UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
A N
E S S A Y
O N
DEFENSIVE WAR,
A N D A
CONSTITUTIONAL MILITIA;
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S Arrangements forrefifting
the projected Invafion in the Year 1588, taken
from authentic Records in the Britifh Mu-
feum, and other Collections.
By AN OFFICER.
ce You that be Lieutenants and Gentlemen of Com-
" mand in your Counties, I require you to take
" care, Thct the People be well armed^ and in
<c readinefs upon all Occajions,"
Queen Ehzr-.i'ftn's Speech to boih Koufe*
of Pai-iidment.
L O N DON:
Printed for T. EVANS, in theStrand ; J. ROCSON,
ISew Bond-ftreeti and J. SEWELL, Ccrnhul.
M.DCC.LXXXII,
'-
... , \JLA
111
P P. E FACE,
3 / | ^O roufe the flumbering fpfrit of the
JL nation, and awaken its attention
to the dangers which furround it, confti-
a, tute the defign of this Efliy. — Not only
the probable chance of an invafion, but
^ even its poflibility mould be adverted to
^ and guarded againfl. — The prevention
of mifchief is at all times a wifer
plan than feeking remedies for it ; and
as far as human rcafon can extend its
forefight arnidlt the deliriums of ftates-
S men, it feems unlikely that any power
•^ on earth would venture the ram attempt
A 2 of
I
( iv )
of invading this country, \vhen fyftem-
atically prepared for defence.
From men of cbfervation, it will be
no unwelcome compliment to hear, that
this work contains nothing new. It has
never wandered amongft the fhadowy
landicapes of imagination, or philofo-
phized through the magic Ian thorn of hy-
pothefis. A concife ftate of an interefting
fubjedt, referred to immutable principles,
is all its merit. Few perhaps can apply
to their own reflection without finding
the fame principles, often more refined.
But if it pofTefs the luck of referring the
reader to the ilores of his own reafon, it
will anfwer the beft purpofe of many a
better book. — Written in a camp, it has
no claims to corrednefs or elegance of
compofition. Other occupations have pre-
vented fubfequent improvements, and for
a time deftroyed all idea of making it
public. The account of Queen Eliza-
beth's
beth's arrangements have however been
fmce added, through the affiftance of a
diftinguifhed literary character ; and this
part of the work, at leaft, demands at-
tention. For th,e reft, I am too doubt-
ful of its merits to hazard a name, even
of no importance.
The preffing fituation of affairs calling
it forth at the inftant, have prevented
my taking advantage of Horace's counfel;
therefore in its prefent ftate it is confided
to the generofity of a nation, whofe dearefl
interefhs it concerns.
CON-
( vii )
C ONTENTS.
~P~Reliminary Difcourfey—PrcJp€$ cf
Invafion, - page i
CHAP. II. Hijloric View of the Princi-
ples of defenfive War* 20
CKAP. III. Internal Arrangements of
England in former Periods. - 45
CHAP IV. General Idea of Defence; —
Utility of AJJociation. -- 104
CHAP. V. On the Militia, - 152
APPENDIX. * ,- 203
Errata.
Page Line
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thus
then
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.
PROSPECT OF INVASION.
CHAP. L
WHEN the exigencies of a great nation
have driven her to feek fecurity inftead
of conqiieft ; when every view of extending
her commerce is loft in its protection * when
public credit is fhaken to its bafe, and public
wealth exifts but in avoiding bankruptcy, then
reflection becomes the virtue of neceffity, and
fhe looks around for thofe expedients which
her fituation requires and her refources furnifh.
At war with her colonies, deferted by her al-
lies, and menaced by the molt powerful com-
bina.ion of hoftile neighbours, it is from her-
ftlf alone fhe can derive protection. What-
B ever
ever means of internal defence nature has
beftown mufl be called into action. Induftry
and icience are the fprings of motion ; the
mechanic powers which combine and invigo-
rate the vaft bulk of natural defence, and
erect an impregnable fortrefs from an inert
mafs of wonderful materials. For in vain are
thefe furnifhed by the bounteous hand of Pro-
vidence, if our workmen are unfkilful in their
employ, or no architect has traced a defign
for the fabric. The hour of danger can
fpare few moments to cool reflection, flill lefs
can it digeft its plans to fage maturity. Pro-
jects inftantaneoufly conceived, rafhly adopt-
ed, and incorrectly executed, are the natural
offspring of furprife ; confufion fupplants eve-
ry idea of regular difpofition ; and uncertain-
ty, the darkncfs of the mind, like that of the
univerfe, doubles every danger that actually
exifts, and creates new phantoms of its own.
But the nation that in time of tranquility pre-
pares for a defcent has little to fear from it;
every advance of the invader produces fome
defenfive advantage ; every inhabitant knows
4t the inftant where to refift, and how to con-
fiitute
( 3 )
ftltute a part of national flrength, inftead of
being a lharer in national confufion. That
thefe obfervations are well founded may be
gathered from the unvarying records of a
thoufand hiftories, which enable us to antici-
pate good conduct by referring to the fate of
others ; and if experience be the common-
fenfe of memory, forefight is the prophetic
infp' ration of wifdom. A nation unarranged
cannot refift. Martial exercifes are infuffi-
cient without fome general fyftem of em-
ploying them. If the whole country armed
it cannot be more military than the Romans
were ; and yet they fuffered heavily when in-
vaded by Hannibal^ merely from not having
previoufly adopted fome plan of defence ;
half their refources were thrown away before
they difcovered how to employ the reft. The
frnall alarm occafioned in this kingdom by-
remote ideas of invafion is matter of curious
fpeculation ; but with whatever avidity the
man of obfervation enters on the toils, it will
afford the thanklefs harveft of melancholy
reflection. Inftead of that folid confidence
derived from well concerted plans, frequently
B 2 pra&ifedj,
( 4 )
practifed, and thence expertly executed, he
will find the nation lulled by abfurdities almoft
too grofs to mention. On the coafts he will
be told that an invafion has been threatened
every year of every war in their own time
and in their fathers, but as it has not yet hap-
pened they have given over expecting it.
The inland counties conceive their diflance
from the lea a fufficient protection : fome
reckon upon the numbers who will arm around
them, while others more illiberal, though
hardly more ridiculous, are happy to dcfpife
the perfonal courage of their enemies, and
really expect a dozen Englifhmen to difmay a
battalion.
Abfurd and painful as this is to recount, it
is but too faithful a portraiture of national
prejudice. No man ftands forth and tells you
he is not alarmed becaufe a fleet inured to
victory protects our coafts, or that the ar-
rangements of the kingdom are fuch that an
army actually landed could not penetrate ; that
forage would be carried off, roads deftroy-
pd, and bridges broken down with fuch expe-
dition
( 5 )
dition in the midft of an armed peafantry,
that no invader could by any poflibility exift
half the time neceflary to vanquifti fuch ob-
flructions.
Such is the language of reafon, and when-
ever it becomes general in England, the word
invafion may be obliterated from our dictiona-
ries. New Alexanders may overrun the globe,
and every neighbouring ftate become a prey
to conqu^ft, while this nation fhall retain an
undiflurbed tranquility amidft the wreck of
empires. When this enviable fecurity is pointed
out as what found policy may flill procure,
there are not many, who, from a candid view
of the very altered predicament a few late
years have placed us in, can difcern what cau-
fes had hitherto rendered invafions impracti-
cable, and how far they have now ceafed to
operate. The fcene, however gloomy, may
be inftructive, and a few lines will review it.
His prefent Majefty afcended the throne of
thefe realms under every pofllble advantage a
young and generous prince could wifli for.
His victorious arms were on every fide render-
ing
ing him refpeftable abroad, und poffefted of
all the warmeft wifhes of his fubjefis, he reign-
ed fecurely in their hearts at Lome. He faw
himfelf at once the arbitrer of Europe, the fu-
preme magiftrate of the happieft government,
and the idol of all its inhabitants. He faw his
commerce improved, his territories enlarged,
his fubjefts enriched, and the profpeft of a,
fpeedy advantageous peace to fecure thefe blef-
fings in undifturbed enjoyment. With what
heart-felt joy might this fcene be expiated on,
and what reluctant language traces its reverfe.
The great, the perpetuated, the fatal error ori-
ginated in falfe notions of regal power, and a
fuppofition that the greatnefs of a king could
exift independent of the wellfare of the fubjec~l.
This was a long exploded opinion, often re-
vived, and as often confuted, but it prefented
advantages too immediate, and profoevfts too
fpecioufly alluring not to be tenacioufly adhe-
red to when once adopted. Amidil all the
prevalence of pafiion, it required great energy
of foul and manly reafoning to diftinguifh be-
tween abfolute and real po*ver: yet there is a
very marked diftinction interwoven between
them
( 7 )
them in the nice texture of our matchlefs
conflitution, whence they derive fudi an in-
verfe relation, that the one can hardly be aug-
mented without proportionablv lefTening the
other. This alfo is no modern difcovery,
fince a great flatefman long ago obferved, in
cxprefTions too ftrong not to ufe his own lan-
guage,. Quand un Roi d" Angle t err e eft Vbomme
de Jon -peuple c'ejl le plus grand Roi du mends ;
vent il etre $lus ! il tfcft rien.
Notwithflanding the aweful punifhment and
ultimate failure of all encroachments on the
nation's rights in earlier days, fuch attempts
were now inceiTantly repeated, and the court
revolted into open rebellion againft the peo-
pie.
This, however, was not an age in which
the iron grafp of power was ufhered with gi-
gantic ftrides of favage countenance. Con-
fifcation and profcription were unknown ; ju-
flice between individuals was fairly admini-
ftred ; and no private oppreffions extorted a
complaint from injured innocence. The at-
tacks
( 8 )
tacks on the conftitution itfelf were from
mafked batteries, and a fecret undermining in-
fluence was deftroying that fabric by fap which
ten thoufand Machiavelian armies would have
been repulfed from in attempting to florin.
The fate of other empires teaches us to expect
a period to our political as well as neutral ex-
iftence ; and as the ftones on the fea beach,
from conftantly rolling together, acquire a
like figure, fo it is probable we are too much
afiimilated in manners and opinions with the na-
tions round, to be long pofTerTed of any fnpe-
riority in the form of government. It is not
necefiary here to fpecify the mournful cata-
logue of events which flain our annals, or to
dwell upon their having arifen from increafe of
influence, the only engine a mild and gracious
prince could employ to change a conftitu-
tion.
But it mult be obferved that the nation,
not entering into the neceflity of alteration
and averfe to innovation, however mildly
introduced, feemed to recollect that the high
rank it held in the fcale of empires was
owing
( 9 )
owing to fomething more than its foil, extent,
or lunation, and wifhed to preferve its great-
nefs by every advantage that had confpirecl to
raife it ; hence this growing influence was
watched with jealous eyes, and the extreme
unpopularity of their meafures foon occafioned
an oftenfible change in the king's firft mi-
ni fters, and whether the very fame men fecretly
continued to prefide, is perfectly immaterial
to the public, whofe feelings continued to be
outraged, and whofe rights to be violated by
t]ie unaltered predominancy of unconflitutional j
meafures. — Univerfal difcontent occafioned new
arrangements, fucceffive adminiftrations were
repeatedly formed and difcarded with indecent
rapidity : always- accelerated by any untract-
able virtue of their conftituent members.
The principles of one man, the integrity of
another were infurmountable difqualifications
whenever they intruded, and it employed
feveral years to pack a compleat miniftry
from the dregs of every party ; however the
plan was at length moft .diabolically effected,
and Lord North flood forth the Lucifer of the
Pandemonium.
C A poy/-
A powerful oppofition raifcd againft this
junro at home engaging all their attention,
the prefervation of themfelves became the firft
objed of their care -, for this purpofe, they
went all lengths to fecure the royal counte-
nance, by making common caufe to fcreen
proceedings which were feldom right, under
the fanction of that power which can do no
•wrong ; thus by artfully amalgamating them
together, the popularity of the moft beloved
fovereign alloyed with the deteflation of his
minifters, reduced both almoft below the com-
mon currency of daily expenditure; and by
fhifting off all refpofibility among themfelves,
the public odium became indivifible and fell
in the lump : even the private virtues of their
mafter were eternally called in to ballance their
negative qualities, and fwell their intolerable
demands. Revered as thefe virtues were, men
prudently obferved, that to entruft a monarch
with the power to deflroy, becaufe he had the
will to fave, would be like infecting a nation
with the plague, becaufe there was a phyfician
likely to cure it.
In
( II )
tn vain then did individuals murmur,, and
the kingdom at large follow petitions by re-
monftrances. The parliament -which Bacon and
Montefquieu had foreboded as the only certain
ruin to this conftitution, was now wholly de-
voted to the crown, and with a little variance
of form held its beds of juftice but to regifler
the edicts of the cabinet ; fome efpecial cere-
monies of ancient days were indeed preferved,
for the minority Jaid what they pleafed, as com-
pleatly as the minifters did it. — When reafon,
ftubborn fact, or public utility are to be fur-
mounted in grave debate, fome fterling argu-
ment muft be adduced to preponderate the
buoyant fcale j for this the baneful fyflem of
corruption (too fuccefsfully employed by the
able hands of Sir Robert Wai-pole ever to be
totally relinquiftied) offered the deciding au-
thority j it became the mode, the regular offi-
cial mode of governing, pervading all ranks,
and extending over all feels : electors and
elected fuffered the fame infection, which like
the plague of Egyptian darknefs, overfpread the
face of the realm -, it was the algebraic cha-<
racter that applied to all problems -3 the uni-
C a verfal
verfal menftruum of opinion, and had that
other chemical fecret, the phllofophers ftone
been joined to it, twice as many deilinies as
ever covered 'Troy could not have preferved
this nation from deftruction. But the highefl
exertions of human ingenuity have their
limits, for bribery itfelf is neither an art or a
fcience, fcarce even what mechanics call a
craft, it is fo obvious to the meaneft capacity
that a baby may perform it as fortunately as
a politician ; and if it has been fo fuccefsfully
practifed by Punch at an election, it were an
ill compliment to fuppofe our minifters lefc
dexterous. Ufortunately, however, corruption
although it may claim the attributes of omni-
potence and infallibility, is none of thofe felf-
dependent beings which are co-eval with eter-
nity, and promife an equal duration. Unfor-
tunately, I fay, bribery hath its dependencies,
and when places had been multiplied and ho-
nours proftituted, till they even loft their
nature, money was found to be the firft great
caufe, the efience and the foul of modern go-
vernment. To procure this plentifully from a
nation already overwhelmed with enormous
debts,
( 13 )
fecmed beyond the power of this great agent
itfelf, which could no longer prey upon its
own bowels and be at once effect and caufe.—
Hence the cabinet were driven to explore
diftant fhores for that golden harvefl which an
impoverifhed foil too fparingly afforded.-
An oppofition, refpe&able from its number*
from its confequence, and more fo from the
characters of thofe who compofed it, was to
be contended with j and money was the artil-
lery to be employed on fuch a fervice. — The
lavifh expenditure, compleat mifmanagement,
and infamous peculation of the public trea-
fure had almoft annihilated any fuch exiftence,
more however was neceffaiy to be procured,
and if poiTible without aggravating the feelings
of a nation already opprefied. — Neceffity adds
wings to the \vickednefs of invention ; and the
mad project of obtaining a revenue from America
became the fruitful mother of our prefent mis-
fortunes. In vain were memory, wifdorn and
prudence invoked to avert the attempt. Juilice
alfo was appealed to, but (he ruled only the
politics of Utopia , while expediency fupplant-
ed the very word in minifterial glofiaries. — »
The
( 14 )
The colonies petitioned, the patriots harangued,
the nation murmured, but the Premier carried
every meafure he propofed •, thefe too were
fuggefted by fuch re-iterated madnefs, fuch
extravagance of folly, and fuch a fatality of
error, as chance alone could hardly have
effected ; there appeared to be fome talent,
fome faculty of blundering, that muft have
exceeded the belief of our anceftors had it been
foretold, and will ftagger the faith of poflerity,
when recorded. That meafures wickedly
adopted were weakly executed might eafily be
imagined, but furely fome darnion muft have
fhaken his baneful pinions over the council
board, if every thing operated exactly contrary
to their intentions. When the minifter ftruck
at wealth, national beggary was the refult.
