clined to say, that in his honour and integrity I have a great reliance: but what security can he give that secret influence in the lords of the bed-chamber will not defeat his intentions, and produce a dissolution, not only without his advice, but even contrary to it?-I value highly the character of that right honourable gentleman; and though he is my political enemy, still I always feel myself disposed to treat him with more respect than I ever experienced from him: but highly as I value that character, I cannot trust to it upon the present occasion, because the events to which that character is pledged, may not be within the control of the right honourable member. At present there are only two ministers in the cabinet; but when the number is completed, who can answer to the house of commons that a dissolution may not be proposed in the cabinet-the right honourable gentleman outvoted, and the question carried? This is upon the supposition that the event will depend upon the cabinet; but the difficulty will be still greater, if the committee will reflect on the power of secret influence, which can put an end to the strongest administration, as has been experienced within this few days. I therefore must declare, that, as the address is couched in the strongest terms of respect, duty, affection, and loyalty. to his majesty, I think it ought to be carried, as the only effectual means of preventing those calamities which would flow from a dissolution of parliament, in the pre--sent critical situation of affairs.

LIX. Mr. Pulteney, on a motion for continuing the army.

SIR,

We have heard a great deal about parliamentary armies, and about an army continued from year to year. I always have been, sir, and always shall be, against a standing army of any kind; to me it is a terrible thing, whether under that of parliamentary, or any other designation; a standing army is still a standing army, whatever name it be called by; they are a body of men distinct from the body of the people; they are governed by different laws, and blind obedience and an entire

submission to the orders of their commanding officer is their only principle. The nations around us, sir, are already enslaved, and have been enslaved by those very means; by means of their standing armies they have every one lost their liberties; it is, indeed, impossible that the liberties of the people can be preserved in any country where a numerous standing army is kept up. Shall we then take any of our measures from the examples of our neighbours? No, sir; on the contrary, from their misfortunes we ought to learn to avoid those rocks upon which they have split.

It signifies nothing to tell me, that our army is com manded by such gentlemen as cannot be supposed to join in any measures for enslaving their country. It may be so; I hope it is so; I have a very good opinion of many gentlemen now in the army; I believe they would not join in any such measures; but their lives are uncertain, nor can we be sure how long they may be continued in command; they may be all dismissed in a moment, and proper tools of power put in their room. Besides, sir, we know the passions of men; we know how dangerous it is to trust the best of men with too much power. Where was there a braver army than that under Julius Cæsar? Where was there ever an army that had served their country more faithfully? That army was commanded generally by the best citizens of Rome, by men of great fortune and figure in their country; yet that army enslaved their country. The affections of the soldiers towards their country, the honour and integrity of the under-officers, are not to be depended on; by the military law, the ad-ministration of justice is so quick, and the punishmentsso severe, that neither officer nor soldier dares offer to dispute the orders of his supreme commander; he must not consult his own inclinations; if an officer were commanded to pull his own father out of this house, he must do it; he dares not disobey; immediate death would be the sure consequence of the least grumbling. And if an officer were sent into the court of requests, accompanied by a body of musketeers with screwed bayonets, and with orders to tell us what we ought to do, and how we were to vote, I know what would be the duty of this house; I know it would be our duty to order the officer to be taken and hanged up at the door of the lobby:

but, sir, I doubt much if such a spirit could be found in this house, or in any house of commons that will ever be in England.

Sir, I talk not of imaginary things; I talk of what has happened to an English house of commons, and from an English army; not only from an English army, but an army that was raised by that very house of commons, an army that was paid by them, and an army that was commanded by generals appointed by them. Therefore do not let us vainly imagine, that an army raised and maintained by authority of parliament will always be submissive to them: if an army be so numerous as to have it in their power to overawe the parliament, they will be submissive as long as the parliament does nothing to disoblige their favorite general; but when that case happens, I am afraid that, in place of the parlia ment's dismissing the army, the army will dismiss the parliament, as they have done heretofore. Nor does the legality or illegality of the parliament, or of that army, alter the case; for with respect to that army, and according to their way of thinking, the parliament dismissed by them was a legal parliament; they were an army raised and maintained according to law; and at. first they were raised, as they imagined, for the preservation of those liberties which they afterwards destroyed.:

