ing arms, or even of defending themselves against an enemy our people in general have become altogether effeminate, terrified at the very fight of a hoftile weapon. It is true, they are not the lefs qualified for the arts of peace; and if manufacturers be protected from being obliged to ferve in the army, I difcover not any incompatibility between a standing army and the highest industry. Hufbandmen at the fame time make the beft foldiers: a military fpirit in the lower claffes arifes from bodily ftrength, and from affection to their natal foil both are eminent in the husbandman: conftant exercises in the open air renders him hardy and robuft; and fondness for the place where he finds comfort and plenty, attaches him to his country in general. An artift or manufacturer, on the contrary, is attached to no country but where he finds the beft bread; and a fedentary life, enervating his body, renders him pufillanimous. For thefe reafons, among many, agriculture ought to be honoured and cherished above all other arts. It is not only a fine preparation for war, by breeding Numquam credo potuiffe dubitari, aptiorem armis rufticam plebem, quæ fub divo et in labore nutritur; folis patiens; umbræ negligens; balnearum nefcia; deliciarum ignara; fimplicis animi; parvo contenta; duratis ad omnem laborum tolerantiam membris: cui geftare ferrum, foffam ducere, onus ferre, confuetudo de rure eft. Nec inficiandum eft, poft urbem conditam, Romanos ex civitate profectos femper ad bellum: fed tunc nullis voluptatibus, nullis deliciis frangebantur. Sudorem curfu et campeftrii exercitio collectum nando juventus abluebat in Tybere. Idem bellator, idem agricola, genera tantum mutabat armorum. Vegetius, De re militari, l. 1. cap. 3.-[In English thus: "I "believe it was never doubted, that the country-labourers were, of all others, the beft foldiers. Inured to the open air, and "habitual toil, fubjected to the extremes of heat and cold, ignorant of the use of the bath, or any of the luxuries of life, ❝contented with bare neceffaries, there was no feverity in a46 ny change they could make their limbs, accustomed to the "ufe of the fpade and plough, and habituated to burden, were "capable of the utmost extremity of toil. Indeed, in the ear"lieft ages of the commonwealth, while the city was in her "infancy, the citizens marched out from the town to the field: "at that time they were not enfeebled by pleafure, nor by luxury: The military youth, returning from their exercise and "martial sports, plunged into the Tyber to wash off the sweat "and duft of the field. The warrior and the husbandman 66 were the fame, they changed only the nature of their arms."] 44 ing men who love their country, and whom labour and fobriety fit for being foldiers; but is also the best foundation for commerce, by furnishing both food and materials to the industrious. But feveral objections of the most interesting nature occur against a standing army, that call aloud for a better model than has hitherto been established, at least in Britain. The fubject is of importance, and I hope for attention from every man who loves his country. During the vigour of the feudal fyftem, which made every land-proprietor a foldier, every inch of ground was tenaciously difputed with an invader; and while a fovereign retained any part of his dominions, he never loft hopes of recovering the whole. At prefent, we rely entirely on a standing army, for defence as well as offence, which has reduced every nation of Europe to a very precarious condition. If the ariny of a ftate happened to be defeated, even at the most distant frontier, there is little refource against a total conqueft. Compare the hiftory of Charles VII. with that of Lewis XIV. Kings of France. The former, tho' driven into a corner by Henry V. of England, and deprived of the bulk of his provinces, was however far from yielding; on the contrary, relying on the military fpirit of his people, and indefatigably intent on ftratagem and furprife, he recovered all he had loft. When Lewis XIV. fucceeded to the crown, the military spirit of the ple, was contracted within the narrow fpan of a standing army. Behold the confequence. That ambitious monarch, having provoked his neighbours into an alliance against him, had no refource againít a more numerous army, but to purchase peace by offering to abandon all his conquefts, upon which he had lavished much blood and treasure (a). France at that period contained feveral millions capable of bearing arms; and yet was not in a condition to make head against a disciplined army of 70,000 men. Poland, which continues upon the ancient military establishment, wearied 'out Charles XII. of Sweden, and had done the same to feveral of his predeceffors. But Saxony, defended only by a ftanding army, could not hold out a single day (a) Treaty of St. Gertrudenberg. peo against against the prince now mentioned, at the head of a greater army. Mercenary troops are a defence ftill more feeble, againft troops that fight for glory, or for their country. Unhappy was the invention of a ftanding army; which, without being any ftrong bulwark against enemies, is a grievous burthen on the people; and turns daily more and more fo. Liften to a first-rate author on that point. "Sitot qu'un etat augmente ce ་ qu'il appelle fes troupes, les autres augmentent les leurs; de façon qu'on ne gagne rien par-la que la "ruine commune. Chaque monarque tient fur pied toutes les armées qu'il pourroit avoir fi fes peuples "étoient en danger d'être exterminées; et on nomme "paix cet état d'effort de tous contre tous. Nous "fommes pauvres avec les richeffes et le commerce de "tout l'univers; et bientôt à force d'avoir des foldats, 86 nous n'aurons plus que des foldats, et nous ferons comme de Tartares* (b)." ་་ But with respect to Britain, and every free nation, there