His endeavours to divide America, united the j
whole continent. His Shutting up their ports
deftroyed half the commerce of England and.
ruined the Weft Indies. — His witholding our
merchandize eftablifhed new manufactures for
themfelves j his reftraining their fiflieries,
manned their navy; his burning their villages,
recruited their army j and his attempt at un-
con-
( is )
conditional fubrniffion, promifes to terminate
in unlimited independence.
Thefe are the outlines filled by a thoufand
minuter parts equally aftonifhing, equally
exceeding all other tablatures of hiftoric nar-
rative ; whofe very exiftence like that of our
own being can hardly be demonflrated but by
the immediate evidence of the fenfes.
From this view of our political fituation,
we irr mediately deduce the war with the
Houfe of Bourbon, and the confequential ideas
of invafion which have given birth to this
EfTay ; for furely the unravelling that clue
which led us into danger, is no unfeafonable
enquiry towards extricating us from it. •
If a brave and gallant army have been devoted
in America , this nation amidft all its diftrefies
with grateful pity will commiferate their feel-
ings. The veteran who fees himfelf the
guardian of the people's liberties, joys to boaft i
only thofe fears acquired in the fervice of his
country. How few then are there v ho, with-
out violence to thcmfclycs, could relinquish.
the
the moil ' facred ties of fociety, and arm their
hands againft thofc very blefTings, which as
Men, and Englifhmen, they had a right to
fhare. A variance between duty and incli-
nation was but a bad omen to ftart with, and
an anry, impelled with reluctance to the field,
where every generous pafilon impeded its
career, wss not likely to atchieve fuch uncom-
mon feats as the defperate exigencies of the
minifter required. — It was not the ftarving
pittance of fubfiflence that had heretofore
crowned our armies with immortal wreaths ;
every glorious incitement, evey potent ftimu-
lus, that actuated our great forefathers was
here cut off, nay more, was here turned againft
us. — To overrun a vaft continent, and com-
bat at once againft numbers and againft free-
dom, was too much even for Britijb troops.
— Whilft cur regiments were thus moulder-
ing away, and wafting that matchlefs fpirit,
which muft have dignified every other enter-
prize •, the troops of Bourbon were feduloufly
training for the lorg-meditated attack. In
proportion as our army dwindled, theirs aug-
mented. The inequality wiwened every hour,
and
and while America is to be the fink of our
exertions, mull dill increafe.
Wrecked on the fame fatal coaft, our navy
funk into fimilar inferiority. That navy which
for ages had hailed this ifland Emprefs of the
Deep, and bound Neptune's brows with the
Britijb flag ; whofe feamen were the very foul
of audacity and enterprife 3 and whofe officers
with every martial virtue are not only the firlt
in their own line, but excell in talents more
admirably well adapted than any other fcience
can boaft amongft its profeffors. — -A fad re-
verfe of fortune exhibited this fleet betrayed
by higher powers into the neceflity of unwilling
flight. Thoufands of Englifh fubje&s, from
their windows beheld their own danger in
their country's difgrace j and execrations were
liberally beftowed on the marine miniiler, \\ho
after ruining a fleet by the vileft jobs, had
driven from the fervice, the ableft and braved
officers, to whom the nation looked up as
moft capable of retrieving its ufurped domain.
Miniilers had been too much occupied
with their American Mantes, and parliamentary
D cabals
cabals at home, to caft an obfervant eye on
what was going forward abroad. Therefore
the firft Lord of the Admiralty, whenever
warned by Oppofition of foreign armaments,
regularly exulted with confummate confidence
in his own management, and repeatedly
fledged himfelf that our navy Ihould be fuperior
to the Houfe of Bourbon. — The pawn was
but a forry flake. — Facts turn out fatally re-
verfe. Yet the fame minifler ftill continues
in fpite of univerfal infamy, and receives the
damning contradiction of events with an un-
blulhing countenance.
The Profpect of lima/ion ftands therefore
on very different grounds, from thofe of the
laft war ; when fhielded by the powers of an
unrivalled navy, Great Britain re fled in perfect
fecurity herfelf, while the whole world lay
open to her arms. Lels anxious for her own
commerce, than refolute to crufn that of her
enemies; the ocean was her own. Not a gale
ruffled its bofom, but wafted riches to her
merchants, or victory to her flag. — An almoft
undeviating feries of fuccefs had .familiarifcd
her
her to expeft them, and fcarce a fingle fail
whitened the horizon of her ports without
producing either wealth or conquest. — Her
very bells acquired a monotony of p^ans,
but then her monarch was a whig, and Pitt
was minifter. — The fovereign was content to
reign by his people's wifhes, and thofe wifhes
made him the greateft of monarchs.
Thefe are periods which agonifmg memory
intrudes upon our feelings. Not to contrail
them with the prefent were impoffible ; and it
is mifery to do fo ! When the great
fcale of empires preponderated by the weight
of Britain ; when the wifdom of her councils
begat refpeft abroad, and confidence at home ;
then commerce increaafed with confequence ;
our territories were extended ; currents rofe;
our manufaclutes flourifhed ; our merchants
were monarchs, and the fovereign himfelf
gloried to be diftinguifhed as ibs Firft Citizen,
of the freejl State.
CHAP*
CHAP. II.
Hi/I or ic View of the Principles of
Defenjive War.
A NECESSITY of preparing fome general
plan to repel inVaflon cannot be too
often inculcated. — Like the Delenda eft Car-
thago of the Roman Patriot, it fhould preface
every page, and terminate every period. With-
out this, armies will in vain be difciplined,
and treafures lavifhed. The nation, who in
rhc hour of fecurity procraftinates the tafk of
prudence, will find the moment of danger ill
adapted to imbibe inftruclion. — From the
phyfician who has his art to learn in the
crifis of difeafe, the patient will fcarce derive
convalefcence.
To
To point out the minute arrangements
founded on the forte or foible of particular
diftricts, would be unwife in moft inftances,
and impoffible in many. Thefe muft be the
progeny of events; but the grand outlines of
all defenfive war, contain no fecrets for men
of military obfervation.
To prevent an enemy actually on our coafts
from effecting a landing, feems in thefe times
but an hopelefs chance, if Britain's navy is no
longer able to protect her there. However, what
our intrepid anceftors have fuccefsfully practifed
upon Gfffar himfelf, may at lead excite the imi-
tation of their pofterity. Nor fhould it be idly
urged, that thofe days of enthufiaftic freedom arc
no more, or that the form of a fpruce enfign
poiTeffes none of the flern virtues which fteel-
ed the naked hofom of a Piff, and led him
with brave defiance into the ocean itfelf to
meet thofe boafted legions, formidable in
clifcipline, and glowing with all the pride of
conqueft. — True it is, the polifhed manners
of this age wear a lefs rugged garb, but
the gallantry of a Britifh Soldier remains
unfhaken.
unfhaken. — His foul confides in the fame he-
roic principle. The fame fpark glows in his
breaft, and its emanations are reciprocally
darted through the ranks of a battalion.
The celeflial fiame which beams on the altar
of liberty has at times been latent half an
age, but has never failed to blaze with undi-
minifhed luftre, when events have called it
forth. — Unextinguifhed through all the viciffi-
tudes of time -, bigottry, fanaticifm, opprefiion
and luxury, have in vain attempted its
deftruction ; even corruption, more baleful
than them all, has failed in reiterated endea-
vours to fubdue it. — To this hour it pervades
the multitude, and we have no Romans now
to contend with. — The prefent enemies of
Britain pofiefs no invincibility of difcipline
beyond ourfelves ; no fuperiority of arms
which we are deftitute of; no warlike engines
tremendous in their effects, and doubly fo by
their novelty. But the conflict becomes really
unequal when we confider the immenfe ad-
vantages pofTefled by ourfelves. Moft of thefe
applying to military operations muft be re-
ferved for another place. But the different
fprings
fprings of aftion which operate upon the hu-
man mind are; of philofophic confideration
and by no means to be difregarded. Thefe
controul the orbits of the pafllons, roufe them
to fly off in excentric tangents, or impel their
gravitation towards reafon.- — Armies are com-
pofed of individuals whofe diftincl: fenfations
become the aggregate foul of an expedition.
—Let us generoufly attribute to an enemy
the nobleft motives, the love of glory and of
conqueft ; principles too refined to animate
the breaft of every private foldier but in a fain-:
degrees their obj eels are too remote for any
permanent impreflion : of the firft his fhafe
is the indivifible fraction of an idea, from the
latter he rarely derives any advantage what-
ever j fince thofe days are pail v/hen nations
fwarmed to feek a more aufpicious home, and
every feudatory claiming his portion of glebe
conquered for himfelf.
But let fame be their purfuit with all a
general's ardour, no Englifhman will allow
his country an inferior impulfe, and if we are
equal hitherto, what refources remain in ftore 1
Our
Our liberties, our laws, our religion, our very
being itfelf, will make that man an hero, who
on minor occafions had been only not a coward.
Thefe are fenfations within the reach of every
one. Thefe offer to our fenfes, tangible fub-
ftantial good, and will rouze the honed citizen,
who, with unfeduced admiration, had fuffered
glory to pafs on, fmiling at the unreal advan-
tage of her gilded vifions.
If the fond partner of a man's happier
days Ihould look up to a hufband's arm for
protection from foreign luft, with mifery in
her eye and anguifh in her heart, where is he
who would not brave a legion to defend her.
If parental afFeftion is doomed to ftrcam over
the mangled bodies of his infants, or to find
them .in the laft agonies ftretching out their
little arms to embrace a father, who comes too
late for any thing but torture ; tell me, ye
who read the human foul, will this man fly
in the engagement of to-morrow? — If an help-
lefs parent, a fick friend, a beloved maiden
remain a prey to cruelty in fome deferted
village, will no feelings urge to vindicate
their
their wrongs ? Shall we fee our houfeKold
gods themfelves, with the venerable manfions
of our anceftors devoted to the flames, without
kindling as they burn ? — No, my countrymen,
we (hall arm ourfelves on fome facred fpot,
v/hich with the birthright of liberty has been
received from our forefathers ; acquired
by their virtue, it fliall be maintained
by ours, and with every hallowed privilege
be tranfmitted to pofterity. — There, environed
by our dearei'l connexions, ftimulated by love,
duty, gratitude and juftice, each village will
be invincible to armies. Our laws and liberties
depend on us and will be gallantly fupported.
Nay, there are fortreffes confecrated by enthu-
fiaftic freedom to an impregnability beyond
the adamantine walls of magic flory. Britons
might unite in RUNNEYMEDE and brave the
univerfe.
An energetic confidence thus built upon
the nobleft foundation, removes all anxiety
for the ultimate event of an invafion. No one
dreams of Norman conquers, or permanent
fubjeclion ; but to diminifh the immediate
E mifchiefj
mifchief, to fave our towns from being facked,
our villages from being laid wade, and our
country from depopulation, are objects of no
trifling importance. All evils are better
prevented than remedied ; and this ifland can-
not fupport that procraftination of defence,
which a continent like America fubmits to
without ruin. — The fyflem is the fame, but
on a different fcale. The wealth, the culti-
vation, the conftitution itfelf, all offer infur-
mountable objections againft permitting exten-
five inroads. Hazarding an engagement to
prevent them, is, of all expedients, the moft
dangerous, and fortified places do not exift.
— Multiplied obftructions are the only refource;
and thefe are fo abundantly fufficient, that
an enemy, who unmolested could almoft threat-
en the capital in two days, might by them be
effectually reftrained from penetrating in any
part above thirty miles from his own fleet.
Having obferved that the internal parts of
this ifland afford no fortifications to retard the
pfogrefs of an enemy, the neceffity of checking
him by an engagement will obtrude itfelf
upon
upon many, as it has too generally done during
the late encampments. But every reafoning
principle and all the authorities of hiftory unite
to combat fo fatal an error.
Whatever is moil eflential to the invader,
the inhabitants ought ftudioufly to avoid. This
is a •poftulatum which will readily be granted,
and it will appear that to encounter the army
of the country, muft be the firft object of every
grand invafion, for the partial inroads of
buccaneering parties, or flying fquadrons, have
merely plunder and depredation in view in-
ftead of conqueft. Nor could thefe have any
pofiibility of exiftence, if every maritime
country were once afibciated for its own de-
fence, in the manner hereafter to be pointed
out.-
So long as the army of the country remains
oppofed to the invader, he can make no
movements either with fafety or effect. A line
of pofts lengthening as he advances muft be
preferved to fecure a retreat whilft there re-
mains a chance of being defeated. Forage will
E 2 be,
( 28 )
be, with difficulty, if at all, procured, and his
army conftantly harrafled in a manner that muft
alone deftroy it. But the oppofing force once
routed, all thefe difadyantages vanifh. He
becomes matter of the country ; reconnoitres
at eafe its inmoft recefles j choice guides his
marches, which before were governed by ne-
ceffity, and his troops in unmolefted confi-
dence penetrate further in one day, than a
month of inceflant ftruggles could have effected
before. In fhort, it is an inconteflible fact,
that an invader who defeats the army of the
country never fails to accomplifti his purpofe
thereby ; unlefs its object be remote enough
to furnifh leifure for afiembling other levies
conducted on wifer principles.
Hiftory is the fureft parent of juit decifion.
Her leflbns are equally devoid of wild hypo-
thefis or vulgar error. To argue on what is
to come, from that which has conftantly hap-
pened, is preferable to the Tallies of fantaflic
imagination or the learned perplexities of re-
fined theory ; and when the founded principles
of reafon apply to caufcs which have invaria-
bly
blyp" ^uuced the fame effects, they may fall
fliort of mathematical demonftration, but will
icarce imprefs lefs conviction. The inftances
thus furnifhed by memory are too numerous
and too pointed f> be filently pafTed over :
leifure and the aflii, ance of a library might
have improved the feleJlion.
_
.
The important rank which Carthage former-
ly held in the fcale of empires, and her con-
neftions with Rome, have attracted the atten-
tion of the moft able hifiorians, and alone
afford the amplefl harveft of experience, with-
out tracing her through the various petty-
inroads of African powers, tho '.great invafions
in which fhe bore a fhare and which have been fo
faithfully related fhall be the objecl of a fliort
difcuilion. Agathocles forefeeing advantages
to be derived from making Carthage the feat
of war, while their forces were occupied in the
fiege of his own capital, for the fafety of which
he was under no apprehenfions ; embarked in
perfon for the coaft of Africa^ where fo unex-
pected a vifitor fpread immediate confterna-
tion,. Carthage however in the midil of
commerce
commerce was too opulent not to furniih
another army with great expedition. The modes
of rafiig troops are in all countries objects of
daily pra:li:e, and the prefence of an enemy
only expedited their fuccefs ; for whenever
plans are actually arranged, danger always pro-
motes rapidity, and calls forth exertions. It
fremed a profperous omen that the levies thus
raifed, v?cr? at once fent out fuperior to the
invader, thus far however the ftate of Car-
tlage had only been executing in war what it
had been accuftomed to in peace, and left no
opening either for confufion or error ; but as
the fyflem of refifting invafions had never been
deliberated on, it was not probable that this
army fnonld at once adopt the proper line of
conduit ; it therefore liftened to the firft im-
pulfe, fought a battle immediately, and being
defeated, left the enemy rnafler of the country
with all its advantages, which foon led him
to the gate of their capital. Without entering
into the detail of operations it is fufficient to
obferve, that repeated defeats and a total de-
feel: of fyftem expofed the Carthaginians to all
the ravages of the conqueror, nor was it till
the
( 3' )
the fourth year of the war that they difcoverecl
their error, and adopted fuch plans as could
not have failed of fucceeding on the very firft
landing of Agathocles, as compleatly as they
did the moment they were put in praflice;
for at length the Senate of Carthage^ compelled
to wifdom, divided their forces into three
bodies, and after defeating fome detachments
lent againft them by the fon of^fgafboc/es, they
blocked him up near Tunis ; and the hiftorian
precifely fays all the pafTes and roads were
fecured to the diilanee of an hundred furlongs,
whereby all fupplies cf provifions .were en-
tirely cut off, and the invaders reduced to the
certain defeat which famine mud have atchiev-
ed : thus without hazard to themfelves, this
falutary meafure at once changed the face of
the war, and he who had been conqueror in an
hundred battles, faw himfelf at once vanquifned
by the grave deliberations of a council, with-
out a blow being ftruck. An example like
this is not to be neglected •, it enforces beyond
the logic of ten thoufand arguments. The
fequel of the hiftory follows naturally, 4ga-
thccks himfelf arrived at the inftant, he had
hopes
hopes that an enemy whofe want of fyftern he
had long taken advantage of, were not grown
compleatly wife, and endeavoured to entice
them to a battle as heretofore j but the in-
fluence of madncfs and folly was paft : the
engagement was refufed ; and Agatboc les, com-
pelled to attack their entrenchments, was re-
pulfed, his army mutinied, and at length
furrendered. Himfelf after being put in irons,
efcaped under cover of darknefs and con-
fufion.
