REMARKS UPON A Scurrilous Libel; CALLED An Argument, showing that a Standing Army is inconsistent with a Free Government, &c.  
LONDON, Printed in the YEAR 1697.   

DEDICATION TO THE READER.  
THE Itch of Popularity is an Epidemical Disease, and Men often are tickled with famed of any kind, though purchac'd like that of Erostratus, viz. by throwing the Firebrand. Much such another Glory must the Author of this Pamphlet set up for. But to encourage so hardy an Undertaking, 'tis well he tells us, That the King is a Prince in whom we know no Vices, but what have been esteemed virtues in others, viz. his undeserved Clemency to his Enemies. 'Tis a Sign indeed that he believes him merciful, even to a Fault; otherwise this licentious Piece of scribble would never have dared to expose its Face in the World, for fear of exposing that of the Author's a little indecently, and well if he scaped so. However, if Mercy be the King's Fault, 'tis none of this Pamphleteer's; for never was crowned Head treated more barbarously by a Mass of the rankest Suggestions that ever past with Impunity.  
'Tis true if he meant what he says, that the Royal Clemency was his only 'vice, the Author's whole Outcry of Slavery would be hushed, and his Argument vain. But this Author that never says one thing twice, can writ panegyrics in one page., and Satyrs in another; and begs your leave that Prevarication, Inconsistence, chimeras, and even Contradiction itself, may be currant Standard in his way of Writing; otherwise the greatest Beauties of his whole Argument will be lost.   

REMARKS UPON THE Argument, &c.  
THis Author, by his Zeal, and the Choice of his Subject, sets up for no less than a Patriot, and possibly may be some small Murmurer that he is not a Statesman; for his deep penetration into public Dangers, and his High Wisdom in projecting the politics to avert them, undoubtedly make him fancy that he deserves the Honour of a Post of Trust  
And truly now I have called him Murmurer, methinks his whole Pamphlet speaks as much: and truly as he has discovered such Manacles and Shackles, and Iron Rods hanging over the whole poor Nation, 'tis a shrewd sign his Genius inclines to the Melancholy; for none see Visions like the hypochondriac.  
In this Fit of Enthusiasm he sets Pen to Paper; and pointing us to a Court-corner, he shows us a terrible Goblin called Slavery just peeping from behind the Hangings.  
This impending Danger is, belike, no less than shakin● the whole fabric of the English Government, and to 〈◇〉 us know from what Hands; and on what weak side the Blow shall be given, he begins with a learned Description of the English Monarchy, tells us, That our Constitution depends upon a due Balance between King, Lords, and Commons; and that Balance depends upon the mutual Occasions and Necessities they have of one another; if this Cement be once broken, there is an actual Dissolution of the Government. Now this Balance can never be preserved, but by an Union of the Natural and Artificial Strength of the Kingdom; that is, by making the Militia to consist of the same Persons as have the Property; or otherwise the Government is violent, and against Nature, and cannot possibly continue, but the Constitution must break the Army( viz. a standing one,) or the Army will destroy the Constitution. For it is universally true, that wherever the Militia is, there is, or will be the Government in a short time, &c. But where the Militia consists of the same Parts as the Government, where the King as General, the Lords by virtue of their Castles and Honours, the Great Commanders, and the Freeholders by their tenors the Body of the Army; so 'tis next to impossible for an Army thus constituted, to act to the Disadvantage of the Constitution, unless we con'd suppose them Felons de se, &c. And no Nation ever preserved its Liberty, that maintained in Army otherwise constituted within the Seat of their Government.  
From this he proceeds to tell us over and over, that a standing Army of Mercenaries, none excepted, as having no Right in the Property, and consequently no ways interested in the public Safety, if kept up in Time of Peace, must undoubtedly enslave the Kingdom, and end in nothing less than the inevitable ruin of our Liberties.  
This Assertion he endeavours to prove by several Foreign, and some domestic Instances.  
