impofed on land, coaches, windows, and plate; not for faving a trifling fum, but as a mark of diftinction.

The military fpirit must in Britain be miserably low, if fuch regulations prove not effectual to decorate the army with officers of figure and fortune. Nor need we to apprehend any bad confequence, from a number of raw officers who ferve without pay:: among men of birth, emulation will have a more commanding influence than pay or profit; and at any rate, there will always be a fufficiency of old and experienc'd officers receiving pay, ready to take the lead in every difficult enterprise.

Fourth. To improve this army in military difcipline, it is propofed, that when occafion offers, 5 or 6000 of them be maintained by Great Britain, as auxiliaries to fome ally at war. And if that body be changed from time to time, knowledge and practice in war will be diffufed thro' the whole army..

Officers who serve for pay, will be greatly benefited by this plan: frequent removes of those who ferve without pay, make way for them; and from the very nature of the plan, buying and felling is abfolutely excluded...

I proceed to the alterations neceffary for accommodating this. plan to our prefent military establishment. As a total revolution at one instant would breed confufion, the first step ought to be a fpecimen only, fuch as the levying two or three regiments on the new model; the expence of which ought not to be grudged, as the forces presently in pay, are not fufficient, even in peace, to an➡ fwer the ordinary demands of government. And as the profpect of civil employments, will excite more men of rank to offer their fervice than there is room for, the choice must be in the crown,, not only with respect to the new regiments, but with respect to the vacant.. cornetcies and, enfigncies in the old army. But as thefe regulations will not inftantly produce men qualified to be fecretaries of ftate or commiffioners of treafury, fo numerous as to

afford.

afford his Majefty a fatisfactory choice, that branch of the plan may be fufpended, till those who have ferved feven years without pay; amount to one hundred at leaft. The article that concerns. members of parliament must be still longer fufpended: it may however, after the first seven years, receive execution in part, by privileging those who have received no pay to represent a borough, refusing that privilege to others, except to actual burgeffes. We may proceed one step farther, That if in a county there be five gentlemen who have the qualification under confideration, over and above the ordinary legal qualifications, one of the five must be chofen, leaving the electors free as to their other reprefentative. With refpect to the private men of the old army; a thoufand of fuch as have ferved the longeft may be disbanded annually, if fo many be willing to retire; and in their ftead an equal number may be inlifted, to ferve but seven years. Upon fuch a plan, it will not be difficult to find recruits. 161 57133 GIF 29.0

*.

The advantage of this plan," in one particular, is eminent. Its will infallibly fill the army with gallant officers: Other advantages concerning the officers themfelves, fhall be mentioned afterward. An appetite for military glory, cannot fail to be roufed in officers who ferve without pay, when their fervice is the only passport to employments of trust and honour. And may we not hope, that officers who ferve fe pay, will, by force of imitation, be infpired: with the fame appetite? Nothing ought to be more fedulously inculcated into every officer, than to defpife riches, as a mercantile object, below the dignity of a foldier Often has the courage of victorious troops been blunted by the pillage of an opulent city; and may not rich captures at fea have the fame effect? Some feacommanders have been fufpected, of bettowing their fire more willingly upon a merchantman, than upon a fhip of war. A triumph, an ovation, a civic crown, or fome fuch mark of honour,

were

were in old Rome the only rewards for military atchievements * Money, it is true, was fometimes diftributed among the private men, as an addition to their pay, after a fatiguing campaign; but not as a recompence for their good behaviour, becaufe all fhared alike. It did not escape the penetrating Romans, that wealth, the parent of luxury and selfishness, fails not to eradicate the military fpirit. The foldier who to recover his baggage performed a bold action, gave an instructive leffon to all governments. Being invited by his general to try his fortune a fecond time; Invite, fays the foldier, one who has loft his baggage. Many a bold adventurer goes to the Indies, who, returning with a fortune, is afraid of every breeze. Britain, I fufpect, is too much infected with the fpirit of gain, Will it be thought ridiculous in any man of figure, to prefer reputation, and refpect before riches; provided only he can afford a frugal meal, and a warm garment? Let us compare an old officer, who never deserted his friend nor his country, and a wealthy merchant, who never indulged a thought but of gain : the wealth is tempting; and yet does there exift a man of fpirit, who would not be the officer rather than the merchant, even with his millions? Sultan Mechmet granted to the Janifaries a privilege of importing foreign commodities free of duty was it his intention to metamorphofe foldiers into merchants, loving peace, and hating war?

