbanded against his Will, and his people possessed with an opinion that he designs to enslave them: Yet these are the things, this Pamphlet drives at, whether the Authors have touched any Lewidors or not may be worth the Enquiry, for some Passages in their Book make it very suspicious.  
page. 19. They tell us that the Prince of Orange in his Declaration, when he Landed, set forth all the Oppressions of the last Reign [ but the keeping up a standing Army] declared for a free Parliament in which things were to be so settled that there should be no danger of falling again into slavery and promised to sand back all his Foreign Forces as soon as this was done, By which they would insinuate that he always designed a standing Army, and that he hath broken his promise in not sending home his Foreign Troops, But can these Gentlemen have the confidence to say that we are hitherto delivered from the danger of falling back into that very Slavery, and under that same Prince too, from which he delivered us, do they not remember how near the Fatal blow was being given to the most valuable Life in the whole World, but a few years ago, and that the late King with a French Army was come as far as Callis before ever we heard of him, and was immediately to have Embarked upon a signal from Dover cliffs, or a Message that King William was murdered, and that Fenwick Friend, and the rest of the Jacobites were to have joined him upon his Landing: And is not a great Potentate in the World more at leisure now to second and countenance such an Expedition than he was then? did it not appear at the trials of the Plotters, that he would have sent an Army to ioyn them sooner, if he had not been diverted with so many Enemies, sur le brass to use their own Term, all at once? does not the raging fury of the Papists against the Protestants in France, Piedmont and Germany, smell strong of an irreconcilable hatred and Hellish rancour against the Reformed Religion and its known Champion? does not that horrid division that they have sown in the Empire between the Papists and Protestants there deprive us of all hopes of assistance from our Allies beyond Sea? and does not these ill timed ad fiery suggestions contained in this Pamphlet against his Majesty and his Administrations, all look as if there were a design in hand; not only to deprive King William of the assistance of his Friends beyond Sea, but to render him suspected to his Friends on this side, and is it he alone that they aim at, or is it not the Protestant Interest which he hath so gallantly deffended,  
In the 20th. page. they are very angry that the Article in our Declaration of Right, which says, That the raising and keeping up an Army in time of Peace, is contrary to Law. Had these words tagg'd to it, Without Authority of Parliament, as if, say they, the consent of the Parliament would not have made it Legal without those words, or that their consent would make it less dangerous, But by these Gentlemens leave if it be not a mighty presumption to offer to argue with them that so much despise the Wisdom of that Convention to which we owe the settlement of all the liberty we enjoy, 'tis very plain there may be a Case when 'tis necessary for a Parliament to give their Consent to the raising or keeping up of a standing Army in time of Peace, as Information of a design to invade us from abroad or of a Plot to bring us into Confusion at home, and this may be done without any danger to the Peoples Liberty, whereas, if it be performed without Consent of Parliament, it must needs be Itroductive of Tyranny,  
page.. 20. They insist upon the mismanagement of affairs during the War in Ireland, as if they had a mind to charge the Rebellion there upon his Majesty, as that of 41 was charged upon his Grandfather, for p. 21. they tell us the Jacobites in those early days, said that same ill counsellors designed to play the same Game again of a standing Army, and attributed unjustly the neglect of Ireland to the same Cause, because by that Omission it was made necessary to raise a greater Army to reduce it, with which the King acquainted the Parliament the 8th, of March, and declared he thought it not advisable to attempt the reducing it with less than 20000 Horse and Foot. This was a bitter Pill to the Parliament who thought they might have managed their share of the War with France at Sea, but there was no Remedy, a greater Army must be raised or Ireland lost, and to gilled it, all the Courtiers ushered in their speeches with this Declaration that they would be the first for disbanding them when the War was over. p. 22. Thus the Wars in Ireland was nursed up, either thro' Chance, Inadvertency, or the necessity of our Affairs( for I am unwilling to think it was design) for at last it was grown so big, that nothing less than his Majesties great Genius, and the usual success that always attends his Conduct, could have overcome it.  
Then they tell us that the Parliament found Commissary shells to be the cause of a great part of the Miscarriages, prayed his Majesty to acquaint who it was that advised the employing him, which his Majesty did not remember, that before shells could be brought to England, the Parliament was prorogued, and after dissolved, and shells soon after died. The neglect of Ireland this Year,( say they) made it necessary to raise more Forces, which afterwards on pretence of Invading France, was advanced to 87698 Men. They say also that the people of Ireland demanded Arms, and Commissions to be sent them, which in all probability would have made the Reduction of that Kingdom very easy; and that in the Army raised for the reducing of Ireland, very few Gentlemen of Estates there could get employments, tho' they were in a miserable Condition here, and made their utmost Application for them.  