The fituation and conduct of the Romans
in the fecond Punick war is a recorded leffon of
the higheft authority. Their fubfcquent con-
duel: proves them to have been at firfr. fur-
priied without a fyftem. They hazarded bat-
tles and were defeated. Hannibal acquired
allies with victories ; and thus inflead of being
.fubjecl: to the inconveniencies attending an
invader, he pofiefled every requifite to carry
on the war on equal Terms. The Romans
trembling for the very feat of empire, imputed
their difaflers to want of generallhip in their
commanders, nor was it till after their defeat
at
( 33 )
at T'lrafymene, that they difeovered their pro-
ceeding from want of fyftem in themfelve*.
From this period, the appointment and con-
dud of Fabius changed the face of the war
during his command, but the battle of Cannes
loft by his fuccelTor again plunged his country
into the extreme of rnifery, and held forth to
pofterity a warning which all their hiflorians
have dwelt upon, and which, but for HinnibaVs
mifconduct giving time to reftore the com*
mand to Fabius, had probably terminated in
the definition of the Roman greatnefs.
When Alexander entered the dominions of
Ptrfia, one would think he depended on the
natural character of his antagonifls, and even
that his taking with him a much (mailer army
than he might have done, was from a pru-
dential forefight of the hazards incurred from
numbers. — As long as conqueft attended him
all would go well, and on any reverfe, a few
could extricate themfelves with the leaft en-
cumbrance, and were not fo eafily ftarved.,
v/hich was the greateft danger. The pupil cf
Arlftotle carried too much philofophy into the
F field,
( 34 )
field, to fufped a want of it in his cabinet ;
and if the council of Memnon the Rhodian had
been followed, poflerity might have contem-
plated the retreat of Alexander with as much
admiration as ever his conquefts afforded. —
Memnon (fay the hiilorians) endeavoured by
all pofiible means to diffuade the fatraps from
giving battle, and advifed them rather to fpoil
and ravage the country, even trampling under
their horfes feet what forage they could not
carry off. The Perfian pride revolted at the
idea. Diodorus Siculus fays they efteemed it
dishonourable, and cafting a ftain upon their
valour ; and for this punctilio rejected the
certainty of fuccefs : the fequel proved that to
conquer the Macedonians was no eafy tafk, but
whoever looks at Darius'?, numbers will allow
it to have been perfectly eafy to eat them up.
— National pride of all human ridicule is the
moft ridiculous ; it feems a twig of every man's
abfurdity bound into a ftate-faggot. Zim-
merman tells us the decent morality of an
elder in an humped-backed nation reftrain-
ing the jeers of his countrymen at a perfon
perfectly ftrait, who had been fhipwrecked
annongd
( 35 )
amongft them, and advifing rather to go
into the temples to return the Gods thanks
for having endowed themfelves with fuch
ornamental humps, than to triumph over
the unhappy foreigner who was denied fuch
a bleffing. For individuals, honour efta-
blifhes a court of equity, to regulate what law
cannot reach, they become members of fociety
upon their terms, and whoever embraces an
order is bound to abide by its rules, as long
as he claims its benefits. This legislation
like every other has its rewards and punilh-
ments, not lefs effective for being incoporeal.
Thefe however will only apply to the mem-
bers of a ftate, and not to the flate itfelf ; for
which, opiniori has no fupremacy, but every
thing muft be fubftan dated, there is no fociety
of empires to clafh or mingle with each other,
no compliment, no preference to virtue, no
reproach for vice, it is the intercourfe be-
tween' dependent beings, that alone gives in-
fluence to ideas j a RoUnfon Crufce never once
cared what the world thought of him. — An
individual through excefs of virtue renounces
like IlelveliuSj an accumulating fortune, and
F 2 we
( 36 )
we revere his difmtereflednefs ; but let a nation
fcrutinize the right of conqueft and relinquifli
a valuable territory acquired by their anceftors,
will the fame morality apply, and enfure the
confcientious monarch fimilar applaufe ? If
it be allowed meritorious to facrifice our in-
terefts in the one cafe, and necefiary always
to purfue them in the other, does it not
follow that this vapour of common life, this
aerial code of opinion extends an impotent
jurifdiction beyond our private actions ? We
hear of national difgrace, what is it ? who
feels, who owns it ? does it lefTen the dignity
of a city-knight, interfere with the confe-
quence of a country juftice, or deftroy the
importance of a great man's butler ? do you,
or any of your friends, find yourfelves one
atom more mean and contemptible for your
Jhare of difgrace ? Can you put a nation out
of countenance, pull it by the nofe, or fet it
in the pillory ? for in good truth unlefs you
can fubftantiate evil, the ^honeft citizen who
feels his commerce improving and his taxes
eafy, will not take the trouble of being con-
vinced how much his country is difgraced by
the
( 37 )
the conceflions which procured him thefe ad-
vantages.— On the other hand, national honour
is either fo indivifible that no-body gets a
fhare of it, or its corpufcles are too minute
even for microfcopic obfervation. We are
fond enough of difplaying our glories in ge-
neral, and yet none that I know have afked
any credit upon the authority of being flock-
holders in this general fund. The dunce in
his pulpit, the clerk in his ftave, the fox-hun-
ter at his leap, and the merry andrew in his
grin, are each fond enough of honour to ex-
pect it in their line, but they only claim what
is due to their private merits. The abufe of
language has produced more confufion than any
perverfion of intellect ever did ; in borrowing
a word to which ideas have once been rightly
applied, we bear off all thofe ideas to fome
topic which they cannot fit ; but becaufe we
find a coat commodious in private life, fhall
we freight a cargo of cloathing for an unin-
habited ifland. If national honour be then
only a word without meaning, it were to be
wifhed it had been explained before we had
fo much difpute about it with the Americans*
any
C 3* )•
Any thing but unconditional fubmifiion would
affeft the honour of this country, by and bye
this country's honour may talk of unconditional
fubmiffion with the trifling difference of having
it change fides. \Ve. debate wifely about
acknowledging their independence, when per-
haps it might not be amifs to get them to gua-
rantee our own.
When Charles V. invaded France, her mo-
narch was too wife to overlook the decifive
mode of fruftrating his ambition, and the rea-
Ibnablenefs of his conduct was diflinguifhed
by fuch marked features that no able hiftorian
however unacquainted with military affairs,
could fail remarking them. Francis (fays Ro~
Icrijon) fixed upon the only proper and effec-
tual plan for defeating the invafion of a power-
ful enemy, and his prudence in chufing this
plan, as well as his perfcverance in executing it
deferve the greater praife as it was equally con-
trary to his own natural temper, and the genius
of the Frencb nation, he determined to remain
altogether upon the defenfive, never to hazard
a battle, or even a great fkirmifh, without cer-
tainty
( 39 )
tainty of fuccefs ; to fortify his camps in a
regular manner ; to throw garrifons only into
towns of great ftrength ; to deprive the ene-
my of fubfiltence by laying wafle the country
before them, and to fave the whole kingdom
by facriftcing one of its provinces. The
execution of this plan, he committed entirely
to the Marechal Montmorency^ who was the
author of it ; a man wonderfully fitted by na-
ture for fuch a truft, haughty, fevere, confi-
dent in his own abilities, and defpifing thofe
of other men, incapable of being diverted from
any refolution by remonllrances or entreaties,
and in profecuting any fcheme regardlefs alikQ
of love and of pity.
Montmorency made choice of a flrong camp
under the walls of Avignon^ at the confluence
of the Rhone and the Durance, one of which
plentifully fupplied his troops with all ne-
ceflaries from the inland provinces, and the
other covered his camp on that fide where it
was moft probable the enemy would approach ;
he laboured with unwearied induflry to rend'r
the fortifications of this camp impregnable,
and
( 40 )
and aflembled there a confiderable army, though
greatly inferior to that of the enemy, while
the king with another body of troops encamp-
ed at Faience higher up the Rhone. Marjeilhs
and Aries were the only towns he thought ne-
ceffary to defend, the former in order to retain
the command of the fea, the latter as the bar-
rier of the province of Languedoc, and each of
thefe he furnifhcd with numerous garrifons of
his bed troops commanded by officers, on
\vhofe fidelity and valour he could rely. The
inhabitants of the other towns, as well as of
the open country were compelled to abandon
tkeir houfes, and were conducted to the moun-
tains, to the camp at Avignon or the inland
provinces. The fortifications of fuch places
as might have afforded Ihelter or defence to
the enemy, were thrown down. Corn, forage,
and provi lions of every kind were carried away
or destroyed ; all the mills and ovens were
ruined arcl the wells filled up or rendered
ufelefs. The devaftation continued from the
Al$s to MarfeilleS) and from the fea to the
confines of Daupbine, nor does hiftory afford
any inftance among civilized nations, in which
this
this cruel expedient for the public fafety was
employed with the fame rigour. Meanwhile
the emperor arrived with the van of his army
on the frontiers of Provence, and was ftill fo
pofleffed with confidence of fuccefs, that during
a few days when he was obliged to halt until
the reft of his troops came up, he began to
divide his future conquefts among his officers,
and, as a new incitement to ferve him with zeal,
gave them liberal promifes of offices, lands,
and honours in France. The face of defolation
however, which prefented itfclf to him when
he entered the country, began to damp his
hopes, and convinced him that a monarch,
who, in order to diflrefs an enemy, had volun-
tarily ruined one of his richeft provinrcs,
would defend the reft with obftinate defpair.
Nor was it long before he became fenfible
thzt Francis's plan of defence was as prudent,
as it appeared to be extraordinary. His fleet,
on which Charles chiefly depended for fubfift-
ence, was prevented for fome time by contrary
winds, and other accidents to which naval
operations are fubject, from approaching the
French coaft ; even after its arrival, it afforded
Q at
( 4* )
at bed a precarious and fcanty fupply to fuch
a numerous body of troops ; nothing was to
be found in the country itfelf for their fup-
port, nor could they draw any confidcrable aid
from the dominions of the Duke of Savoy, ex-
haufted already by maintaining two great ar-
mies. The Emperor was no lefs embarraffed
how to employ, than how to fubfift his forces,
for though he was now in poiTeflion of almoft
an entire province, he could not be faid to
have the 'command of it while he held only
defericeleis towns, and while the French, be-
fides their camp at Avignon, continued Matters
of Marjctlks and Aries. — At firft he thought
cf attacking the camp, and of terminating the
war by one decifive blow, but fkilful officers,
who were appointed to view it, declared the
attempt to be utterly impracticable j he then
gave orders to inveft Marfeilles and Aiks,
hoping that the French would quit their ad-
vantageous pofts.in order to relieve them:
but Moutmcrency, adhering firmly to his plan,
remained immoveable at Avignon, and the kn-
perialifts met with fuch a warm reception from
the garrifons of both towns, that they rclin-
quifhed
( 43 )
quifhed their enterprizes with lofs and difgrace.
As a laft effort, the Emperor advanced once
more towards Avignon, though with an army
harraffed by the perpetual incurfions of fmall
parties of the French light troops, weakened
by difeafes and difpirited by difafters which
feemed more intolerable, as they were unex-
pected.
The hillorian, in the next fection, recites
the dangers to which Montmorency was expofed
by the ardour of his own army, and that of
Francis , who arrived to take the command,
and was touched with their difcontent at this
appearance of timidity, when he continues. —
Happily the retreat of the enemy delivered
the kingdom from the danger which any rafh
refolution might have occaHoned. The Em-
peror after fpending two inglorious months
in Provence^ without having performed any
thing fui table to his vaft preparations, or that
could juftify the confidence with which he had
boa:°:ed his own power, found that, befides
Antonio de Leyva and other officers of diftinc-
tion, he had loft one half of his troops by
' G 2 diieafes
( 44 )
difeafes or by famine, and that the reft were
in no condition to ftruggle any longer with
calamities, by which fo many of their compa-
nions had perilhed. NecelTity therefore ex-
torted from him orders to retire ; and though
he was fometime in motion before the French
fufpe&ed his intention, a body of light troops,
alTifted by crouds of peafants eager to be re-
venged on thofe who had brought fuch de-
ftrmftion on their country, hung upon the
rear of the Imperialifts, and by feizing every
opportunity of attacking them, threw them
often into confufion. The road by which they
fled, (for they purfued their march with fuch
diforder and precipitation, that it hardly de-
ferves the name of a retreat,) was ftrewed with
arms or baggage, which in their hurry and
trepidation, they had abandoned, and covered
with the fick, the wounded, and the dead T in-
fomuch that Martin Bellay, an eye-witnefs of
their calamities, endeavours to give his readers
ibme idea of it, by comparing their miferies
to thofe which the Jews fuffered from the
victorious and definitive arms of the Romans,
if Montmorency at this critical moment had
come
( 45 )
come up with all his forces, nothing could
have faved the whole Imperial army from
utter ruin. But that General, by {landing
fo long and fo obflinately on the defenfive,
had become cautious to excefs ,- his mind,
tenacious of any bent it had once taken could
not afTume a contrary one as fuddenly as the
change of circumflances required ; and he
ftill continued to repeat his favorite maxims
that it was more prudent to allow the lion to
eicape, than to drive him to defpair, and that
a bridge of gold fhould be made for a re-
treating enemy.
The prefent moment prefents us with a
(Inking feature in the outline of defenfive war,
but the fubjecl: is tender j and no man chufes
to comment upon a period concerning which
the feelings of his readers are fo " tremblingly
alive." — Not to extoll much of the Americans
conduct would be making a public default in
the account of juftice ; and the author whofe
ardent prayer is for the welfare of Great Britain
gladly relinquifhes the theme, however appo-
fite to his defign.
CHAP.
( 46 )
C H A P. III.
Internal Arrangements of England
in former Periods.
THE Military Tenures placed our anceftors
in a much more advantageous pofture
of defence at all times, than the militia alone
can afford to ourfelves. Not only on account
of the actual numbers bound to immediate
fervice, but from that univerfal habitude to
arms, which confecrated the exercifes of every
peafaqt to the hallowed object of his country's
fafety. — Notwithftanding thefe feudal advan-
tages, an equal prevalence of military enter-
prifes in furrounding nations, rendered the in-
terpofition of the legiflature frequently ne-
ceffary for the purpofes of regulating and
arraying the foldiers thus raifed ; as well ns
eftabiifh-
( 47 )
eftablifhing general and Hated provifions of
armour' for the public defence. Accordingly
all our old records are full of fuch regulations.
There is in the Mufeum, a writ of Ed. II.
giving to John, Earl of Suffix, the cuftody of
the fea-coafts, and commanding him to array
all the men between 16 and 60 years of age,
for its defence. To the Archbifhop of Can-
terbury and other bifhops is given a power of
adminiftering the facrament, to exact from
the faid earl and others (called Cuflodes Per fa-
rum} a folemn oath of fidelity, that the ports
allotted to their charge be diligently kept,
and alfo that they (hall infpect and fee that all
the men of all the counties in England, be
provided with proper arms fuitable to their
condition *.-*-— At this time the coails and
even the whole kingdom were formed into
diftricts, and the charge of each given to par-
ticular perfons, fome of thefe diftributions are
yet preferved, and their extent feems very
* Juxta Jlatum fuum is the old law expreffion, and
there are flatutcs exj refiing the fize, weight, and nature
of weapons, to be furnifhtd by particular qualifications
of eltate.
fmall
( 48 )
Imall. It appears alfo, that the divifions of
counties and hundreds were originally adopted
as well for defenfive as civil purpofes. For
the Mirror fays, " When kings were firil or-
*e dained in this realm, the kingdom was di-
" vided into forty portions, and every one of
<c thofe portions or counties was * committed
" to fome earl to govern and defend againft
" the enemies of the realm. Thefe earls after
" they had received the government of each
" county, divided them into centuries or hun-
" dreds, to every hundred was appointed a
" centurion or conftable, who had his portion
cc and limits afiigned to him to keep and
" defend with the power of the hundred, and
" were to be ready on all alarms with their
" arms againft the common enemy."
