ten pence, it would greatly encourage extenfive improvements, to have at command a number of ftout fellows under ftrict difcipline, at the low wages of five pence a-day. An army of 60,000 men thus employ'd, would not be fo expensive to the public, as 20,000 men upon the present establishment: for befide the money contributed by private undertakers, public works carried on by foldiers would be miferably ill contrived, if not cheaply purchased with their pay

The most important branch of the project, is what regards the officers. The neceffity of reviving in our people of rank fome military fpirit, will be acknowledged by every person of reflection; and in that view, the following articles are propofed. First, That there be two claffes of officers, one ferving for pay, one without pay. In filling up every vacant office of cornet or enfign, the latter are to be preferred; but in progreffive advancement,

*Taking this for granted, I bring only into the computation the pay of the three months spent in military difcipline; and the calculation is very fimple, the pay of 20,000 for twelve months amounting to a greater fum than the pay of 60,000 for three months.

no diftinction is to be made between the claffes. An officer who has ferved feven years without pay, may retire with ho

nour.

Second. No man fhall be privileged to reprefent a county in parliament, who has not ferved seven years without pay; and, excepting an actual burgefs, none but those who have performed that service, fhall be privileged to represent a borough. The fame qualification fhall be neceifary to every one who afpires to ferve the public or the King in an office of dignity; excepting only churchmen and lawyers with regard to offices in their refpective profeffions. In old Rome, none were admitted candidates for any civil employment, till they had ferved ten years in the army.

Third. Officers of this clafs are to be exempted from the taxes impofed on land, coaches, windows, and plate; not for faving a trifling fum, but as a mark of diftinction.

The military fpirit muft in Britain be miserably low, if fuch regulations prove not effectual to decorate the army with officers of figure and fortune. Nor need we VOL, III.

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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.

To improve this army in military difcipline, it is proposed, 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 ferve for pay, will be greatly benefited by this plan: frequent removes of those who ferve without pay, make for them; way and the very nature of the plan excludes buying and fell`ing.

I proceed to the alterations necessary for accommodating this plan to our prefent military establishment. As a total revolution at one instant would breed confufion, the firft ftep ought to be a specimen only, fuch as the levying two or three regiments

on

in

on the new model; the expence of which ought not to be grudged, as the forces presently in pay, are not fufficient, even peace, to answer the ordinary demands of government. And as the prospect of civil employments, will excite more men of rank to offer their fervice than can be taken in, the choice must be in the crown, not only with refpect to the new regiments, but with respect to the vacant offices of cornet and enfign in the old army. But as thefe regulations will not instantly produce men qualified to be fecretaries of ftate or commiffioners of treasury, fo numerous as to afford his Majefty a fatisfactory choice; that branch of the plan may be fufpended, till thofe 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 thofe who have ferved without pay to reprefent a borough, refusing that privilege to others, except to actual burgeffes. We may proceed one ftep 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 thousand of fuch as have ferved the longeft may be difbanded annually, if fo many be willing to retire; and in their ftead an equal number may be inlifted to ferve but feven years. Upon fuch a plan, it will not be difficult to find recruits.

The advantage of this plan, in one particular, is eminent. It 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 paffport to employments of truft and honour. And may we not hope, that officers who ferve for 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 victo