Here our Argumentator founds the whole stress and merit of his Cause; viz. in the Trust and Fidelity of a Country Militia above that of a standing Army, and consequently the whole National Safety secured in their Hands, as being the Freeholders, Masters of the Property, such as have Foci as well as Arae to fight for, &c. This indeed is an admirable and safe composition of an Army: But where is it to be found! For supposing the Militia of the Kingdom raised for Service, possibly, to oppose an Invasion at home, or follow their Royal Master, their Leader and General, to subject or reduce a Revolt in Ireland, &c. supposing this Army Sixty,( as our Author advices) or Six score thousand, how many Freeholders would he find amongst them. 'Tis true upon a fair peaceable Summer's Day, or a Lord Mayor's show, we shall have Buff Coats and Silver Head-pieces, and substantial Cits, House-keepers, and who not; nay, perhaps a whole prancing Royal Regiment of all Ten thousand Pound Men: But how far will they march? To Islington Common, or the Artillery-Ground?  
How many of the substantial Property-men of the Nation upon the Irruption of real Danger, does he suppose will leave their dear Wives, their Families, their Children, their Trades, and their safe Nests, and soft Beds at home, to face Death and Danger abroad; especially when their very Constitution allows a Militia man the Liberty of sending a Hireling in his stead.  
But if this Author, to compose his Militia of Freeholders, would desire a Law made to oblige the Master of the Family to march in his own proper Person; the very Imposition of such a Law would be deemed a greater English Slavery, than the very worst and heaviest Shackles our scribbler pretends to fear: Such an Imposition of the King's Service( for so I'll call it) would be thought a greater Vassalage than the Old Knight-Service, and all the ancient Villanage of England. So that on the other side, if the Freehold Militia are, and must be free still to deputy, what then will compose such an Army for Service, but Varlets and mercenaries, gleaned from the Plough and the Cart, the Labourer, the Porter, the Vagrant, and what not; so that this so magnified Composition, this illustrious, distinguishing characteristic, and particular Mark of Honour betwixt a Standing Army and a Militia utterly vanishes, and so our Author's strongest Pillar falls to the Ground; whilst the main Body of the Standing Army, or the Train'd-Band one, will at last bear both equal weight in that Scale; and consequently( to use his own Words) have one as little tie to engage their Fidelity, as the other.  
Tis true our Argumentator seems to set some distinction upon one Hireling and t'other; viz. that the mercenary in the Militia is as good as a Property-Man, and will be true to his Country's Interest, in respect to the Master that pays him and sends him forth: A very feeble Bond of Fidelity, if that dependence be all the tie. For I cannot fancy what wonderful Ascendant a private Man can have over a temporary Hireling Soldier, when the constant Pay and Bread from crowned Heads is no Security in that Case. No, 'tis as Inclination leads, and the Cause pleases, that give Edge to the Sword, and Vigour and Faith to the Arm that wields it.  
However our Argumentator takes it for granted, that Inconstancy, Levity, Infidelity, and indeed every dangerous 'vice, every Insult of Arbitrary Oppression and Tyranny, and all the Natural Tendencies to an Universal Slavery, run in the very Veins of a Standing Army, when all the shining virtues imaginable are the unquestioned Graces of a Militia: and accordingly tells us, page. 14. If the late King James would have been contented with Arbitrary Power, without bringing in Popery, he and his Black Guards( meaning that Standing Army) would have bound us hand and foot before this time. But when their ill contrived Oppression came home to their own doors, they quickly shew'd the World how different a thing it was to suffer themselves, and to make other People suffer; and so we came by our Deliverance, &c.  