In the warlike reign of Edward III. mili-
tary arrangements are without number, I have
annexed a few in the Appendix, Ihewing his
* Formerly the lieutenants of every county were
defied by the freeholders (See LamlariTt Saxon LW,)
There was a trad pu'ulifiied in 1642, impeaching the
validity of the militia ordinances on this ground.
univerfal
( 49 )
univerfal array of all lay-men between 16 and
60, as well knights and efquires, as others ca-
pable of bearing arms, under the fevered pe-
nalties of life and limb and univerfal forfeiture.
Alfo his charge of the beacons, which were no
new eftablifliment, and allowance of procuring
fubftitutes in fome inftances. Without
fwelling the appendix with an unnecelTary
number of authorities, It may be fufficient to
obferve, that this array was only for the pur-
pofe of defenfive war ; in which cafe alone it
could be juftified, and that the calling out
the whole body with fome exceptions, when
only a few were to be actually employed, was
in fact no more than happens with us, when
frefh ballots are demanded for the militia ;
except as to the article of all being furnifhed
with arms, the reafon of which difference will
appear the moment we recollect the accoutre-
ments with which a foldier then entered the
field, and that his armour muft have been
adapted to his own perfon ; whereas now a
mufket at once fits the fhoulder of a fublti-
tute, as well as that of his principal.
In the courfe of this efTay, it has been ob-
H ferved,
( 5° )
ferved, that the powers of being ufeful in
defence extended to many who were ill-adapted
to the bufmefs of attack, or more active ope-
rations of a campaign, and there is a pafTage
too ftrongly worded in the orders fent the
Mayor of Lynn, for me not to conceive it con-
veyed the fame meaning. The inflrudtions for
array in this inftance being not of all able men,
but it is exprefTed to be on the alarm of inya-
fion, and therefore all men capable of defence
(omnes homines defenjibiles) are to be called
upon. After muttering the whole numbers
of the realm, we have an account of thofe
actually ordered to be embodied ; and although
fome of the counties are milling, and the quota to
be furniihed by the cities not fully afcertained ;
they amount to upwards of feventy thoufand, who
during the time the king remained in Scotland^
were afiembled in two bodies, at Lcndon and
at Norwich, under different commanders, with
a flrong exhortation to orderly demeanour,
which the turbulence of the age rendered ne-
cefifary. — Befides thofc who by their tenures
were bound to maintain particular diftricts,
we find frequent inflances of writs for fuch
fervice,
( 5' )
fervicc. The original of one of thefe is pre-
ferved in the Mufeum, it is in Henry Vlths-
time, commanding divers perfons of the county
of Dorfet, to make watch and ward, and keep the
toivn and port cf tbe Pool, and coafts cf the fsa
thereabout, concluding — Thefe be the names of
the $ e" fens that be bounden to keepe watch and
warde. — a great many of thefe narres are ftill
legible, and there can be no doubt but that
whenever it becomes neceiTary to make ferious
provifion for defence at home, we lhall revert
to the wifdom of our anceftors, and fpecify the
nature of the aid required from every indivi-
dual. There are periods of antiquity, to which
the arts look up with gratitude and veneration,
here the fenfes all confpire againft our arro-
gance, and compel us to yield -the palm, but
in matters cf philofophy and all abftraft fpe-
culations, being fortunately preferved from the
humiliation of fuch palpable inferiority, we
avenge ourfclves by afTuming the haughtieft
pre-eminence ; thus as if truth, changed, with
the fafhions of the court, antiquated knowledge
becomes a term of ridicule. May it not be
H 2 that
( 5' )
that we fee ourfclves do worfe, and only fancy
we reafon better ?
Whoever relates the tranfan&ions of former
2ges, of courfe muft borow all he writes. So
long as fidelity guides his narration, he can
add nothing of his own but fuch remarks as
arife from the nature of the fubjecl, either
tending to elucidate the facts themfelves, or
to draw conclufions from them. It will there-
fore, be allowable, to ufe the very words of
Stow* and Camden, in referring to the fituation
of this country under £>ueen Elizabeth: with
a view of proving that a fovereign, whom
heaven had endowed with thofe tranfcendent
faculties of difcermnent requifite to felect an
able miniflry, could never leave this ifland
unprepared, when an invafion \vas meditated.
The neceility of forming previous arrange-
ments for general defence, was in itfelf a dif-
covery, which like thofe of Columbus, left all
that was to follow any eafy talk. Unfortu-
nately, the geographical allufion may be pur-
fued to a refemblance with what old maps
reprefented Van Diemerfs Land; a point hit
upon
( 53 )
upon by our forefathers, which their children
long again loft fight of. The Refolution
therefore, of timely calling forth, combining
and methodizing the powers of natural de-
fence, was fuch an advanced ftage on the road
to wifdom, as opened every profpect of the
whole career i and if hiflory had been wholly
filent upon the fubfequent proceedings, it
would have been Cynically uncandid, not to
have augured well for them. When a fun
beams forth, it muft illumine an hemifpherej
and no man who views the flupendous foun-
dation of an Egyptian pyramid, could con-
ceive it intended to fupport a pidgeon-houfe.
To argue merely a priori it was impoflible for
fuch a council, ftarting from fuch a point
not to have adopted proper meafures. Hifto-
rians have fortunately furnifhed us with the
means of remarking, that they actually did
refolve on the moil wife, the moft falutary,
and the only ones certain of attaining their
object. Meafures backed by all the experi-
ence of remote ages, enforced by all the in-
vincibility of found reafoning, and approved
by every eflabliihed principle of military fci-
ence.
( 54 )
cnce. It was not the fenfelefs pageantry of
review camps, ufelefs but to entertain idlefrs ,
at COMPIEGNE*, and harrafs a difgufted army
with an unvaried repitition of trifling manoeu-
vres; but one great, rational, well-digefted
plan, produced in full maturity by the energy
of manly councils, and moft heartily adopted
by a free and united people, whofe confidence
in government, and approbation of its mea-
fures, mutually begot and foflered each other.
Stowe begins with remarking the queen's "pro-
<f vident regard of her own, her peoples, and coun-
" try'sfafety" and her fuhj efts exceeding forward-
nefs m their juft defence, which was promoted
for two years together by every method the
council could fugged, caufing he fays, tbe
winjfters to mamfeft to their congregation, the
furious purpofe of the Spanijh King, &c. " by
<c whofe pains and induftrie, the Englijh na-
" tion were fo combined in heart, that I here
" confeffe I want art lively to exprefTe the
'• fympathy of iove betweene the fubjecls aad
the foveraigne.
* Where the King of France ufually has his Review
Camps.
" Citties
( 55 )
ff Citties, counties, towns, and villages, the
cinque ports, and all other havens of England^
manifefted as .great forwardnes in their zealous
love and dutie, as*eyther fubjecls coulde per-
** forme, or prince expe6t. To lingle out
<c the admirable dexterity and bountie of any
<f one perticular place, or people, were ap-
(< parent wrong to all, yet for a tafte of
{< truth, in all thus much may be fayde of
" London : After the counfell had demanded
fc what the cittie would doe in their prince
fe and countries right, the lord maior and
(f aldermen humblie beiought their honors to
<f fette downe what their wifdomes held re-
fc quili te in fuch a cafe. The lords demand-
<c ed five thoufand men and fifteen fhips;
fc the cittie craved two days refpite for an-»
" fwere,- which was granted; and then en-
" treated their lordiliips, in figne of their per-
" feel love and loyaltie to their prince and
countrey, kindly to accept tenne thoufand
Cf men, and. thirtie fhippes amply furnifhed}
ff and even as London, London-like, gave the
ff prefident, the whole king-dom kept true
v rank and equipage.
«' The
cc The whole nobilitie, moft nobely, like
<* planets of the higher orbes, in kind con-
<c junction knit their harts in one whofe
" princely valour equalling their love, af-
" fured their foveraygne of triumphant vic-
«* torie.
" About three yeares before, at which
cc time the Cittie of London was greatly trou-
" bled and charged with continuall mufters
ff and trayning of foldiers -, certaine gallant
<c and a6live citizens, having had experience
" both abroad and at home, voluntarily ex-
" erciled themfelves, and trayned tippe others
" for the readie ufe of warre, fo as within
ce two yeares there was almoft three hundred
" marchants, and others of like quality, very
cc fufRcient to traine and teach common foul-
*e diei-s the managing their pieces, pikes, and
" halberds, to march counter-march, and
cc ring, which faid marchants for their owne
" perfection in military affayres and difci-
" pline, met every Tuefday in the ycare,
te pra6lifmg all ufuall poyntes of warre, every
" man by turne bare orderly office, from the
if corporal 1
( 57 )
f< corporall to the captaine, fome of them this
" yeare had charge of men in the great camp,
" and were generally called Captaines of the
" Artillerie Garden, and thefe tooke prefident
<c from the merchants of Antwerp." After
mentioning fome naval arrangements, which
have no immediate reference to thefe times,
he proceeds
cc Thus the queen having fent competent
" centinells and ftrength to guard her confines,
" and fecure her lands from fudden invafiori :
" the counfel upon mature deliberation gave
" order for the executing and difpofmg the
•c land fervice, and chiefly what ftrength and
" in what place were beft to plant to the armie.
" of defence, and in the end it was concluded
" the rendevous fhoulde be at Tilbury. The
<c ground having been furveyed before, forth-
" with were trenches cutte": their next thwart
" neighbour, neighbour Grcvefend v/as thenlike-
" wife fortified, and wefterne barges thither
<c brought to make a bridge like to that of
" Antwerp, to ftop the entrance of the daring
*-'• foe, and give free pafTage both to horfe and
I « foot?
" foote betweenc Kent and Effex, as occafion
« ferved,
" All the fhires and cities of the land,
<( having their trained foldiers aptly furnifhed
<e with captaines, officers, and fit abiJliments
" for warre, attended the hourely pleafure of
({ the prince, provided allways and was ever
<f meant that all frontier ports, eyther to the
" Jea or other Jlaticn, Jhoulde fdll retaine their
fc -proper ftrengtbs, and from the inland onely to
" Jeleff fuch tnen> as were fitteft for the generall
u campe.
The land army mentioned by this author,
confided of the following numbers, furnifhed
of the refpeclive counties,
Horfemen, Light
Lances, Horfe,
Bedfordfhire 17 40
Buckingham - - 18 §3
Hartfordihire - - 2^ 60
Kent - - _ 50 ioo
Suffolk - - - 50 200
EiTex - - - 50 ioo
Middle-,
Middiefex
Surrey -
( 59 3
- - 35
- - 8
Sum 253
769
I
rootmeh,
Bedford
500
Buckingham - -
500
Hartford -
1000
Surrey -
IOOO
Barkfhire - - - -
IOOO
Oxford -----
IOOO
London -----
IOOO
Suffolke - - - - -
3000
EfTex - .- - - -
5000
Kent -----
5000
ooon
Sum 22000
This number of footmen was allotted for
the camp at Tylbury, but the number affembled
amounted onely to 16500.
The armie for the guard of her Majeflies
perfon urtder the charge of the Lord Cham-
I 2 fe
C 60 )
berlayne, confifting both of horfe and foote,
levycd out of thefe (hires following,
Horfemen, Light
LanceSj Horfe,
Glouceftcr - - - 20 100
Somerfet 50 100
Suffex - - - - 20 100
Wilton - . - - - 25 zoo
Barklhire - - - 10 85
Oxford - - - - 23 103
Cambridge - - - 13 40
Northampton 20 80
Leicefter 9 70
Warwick - - 17 76
Huntington 6 26
Dorfet - - - - 120 o
Suffolke 70 230
Norfolke 80 321
Sum 481 1431
Footemen,
Gloucefter - 2500
Somerfet ---,-- 4000
SuiTex •----. 2500
Wilton
( 61 )
Wilton - 2300
Cambridge - - 700
Northampton - 600
Leicefter - 500
Warwicke - - - 500
Huntington - 400
Dorfet T 1000
Suffolke - - - - 3000
Hartford - - - - 500
Surrey - - - . 500
Barkfhire - 500
Oxford ----- 150
Worcefter ----- 400
Southampton - , - - 2000
Devon ----- 2000
London - 9000
Middlefex - 1000
34050
Cambden, after reciting the Naval Prepara-
tions of Queen Elifabcth, and proving thereby
that the wifdom of her councils had over-ruled
the infanity of thofe valourous Quixotes,
" who earneflly perfuaded her to expect the
enemy's
enemy's coming, and to welcome him with a
land battle," proceeds to her internal arrange-
mentSi thus,
" For land fervice, there were difpofed along
<e the Southern Coafts twenty thoufand men,
<f befides which two armies were raifed of
" choice well difciplined men : the one under
" the command of the Earl of Leicefter, con-
" fitting of a thoufand horfe and twenty-two
" thoufand foot, which encamped at tilbury,
" not far from the Thames mouth (for the
cc enemy was fully refolved. to fet firft upon
<c London) the other under the leading of Lord
<f Hunfdon, confifting of thirty-four thoufand
<f foot and two thoufand horfe to guard the
<c Queen's perfon.
" Artbut Lord Grey, Sir Francis Knottes, Sir
" John NorriSy Sir Richard Bingham, and Sir
" Roger Williams, Knights, and excellent fol-
*' diers, were made choice of, to confult about
ce the beft way of managing the war at land.
<c Thefe men thought good, that the moft
*f convenient landing-places for the enemy, as
" well
" well out of Spain as out of the Low Coun-
" fries, fhould be well manned and fortified ;
ff namely, Milford-Haven, Falmouth, Plymouth)
« Portland, the Ifle of Wight, Portsmouth, that
" open coaft of Kent which we call the Downs,
" the Thames Mouth, Harwich, Tarmsutb, Hull,
<( &c. and that the trained bands all along
<f the maritime counties, fhould meet in arms,
" upon a fignal given, to defend the faid parts,
ff and do their belt to prohibit the enemys
ff landing; and if the enemy did land, to lay
fc all the country wafte round about, and to
ec fpoil all things that might be of any ufe to
<f them, that fo they might find no food but
ec what they brought with them on their fhoul-
" ders, and to bufy the enemy night and day,
<f with continual alarms, fo as to give them
" no reft, but not to put it to the hazard of
cc a battle, till more commanders with their
f< companies were come up to them, of which
Cf commanders they nominated on in every
cc fhire, to have the chief command and con-
" dudl. I lift not to relate, what midland
" fhires they afligned to aid this and that
" coaft
( 64 )
« coaft, what numbers, what arms, and what
" manner of fight they agreed upon."
The inexhauftible fund of found informa-
tion, with which the annals of this period are
replete, renders it neceffary to fubjoin verba-
tim, the council of war as it has been tranf-
mitted to us, and which is preferved in the
Britifh Muleum.
COUNCIL of WAR, held in the Year 1587,
Lord Grey,
Sir Francis Knolles, Treafurerof the Houfe-
hold,
Sir Thomas Laken,
Sir Walter Rawleigh,
Sir Richard Granvill,
Sir John Norris,
Sir Richard Bingham,
Sir Roger Williams,
Ralph Lane, Efq;
PRO-
PROPOSITIONS;
Such means as are confidered to be fitteft to
put the forces of the realm in order, to with-
fland an invafion ; and the places moft to be
fufpected, that the Spaniards intend to land in,
Milford,
Helford,
Falmouth,
Plymouth,
Torbay,
Portland,
The Ille of Wight,
•
Thefe are apteft for the army of Spain to
land,
NefTe, in Suflex,
The Downs,
Margate, in Kent,
The River of Thames,
Harwich,
Yarmouth,
Hull and Scotland.
K Thefe
( 66 )
Thefe are apteft for the army in Flanders.
How many of thefe places may be put in de-
fence, to hinder their landing.
MU ford, in Wales,
Plymouth, for the Weft,
Portland, for the middle of the Weft Parts;
The IHe of Weight,
Portfmouth, and
The River of Thames.