Let any man judge to what purpose all this matter is raked together if it be not to render his Majesty Odious, and to possess the people with an opinions, that he suffered the Affairs of Ireland to come to that extremity, on purpose that he might have an Army raised, which is in plain English to make him Guilty of all the Protestant blood that was  shed, and of all the Rapine and Spoil committed in that Kingdom, and that to prevent the Parliaments enquiry into it, he dissolved them.  
I have heard of a Crew about Town that drink healths to him that shall cut of the next King's-Head, and I think it plain by this heavy Charge that some men have a great mind to be at acting the like Tragedy once more, but upon enquiry, I believe it will be found that whereas some of those that were formerly concerned were great, pretenders to Religion, the Boutefeus and Incendiaries of the present time, will be found Jacks, Libertines, Deists, and Socinians, and whether such persons be incapable of receiving Bribes fcom Foreign or domestic Enemies, to raise divisions amongst us: Let those who know any think of the Virtuous disposition, and the untainted Honour. of .... one of the mighty pretenders for a Commonwealth, and the great Oracle of some Fools of the Party, determine. Is it not a shane that a person whom his Native Country hath vomited out for his Odious Heresies should be so much caressed here by some people. Let them inquire amongst all that have known him from his Youth, into his Weathercock temper of Religion, and Commendable Morals, and then let them judge according to evidence, whether such a man as he may not be hired to do any sort of mischief: This I think enough to be a warning to the Wise to avoid such Company. We have no reason to think, that such as are Enemies to revealed Religion, are proper to consult as the Oracles of the Nation. The Liberty they pled for is mere Licentiousness, and it may perhaps be worth the inquiry whether the act against Blasphemy, and profaneness Last Sessions, hath not prompted them by this means to seek a Revenge on the Nation. I have heard that they threatened when that act was Passing, to be Revenged on some thrt promoted it, and we cannot but think their Rancour extends to his Majesty that signed it, and we may partly guess at the Orthodoxy of the Authors of this Pamphlet, by their seeming to deny the Depravation of human Nature in the beginning, and saying, Pag 18, That the Domination of the Church, is the worst part of Popery, tho' I think all true Protestants will say, that the Idolatry of the Church of Rome, and her Doctrine of Justification by works which renders the Death and Merit of our Saviour of no use, are worse than her Domination, tho' that be bad enough, and worse indeed than we have words to Express it, but any Religion provided they be not curbed in their Licentious practices will go down with those that are against revealed Religion, And here I cannot pass over their malicious Reflection upon the Clergy in General, to whom they say, Popery was not so formidable a thing, but with a little Cookery it might have been rendered palatable. I have said enough already to convince the Gentlemen, that I am no admirer of the Passive Obedience Clergymen, and shall say further, That I believe the Kings and the Nations greatest Enemies, are amongst that Crew and their followers, and if our Authors had taken asi much pains to trace the Miscarriages of our Affairs up to the Fountain, as they have been at to Charge them upon his Majesty and the Court, they would perhaps have found that they were originally owing to the Disciples of Passive Obedience, but at the same time I think myself obliged in Conscience and Justice to say that such moderate Churchmen as his Majesty hath advanced to the Episcopal Dignity since his coming to the Crown, and the inferior Clergy of their sentiments who are not a few, and always understood Passive Obedience, in a sound and limited sense, would rather have gone to the Stake then have digested Popery tho' nev e so well cooked, either by Antichrist's or Bishop's Laud's Disciples.  