This, at first sight, looks like a plausible Tale on this Scribler's side, for facilitating the dangerous Introduction of Slavery into England, the grand Argument he drives at. But here I would ask the Author, his whole Party, nay, and the whole World, how in the present State of England, 'tis consonant either with Reason or sense, so much as to suppose any such thing as an English Slavery under a Monarchical Administration, or the least Royal Temptation even to incline that way, from any Motive whatsoever but Popery. For I would desire any reasonable Man to give me even one Shadow of a sensible National Danger of that kind from any Protestant crowned Head whatever, that does, or shall inherit the Imperial Crown of England  
For in the first place, what Jemm does the present, though limited,( as we call it) Royalty of the English Diadem want, to satisfy even the ultimate Ambition of the crowned Head that wears it, except the gratifying of a dissatisfied contrary Zealot, that dares venture, and that only upon the Impulse of a bigoted Faith, the hazarding his Crown below, by a stretch of our Liberty, the English Rights and Laws, and all, for the imaginary gaining of a sairer Crown above. And here pray let us look back to the Arbitrary Power that King James, belike, was not contented with, and see if he made so much as one step or movement that way, that was so much as the least Arbitrary but purely for Popery-sake. Did he set up an Ecclesiastick-Court that carried a Pretence of Protestant Church-Government, but for the Roman Service? Did he indulge and caress the Dissenters for any thing but self-sake; viz. that one Indulgence might make way for another, the Conventicle usher in the Mass-House! Did he turn out the Mourning Gowns at Maudlin for any thing but the Introduction of his own Darlings the Triumphant Hoods and cowls there! Or did he make the least stretch of Right, or Dispensation of Law, or Quo Warranto's, or modelled Charters, for any Earthly Cause, but as an Attack, Trench, and Mine against those dreadful Protestant Bulwarks the Penal Laws and Test, &c. and all in pure Favour still to his Darling Romanists under their lamented legal Exclusion from power and Trust! Nay, how many thousand now in England, believe that his private French League, that made such a noise in the World, was of no less Import than inviting over a Popish French power, in case of too weak an English one at home, for the great Work, as Coleman tells you, of rooting out the Northern heresy, though to no less hazard than even the shaking of his Diadem; nay, possibly even to truckle to France, with an absolute Resignation, under so glorious a Merit, as the Resurrection of the Popish Altars in England. This, at least, I dare boldly say, that that very Prince, who in his Abdication march towards Feversham, was heard to say, He had rather be a Captain of a Troop of Light Horse under the French King, than King of England under the Check of Parliaments,( viz. whilst those Formidable heretics blocks in his way to Rome) would nevertheless upon the supposition of packing such a parliament, that should have re-established his Dear Dagon Mother-Church, have hugged them closer than ever his Brother did his long lived Senate; nay, if possible, have given them Immortality, or at least Canonization for so darling a Service  
And here I would seriously ask, if any Man in his right Wits can believe, that ever that very Jehu-driver, King James, had the least Arbitrary Design, any further than as subservient to his Popish Cause. Nay, so much the contrary, that if fair means could have carried that Cause, undoubtedly instead of assuming any borrowed Plumes of Power, he would have been contented to have stripped half his own Royal Feathers to have purchased such a Blessing. And therefore why does this Argumentator play the Boutefew, and start such a Chimerical Notion of an Arbitrary Power, separate from Religion; and thus amuse the World with mere spectres and Goblins of Slavery, from a groundless Fear and jealousy.  
But to continue my sormer Assertion, what gem does the Crown of England want, &c. Indeed, were an English King a dog of Venice, a mere Stadtholder of Holland, or any such Restricted Administrator, there were some shadow of an Arbitrary Ambition of enlarging his Prerogative: But as the Crown now stands, what irregular Lust of Power can debauch any Protestant Prince, to the breaking through the established Government. 'Tis true, such an Arbitrary Sway may give him the Power of seizing any private Naboth's Vineyard at pleasure; but what will that answer to almost half the public Vintage of the Nation; which, whilst he Rules by Law, and Reigns in his People's Hearts, he may ask and receive when ever occasion shall call for it. And besides all this, the many Royal Wrecks, the aliena pericula, would stand too visible before him, to warn him from any such Encentrick Attempt: And even common King-craft itself, if no other principle of Honour, would hold him from playing that foolish Dog in the Fable.  
Besides, let us take the Case even of King Charles the First: When was it that he enforced shipmoney, contrary to Law; but when his over-Uxorious Indulgence to his Romish Queen had rendered him suspected of Popish Designs( for still there's not even an imaginary Slavery without Popery) which, together with his over partial Fondness of some darling Court-Favourites, had thrust him out of all Parliamentary Favour, and the least hopes of Supply that way, and consequently Necessity and crying Want only stretched the Prerogative in that Point. And see what a poor last shift that was, and how little worth any of his Successors Imitation( especially at the price he paid for it) when the whole sum so extorted, was hardly enough to defray the very Illuminations and Fireworks at one single Entry of a Darling Prince that carries the Hearts, and consequently the Purses of his People.  