M i L F o R D,
Although we do fuppofe the barrennefs of
the country to be fuch, as it is not likely to
be invaded i yet touching Milfcrd+Haven, in
refpe& of the goodnefs of the fame, we think
it convenient that there ihould be trained the
number of two thonfand foot, and five hun-
dred horfe, to be levied and had in readinefs,
and for the increafe of horfemen, if any lack
be then. The gentlemen, with their ferving-
men, may be commanded to fupply the de-
fault of the number aforefaid.
PLYMOUTH
( 6; )
PLYMOUTH.
The reafon why Plymouth is thought to be
the moft likely place, is, for that it is unlikely
the King of Spain will engage his fleet too far
within the channel, before he has maftered
fome good harbour j and Plymouth is the near-'
eft to Spain, eafy to be won, fpeedily to be
by them fortified, and conveniently fituated,
to fend fuccour either out of Spain or France*
PORTLAND.
The reafon why Portland is alfo an apt
place to land in, is, for that there is a great
harbour for all his fhips to ride in, and good
landing for the men; the Ifle being won, is
a ftrong place of retreat, and the country ad-
joining C&aign, where, with great conve-
niency, he may march with his whole army.
The reafon why the Downs, Margate, and
the river of Thames, are thought fit landing-
places, is, in refpect of the commodity of
landing, and nearnefs to the Prince of Parma,
K 2 in
( 68 )
in whofe forces the King of Spain repofcd
fpecial truft.
Now in thefe places following, order may
be taken to hinder their landing, whether by
fortification, or afiembly of the people, or
both.
For PLYMOUTH, both by Fortification and
Aflembly of People.
In Devon and Cornwall, there arc of trained
men in the counties and ftannaries five thou-
fand which are to affemble for the defence of
Plymouth, (landing equal to both counties, of
which we are of opinion, in place of mufter-
days, which are very chargeable, and in effect
to no purpofe, that two thoufands of thefe
fhould be afiembled together at Plymouth ', under
fuch a general as fhall be ordained to govern,
that Weftern Army, to the intent that they
may know their leaders, be acquainted, be
thoroughly inftructed to all purpofes, that on
fudden occafions, there may be no amaze or
any confufion. This fhall be done the one half
at the charge of her Majefty, the other at the
charge
( 69 )
charge of the country, if the country's charge
do not furmount the ordinary trainings.
For PORTLAND, by affembling of Men and
fortifying.
In Dorfet and IViltJhire there are of trained
men two thoufand feven hundred, which are
to be aiTembled for the defence of that place ;
and that two thoufand of the faid number fliould
be afTembled and exercifed as before is faid, at
Plymouth, or in fome place of Wiltfjire, ap-
pointed for the IJle of Wight, to take Somer-
Jetfhire, in which there is two thoufand foot.
At SANDWICH and THE DOWNS, by affembling
of Men.
In Kent and SuJ/ex, there are of trained men
four thoufand five hundred, which are to be
affembled in thofe places for defence thereof,
and two thoufand of the feme number to be
alTembled at Sandwich, to bs governed and
exercifed as before is faid for Plymouth.
So likewifc for Norfolk and Suffolk, like order
to be obferved.
Our
C 70 )
Our farther meaning is, that thefe garrifons
fhall remain but twenty days to be thoroughly
trained and acquainted with encamping, and
then every fuch two thoufand men in garrifon,
being fo acquainted with difcipline, fhall give
example to a great army of raw men, whereby
fhall be no manner of confufion, on all iud-
den emergencies. Further, we are of opinion,
that to thefe two thoufand men, there fhall be
twenty captains appointed; which twenty cap-
tains, having each of them, one hundred trained
men, fhall receive under their charge when the
army fhall afiemble, one hundred more, fo as
in effect, there fhall be four thoufand men in
order, and under martial difcipline. The choice
of which captains, we think, for the one half
to be left for the choice of the general of the
army, and the other to be of the principal gen-
tlemen of the county, under whom there may
be foldiers appointed for their lieutenants.
The like order is to be obferved in every of
the other places of garrifon.
What Order muft be taken to fight with the
Enemy, if by force, he be landed.
For
( 7' )
For the manner how to fight with the enemy,
it muft be left to the difcretion of the general ;
only we give this advice, that at his landing,
he may be impeded, if conveniently it may
be done ; and if he march forward, that the
country be driven, fo as no victuals remain,
but fuch as they fhall carry on their backs,
which will be fmall, that he be kept waking
with continual alarms; but that in no cafe, that
any battle be adventured till fuch time as divers
lieutenants be affembled to make a grofs army,
as we have fpecified, except upon a fpecial ad-
Farther, it is thought neceiTary, that in thefe
two provinces, and in all others where many
lieutenants be, there Ihould one be appointed
to be chief, for among many lieutenants there
may be fome draining of courtefy; left by
fuch delay and confufion, great inconveniences
do grow to the country, and advantages to
enemy j and therefore, any lieutenant coming
out of any country with his force, his autho-
rity only to extend to govern his company, as
colonel of that regiment, and fo to be com-
manded
( 72 )
manded by the general lieutenant. As for ex-
ample j in Devon and Cornwall, there are ten
lieutenants, whereby it may be known, who
fhall command in either, as need fhall re-
quire.
"What Proportion of Men fhall be prepared
to ferve that End.
Wherefoever the enemy fhall land, as if at
Plymouth for example, then by the computation
of fix thoufand men, armed and furnifhed in
Devon and Cornwall, we conceive that the af-
Mance of Wiltjbire, Dorjet, and Somerjet, ad-
joing to the fix thoufand of the Weft, will
make a fufficient army, being ftrengthened by
the gentlemen, and ferving-men, and other of
the country that fhall be adjoined, though not
fo thoroughly armed as the Weft; and if it
happen, either by defign or contrary weather,
that the enemy pafs over Plymouth, and land
at Portland) then the .armed men and trained
foldiers of the Weft* .fhall repair to them; and
further, if the invafion be in Kent, or any
other ways to the Weft of the River of Thames ^
then
(,73 )
then thofe middle fhires directed to afTifl the
Weft, may turn to the Eaft, along the coafl.
If the army of Flanders land in the River of
Thames ', then the fame order is to be taken
with the fhires adjoining as is sforefeid ; name-
ly, Suffolk, Norfolk, Efez, and the Gity of Lon- '
den. And becaufe there -is a fpecial regard to
be had of her Majefly's perfon, v/c think.it
mofl necelTary that an army fhould be pro-
vided to that end, to be compofed of fuch
counties as are appointed and referved for that
purpofc, and to join with the forces of the City
of London and fuch others, as may be armed
out of her Majefly's flores.
Furthermore, for the increafc of foot, lack-
ing armour, we think it fit that there be of
able men unarmed, whereof choice may be
made of the trained men armedj one fourth
part more of which fourth part of unarmed
men, eighty may be pikes, and twenty bill-
men, for the providing of which pikes and
bills, there muft be fpcedy provifion made,
being weapons that the realm doth furnifh*
L Alfa
( 74 )
Alfo for the increafe of armed pikemen, in this
time of fcarcity of armour, we do think it
good, that all the armed bill-men may be con-
verted to be made armed pikemen, and that all
able bill-men unarmed, fliould be levied and
chofen in their places, becaufe the ranks of
bill- men in order of battle,' are always environed
and encompafTed about with pikemen, for the
bill-men ferve efpecially for execution, if the
enemy in battle fhall be overthrown. But,
here it is to be noted, that there muft be re-
ferved a few armed bill-men and halberdiers,
to guard the ranks, wherein the enfigns, drums,
&c. are placed in order of battle.
Alfo, fmce upon any fudden invafion, it
would be too late to provide fthefe things
which fhall be neceffary for defence, it is
thought neceflary that before-hand, a ftore of
ordnance and ammunition be provided, as alfo
powder-fpades, and all other furniture whatfo-
ever j and to be left in thefe fore-named places,
in which there garrifons fhall remain; it is alfo
to be provided, that in all thofe general afTem-
blies be held for training as well horfemen as
footmen ;
( 75 )
footmen j and to that end, that at Plymouth,
Portland, Sandwich, and any other places, that
fhall be fit to have the like training, the norfe?
men of the next adjoining counties be brought
together: as namely, at Plymouth, thofe of
Devon, Cornwall, and Somerfet ; at Portland,
thofe of Dorfet, and Wiltjknre, Hampjhire, and.
Eerkjhire ; at Sandwich, thofe of Kent, Suffex,
Surry, &c. But becaufe it may fall out in
thofe places appointed for training of the in-
fantry, they may want forage, or place fit for
horfemen, it may be left to the difcretion of
the lieutenants, tho chufe the fitteft for the ca-
valry, as near the foot a.s conveniently they
may.
•
SCOTLAND.
Farther, as touching Scotland, where landing
we cannot refift, we think it meet that a
ftronger proportion be confidered of, for that
part ; namely fix thoufand foot, and two thou-
fand horfe, whereof to be a thoufand lances ;
arms of far more defence, and may be fur-
niflied as good and cheap as the jack, and to
be taken out of the tower.
L 2 If
' If therefore, the army of Flanders ihculd
happen to land in Scotland, whereby their force
and ilrcngth fhall be fo great, as the army
af >refaid fhall not be able to encounter them;
then we think fit that a good part of the army
prepared to guard her Majefty's perfon, (hall
march to fupport the army of the North,
againft that enemy j and joined with the trained
of that country, and the army of the Wcft
brought to fupply that charge.
, It is alfo mod carefully to be considered,
•that the King of Spain, is not hopelefs of
fome party of Pcpifis and malecontents.
All which, if thefe fmall regiments before
fpoken of, be not in readinefs, both to aiTem-
ble for refiflance of any foreign enemy, and to
v/ithfcand them at home ix>th in one day;
for every man fhall francl in fear of firing of
his own houfe, and deflruction of his family :
Therefore, if any ftir fhould happen, fuch fc-
vere proceedings or execution towards fuch
offenders, would be ufed by martial law.
And
( 77 )
And to conclude, when it ihail be bruited
in Spain, that there are at Plymouth^ and other
places, fuch a number of armed foldiers, un-
der enfigns and leaders, the number will be
reported to be double or treble; fo as the
King of Spain, upon good probability, may
concieve, that thefe foldiers, and fuch as arc
in other places upon the coaft, in like readi-
nefs arc determined to land in Portugal or
o
the Indies ; the fame opinion being fortified by
the preparation of fo many Ihips as are given
in charge to be made ready in thofe parts, by
Sir Francis Drake.
We think it alfo very necefiary, that
throughout all the countries of the realm,
this proportion as well amongft the armed
and trained as the unarmed, pikes and bills
may be obferved; that is to fay, that of
every hundred there be eighty pikes, and
twenty bills.
We think it neceflary that fome order and
provifion be alfo taken by their lordfhips, that
her
her Majefty's fhips being at Rccbejter be not
entrapped."
Then follows an arrangement of bill-men
and pike-men, with their difpofition in com-
panies of one hundred each and the appoint-
ment of a chief, urider fuch title, as fhall
feem good to the Lords of the Council, to be
afiifted with a fufficient number of experienced
captains to be in her Majefty's pay. The faid
chief gentleman to give fuch orders for the
training and cxercifmg the faid regiment, with
the affiftance of the faid experienced captains,
as lhall feem good unto him, and alib for
training the horfemen.
Ibis ends the Council of lr/ar. '—- — Dated
37 tb Nov. 1587.
From Steve's account, it appears, that the
forces in readinefs, amounted to 58,984 men.
And he adds, " yet there were ready in all
places, many thoufands more to back and fe~
cond them.
QaKibdeni
( 79 )
Cambden alfo in round numbers tells us,
there were 59,000 in the two armies, befides
20^000 difpofed along the Southern coafts. Lord
Bacon too fays, that befides the levies actually
embodied, " There were alfo other dormant
<f muilers of foldiers throughout all parts of
f' realm that were put in readinefs, but not
'• drawn together."
To what immenfe numbers thefe might amount*
may be .gathered from a manufcript in the
Cottoman collection, which relates the number
of able men returned to government to be in
the Englijb counties, 298,068. In the Weld,
18,026; and in the cities and towns corpo-
rate, 5472. 1 have alfo fubjoined to the
appendix, an incompleat abftract of the lord
lieutenants certificates of them and their array;
befides all which, the levies of individuals were
prodigious.
I have taken the pains to decypher a variety
of papers, fome extracts of which cannot be
uninterrefting ; either as eftabiifhing the fyftem
of defence, or Ihewing the wifdom of the fo-
vereign,
vereign, afking and courteoufly receiving, the
opinions of all ; and the imiverfal ardour which
pervaded the whole nation.
Lord-keeper Sir Nicholas Ec.con to Queen
Elizabeth, 2oth Nov. 1557. " and con-
IC cerning matters at home, I think that your
" Hignefs's mufters be continued, and their
" certificates carefully perufed j and thereupon
"'order taken from time to time, to fupply
" all wants, as well of captains, munition,
" men, and armour, againfl all fudden chances.
" I truft there fhall be fmall caufe of fear,
" for any want at home."
Lord Nor ft: to the Lord-treafurer. — 1587.
"Now, my good lord, knowing no man
c* living, more careful for the fervice of her
" Majefty than yourfclf, I come only to you,
<f letting your lordihip know, that this county
" of Cambridge, and the Ifle of Ely, which
" reacheth to the fea, is put in no reddinefs,
" either of men, horfes, or armour; there
" hath been no mufter or view taken here
M thefe three or four years. All other fhires
" about
** about lis, mutter, arm, and put in readinefs,
fc what they can pofiibly. To have the forces
" of this place in like readinefs, if your lord-
" Ihip thinks fo good were convenient, the
" fooner the better, that men may have time
" to furnifh themfelves, not law-like, but lov-
<e ingly to furniih themfelves after a reafona-
<€ able rate, which no doubt will be done here
" very dutifully. Your good Lordfhip will
€c pardon me if I exceed my bounds ; love
" to her Majefly's. Service moveth me to put
tf your Lordfhip in mind thereof."
The pains taken to roufe the people, and
apprize them of their danger, were not merely
confined to the pulpit, for a letter from the
Queen herfelf to the Lord Lieutenant of LAH~
cajhire bids him enforce,- " how every man's
'* particular eftate is threatened in .the highefl
" degree to be touched in refpect of country^
" liberty, wyffe, children* lands, lyffe and re-
" ligion; and looking that moft of them fhould
** have upon this inflant extraordinary occafion
" a larger proportion of furniture for foot and
" horfe than hath been certified."—
M A
A letter from the lords of the council to
the Earl of Bath, Lord Lieutenant of the county
of Devon : " directs him to fortify the ifland
of St. Nicholas, and fays that in regard of the
late warnings, it cannot be but that they are
very alert and prepared, and therefore when it
is once put in a pofture of defence, he may for
the eafe of the country let them go home,
ordering thefe of the neareft villages to be
conftantly in readinefs to throw themfelves
into it upon an hours warning, confidering alfo
what numbers ihould conftantly remain to pre-
vent a fudden furprize, — and he is further or-
dered to fend boats to lie along to the weft-
ward to make fignals to the coaft.— —
As a proof how early the plans of defence
were adopted, the following are minutes of
orders fent to the Lord Lieutenant in 1585.
To caufe a view to be taken of all places of
defence, and to confider what fconces, or other
kind of defence may be made there, without
any great charge to the county ; and that the
enemy may be impeached in landing.
To
( 83 )
To confider if the landing places fliould be
taken, what flrcights and other apt places, there
are to make head againft him.
To appoint by way of diftribution, certain
of the trained men and others, to repair to
the faid places. To make choice of certain
pioneers to refort unto the places of defence.
To fee the beacons erected, and well kept.
To fend certificates of the Hate of the county.
Further minutes of council about the fame
time, are, That except it be a general mufter of
the whole county, no man may be compelled to go
above feven or eight mliesto train ', in his own di-vi-
fion. That upon any invafion, the foldiers may
repair to the next captain's dwelling upon the
fea coafls, and not go to their own captain,
who dwelleth fome ten miles within land, and
leave the coaft unfurnifned.
That order be taken, that arms may be ferved
at reafonable rates at the armourer's office at
Plymouth, .