But to return again to our Irish Affairs: Now that these Gentlemen have discharged their Choler, do they think the Nation have forgot, that his Majesties Affairs were betrayed there, by Lieutenant General Hamilton, and that other person, for trusting of whom to the apparent ruin of his Majesty's Interest, Mr. Temple did afterwards unhappily drown himself? Do they think that the Nation will be galled with such stuff, that Parliament thought they could have managed their share of the War against France by Sea, when the French defeated our Squadron at Bantry Bay, Landed an Army afterwards in Ireland, and possessed themselves of all the strong Towns in that Kingdom. Is it excusable that the King suffered matters to come to that Crisis in Ireland, that he might thereby get an opportunity of raising an Army, when the Progress of the French and Irish was such as well nigh threatened the loss of the other two Kingdoms? Why don't these Gentlemen say that he exposed himself at the same time to be wounded by the French Canon, and suffered his Fleet to be defeated by Monsieur de Tourville at the same time, for that same end too, and to give credit to the Argument, which they mention P. 22. That a Fleet is no security to us. Can any reasonable person think that it was a pleasure to his Majesty to be reduced to a necessity of going to Ireland, and thereby to give the French an opportunity of Invading England, as they might easily have done had not God prevented it after the defeat of our Fleet under Admiral Torrington, do they think that it was a pleasure for his Majesty to be in Ireland when the French were so formidable in Flanders, and did so much endanger his Native Country of Holland, with the Care and Government of which he is also entrusted: what reason can these Gentlemen assign why Flanders should not be looked upon to be the Natural Barrier of England now as well as in Queen Elizabeth time, and that we are not as much concerned in the defence of that Country now as then. If they will allow themselves a little freedom of thought, they may speedily be convinced that we are much more concerned to defend it now than then, In those days, it was the Power of Spain that terrified all Europe; but Philip the II. could not bring Vast Armies by Land into Flanders; as the French King now can do, so that there was no such reason to be afraid of him as we have now to be afraid of the French, who if they had the Seaports of Flanders and Holland once in possession, and that they might soon accomplish if England stood Neuter, or did not assist the Netherlands, any otherwise than by Sea, we must quickly submit our Necks to the Gallican yoke, our Merchants could stir no where but they must become their prise, they might considering their own strength at Sea, and the accession it would thereby receive be able to cope with our Fleet, and Invade us by Land when they pleased. With what reason then can these Gentlemen advance that the Parliament thought they could manage their part of the War with France by Sea, can any man be so little sensible of the true Interest of England as to think that we should sit still, and tamely look on whilst the French swallowed up the Netherlands. I remember indeed that this was the usual topic insisted on by the Jacobites in public Company, what were we concerned with Flanders. How would it affect us if Namure, &c. were in Ashes; what had we to do to sand Forces thither? and now it seems, this Republican Club as they would have the World believe them to be, are become the Jacobites echo, and itis well if there be not Jacobites in masquerade among them, tho' I think there's little need of any such disguise when some of the Hot-heads are not ashamed openly to profess that they look for better things from the known Jacobites, than from the Whiggs.  
We have the more ground for this suspicion, when these Gentlemen tell us page. 24. That at the opening of the last Sessions of Parliament, a New Plot was said to be discovered for murdering the King, and searches were made at midnight through the whole City, to the discovery of plenty of Fornication, but no Traitors. What then it seems the Court now have learned the art of making Shamplots, as well as the Courts in former times, a handsome suggestion! Have our pretended Commonwealth Club learned the art of ridiculing Plots, from their Brethren the Tories, was their never any such thing as a Plot to murder the King, it's pity but that some of the Authors of such Raillery should be obliged to do Penance for ridiculing the Plot at the Gallows, where the Assassins confessed it: Are our Jacobites so much reformed for the better, that they are not capable of such an Execrable design now, as well as two or three years ago, will our pretended Commonwealth-Club become their Vouchers, then I hope the Jacobites will be so kind to them on the other hand as to undertake that they will cut off no more Kings by a wrested form of Law: Then even let it be so, with all my heart, so have I seen two Scabbed Jades Nab on another with great pleasure for a while, till they came to touch to the Quick and then fell at last to determine the controversy with their Heels after having sounded a Charge with the Trumpets of their Tails? Well, but it seems the searchers did not lose all their labour for they discovered plenty of Fornication, which our honest Club think fit to make a Jest of, and that is another proof of their good morals; but in truth, I know no reason why a pretended Socinian Commonwealth's-man should scruple the Commission of that or any other Crime, more than a Popish or Protestant King James's man, and perhaps a Love to Licentiousness is the principal Tie of their present Union,  
Others will tell 'em that there is a certain Prince in the World who invaded a neighbouring Country for having given him ill Satisfaction, and is it not reasonable to think that Natural Ambition, and desire of Revenge may prompt such an one more strongly to Invade a Kingdom, that hath given him an open and avowed Dissatisfaction? Was there never any such thing as a Massacre in France carried on under Pretence of a Marriage-Treaty, and a Pontifex Necem Colinii probat writ upon the Pope's Windows to justify the Lawfulness of it? And is Rome become now so tender-hearted, and of such a Puritanical Conscience, that she could not for such a good Cause, as the Extirpating the Northern heresy, give a Pontifex Angliae conquestum & p●pulationem probat, notwithstanding a public Treaty?  