Now, if Slavery cannot truly set up in England, but in conjunction with Popery, I hope this Aguish Author has no great Chills about his Heart from any Romish Danger, and English Shackles from that Hand; when the very Shadow of Popery can bring even crowned Heads to Blocks and Scaffolds: And consequently, Abdications are much a less Wonder, especially where Popery endeavours to set up in earnest.  
Nay, Popery is so far from establishing itself in England, that even by our Author's own Confession, not his own terrible Slave-makers, not standing Armies can support it. No, not an Army even modelled for the purpose; not an Army( to use his own Words) of Debauchees, Men of no Principles, and such as make Murder their Profession, &c.( for such he calls the late King's Army) page. the 28th. As vile Miscreants, Hirelings, Mercenaries and Stipendaries, that at every turn he makes of Standing Armies; yet King James with all his Arts of Rome, could not even with such Tools carry his Cause. Tho' if such a mercenary Soul truly reigned amongst the Soldiers, as this Casuist would insinuate, one would think their Fidelity to King James had been much the fairer choice, than running over to King William: For where Popery and Arbitrary Power are to be set up, a standing Army had not only more hopes of a lasting Footing, and a Soldier of Fortune to meet much larger plunder and spoil under such a Standard,( if Prey were his predominant Lust) than under a Prince and a Cause, where Right and Liberty were asserted, and consequently he could hope for no Reward but his pay.  
If thus stands the Inclination, even of the worst of standing Armies, I desire our Argumentator to inform us, where he will raise that standing English Army, that upon occasion( for such things, he tells you, may be) may come into the Field, and bid us choose these and these Men for our Representatives: Or, say Parliaments are seditious, and factious Assemblies, and therefore ought to be abolished: Or, encompass the Parliament-House, and threaten if they do not surrender up their Government, they will put 'em to the Sword, &c. where, I say, will he find that standing Army will execute this Commission, or that bold Crown'd-head that will Command it? Here indeed he points us out a very egregious state of Slavery; and when he can ascertain the possibility of such impending Calamities over us, we'el all have as panic a fear of Chains, as himself.  
This Author is not contented to tell ye, the natural Bent and Inclinations of Regular Troops, so disserent from a Militia, towards enslaving us; but likewise affirms of his own knowledge, that the very Cocatrice-Egg is already hatching. For now, he says, 'tis discoursed publicly of 20000 Men to be maintained in Time of Peace, and if they should not gratify the Court in this modest Request, another Party may be Carest, who will Grant this, or any thing else, which is asked, and then they say Matters will be much worse; and, in fine, he tells you, who shall bring the Materials of Tyranny, for more expert Architects to finish the Building.  
What's all this, but telling the World that the King himself is at the Head of a Conspiracy, to Enslave the Nation,( for what the Court does in that case is the Kings) what an impudent libeler is here,( for here he speaks himself) Here's the true Cloven-foot; for, who but the Devil himself would suggest so horrid, I durst almost say, so blasphemous a falsehood, against the divine Virtue of that Prince, that has so signalized himself our Champion and Deliverer. But the Author, by letting us know that this is familiar Discourse, gives us to understand what Company he keeps, and how glibly Treason goes down with him.  
I confess, in the very next Sentence, he says, We are secure from any Attempts of this kind, during the Reign of a Prince, who has rescued us from a Captivity, &c. But this Cobweb Lawn is too thin; a gold Leaf to cover the foregoing poison: For nothing is more plain, that he means, that the King is the Head Conspirator in all this slavery; for if one Court-Faction cannot carry the Cause, he tells you, another shall be culled our that shall; intimating, that the Court, the Ministry, and the Hands at the Helm, shall be selected and modelled for the purpose; and that Court-work, viz. the Choice of the Ministry, can be none but the King's; for the Project is hatched, the Work is going on, and proper Hands and Tools( if he durst speak plainer English) must be found.  
This Gentleman exprosses all along a great Veneration for the old Commonwealth; witness his Caresses of Virtue, Sobriety, Honour, and a public Spirit, he gives the Rump-Army, who set it up. And, indeed, he is a little driving that way himself, when in the two most important Preliminaries towards it, viz. he is poisoning the People with Jealousies, and arraigning the Faith of Kings.  