M 2 That
( 84 )
That an aft or order be taken, that all muf-
kets and piftols be of a bore, and that thofe
hereafter charged may find fuch; that the
match, powder, and bullets, may be kept in
fome fit place in each divifion, to be ready
when need fhall require, and to be had at the
King's price, as formerly.
There are alfo, orders to confult with ex-
perienced per Tons of the country, and confulta-
tions with the Lord-lieutenants, about quar-
tering the troops, defiring their opinions>
which this council was not alhamed of afking.
Taxes were levied in the 'different hundreds,
for watching their beacons, and inftructions
fent to the Lord Mayor to prefs Weil-country
barges, to fortify the Thames-, and the fame
care was extended to all the Southern ports ;
for there are accounts of no lefs than feven*
teen forts and cafbles, fpecified in the county
of Suffix alcne.
Some other interefting papers are referred to.
the Appendix, together with the inftruc"lions
iffued to the Lord-iieutenants of counties,
•which
which difplay fuch admirable wifdom of good
policy, as leaves me to regret that part is yet
wanting, which all my endeavours to difcover,
have been ineffectual.
Having feen what were the armaments of
this kingdom, let us turn to thofe of the
enemy,, according to the beft accounts handed
down, which is related as follows.
I omit what belongs to the naval depart-
ment, having only to mention the troops
which could be opppfed to thofe of the coun-
try.
Camden relates the number of foldiers on
froard the Armada -• - 19,293
Strype ditto - , - J9i295
Stowe ditto - - _ 20,000
Befides thefe, the Duke of Parma had with
him 30,000, and the Duke of Guife was to
have brought 12,000 more, but thefe were
very early difbanded. And it is more than
probable thefe numbers would have fallen very
ihort in effective fighting men, if we are to judge
from
from the following ftate of the lumber which
encumbered the grand part of the expedition
Relation of the fhippes, munition, victuals and
men both foldiers and mariners^ of the army
of Spaine. Printed in Lifburne and prefented
to the King, the 9th day of May, 1558.
Soldiers
Mariners - 8050
Volunteer Gentlemen 1 24
Their Servants 464
Gentlemen ferving for Pay 238
Their Servants i6j
Gunners and their Mates - - 167
Surgeons and Barbers - 85
Friars and Orders to Prayer 180
Gentlemen of th» Duke's Houfe 22
Their Servants - 50
Muilerers and Overfecrs 17
Their Servants - 50
Juftices to execute Jufiice - 19
In the Galiies and Galliaffes to
row with Oars - 2088
Total
Abftract of a Paper tranfmitted to the Lords
Lieutenant.
From the Sloan. Manufcripts.
A Note what forces fhall repair to the prin-
cipal havens in every county upon the fea-
coaft, when the enemy fhall attempt to take
land •, which forces are to be taken of the
beft and befl furnifhed men in every Ihire.
Men appointed to repair to Fahnoutb in
Cornwall, when any enemy Ihould attempt
to land. Their men to be employed there,
or in other places of the Ihore where mofl
need (hall be.
FAL MOUTH, From Cornwall 4000
Devon - 4000
Somerfet 3000
Total 1 1 ooo
Men appointed to repair to Plymouth in
Dttonjbire) when any enemy jhould attempt
to land, there to be employed.
PLY-
PLYMOUTH,
POOLE,
( 88 )
Devon
6000
Cornwall
2000
Dorfet
3000
Somerfet r:»u
4000
Wilts - -
2000
I7OOO
Dorfet . .
4000
Devon
4000
Somerfet
4OOO
Wilts - -
2OOO
I4OCO
Hants - •
400O
Wilts - -
2000
Berks - -
3000
Sufiex - -
4OOO
Surrey
3000
I6OOO
x, SufTex
7000
Hants
3000
Kent
4000
Surrey
3000
15000
Ifle
( 89
Ifle of SHEPPEY,
or KENT,
HARWICH,
YARMOUTH,
Kent - *
6000
Suffex
4000
Surrey
3000
London
3000
Effex * -
4000
Effex
Kent
London
Hertford
20000
6000
4006
3006
1000
Cambridge and Ely 700
Suffolk * 3000
17700
Norfolk
Suffolk
Lincoln
Cambridge
Huntingdon
14000
N
SUP,-
( 90 )
SUFFOLK, Suffolk 7000
Norfolk - 3000
"EfTex - - 4000
Cambridge - 500
Huntingdon - 300
Herts - - 500
I53CQ
It was the good policy of this reign, to make
ufe of talents wherever they could be found ;
and accordingly, the moft intelligent gentle-
men of each county were applied to for infor-
mation, relative to the principal circumftanccs
in their vicinity. And I had an opportunity of
admiring the importance of fuch a meafure, in
the extreme attention paid by two country gen-
tlemen, to a large extent of coaft; the furvey
of which is preferred in a private library, and
contains the moft exaft delineation and account
of the Ihoals, rocks, clifts, beacons, and land-
ing places, with remarks upon works made or
intended, the return of cannon and ammuni-
tion, and many obfervations on the flrength or
weak-
( 9< )
weaknefs of ports, which even at this day, it
would not be prudent to publifh. Befides
this, men of approved abilities, were fent down
by the council, whofe bufmefs cannot be better
explained, than by fubjoinin'g their inftructions
as follows.
HARLEAN MS. 4228 p. 38 b.
Inftructions given to Sir John Norris, and other
martial men, fent into the maritime countrie,
the 1 2th of A-prily 1588.
For as much as it is greatly to be doubted,
that in cafe the enemy fhculd make any at-
tempt or difcent, into any of the maritime
counties, for lack of fome good eftablifhed
order, both for the impeachment of his landing
and difcent, and the choife of fomc apt and fit
places for retreat of forces to withfland him,
and for erecting the body of an army to make
head againft him, great confufion is like to fall
out, to the difmaying of the good fubjecls, and
the encouraging of the enemy. It is thought
meet by her Majeily, that fome perfons of (kill
and judgment, fhould be fent down to confer
N 2 with
( 9* )
with the feveral lieutenants of the maritime
counties, for the eftablifhing of fome fuch good
orders ; whereby the confufion likely to enfue,
may be avoided. And for that there hath been
fpecial choife made of you, in refpect of your
fkill in martial affairs, to take a view of the
counties of A, B, C, D. you lhall with as much
fpeed as you may, make your repair to the faid
counties, beginning at the county of A, and
fo to continue and proceed in the viewing of
the faid feveral counties, until you lhall have
finiihed the fervice according to the directions
hereafter following,
Firft, you fhall receive our letters, directed
to the feveral IherifFs of the counties committed
to your charge, by the which they are required
to notify unto the lieutenant of the feveral
counties, that her Majeflies pleafure is, that
they repair to their towns of each county, or
to the principal place in the faid county, ufu-
ally accuftomed for fuch affembly, to meet
with you at fuch time, as by your particular
letter fhall be fignined unto the faid Jheriff;
you fhall at the affembly make the faid lieute-
nants.
( 93 )
nants, or their deputies, acquainted with the
caufe of your repair thither, and require them
by virtue of fuch letters as you lhall receive
from her Majeflie for that purpofe, to affift
you in the fervice committed to your charge.
And firft, for the viewing of the places of
defcent, you fhall let them underltand that her
Majefties pleafure is, that both they and you
fhall repair to the faid places, accompanied
only with fuch perfons as have fkill, and men
of truft, for it is thought convenient, that
there fhould not be many acquainted with the
danger and weaknefs of the faid places.
And after a view taken of the faid places,
you fhall, after conference had with the faid
lieutenants, deliver unto the faid lieutenants,
in writing, your bed advice for the impeaching
of the enemies defcent ; as alfo how the forces
of the country may make their retreat with
fafety and honour, to fuch places of ftrength,
as by you fhall be thought meet.
Amongft
( 94 )
other things, It fhall be verv re-
quifite, "that feme of the beft trayned band*
within that countv, and beft furnifhed with
martial men, be appointed to impeach the
(aid defcent, to be executed according to- fuch
directions as by you fhall be given to the faid
litutenants, with the advice of fuch captains
as you (hall leave there to affift the lieutenants,
and to fee due execution of fuch advice as you
fhall leave with them in writing.
After the view of the faid places of defcent,
you fhall then confider of fonie fit place within
the faid counties, that by the fituation, with the
help of fom£ rivers or other ftraights, fhall be
moft fit, with the v.fe and adi fiance of the pio-
neers, to be put in fome fuch ftrength, as may
be able to make head unto the enemy, and to
flay his incurficns until fuch time as the forces
of other counties appointed to yield afiiftance,
fhu-1 repair th'ther; as aifo, until they fhall
receive orders and directions from h6r Majeftie,
how to proceed, and deal with the enemy.
And
( 95 )
And forasmuch as nothing will be more ne-
ceflary for the ftrengthening.fuch places of de-
fence upon the fuddain, than the ufe of many
piorieers, and other artificers, you fhall require
the faid lieutenants in her Majefties name, to
take a fpeqial care, to have fuch numbers of
pioneers in a readinefs, as by you fhall be
thought fufficient fur the flrengthening the faid
places of retreat; and to fee that there be pro-
vifion made of mattocks, fpades, fhov,els, and
all other necefTaries fit to be ufed and employed
in that fervice, by the 'fame pioneers : you
lhall alfo give directions unto the fame lieute-
nants, how fuch horfemen as are within the
fame counties, may be beft employed in the
champion or plaine places of the faid coun-
ties, as well for the annoying of the enemy,
as for the defence in the retreat of fuch bands,
as fhall be ufed in the impeaching of the ene-
mies defcent : you fhall alfo take a view in the
faid counties, of the feveral bands, both horfe-
men and footmen ; and in cafe you fhall find
them not fufficiently trayned, or not that chocs
made of the men, or not fo fufficiently fur-
nifhed with armour and weapon, as apper-
taineth
C 96 )
taineth, you {hall require the faid lieutenants,
in her Majefties name, to fee the faid defects
reformed, and to take order with the faid cap-
tains whom you fliall leave in the faid coun-
ties, as well to put the faid lieutenant to fee
fpeedy redrefs of the faid defects; as alfo to
employ themfelves in the trayning of the faid
bands, as well horfe as foot.
Amongft other matters of importance to be
obferved, you Ihall confer with the faid lieute-
nants, in cafe the enemy fhould take footing,
on land, how there may be good order taken,
for the removing into the inland parts of the
country, of all manner of cattle, victuals, and
other necefiaries, that may in any fort relieve
the enemy; and to fee the places of retreat fur-
nifhed with a convenient portion of victuals
for the number of forces that fhall be there
placed.
For execution whereof, it Ihall be meet that
fome fpecial perfons fliall be appointed, that
Ihall be men of credit and difcretion, fit for
that fervice, for that otherwife, it is likely there
will
( 97 )
will fall out a great confufion -, you fliall alfo
confer with the faid lieutenants, about the due
execution of fome nccefTary points contained in
former inftructions, as have been heretofore
given unto them, whereof you Ihall have a
copy, fo far forth as they fliall not be found re-
pugnant to thefe prefents.
And for her Majefties fatisfaction in the
mean time, untill you return, you fliall certify
from time to time, how you find the ftate of
the feveral counties, after you have taken a
view of them, and fliall fend a copy of iuch
directions as you fhall leave with the faid lieu-
tenants.
And whereas this fervice might feem to re-
quire many other particular directions j foras-
much as by thefe inftructions, it might appear
unto you, that her Majefties intention is to
have the forces of thefe counties to be made
apt, and in readinefs for a fervice, and all
things necefTary for defence provided accord-
ingly ; upon conference with the lieutenants or
deputies, and view of the forces, and ftate of
O the
the countries, you (hall be able to confide? and
conceive, what you think further meet to be
done in that behalf. Wherein, and in all things
meet to adorn this fervice, you (hall give your
beft advice to the faid lieutenants and direction
for executing that which fhall be thought requi-
lite,
Convinced, that nothing I can offer, would
be fo interefling as this hiftoric authentication
of the principles of defenfive war in general,
and their immediate application to this parti-
cular ifland. I lhall be juftified in fhewing the
teftimony of another hiftorian, whofe expref-
fions are flrong enough to carry a conviction,
how the conduft of this great princefs, has ever
imprefled the minds of thofe who thought upon
the fubjeft.
fays, that befides the armies there was
in each county a body of militia well armed,
under leaders who had orders to join one ano-
ther as occafion fhould require. The fea ports
were fortified, as much as the time would per-
fnjt, and fignals were every where appointed
to
( 99 )
to mow the places where the troops were to
march.— In fhort, it was refolved that if the
Spaniards made a defcent, the country about
them mould be laid wafte, that they might
have nothing to fubfift upon but what they
brought from the fleet. This was the 'courfe
taken by Francis I. in Provence againft Charles
V. with a fuccefs that anfwered his expecta-
tion. Thefe meafures being taken the enemy
was expected with uncommon alacrity, though
it mould feem that on fuch an occafion every
one mould have been in the utmoft confler-
nation.
The hiftorian afterwards exprefTes the
Queen's juft dread, becaufe if me could not
hinder, the Spaniards from landing in England,
me muft neceflarily refolve to hazard a battle^
the country not being proper to prolong the
war. — But he allows if ever fhe difcovered abi-
lity, it was on this important occafion, for fhe
looked to every thing with a wonderful prudence
and a prefence of mind, rarely to be found in
the greateft men, and which gained her the!
admiration and praifes of all the world.
O a From
From this view of the tranfaftion of the
year 1 588, it will clearly be deduced that Queen
TZKzabetb and her minifters adjudged a general
line of defence neceflary to be traced out and
adopted beforehand, and that they according-
ly did adopt fuch a plan : that their mea-
fures were wife, and falutary \ formed on true
principles, and ought to be adverted to in
fimilar fituations. — That intelligent perfons
were every where confulted ; and the inhabi-
tants countenanced to afibciate a confiderable
time (Stowe fays three years) beforehand. That
the fyftem of harrafiing the enemy, deflroying
forage, throwing up entrenchments, and avoid-
ing battle was particularly inculcated. That
the tr cops of the maritime counties were ftudioujly
appoint d to the defence of their own coajls, and
that the Queen took all thefe precautions not-
withflanding fhe had an active navy, which
alone under God defeated the armada, and a
land force aftually embodied fuperior to what
was bringing againft her. Thefe are part of
the material deductions this narrative affords ;
the intelligent reader will find fo many others,
that he will pardon the pointing thefe out, in
con-
confideration of the numbers who in reading
hiftory retain faithfully all its events, without
e xtracting one folid opinion, or maturing their
judgment by a fmgle reflexion, which is but
the triumph of memory over the unckrftand-
ing. How much better would it be if our
youth were inftructed to confider facts as but
the fcaffbld to a nobler ftructure. The inflexi-
bility of an impartial magistrate, the Juftice to
h erf elf fever e might be derived from a former
imprefiion without immediately recollecting
Brutus ', and even if the name of Lycurgus were
forgotten, a conviction might remain that the
love of pleafure, and the dread of fhame were
powerful fprings of action, one of which is
wholly unknown to modern legiflators, the
other rarely applied to. If the records of
antiquity are merely to be turned over for the
adventures they contain, they fhould be ap-
propriated to fhe ufe of nurferies, fome old
goflip made Cuftos Rotulorum^ and Tom Thumb
would be the firft of hiftories. — The human
mind being only capable of retaining and com-
bining a finite quantity of intellectual matter
there needs little hefitation to pronounce, that
it
(( 102 )
it fhould confift of the moft valuable and re-
fined fubftance ; hence chronology is the very
chaff of literature. — The defects of our public
education in this point, are perhaps without
remedy, but that thofe entrufled with the
charge of a fingle pupil Ihoukl fluff his head
with the rubbifli of words, dates, and names,
is not to be forgiven.— Necefiity has furnifhed
a wifcr fyfte;n for arts and manufactures, a
painter, a mufician. apply at once to the inftru-
ments of their profeffion. A carpenter ufes
thofe tools by which he is to earn his bread,
but the art of employing reafon,. which is to be
the end of fcientiiic education, forms no part
of it. Roujjeau indeed taught his Emik to
.think, for hinnfelf, but he thinks for himfelf
only; without extending his ideas fufficiently
to- the. relative eftablifhments of fociety. This
principle of diving conftantly beyond the fur-
face fotf fomewhat to bear off, explodes all
trifling. — The mind habituated to fubflance
grafps at no fhadows. This at once let De Retz
into the character that could obferve how many
years the fame pen had been employed. — This
taught Alexander to reward with a bulhel .of
corn,
corn, the man whofe merit confided in tofiing
the grains through the eye of a bodkin. To
appreciate the fterling value of things is furely
the grand object, and for want of this know-
ledge there exifts at this day a man of great
reading, who can tell the author, date, printer,
price, edition, and fize of almoft every book
extant, without having ever made the fmalleft
enquiry into the contents of any of them. —
What fuch intenfe application might have
atchieved, is lefs material than to obferve,
that he, who abfurbed in folid reflexion fhould
even confound William fbe Conqueror with Wil^
Ham Prince of Orange^ would in point of fcienee
fcarce appear lefs refpectably verfed in hi (lory,
than the more fafhionable reader whofe head
imembarrafied by meditation retained every
date, without one remark on the origin of
power, and thofe breaches of the focial con-
tract, under which it was delegated that fancti-
fied the Revolution j orvho views the Norman
conqueft without perceiving its effects on our
laws and cuftoms, or obferving that Harold
facrificed his crown and his life to an ignorance
Of the firft principles of denfenfive war.