Their Reflections upon the Proceedings of Parliament about the Standing Army, and upon the King and Court, as having acted therein contrary to the Act of Parliament, and their own Promise, are fitter to be censured by the Government than taken notice of here. But be the Matters of Fact they allege true or false, it signifies little to the Matter in debate; for if it be true that we have a treacherous Party to deal with at Home and Abroad, and that we are as much under a Necessity of preventing the Netherlands being swallowed up by France, as we should be under of helping to quench the Flames in our Neighbour's House, lest it should afterwards consume our own. The Necessity of a Land-Force is uncontrovertible, and therefore the Government ought not to be lashed by every virulent Pen, for rewarding those that are so good Patriots to their Country, as to oppose the Current of Jacobites and others against it, that being the only way to hinder our Enemies from effecting that in Time of Peace that they could never effect in Time of War. And I am confident every honest and thinking Man will agree, that when His Majesty so positively declared that the Posture of Affairs abroad did require a Land-Force for some time; his Opinion is to be taken, and his judgement to be relied on sooner than that of a mixed Club of Socinians, Jacobites, and Pretended Republicans, who, for any thing appears as yet to the contrary, seem more likely to be influenced by Papists and Jacobites, and others, that have a mind to embroil our Affairs, and to bring those that are for a Commonwealth under the Hatred of the public, than to be allowed or encouraged by those that think that Form of Government the best.  
Besides, we may plainly see that it is not His Majesty and the Court alone that thinks a Land-Force requisite for our Safety, but the Wisdom of the Three Nations met in Parliament have concurred in it; and tho' the Number allowed be not so great as perhaps the Court might have desired, yet it is sufficient to convince the Nations that the Parliaments of all Three think a Land-Force necessary; and certainly their judgement is preferable to that of our Authors, some of whom, I am apt to think, have little or no Estate to be taxed  
One would think it were enough to convince any reasonable Man, that there's ground to suspect a mischievous Design at the bottom of all this Clamour against a Standing Army, because the Jacobites in Parliament, and every where else, appeared so mightily for disbanding the Whole; which certainly they would never have been, had they not hoped to find their Account in it. And besides, the common Prudence and Policy of Nations never allow of any such thing, whilst those that were their Enemies continue in a Posture of Offence. Their Objection that we had so long time decried the Power of France, and published her declining Condition, is nothing to the purpose. It has now been seen by those that formerly would not believe it; and if all our Confederates had been true to the Alliance, the World would soon have had a convincing Proof of it: But that Opportunity being lost, the Desolation and Poverty of France may give just Cause of jealousy to her Neighbours, that she will be under a Necessity to over-run them with her numerous Troops of starving Inhabitants, who have nothing left them to subsist on at Home; the Poverty of the Goths and Vandals having been none of the least Causes of their seeking for Entertainment abroad when they could not have it at home. Tho' France be comparatively ruined to what she was Thirty Years ago, she is strong enough still to ruin England, if she have no Diversion elsewhere; which one Point, well considered, would stop all the Clamour some ill-minded People have raised against His Majesty's going beyond Sea, and spending a little Money there at this Juncture, in his Interviews and Conferences with neighbouring Princes and States. We are not so strong, nor well united at Home, as not to stand in need of an Alliance Abroad; but such is the cursed Temper of some People in this Nation, that they love to disseminate and entertain Jealousies of a Prince, both in Relation to Church and State, whom the whole Protestant World besides look upon to be the main Support of their Cause, under God, to whom they pour out ardent Prayers every Day for his Preservation and long Life; and we see the most Zealous of the catholic Princes had such an Opinion of his refined virtue, that they trusted him with the Command of their Armies, as Generalissimo; which put such an Opportunity into his hand, that had he been of such a boundless Ambition as those Men would give out, the Universal Monarchy seemed in a manner to be at his Devotion; which I think is enough to convince any Man, that his own Subjects have no just Cause to suspect him.  
The only Objection of value, that can be raised against a Land-Force, in our present Circumstances, is the ill use that may be made of them in case of his Majesty's Death, and the Inability of the Country to maintain them; but itis hoped it does not surmount the Wisdom of an English Parliament to find out proper Expedients to obviate both these Inconveniencies. If the Army be put into the Hands of such as the People love, and trust, and are known to be Men of true English Principles; if the Soldiers be carefully taught their Duty, and instructed in the Grounds of the Protestant Religion, by Clergymen of honest Principles; and if a good Discipline be kept among 'em, or that in case of no Military employment happen for them during the Time limited for their being kept up, or till the Militia be so regulated and disciplined, as they may be capable of defending their Country. If, I say, in that case the Parliament in their Wisdom shall think fit to employ them in public Works, for the good of the Nation, all those Fears about them will quickly vanish; and instead of being chargeable, they may be beneficial to their Country; whereas Idleness hath in all Ages proved fatal to Armies, of which Hanibal's at Capua, is one great and well-known Instance.  