But tho' I declare against large appointments beforehand, which,

* A Roman triumph was finely contrived to excite heroifin; and a fort of triumph not, lefs fplendid, was difplay'd by the Fatemite Califs of Egypt. After re turning from a fuccessful expedition, the Calif pitched his camp in a spacious plain. near his capital, where he was attended by all his grandees, in their fineft equipages. Three days were commonly spent in all manner of rejoicings, feafting, mufic, fireworks, &c. He marched into the city with this great cavalcade, through roads covered with rich carpets, ftrewed with flowers, gums, and odoriferous plants, and hedged on both fides with crouds of congratulating subjects.

instead

instead of promoting fervice, are a temptation to luxury and idlenefs; yet to an officer of character, who has spent his younger years in ferving his king and country, a government, or other fuitable employment that enables him to pass the remainder of his life in cafe and affluence, is a proper reward for merit, reflecting equal honour on the prince who beftows, and on the subject who receives; beside affording an enlivening profpect to others, who have it at heart to do well.

With refpect to the private men, the rotation proposed, aims at improvements far more important, than that of making military fervice fall light upon individuals. It tends to unite the fpirit of industry with that of war, and to form the fame man to be an industrious labourer, as well as a good foldier. The continual exercise recommended, cannot fail to produce a spirit of industry; which will occafion a demand for the private men after their feven years fervice, as valuable above all other labourers, not only for regularity, but for activity. And with refpect to fervice in war, constant exercise is the life of an army, in the literal as well as metaphorical fenfe. Boldness is inspired by strength and agility, to which constant motion mainly contributes. The Roman citizens, trained to arms from their infancy, and never allowed to reft, were invincible. To mention no other works, fpacious and durable roads carried to the very extremities of that vaft empire, fhow clearly how the foldiers were employ'd during peace; which hardened them for war, and made them orderly and fubmiflive (a). So effential, was labour held by the Romans for training an army, that they never ventured to face an enemy, with troops debilitated in any degree by idlenefs. The Roman army in Spain, having been worfted in feveral engagements, and confined within their entrenchments, were funk in idlenefs and

(a) Bergi.re hiftoire des grands chemins, vol. 2. p. 152.

luxury.

luxury. Scipio Nafica, after demolishing Carthage, taking the command of that army, durft not oppofe it to the enemy, till he accustomed the foldiers to temperance and hard labour. He exercifed them without relaxation in marching and countermarching, in fortifying camps and demolishing them, in digging trenches and filling them up, in building high walls and pulling them down; he himself, from morning to night, going about, and directing every operation. Marius, before engaging the Cimbri, exercifed his army in turning the courfe of a river. Appian relates, that Antiochus, during his winter-quarters at Calchis, having married a beautiful virgin, with whom he was greatly enamoured, spent the whole winter in pleasure, abandoning his army to vice and idlenefs: and when the time of action returned with the fpring, he found his foldiers unfit for service. The idleness of our foldiers in time of peace, promoting debauchery and licentiousness, is no lefs deftructive to health than to difcipline. Unable for the fatigues of a first campaign, our private men die in thousands, as if fmote with a peftilence *. We never read of any mortality in the Roman legions, tho' frequently engaged in climates very different from their own, Let us liften to a judicious writer, to whom every one liftens with delight: "Nous remarquons aujourd'hui, que nos armées périffent beaucoup par le travail

* The idleness of British foldiers appears from a tranfaction of the commiffioners of the annexed eftates in Scotland. After the late war with France, they judged, that part of the King's rents could not be better beftow'd, than in giving bread to the disbanded foldiers. Houfes were built for them, portions of land given them to cultivate at a very low rent, and maintenance afforded them till they could reap a crop. These men could not wish to be better accommodated: but fo accuftomed they had been to idleness, and change of place, as to be incapable of any fort of work: they deferted their farms one after another, and commenced thieves and beggars. Such as had been made ferjeants must be excepted: these were fenfible fellows, and profpered in their little farms.

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