CHAP.
( 104 )
CHAP. IV.
General Idea of Defence. — Utility
of Aff Gelation.
TO fuppofe a plan of operations for artl
enemy who fhould land in this country*
would be abfurd in him who wanted abilities*
and attended with worfe confluences front'
the foldier who polTeffed them. But a few
general remarks either on matters notonoufly
public or palpably obvious, may awaken at«
tention at home, without conveying orher in-
formation abroad than it would be ridiculous
to conceive an enemy unpofTeiTed of. It may*
therefore be faid, that as the fouth andweftero il
coails offer the neareft and moil advantageou-t i
footing to the Houfe of Bourbon, its attacks >
would probably be directed to forne of thofe ;; ,
whilft
whilft, if a fpirit of enterprize feize the Dutch
the eaftern part of the ifland prefcnts a ihore
well known, and invitingly contiguous. — It is
unfortunately needlefs to debate whether the
Englifh navy be in a fituation to block up an
armament, which is within the recollection
of better days j but were thofe days to return,
Holland might have a "fhare in the bulinefs not
fo pleafant to deal with ; there is no riding
near her ihores in bad weather, and the fame
winds that could waft them hither would ef-
fectually oppofe our fleets meeting them. —
Again while Spithead is our head quarters, if
ourwefterly trade winds fet in, what fecures
the weftern counties from Breft or UOricnt.
The want of a fufEcient object is indeed a
confideration at fuch a diftance from the ca-
pital, efpecially as Plymouth warned by her
miraculous efcape, is too ftrong for a coup de
maint and we have too much cavalry for an
enemy to think of penetrating through Dor-
fet/bire or Hants. — Sujfix and Kent are full of
pods, that might be defended by the inhabi-
tants, provided their own militia were left to
P fcco.nd
fccond them, and the principal force of the
realm has been very properly diftributed Eaft
of the capital, — Notwithftariding my profeffing
to difcufs nothing but topics univerfally known,
I have been prevailed on to mutilate this chap^
ter, by obliterating all obfervations on fpecific
enterprifes, or particular diilricls. I fhall there-
fore proceed to obferve that, befides the great
general principles of defenfive war, there are
certain conficlerations of no lefs moment, adapt-
ed to the peculiar fituation, foil, extent, and
government of every country. Of thefe, ex-
amples but too recent may be derived from
America and the Weft Indies. In the firft, a
prodigious tract of dominion, thinly peopled,
and partially cultivated, throws a very fmall
portion of national wealth into the hands of an,
enemy. An inroad of an hundred miles pro-
duces comparatively the moil trifling devafta-
tions. While in the iflands all this is precifely
reverfed, the growing crop, the utenfils, the
negroes, and the buildings bear fuch a vafl
proportion to the value of the territory itfelf,
that all fyftem of defenfive war becomes to-
tally impracticable. The chance of an imme-
diate
diate engagement is the only relburce of the.
inhabitants, and its event at once decides all
conteft. — Between thefcj Great Britain fleers a
kind of" middle courfe, equally incapable of
fupporting all the confequences of continental
condudr. ; and preferved from the defperate ex-
pofure of Weft Indian neceffity. — It is there-
fore obvious, that her defenfive operations muft
partake of both, And if the inroads of an in-
vader are to be limitted without the dangerous
experiment of a battle, it muft be atchieved
by Rich univerfal preparations of refiflance, as
may impede his progrefs, and raife a feries of
obftacles conftantly accumulating, till they be-
come infarmountable. — Thefe are not the pro-
duction of an hour. Nothing but a garrifoned
fortrefs or a compleat overthrow, occafions an
immediate check. The firft we are not fur-
nifhed with. The latter muft not be hazarded
while the controul of fortune may decide the
viclory which fkill and valour have in vain
conteiled. Whoever has fludied the geography
of this ifland with a military eye, will fcrefee
an event far within the fcale of human polEbi-
lity i, it is, that an enemy wholly un-impedec\
P 2 by
by the efforts of the neighbourhood, may in
certain fituations be able to penetrate fo far,
before our army could take pod in force, as
to render it impoflible for that army to cover
the capital without an engagement. — A par-
ticular fpot unfortified can only be maintained
by an action, at the will of thofe who mean to
carry it. All operations of delay allow fome
lofs of ground, and the lofing ground necefTa-
rily fuppofcs a fcope, and choice of interior
polls, which every mile does not furnifh.-—
— There are cafes when the retarding an ene-
my's progrefs for a fmgle day, might afTemble
and afford the Eriiijh army every fituation it
wifhed for. It is therefore of momentous im-
portance, that the obftructions be immediate.
Not to oppofc the very landing would be mad-
nefs, and with reluctance the melancholy fact
is extorted, that at this inftant they are places
wherein it might be effected by almoft any
number, without a fmgle fhot being fired, after
three years alarm of projected invafions.
Admitting therefore, as we mult, thepofli-
fcility of this being atchieved ; it would be
unwife
imwife to reject the fmalleft afMance, or to
conclude that becaufe a body of armed peafams
were not likely to repell the enemy, they could
not annoy him : when the very fhadow of re-
fiftance would have weight, and would compel
fiich mancevures and arrangements as muft
breed inconceivable delay. A ploughman may
at leaft break down a bridge as effectually as
Vauban himfelf could have done it ; and his
neighbours may be equally active in destroying
the roads that would conduct pontoons to the
river ; perhaps too a few volunteers firing from
the oppofite bank might oblige him to bring
up cannon before they were diflodged,
Hence the propriety of armed afTociations,
a meafure which we have feen Queen Elizabeth
wifely promoting : and if we confider the
names that compofed her council, and the
fuccefsful refult of their proceedings, perhaps
even our more enlightened miniftry need not
hold them abfolutely in contempt.
To carry the plan of afTociarion generally
intp execution, little, more is ncceflary thaa
for
( no )
for government to trace out one regular ra-
tional outline ; which it would be hard not to
give them credit for, coniidering the variety
of modes in which it might be defigned, and
the numerous expedients for giving it the ne-
ceiTary liability, — Let us fuppofe a legiflature
entering philofophically into the fources of
human conduct, and difcovering, that a manly
candid ftate of our internal refources would
appeal to the underflanding of the wife j that
a new and interefting employ would awaken
the curiofity of the light; tha: opportunities
of public exhibition would allure the vain ;
and fome well devifed honorary diflinftions,
however trifling, feathers, medals, or cockades
of different gradations of colour would operate
upon all. The human heart is in no ftate in-
fenfible to glory, To command the attention
of an applauding fenate, to roar the befl catch
in a drunken club, have each their charms ;
and the mod dexterous in a gang of pick-
pockets has as much envy in his way, as ever
the juftice of Ariflidss excited, and probably
more rivals.
Let
( III )
Let not therefore the pride of pompous af-
fectation raife a contemptuous fneer, at the
homely rewards of village virtue. To have
their actions recited in the fongs of dancing
virgins', foftered all the Spartan heroifm. Per-
haps the name of the moft meritorious affbcia-
tor recorded in gilt letters, in a country church,
would tranfmit a local reputation to his pofte-
rity, as much emulated as any honours hiftory
can beftow on thofe who move in higher orbits.
England, thus arrayed, could never afford an
opportunity of difplaying perfonal intrepidity
in real action, to decide thefe claims, for no
power on earth, would venture to invade her;
therefore, a conftant attendance at the exercifes,
and expertnefs in them, might be the merits to
deferve difbinction, and the mode of conferring
it fairly, might be borrowed from the Oflracifm
of the Athenians.
A^ithout entering into a minute detail of
any one plan, it is evident, on thefe principles,
many might be adopted, to furnifh Great Bri-
tain with an army, confuting of every inhabi-
tant capable of the operations of defenfive
war;
war ; which includes infinitely more than thofe
fit to bear arms, for the aged and children
in retiring, might drive off the cattle, and the
women themfelves could make cartridges, light
beacon's, &c. if fuch exertions could by any pof-
fibility be required. However, without ferioufiy
propofing to eftiploy females in this line, it :
is to be wilhed the policy of this country had
been fuch, as to have reftored by their means,
an immenfe number of men to the fervice of the
community, who are ignobly ftolen from it by
feminine profefiions. An effective man making
ftays, perriwigs, or gloves, is throwing away
flii-fules at a diftaffj at any period it is ridicu-
lous, in thefe days it Ihould be criminal, In
every commercial ftate, the aggregate of pri-
vate coulributions to the public wealth, fhould
be z maximum; at leaft, it will be the ntarer
perfection, as the refult of individuals labour
approaches to the greatefl poffible. But if we
employ a crane to raife a pincufhion, 'our me-
chanic powers are ill employed. I fhall hardly
take upon me to fay, what women are not r>
for, having feen them at fcigtmtufo, become
excellent mariners j and in other countries per-
forming
forming all the operations of husbandry, while'
in this, it is furely hard upon- the fex, to be al-
moft entirely reftramed to the profeffions of
milliners, mantua-makers, or proflitutes, and
even to have thefe encroached upon.
The neceflities of the ftatej in every age,
have awakened the feelings of its members.
Danger can give activity to the fupine, and vi-
gour to the weak. Fertile in expedients, and
rapid in its execution, its approach calls forth
new refources. — No fooner had the hoftile ban-
ners of Bourbon appeared off Plymouth, than the
whole weftern coaft was in the field, and as if
fome new Cadmus had fown his ferpents teethj
the country teemed with armed men, Not a
village but prefented its volunteer company,
not a hamlet but aftbciated with the next. Fif-
teen hundred men raifed in a few hours, by one
gentlemen * and his neighbours, fet off inftant-
ly with a numerous body of priibners, and after
the fatigues of three days very unpleafant march,
were not diflatisfied at being obliged to guard
* Mr. Baftaid, of KiteJy.
Q them
them all night in the fields. When they ar-
rived at Exeter, the inhabitants of that city,
had already formed themfelves into five fuch
companies, for character, refpeclability of for-
tune, as perhaps, were never before afiembled.
Thefe with mod diftinguifhed humanity, were*
drawn up in readinefs, to relieve their exhaufted
neighbours, the moment they arrived ; and con-
tinued guarding the prilbners feveral weeks,
with unremitted attention ; gentlemen of the
beft property, taking their tour to ftand centi-
nel as regularly, and discharging the duty at
leaft as faithfully, as any high-dreffed foldier
whatever.
This was beginning to make the efforts of
the country appear refpeclable ; had the enemy
remained, a very Ihort time would have ren-
dered them formidable ; and doubly fo they
might have been, if any fyftem had been
adopted beforehand, or any arrangements made
to unite the gallantry of individuals, and direfb
its efforts to the general good. For want of
this, thoufands remained inaflive, with both
the wifhes and abilities for fervice. — Others
again
again felt the neceffity of concentrating their
force, and aflembling in bodies ; flill without
an object, but burning with fuch an arcjour to
be ufeful, that folly herfelf would call it mad-
nefs, to difqualify them for it in future.
In every ftate liable to invafion, armed affo-
ciations fhould be early adopted and encou-
raged, on every principle of patriotic prudence.
The word Patriotic, is ufed with no party de-
fignation. To minifters themfelves, I cannot
hefitate to attribute that patriotifm, which would
protect this country from tyranny, or any op-
preflions but their own, and even faction would
unite in any well-formed plan, for national fe-
curity. Yet it has been held out as the lan-
guage of the day, that the people are not to
be trufled with arms. A doctrine illegal, im-
politic, and which can only originate in guilt
or error. The univerfal underrtanding of an
enlightened nation, is furely to be depended on.
Corruption or depravity may influence the con-
duct of the ruling few, and direct the force of
the unhappy nation they mifguide, againfl its
ov/n colonies ; but when the many are left to
2 the
( n6 )
the operation of their rcafon, their weapons
can only threaten the enemies of their country.
And fhould a race nurtured in its bofom, merit
that ungracious appellation ? Heaven forbid,
their being minifters would fcreen them from
the vengeance of an injured people ! However
cherifhed, however protected, the very hand
that raifed them is impotent to break their fall.
Much indeed, has been faid and written, on the
enervated depravity of the age j but dlCQpation,
however hoflile to the redundance of that vir-
tue which diftinguifhed our illuftrious ancef-
tors, ftill haves a fpring to actuate the minds
of their defcendents, however unconfcious of
its power, however weakened in it. There are
refonrces, which a torpid infenfibility alone can
{Hlroy; and that ftate can never be the lot of
England^ fo long as the very form of her con-
ftitution is preferved. The liberty of the prefs
alone, becomes the Palladium of our feelings,
and guarantees us from the danger of inertnefs.
Thefanguine animation of individuals may an-
ticipate the hour of danger, but the folid fpi-
rit of the nation kindles at the inftant of its
arrival. A certain latent fpark pervades every
rank,
( "7 )
rank, and infpires every breaft; fome cafual
blaft excites a conflagration, and the whole ex-
plodes. Even Blackftone, allows there are cafes
when the nation has very juftifiaby rifen. But the
refentment of an injured people, in this nor-
thern climate, however ultimately decisive; has
P*»
at all times appeared to be tardive, and met
the derifioa of thofe who were doomed to be
its object. The favourites of monarchs, con-
fided in the power of their mailers, without
once recollecting, that it failed at the fame mo-
ment it became neceflary to their own prefer-
vation. The Penfioned Conftellation * of
party literature, in the fame work where he
goes out of his way to call Hamfden the Zealot
of Rebellion ; remarks the infenfibility of 'James
the Second's courtiers to the dangers of the
precipice they flood on. What could appear
more honelefs than the Revolution, when ano-
ther Zealot of Rebellion, the galhnt RuJJcl, la-
mented its impoflibility, becaufe we had no great
men left. Yet even his father lived to witnefs
it ; lived to fee the weak monarch taught, that
* Viz. Urfa major.
f See Lord Ru/el"s Speech on his Trial.
royalty
royalty in fuch hands, is but the gilded weather-
cock that tops the ftrufhire of the Hate. A
ftorm rends its fides, an earthquake roots up
the foundation, and the atom perifhes unen-
quired for in the ruin. A blaft too impotent
to (hake the walls, may overfet the bauble, and
leave the fabric unimpaired ; to (land the won-
der of fuccceding ages, with the illuftrious dig-
nified names of Bmnfwick) or Naffau. Thus may
it long continue, fpite of the machinations of
thole who would deftroy its fymmetry, and
have difmembered its domain, flattering them-
felves that while they can drown the voice of
juftice, its hand can never reach them j or con-
fiding in the idea that this country, however
irritated, can make no exertions, becaufs K-e
have no great men left, as if, even admitting it
to be true, great events would not produce
fuch. From what neft of fanatics, fprang the
infant Cromwell? where (lumbered the immor-
tal WaflnngiQn, till opprefiion called him forth
the Saviour of his country.