As to this Author's Quotations of Foreign as well as domestic Instances of the dreadful Effects from Standing Armies, particularly in our Home-Story, he is most impudently false in Matter of Fact. He tells you in one place, how small an handful of Arbitrary Troops are able to enslave this Nation; That Oliver did it with 17000: When 'tis notoriously known, that in the Three Kingdoms there were near thrice the Number at once engaged in that Quarrel.  
In another place, he says, Queen Elizabeth so entirely trusted in the Love of her People, that she had no Standing Forces: When, on the contrary, she was rarely without the greatest part of 40000 Regular Troops, either in her own Irish War; or in Flanders, assisting the Dutch; or the King of Navarre, in France: And what was that, in effect, but in her own Service? For, in aiding the Distressed abroad, and kerbing the Insults of Foreign Power, 'twas, in a manner, balancing the Assairs of Christendom; and therein strengthening her self, and her People, at home.  
In lieu of these dangerous, Mereinary Land-Forces, he proposes the whole Bulwark and Guard of our Nation to be planted in our Naval Power: The Fleet, upon all Occasions, backed by the Militin on shore, shall defend us from all Insults whatever: For, all Foreign Invasions, whilst we have a superior Fleet to cope with them, he says, are utterly impossible.  
All this while, this Author forgets what was done no longer ago than almost yesterday; We that had, in Conjunction with the Dutch, the best Fleet in the World, nevertheless, could not hinder the French, in Ireland, from both Landing, and Carrying off their Forces, almost at pleasure.  
Our Author likewise forgets that these trusty Maritime Forces are all Hirelings, very few substantial Property-Men amongst them; and therefore, by his own Argument, ought to be suspected of as frail a Composition as a Standing Land-Army: And this I am sure, if we will suppose Corruption in our Admirals, they have it in their power, with the whole Trust of the Wooden Walls of our Kingdom, to be as pernicious to the Nation, as the most Infidel Lord Generals and Land-Armies whatever: For, what is it a Revolting Fleet cannot do? Block up our Ports; destroy our Trade, Merchants; nay, Let in a Foreign Foe, &c. and cut the very Life-Veins of our Nation.  
And here again, to show you the Veracity of the Man in our Maritime Annals, he is as wide from Truth, as in his other Quotations of History: For he tells you, the Spanish Invasion was managed with no more than 18000 Land-Forces; when, at the same time, the Prince of Parma lay ready in Flanders, with near 30000 more veteran Troops, to embark, and strike with them.  
But, to return to the grand Argument, viz. The Facility of Accomplishing the great Work of Slavery from a Standing Army, as well as their Propensity to undertake it; for he talks as confidently of it, as of a Work almost as soon done as thought: And he accordingly tells you, That the most likely way of Restoring, King James, is maintaining a Standing Army to keep him out. And forsooth for these Reasons.  
For the Kings Safety stands upon a Rock; whilst it depends upon the solid Foundation of the Affections of the People, which is never to be shaken, till 'tis as evident as the Sun in the Firmament, that there is a Design formed to overthrow our Laws and Liberties: But if we keep a Standing Army, all depends upon the uncertain and capricious Humours of the Souldiers, which in all Ages have produced more violent and sudden Revolutions, than ever have been known in unarmed Governments. For there is such a Chain of Dependence amongst them, that if Two or Three of the Chief Officers should be disobliged, or have intrigues with Jacobite Mistresses, or if the King of France could once again buy his Pensioners into the Court or Army, or offer a better Market to some that are in already, we should have another Rehearsal Revolution, and the People be only idle Spectators of their own ruin, &c.  
And to give us Examples of the dangerous Composition of Armies, he instances, besides Foreign ones, That in our own country we have but twice kept Armies in times of Peace, and both times they turned out their own Masters. The first, under cromwell, expelled that Parliament, under which they had fought successfully many Years: Afterwards under General Monk, they destroyed the Government they before set up, and brought back Charles the Second.  
Good Heaven! what a wretched Scarerow of Clouts is here set up, not bulky enough, when thoroughly examined, to frighten Daws.  
First, The Kings Safety stands unshaken till 'tis as evident as the Sun, there's a Design formed to overthrow our Laws and Liberties. Then belike, the false Pilots at the Helm must be, beyond all Shadow of Doubt, most conspicuously seen to steer false, or the present Allegiance is not like to be easily staggered; and consequently King James's Restoration no very easy Work. However, as his Assertion has assigned which is the likely way for his Introduction, viz. the keeping of a Standing Army, consequently he very plainly infinuates, That the keeping a Part of the English Forces on foot( for what present National Security whatever) is, and must be the forming such a Design against our Laws and Liberties; and that as evident as the Sun.  