It has been urged, sir, that whoever is for the protes tant succession, must be for continuing the army: for that very reason, sir, I am against continuing the army. I know that neither the protestant succession in his majesty's most illustrious house, nor any succession, can ever be safe, as long as there is a standing army in the country. Armies, sir, have no regard to hereditary succession. The first two Cæsars at Rome did pretty well, and found means to keep their armies in tolerable subjection, because the generals and officers were all their own creatures. But how did it fare with their successors? Was not every one of them named by the army, without any regard to hereditary right, or to any right? A cobler, a gardener, or any man who happened to raise himself in the army, and could gain their affections, was made emperor of the world., Was not every succeeding emperor raised to the throne, or tumbled headlong into

the dust, according to the mere whim or mad frenzy of the soldiers?

We are told this army is desired to be continued but for one year longer, or for a limited term of years. How absurd is this distinction! Is there any army in the world continued for any term of years? Does the most absolute monarch tell his army, that he is to continue them for any number of years, or any number of months? How long have we already continued our army from year to year? And if it thus continues, wherein will it differ from the standing armies of those countries which have already submitted their necks to the yoke? We are now come to the rubicon; our army it now to be reduced, or it never will; from his majesty's own mouth we are assured of a profound tranquillity abroad; we know there is one at home; if this is not a proper time, if these circumstances do not afford as a safe opportunity for reducing, at least, a part of our regular forces, we never can expect to see any reduction; and this nation, already overburthened with debts and taxes, must be loaded with a heavy charge of perpetually supporting a numerous standing army, and remain for ever exposed to the danger of having its liberties and privileges trampled upon by any future king or ministry who shall take it in their heads to do so, and shall take a proper care to model the army for that purpose.

LX. Sir John Barnard, on manning the fleet.

MR. SPEAKER,

7

I THINK myself obliged, by my duty, to my country, and my gratitude to those by whose indus try we are enriched, and by whose courage we are defended, to make, once more, a declaration, not against particular clauses,not against single circumstances, but against the whole bill; a bill unjust and oppressive, absurd and ridiculous; a bill to harrass the industrious, and distress the honest; to puzzle the wise, and add power to the cruel; a bill which cannot be read without astonishment, nor passed without the violation of our constitution, and an equal disregard of policy and hu

manity. All these assertions will need to be proved only by a bare perusal of this hateful bill; by which the meanest, the most worthless reptile, exalted to a petty office, by serving a wretch only superior to him in fortune, is enabled to flush his authority, by tyrannising over those who every hour deserve the public acknowledgements of the community; to intrude upon the retreats of brave men, fatigued and exhausted by honest industry; to drag them out with all the wantonness of groveling authority, and chain them to the oar, without a moment's respite; or perhaps oblige them to purchase, with the gains of a dangerous voyage, or the plunder of an enemy lately conquered, a short interval to settle their affairs, or bid their children farewell. Let any gentleman in this house, let those, sir, who now sit at ease, projecting laws of oppression, and conferring upon their own slaves such licentious authority, pause a few moments, and imagine themselves exposed to the same hardships, by a power superior to their own;-let them conceive themselves torn from the tenderness and caresses of their families, by midnight irruptions, dragged in triumph through the streets, by a despicable officer, and placed under the command of those by whom they have, perhaps, been already oppressed and insulted. Why should we imagine that the race of men for whom these cruelties are preparing, have less sensibility than ourselves? Why should we believe that they will suffer without complaint, and be injured without resentment ? Why should we conceive that they will not at once des liver themselves, and punish their oppressors, by deserting that country where they are considered as felons, and laying hold on those rewards and privileges which no other government will deny them? This is, indeed, the only tendency, whatever may have been the intention of the bill now before us; for I know not whether the most refined sagacity can discover any other method of discouraging navigation, than those which are drawn together in the bill now before us. We first give our constables an authority to hunt the sailors, like thieves, and drive them, by incessant pursuit, out of the nation; but, lest any man should, by friendship, good fortune, or the power of, money, find means of staying behind, we have, with equal wisdom, condemned him to poverty