is an objection ftill more formidable; which is, that a standing army is dangerous to liberty. It avails very little to be fecure againft foreign enemies, fuppof ing a standing army to afford fecurity, if we have no fecurity against an enemy at home. If a warlike king, heading his own trocps, be ambitious to render himfelf abfolute, there are no means to invade the impending blow; for what avail the greatest number of effeminate cowards against a difciplined army, devoted to their prince, and ready implicitly to execute his commands? In a word, by relying entirely on a ftanding army, and by trufting the fword in the hands of men who abhor the restraint of civil laws, a folid foundation is laid for military government. Thus a ftanding army is dange rous "As foon as one ftate augments the number of its troops, the neighbouring ftates of course do the fame; fo that nothing is 4 gained, and the effect is, the general ruin. Every prince keeps 66 as many armies in pay, as if he dreaded the extermination of "his people from a foreign invafion; and this perpetual ftruggle, "maintained by all againft all, is termed peace. With the "riches and commerce of the whole univerfe, we are in a ftate "of poverty; and by thus continually augmenting our troops, 24 we shall foon have none elfe but foldiers, and be reduced to "the fame fituation as the Tartars." (b) L'efprit des loix, lix. 13. chap. 17. rous to liberty, and yet no fufficient bulwark against powerful neighbours. Deeply fenfible of the foregoing objections, Harrington propofes a plan for a militia, which he holds to be unexceptionable. Every male between eighteen and thirty, is to be trained to military exercises, by frequent meetings, where the youth are excited by premiums to contend in running, wrestling, fhooting at a mark, &c. &c. But Harrington did not advert, that fuch meetings, enflaming the military fpirit, muft create an averfion in the people to dull and fatiguing labour. His plan evidently is inconfiftent with industry and manufactures: it would be fo at least in Britain. A moft fuccessful, plan it would be, were defence our fole object; and not the lefs fuccefsful, by rendering Britain To poor as fcarce to be a tempting conqueft. Our late war with France is a confpicuous inftance of the power that can be exerted by a commercial state, entire in its credit; a power that amaz'd all the world, and ourfelves no less than others. Politicians begin to confider Britain, and not France, to be the formidable power that threatens univerfal monarchy. Had Harrington's plan been adopted, Britain, like Sweden or Denmark, must have been contented with an inferior station, having no ambition but to draw fubfidies from its more potent neighbours. In Switzerland, it is true, boys are, from the age of twelve, exercised in running, wrestling, and fhooting. Every male who can bear arms is regimented, and fubjected to military difcipline. Here is a militia in perfection upon Harrington's plan, a militia neither forced nor mercenary; invincible when fighting for their country: and as the Swifs are by no means an idle people, we learn from this inftance, that the martial spirit is not an invincible obstruction to industry. But the original barrennefs of Switzerland, compelled the inhabitants to be fober and industrious: and industry hath among them become a fecond nature, there fcarcely being a child above fix years of age but who is employed, not excepting children of opulent families. England differs widely in the nature of its foil, and of its people. At the fame time, there is little occafion to infift upon that difference; Book II. difference; as Switzerland affords no clear evidence, that a militia gives no obstruction to a spirit of industry: the Swifs, it is true, may be termed induftrious; but their industry is confined to neceffaries and conveniencies: they are less ambitious of wealth than of military glory; and they have few arts or manufactures, either to fupport foreign commerce, or to excite luxury. Fletcher of Salton's plan of a militia, differs little from that of Harrington. Three camps are to be conftantly kept up in England, and a fourth in Scotland; into one or other of which, every man inuft enter upon compleating his one and twentieth year. In these camps the art of war is to be acquired and practised: those who can maintain themselves muft continue there two years, others but a fingle year. Secondly, thofe who have been thus educated, fhall for ever after have fifty yearly meetings, and fhall exerrife four hours every meeting. It is not faid, by what means young men are compelled to refort to the camp; nor is any exception mentioned of persons deftined for the church, for liberal fciences, or for the fine arts. The weak and the fickly muft be exempted; and yet no regulation is proposed against those who absent themselves on a falfe pretext. But waving thefe, the capital objection against Harrington's plan ftrikes equally against Fletcher's, That by roufing a military fpirit, it would alienate the minds of the people from arts and manufactures, and from any conftant and uniform occupation. The author himself remarks, that the use and exercife of arms, would make the youth place their honour upon that art, and would enflame them with love of military glory; not adverting, that love of military glory, diffused through the whole mafs of the people, would unqualify Britain for being a manufacturing and commercial country, rendering it of little weight or confideration in Europe. The military branch is effential to every fpecies of government: the Quakers are the only people who ever doubted of it. Is it not then mortifying, that a capital branch of government, fhould to this day remain in a ftate fo imperfect? One would fufpect fome inherent vice in the nature of government, that counteracts eve |