But, not to instance the several Reasons and Nocessities that may be urged, for some Continuance, at least, of a Part of our present Regular Military Strength, enough of itself alone to dash this whole Ridiculous Mormo out of Countenance. However, we shall try the Strength of his own Sampson-Cords of Slavery so threatened us from these dreadful Sons of Perdition, Tyranny, infidelity and apostasy, the present dangerous Army now standing( for all these they must be, when they restore King James.)  
This whose Army, more or less Thousands, no matter, shall be all turned inside outwards, lead or misled, shall form, transform or deform, all Weathercocks, Proteuses, chameleons, or any thing, if possible, more changeable; and all, God knows, from the Caprice or Revolt of Two or Three Chief Officers, and that upon the least Temptation of a Jacobite Petticoat, or a French Louis d'Or, even to the very Restoration of King James. 'Tis true, he does well, and deals a little more ingenuously than usually with us, to tell us what manner of Jacobite Revolution this shall be, viz. a Rehearsal One: that is as much as to say, King James shall make his Re-entry into the Chair, like the Brentford Kings, out of the Clouds; and then indeed we may be all idle Spectators of our own ruin, at such an innocent Return of Old Jemmy viz. when he drops from the Clouds.  
However, to go on with the more formidable Phenomena's from this Jacobite Meteor, he instances the Inconstancy and Fickleness of the Standing Army under cromwell, that expelled their Masters; and that under Monk, that restored King Charles.  
Neither of those are the least Parallels in the present Case. The Revolt of Oliver's Army( though I can hardly call them Revolters) destroyed neither their Arts, nor Foci, neither their own, nor their Countries Religion, Rights, or invaded Liberties, as they then stood: for their turning out their Hydra-headed Masters, the Rump, for a single-headed Monster of the same Egg, was hardly to be called a Revolution. For the then Government both in Church and State stood upon the very same Anarchical, and Antimonarchical Foundation still; and indeed carried as little different a Face of Change, as whether a single Jack Straw, or he and Wat tiler reigned together.  
Besides these Instances of our English standing Armies, utterly destroys his whole Argument: For, either he forgets, or never considers, that in both these Times, even these Hireling Armies acted in Concurrence, and moved by the same Genius, with the then Free-hold of England: The whole Torrent of the Nation, at that time, was for a Common-Wealth, which was not fully established in the then reigning Rump, who being over and over again pressed by the Vox Populi to dissolve themselves, and settle a Common-wealth upon a solid and lasting Foundation; which they still-deny'd, their Servants, the Army( still true the public Insterest) only dismounted them from the Saddle, into which they exalted their General cromwell, upon his Pre-engagement and Promise, of finishing the whole Work of the Good Cause( as they called it) and doing the Nation that Justice, which their other Masters, the Rump, had refused them.  
cromwell, thus mounted, played much the same Game as the Rump had done; for sovereign Power was so delicious a Morsel, that he could spare no part of it to his Friends, nothing less than all would content him; what, at present was only given him in Trust, to be divided in a fair and equal Democracy, he made bold to engross to himself.  
This falsity of cromwell begot some ill Blood, and a great many untoward Resentments, and, perhaps, did not a little contribute to the next Revolution; nay, Monk himself was a malcontent, and set forth a Declaration in Scotland, that the good Cause was not fairly carried on; and the whole Nation by degrees having their Eyes open to their long Follies and Yokes, and all the Juggles of their several upstart Lords; in short, grown weary of their own Wooden Gods, longed for a Free Parliament, in which Monk's Army( still Acting in consort with the whole Freehold) the Army, and the Nation both agreed the great Point; and the Free-Parliament returned into their Original Channel, viz. the Constitution of Monarchy, and so called home King Charles, still the Nation and Army concurring.  
Besides both these Turns of State, thus influenced by standing Armies, if they made any thing for his Cause, as they are the quiter contrary, nevertheless have not the least Resemblance of so rapid and eccentric a Movement, as Restoring King James, a Prince of Principles so well tried, so truly known, and so much the universal Aversion of England, that the whole Genius of the Nation, Civil or Military, stands wholly against him.  