As to those Mens Project, of leaving us in our present Condition, without any other Defence than the Milita, though it cannot be denied, but that their Limbs and natural Courage may be as good as that of the Standing Army, yet the faint Resistance they made to the Dutch at Chattam, whilst one Regiment of disciplined Scotch did such Wonders there, and the Consternation the Nation was in when naked of disciplined Troops, upon breaking out of the Plot here against the King's Life, and the Fears of an Invasion from France, are enough to stop the Mouths of all Gainsayers. No Man who has looked into History, but knows that the Roman veteran Legions, and Alexander the Great's disciplined Troops, were too hard for all the Nations that ever encountered them, though many of them were nothing inferior to them in natural Courage.  
It were endless to run through all the Insinuations of that Libel; nor will Time allow me to say any thing further, and therefore, after having acquainted the Reader that I have had no Time to digest my Thoughts upon the Subject, he must not think it strange if I fall short of his Expectation in answering all the Particulars of that Pamphlet; which is the Product of a Club, and the Result of their Mature Deliberations.  
FINIS.   

Postscript.  
AFter the finishing of what goes before, another Paper came to hand, entitled Considerations on the Choice of a Speaker, &c. which being writ, as 'tis excusable, by the same Party, and directed to the same end, of creating a Misunderstanding betwixt the King and the People, I thought might deserve some Animadversions.  
All the Arguments and Suggestions therein contained, proceed upon this Supposition, That the King and Court carry on a distinct Interest from that of the Country, in desiring a Land-Force for a limited Time: The Falsehood of which I think is sufficiently demonstrated already; it being certainly the Interest of the Country to have a Defence, and not to expose themselves to the Insults of a Foreign and Intestine Enemy, for want of Regular Troops. If indeed those whom we have most cause to fear, had no other Forces to attack us with, but Country Militia, or could not have any other in readiness, whenever Opportunity offers, there were no need of keeping a Land-Force standing in England: but seeing it is known that they have a Numerous Army of the best disciplined Men in Europe, those who press with so much Violence to have all our Troops disbanded, seem to have an Interest in view, distinct from that of their Country.  
The Matter then being so, it can be no sufficient Argument to refuse such a Person for Speaker, as is grateful to His Majesty, or perhaps has some Employment under him, if another cannot be found who is equally capable and grateful both to King and People. It is none of my Business to meddle with the Characters of those Persons whom this Paper seems to reflect upon; only thus much I may venture to say, that I am afraid the Gentlemen who are the Authors of it would be as much at a Loss, were it left to their Choice, to name a Speaker to please themselves, as they would be to condescend upon a Form of Government, were the present Frame of our Constitution dissolved, and they at Liberty to choose one out of all their own Utopian Models.  
It must needs be a Disservice to the Country, to create and foment Jealousies at this time betwixt King and People. His Majesty fits at the Helm, sees further into the Posture of Affairs, and Intrigues of Foreign Courts, than it's possible for any one else to do; and seeing there's no Reason to think that he will advice to any thing but what is for the Interest of that Country he hath so often ventured his Life to deliver, and make free; they who oppose themselves to a Speaker that may be grateful to him, do just as if unexperienced Mariners should refuse a Pilot that an experienced Captain knows, and can put Confidence in, because they think he is too much in the Captain's Interest, and may, perhaps, by forcing him to accept one of their liking, run upon those very Shelves that they thought to avoid.  
Our Enemies cannot desire a better Opportunity against us, than that which a Division betwixt the King and Parliament will afford them; therefore it seems to be the indispensible Duty of all that wish well to their Country, to endeavour Expedients for promoting an Union; but certainly they don't take such Measures, who so positively writ against choosing a Speaker that may be in his Majesty's Interest. We had reason indeed to oppose former Princes in that matter; but, blessed be God, we have a King now, who hath on all Occasions demonstrated himself to be Pater, and not pestis Patriae, as some of them were; and seeing our Brethren in Scotland and Ireland, who are as much concerned, and perhaps as zealous to seek the Welfare of their Country as we possibly can be, have thought fit to submit to his Majesty's Desires, as that which they are sensible is absolutely necessary for their own Safety; let it never be said, that England, who was the first that invited him over, and contributed most to assist him in working out our common Deliverance, shall now only become suspicious of his Conduct, and prove Froward and Refractory, at the Instigation of a Parcel of Men, who make it their Sport and Recreation to throw Darts and Firebrands about, and perhaps, upon a thorough Enquiry, will be found, neither to have more Zeal for, nor greater Interest in their Country than other People, but are rather of that Roman Consul's Mind, who thought there could be no such thing as Liberty, except People had an Allowance to ruin themselves if they had a mind to it.  
FINIS.