Another Instance is fresh in every ones Memory, how King James's Army joined with the Prince of Orange, now our Rightful and Lawful King. And what could be expected otherwise from Men of Dissol●●e and Debaucked Principles, who call themselves So●ldiers of Fortune, who make Murder their Profession, and inquire no further into the Justice of the Cause, than how they shall be paid; who must be false, rapacious and cruel in their own defence, &c.  
This Paragraph perhaps has one of the blackest Faces of any through the whole Pamphlet: For here the whole Army of King James, is araign'd as Libertines, Reprobates, Mercenaries; and Professors of nothing less than Murder, Rapine, Cruelty and Injustice, when that very Army, out of a mere Principle of Abhorrence to their Arbitrary old Master, made so general, and almost total a Caress to our Gracious approaching Deliverer the Prince of Orange. Was there no Justice of their Cause considered, when they forsook the Popish for the Protestant Standard? nay, so considerable a Body of 'em still compose so large a Part of the present Army? Or, does not this Author play the Traveller in the Fable, and blow Hot and could at once, when in one Breath he calls King William, our Rightful and Lawful King; and yet at the same time brands the whole Army that came over to his Party, and joined in his glorious Work of Deliverance, as the worst of Monsters, villains and Infidels for so doing? I wish this arguing Gentleman means honestly: for I shrewdly suspect, if he's a Person of any Estate, that he's one of those Side-Friends of the Government, that paid double Taxes; one of those sober Gentlemen that swear little; for I much fear that the New Oaths had never Eloquence enough to drag into Westminster-Hall.  
And here I cannot but look a little back to page. 6. where he gives our present King the Character of a second Moses, in reducing his People from a Captivity equal to that of the Children of Israel. A Prince, whose Life is so necessary to the Preservation of Europe, that both Protestant and Popish Princes have forgot their Ancient Maxims, and laid aside their ●innate Animosities, and made it their common Interest to choose him their Patron and Protector, &c.  
Now in all this, and twenty times more Flourish of of the Pen in King William's panegyric( for by the Kidney of the Writer, I am afraid 'tis no more but Flourish; a soft Slur of the Pen to make his Libel pass Lash-free) I wonder how he will reconcile all his repeated Eulogies and Encomiums, even to a Transport, upon the great Work of our mosaic Deliverer, King William, and yet at the same time so blacken the Hands that wrought in it, when nothing less than this Revolt( so much exploded by him) of King James his Army could work that Deliverance. It looks very suspiciously, that this Writer's Quarrel against them, leans the other way; not for suppressing, but for not supporting of Tyranny. He would have given them, no doubt, a much fairer Character, had they kept true to their Old Master, and their Old Cause. And that the World may be sensible how little a true Kindness this libeler has for Monarchy, especially a Protestant one; we desite his Reader to consider, what dissolute Debauchees and Devils he makes King James his Army, and what Saints he makes of Olivers; which, page. 10. he tells you, must be allowed to have had as much Virtue, Sobriety and public Spirit, as has been known in the World amongst that sort of Men.  
And here again our Author wanted a little of his Considering-Cap; For what more Dirt does he throw in the Face of his Argument, when he so unluckily instances this last Revolt of a Standing Army, which so entirely,( some few scattered Papists only excepted) joined the Free-hold in the public Deliverance, and though the very Creatures of Popery were all, Hand and Heart, in the Performance, of what had been the common Prayers of the Nation that called over the Prince of Orange.  
But supposing this Paragraph means innocently, and that from his general Aversion to Standing Armies, this Author's bold Lash was only a Random Stroke. However, when this poor Scribbler has walked in a long raving Dream of so many hideous Dangers from a Standing Army, and all directly leveled at the present Forces on Foot; he unfortunately wakes into Sense in the last page. of his Book, and tells us in these Words:  
What I have faid here against Standing Armies, I would be understood of such as are the Instruments of Tyranny, and their Countreys ruin; and therefore I need make no Apology to our own, which was raised by the Consent of the Parliament in this just and necessary War; and next under God and our Great and Glorious Deliverer, have, by their Bravery and Conduct, preserved our Liberties, and the Protestant Religion through Europe.  
Gracious God! Is this the Character of that Standing Army, this dazzling Honour and Honesty, that Pag. the 6. as beforemention'd, he tells us, The King ought to be so earnestly solicited, right or wrong, to be immediately disbanded, as of no less import than completing our Deliverance, and of no less threatening Fatality, if never so little kept up, than preying upon our very Entrails, and utterly destructive to our very Constitution.  
I am afraid this Pamphleteer, by this contradictory Way of Arguing, is a little guilty of a Frailty called Forgetfulness. And, as there are a sort of Talkers, that the Proverb says, ought to have good Memories, he gives us to understand, that as signal a Talent as he has of the first Qualification, yet it appears he is a little short in the last Capacity.  
If then, to sum up what has been urged, the Main Body of the Regular Forces, and those of the Militia, are much of the same Composition, and therefore no ways more or less dangerous, or less to be trusted on that Score: Next, as their Constitution and Establishment are so far alike, that they are equally at the King's Call, the King their Generalissimo, &c. Then, as the Great Officers in the Regular Troops are Men of Honour and Interest in the Nation, and consequently have the same tie, and in all Reason the same Affection for their Country's Liberty, as the Lords Lieutenants in the Militia: And also,( as the Author himself confesses,) that in a Disbanded Army, the Generality of the Soldiery, upon any serviceable Call of the Trained Bands, will at least a great part of them, fall into the Militia, as Hirelings, &c. And Lastly, as from all the fore-men-mentioned Instances, 'tis manifest, Standing Forces are naturally in the Inclinations and Interests of the People; and consequently, all our Pamphleteer's Fears are Groundless: Now let us examine with what Safety or Honour the wholly Body of our Regular Troops can be Disbanded, in the present State of the Kingdom, as useless to the public.  
First then, 'Tis most certain that Experience and Discipline makes an Army serviceable: And if the Security of the Nation requires a marshal Strength, 'tis ridiculously impolitic to disband the Learned, only to teach the Ignorant; and put the Government both to the Toil and expense of making Soldiers, when we have them made to our Hands.  
Next, As there is not that entire Trust to be lodged in a new Reconcited Enemy, that at the first Start of a Peace, we have nothing else to do, but to turn our Swords into plowshares; it being not so very many Years ago, that we have seen Peace both made, and broken again. And therefore, to speak in his own Dialect, we are not now so secure in this last Peace, but What has been, may be again. And, as no State or Government is in a true Capacity of defending itself, that has not the Power of Offending; therefore some Cautionary Strength, in all Reason, ought to be kept on Foot upon that Account:  
For to speak again in his own Language, That Nation is surest to live in Peace, that is most capable of making War: And a Man that has a Sword by his side, shall have the least occasion to make use of it: All this, I say, considered, why must We, and We only of the whole World, Disband all our Regular Troops, when our Neighbours around us continue so considerable a Body of theirs; and as we are embarked in the same Common Cause, why not the same common Care of our Safety, and the same Means used to support it.  
I would only ask this fearful Gentleman, That if his Argument was Translated into all Languages of the Confederacy, and made applicable to their own Case,( for Standing Armies enslave all Nations, as well as England) and consequently, by dint of his Eloquence, all the Regular Forces of Europe( for the Reason holds every where alike) should be Disbanded, how many Years purchase would he give for this new Peace, as weak as he renders the present Power of France, and as fatigued as their Great Monarch may be with the Load of the late War.  
So much for the Safety: Now for the Honour of the Nation. First then, What Fools must the English Nation confess themselves to be, when they called over that Prince for their Deliverer, who they dare not trust with Edge Tools in his Hand, under a less Dread than of Shackles, and Rods of Iron? Next, What a Dishonourable Suspicion must here be of a Prince, that has so Eminently signalized Himself a Champion of Christendom; and how must the jealous English Nation be pointed at, and hooted round the World, in their vile Fears and Jealousies, to render that very Prince a Destroying Devil at home, who has been reverenced and honoured Abroad, pardon the Expression, almost as a Tutelary God. Good Heaven! What does this Author mean? To insinuate even but a shadow of possibility, that a Prince so Brave abroad, should be so Base at Home.  
FINIS.