Whatever may be the tenets of the court on
thefe prints, it feems beyond he tracklefs chaos
of
< "9 )
of political cafuiftry, to frame one plaufiblc
objection againft arming every inhabitant of a
free country, and training him with all necef-
fary attention. An army fuperior by its num-
bers, infinitely fo by its conftituents, to what-
ever the combined navies of Europe could land
in this ifiand, might be formed without ex-
pence j and which, excepting the article of
drefs, might in one fummer confefs no inferi-
ority to any opponents. If this be really an
inferiority or not, I fhall leave to the difcuf-
li on of modern difciplinarians, and army taylors,
who all are equal to it. Whether a man fights
beft in a red coat, or a carter's frock 5 a flouched
hat, or fool's cap and feathers, are difquifitions
too nice, to be raihly entered upon. — But if
the yeomanry, the farmers, the hufbandmen
of the country j together with the tradefmen
and mechanics of great towns, were trained to
the ufeful parts of a foldier's employ, which af-
ter all, contains nothing myfterious or intri-
cate > our troops might extend their conquefts
on every fide of the globe, and this nation re-
main in perfect fecurity, competent to its own
defence.— Train them to martial exercifes, and
every
( 120 )
every village, whole defiles offered a Thermo-
$yla could furnifh a Leonidas \ for the rudeft
ploughman in an Englijh cottage, v/ants no-
thing but the habitude of arms, to be formi-
dable in ufmg them. Courage forms a great
part of the education of our lower ranks, and
of all the qualities of the mind, none is more
artificial. — In thofe of more elevated ftations,
it aflumes another name -t and although a dif-
ferent texture of nerves, or degree of activity,
may produce different modifications of it; yet
every man of honour has precifely the fame
fund of courage at the bottom, whether it be
foberly confined, or fretting out at the bung-
hole. — The defence of one's country is how-
ever one of the few general lights in which it
can be fairly compared or reafoned upon. —
An artificial production muft depend upon
that fcience, addrefs and practice which have
created it. From thefe alone a man derives
confidence in every fituation. A fox-hunter
will leap a precipice, a failor brave a tempeft
that would difmay an Ajax. Ccefar himfelf was
timid in a carnage, and regularly obferved
a fu-
a fuperftitious ceremony to avert his danger"
when he mounted one.
The hiftory of almoft every nation abounds
with inftances of fignal good effects derived
from the provident exertions of individuals j
and fatal evils arifing from their ignorance or
inactivity. The inroads of the Scots formerly
kept our northern frontiers conftantly arrayed,
and trained to arms in the fchool of necefiity.
A danger lefs immediate, frequently expofed
the coafts oppofite France to be caught unpre-
pared j and whenever that happened they be-
came the victims of their own imprudence.
While the iuccefs which never failed to reward
the forefight of their more alert neighbours,
mud have convicted themfelves, and fhould re-
main a monument of wifdom to their pofterity.
Stowe mentions particularly an Abbot of*
teat tie in Richard tbe Second's time, who twice
preferved the town of ffiihcbelfea from French
depredations j whilft the inhabitants of Ryg,
" in coxfiditice of ftrcvgth" expofed themfelves
to a defeat, which occasioned their town and its
beautiful church to be reduced to aihes and
R ortlf
only eight of thcmfelves left alive to witnefs
it. — The conduct of this gallant Abbot is the
more meritorious, when after evincing his
courage by volunteering dangers which his pro-
fefiion exempted him from, he had good fenfe
enough to reftrain that courage from urging
him beyond the limits of defenfive war. Thus
when the enemy wearied out by his diligence,
at their fecond vifit had in vain endeavoured
by all means to bring him to a&ion, they at
length fent to him, " requesting that if hee
<f woulde not have peace, he would fend forth
" to fighte man, to man ; or more in number
" if hee woulde to trie the matter in viewe of
*f armes,but neithere woulde the Abbot admitte
" the one requefte or the othere, faying hee
" was a religious man, and therefore not to
<f admitte fuch petition, and that hee came not
" thither to fighte but to defend, and preferve
" the peace of the countrie." Had the IJle
of Wight men been equally \*ife, they would
not have loft their ifland as they did about
this time, by fuffering the enemy to land, en
purpofe to give him bat'/le.
The
( 123 )
The nation who in times of danger has no-
thing to depend on but a {landing army is in
a fituation to be pitied ; but, if this country,
all powerful in refources, neglecting them,
fhould look up to an army that hardly exifts,
the moft humane fpectator, even if too benevo-
lent to laugh at our abfurdity would at leaft
difpenfe with any tribute of compaffion.
The advantages which arife from pre-efta-
blifhed order imprefs themfelves forcibly upon
our reafon in every tranfaction liable to buftlc
and confufion 3 thefe advantages it is vain to
expect in the tumult of action. To be fervice-
able then, men muft have their leflon at hand.
A wife minifter can in all ages and all govern-
ments find means to form aflbciations, and
make fervice palatable, when fuch plans do
not originate in the people themfelves ; P^cbert-
foa, in fpeaking of Cardinal Ximenes fays, " As
" mercenary ftanding armies were unknown
" under the feudal government, and would
" have been odious to a martial and generous
<f people, he ifiued a proclamation, command-
f< ing every city in Caftilc to enrole a certain
R 2 " number
( 124 )
c' number of its burgefles in order that they
*f might be trained to the ufe of arms on Sun-
*< days and holidays •, he engaged to provide
" officers to command them at the public ex-
<f pence, and as an encouragement to the pri-
" vate men, promifed them an exemption from
f all taxes and jrnpofitions. — "
Not only every appeal to the fenfes and under-
ftanding fhould be made in favour of this meafure,
but there are periods, when government fhould
fubflantiate rewards j although penalties fhould
rarely be inflicted on thofe who witheld their
fervice. Every philofophic principle of legifla-
ture, convinces us that rewards, if not equally
powerful, are a much nobler fpring of action,
than punifhments ; and as thefe have only the
negative effect to deter from evil, they muft be
mifplaced, when the active virtues are to be
roufed that impel to good. Confidered how-
ever in fome points of view, all local gratifi-
cations, partake of the nature of punifhments
pperating over a certain circle, wherein they
tend either to increafe difparity of condition
already obnoxious, or to create it.
However
( 1*5 )
However education may humanize the mind,
there exifts in every breaft an innate love of
equality, which it never fees violated with fa-
tisfaction,. Good breeding, and good fenfe,
but conceal or moderate its effects ; for the befl
heart, howevever fmcerely it rejoice at the fuc-
cefs of thofe in remote ranks, either above
him- or beneath, witholds its delight at the luck,
which immediately conftitutes a fuperior of an
equal, — Fortunately for human nature, vanity
fleps in and extends the line which levels our
philantrophy. Some intrinfic perfection, fom'e
peculiar quality fteals us a few inches above
ourfelves, and foftens the harlh deformity of
every ftep into an imperceptible flops, My
title confoles me for Burke's virtue ; my pro-
perty outbalances Charles Fox's genius ; and
Keppel with all his country's wiihes wants my
conftitution. In fhort, if comforts of every
other kind are denied, the redundancy of men-
tal qualifications will compenfate for all defects.
Here the Gods have been profufe in univerfal
liberality. Want of health, figure, or fortune
are frequent fubjecls of repining j education is
fometimes blamed, but no man ever ferioufly
complained
complained of the fhallownefs of his capacity,
or impeached the juftice of Providence for
giving his neighbour a larger fhare of intellect.
—-It feems, as if not light itfelf could be more
plentifully or more equally beftowed. The
tree of knowledge grows in every hedge, and an
Agrarian Law divides the realms of fcience
to the perfect fatisfaction. of every individual.
Rochefoucault, who looked through human na-
ture with a penetration unblunted by the af-
fectation of common-place benevolence, painted
what he faw in vivid tints, without the varnifli
of flattery, and obferves that " in the adverfity,
even of cur beft friends, we always find Jomething
to corjole ourfihes ;" — at leaft it is certain, that
no man is completely miferable for any mif-
fortunes but his own.
With regard therefore to afibciators, the re-
wards of thofe who aiTembled, might be indi-
rectly, penal upon non-conformifts, by half-
rating the firft to the revenue in fomc inftance,
as Roman Catholics are doubled. A parifh flill
raifmg its quota, the refidue muft of courfe
fall on the others. — Or, it not being poflible
to forefee how few or how numerous the dif-
fentients would be in particular diftricts, the
feiTions might be furnifhed with a general
power of relieving from highway duty, and
faddling it on thofe who refufed their fervices
to the public in another line.
A variety of fuch inducements might be held
out, which need not be recapitulated, for
thank heaven, we have a miniitry who under-
ftand the management of douceurs. — Nor do
fuch details, conftitute any part of an author's
bufmefs, whofe authority is ineffectal towards
putting them in practice. It is fufficient to re-
peat, that the inhabitants of a county liable to
invafion, fhould not be unprepared for defence.
The modes of compelling, or what is much
better, of p'erfuading them to acquire the re-
quifite preliminary expertnefs, are almofl infi-
nite in the hands of legiilature. The talk, is
fo far from being arduous or impracticable,
that a thoufand plans might be formed, for
carrying it into execution •> and that fo effec-
tually, that it fhould be a difgrace to a young
man, to have miffed the meeting of his com-
rades
( "8 )
rades. Government might fell them arms, to
be paid for by a pound rate -, a tax fo confo-
nant to public weal, would hardly be complained
of, when our patient endurance fubmits to fo
many of another ftamp. The day of exercife
leaft inconvenient to the parties, and befl af-
forded by an impoverilhed nation, would be
Sunday ,- efpecially as the arming in defence of
our religion, muft be deemed no equivocal
demonftration of it j provided our pulpits in-
culcated it as earneftly as in the time cf Queen
Elizabeth.
To load with dexterity, to fire with preci-
fion, to advance and retreat with order, and
celerity •, the habitude of deriving mutual fup-
port, and unity of force, from maintaining a
rank, is all that need be learned, and may be
acquired in very fmall detachments. — But if
time allowed, the purfuing it through higher
gradations of utility ; when it became, as it
foon would, matter cf emulative recreation.
The villages of a rape might meet each other
during the fummer months, and on thofe days,
be inflrucled in the general outline of irregu-
lar
I29
far defence, as far as related to throwing lip
flight works, or fecuring themfelves behind
walls, banks, rivulets, and abbatis,— If for
this purpofe, fome worthy worn-out officer
were called with a decent allowance, from
penury, and half-pay; it might not be the
moft exceptionable chafge of the army extra-
ordinaries*
The greater!: difficulty that occurs in calling
forth the fervice of mixed and large bodies of
people, is to avoid confufion j while a diftinct
eftablifhment of regularity is the firft ftep to
fuccelsful operation. Men muft not only know
the fignals which are to call them out, but
where they are to aiTemble, for what purpofe,
and the arms or tools nece/Tary to effecl; it.
The moft minute detail of arrangement muft
not be omitted : for the coaft, on which an
enemy attempts to land, will fully need the ex-
ertions of all its inhabitants, without a moment
to fpare, in debating how they fhould be em-
ployed. When their labours ought to have
already commenced, it is too late to plan them.
Country gentlemen cannot be expected to pof-
S fefs
fefs the knowledge requifite for general opera-
tion.— Here government fhould take the lead.
Engineers of capacity, fhould be employed to
make accurate furveys on the coafts, the rivers,
fords, heights, roads, and defiles; with the
fituation of the villages, and number of inha-
bitants. Thefe fhould all be derived from
actual obfervation, a fmall diftricl:, not exceed-
in0" twenty miles allotted to each, and reports
given in, after a refidence of three or four
months. Wherever Perfons properly qualified
for this employment could be procured on the
fpot, their information would probably be the
moft fatisfa&ory. The emoluments for this
fhould be fmall, to prevent it becoming a job,
and ^at no diftinfbion of parties might have
a chance of fuperfeding abilities. Thefe re-
ports, would be only a foundation for the
Commander in Chief to work upon; whofe
labour being fhortened by inftruclions where
to feek the important pofts, fhould vifit them
perfonally, eftablifh the fituation of beacons,
and trace out the whole plan of defence. — It
fhould be obferved that hundreds are but an
inconvenient divifion for any but civil purpofes,
it
it would therefore be better if each county
were allotted into military diftrifts, whofe
forces might be more concentrated -, each of
thefe to elecl: fome magiftrate, or other intelli-
gent perfon, to whom government might com-
municate the refult of their enquiries and de-
liberations fo far as was proper for his gui-
dance. There appears no neceflity for convey-
ing the whole of thefe in the nature of pofitive
regulations, but partly as matters of inflruc-
tion*. For if it be recommended to break
down fuch a bridge, make an abbatis here, or
a fort there, thefe are points, which in the
moment of peril will never be contefted through
caprice or felf-conceit, Nothing but a certain-
ty of better meafures from unforefeen circum-
flances can occafion their being fet afide ; and
no peremptory decifion at a diflance fhould
anticipate what events may alter the nature of.
The care of the Hate fhould farther extend
to the fupplying fuch cannon, arms and {lores,
as their reports evinced the propriety of
•* Not Law like, but lovingly. Lord North's let-
ter, 1587. See chap. iii. ant?
S 2 grant*
( '3* )
granting,- and henceforward the charge de-
volves upon the magiftrate or deputy lieute-
nant above-mentioned, who fhould lofe no time
in arranging matters with the neighbouring
gentlemen, and form committees to fuper-in-
tend the regular trainings, with the addition
of tracing a few flight works on the ground
pointed out, wherever it could be effected,
Perhaps there yet remains fomething to be
guarded againft, wherein this army of a few
villages may require the interference of legifla-
tion. No man is fo loft to all the generofity
of juftice, which the gallant fentiments of this
nation demand, as to fulpect any Englijhman
would be backward in his country's caufe, if
ever the hour of trial Ihould arrive; few perhaps
are impreffed with a contrary peril from excefs
of virtue, and how probable it is for an ebulli-
tion of valour to arm every peafant with gun
or pitch-fork, without order, without fyftem :
and totally neglectful of thofe advantages which
were immediately attainable. It fhould there-
fore be rendered highly penal in cafe of an
actual landing or attempt to land, for any in-
dividual I
( 133 )
dividual to difobey the orders of fucli magif-
trate, always underftanding this to extend only
to his temporary command, 'till the lord
lieutenant or other fuperior legally authorifed
fliould arrive. Secure however of this au-
thority when requifite, all details might be pre-
vioufly arranged ; and thofe inhabitants named
who fhould repair with tools to the appointed
rendezvous, for the purpofe of throwing up
the firft work which had been already traced
before them. It fhould alfo be fpecined who
fhould fire the beacons *, who ride to array
the neighbouring villages, and quicken their
operations, which are equally methodized. —
* In order that the commanding officer at any camp or
poft with which the beacons communicate, may be able
to afcertain from what part of the coaft the alarm is firft
given, certain diftinguiihing fignals mould be fixed on ;
for example, from the IJle of Thanet to the South Forelandt
one rocket ; from South Foreland to Dungenefs, two ditto ;
from Dungenefs to Beacbj, three ditto ; from Beachy to
Brigbtelmftone, four ; from Brightelmjlone to Selfey . five ;
after which, to avoid confufion from a number, the
next diftridl might begin again with one rocket, being
fufficiently diftant from the firft, to obviate any miftake
from the fignals being alike/ Thefe might alfo be fur-
ther fubdivided, if neceffary.
Other
( 134 )
Other perfons arc previoufly allotted to fell
trees for abbatis, and prepare fafcines * .; the
teams of the neareft farms to draw them. The
cattle to be driven off by another fet of lefs
able men, to be affifted by women and chil-
dren. In fhort, every one fnould know pre-
cifely v/here he is to be placed, and what are
the immediate fervices his country demands at
bis hands.
"When an enemy has once obtained footing in
a country, the laws which ncceffity impofes
upon felf-defence are dreadfully fevere; but like
the operations of furgery, from fuch painful fa-
crifices alone relief can be expected. — To con-
fidential hands therefore muft be entrufted the
cruel tafk of deftroying the fubfiftence of an
enemy -, frequently when danger preffes, con-
ftrained to devote the very barns and granaries
to the flames, and every where oppofed by the
* It is to be wifhed feme uniform fiandard adapted to
military purpofes could be fettfed, for tying up at leaft
a part of all coppice wood near the coafts. This might
be of great advantage, and the inconvenience fmall ; for
fifcines, are « good as any other faggots.
plaints
( 135 )
plaints or curfes of the proprietor. This
fervice however mufc be qualified by the re-
flriclions of prudence ; the enemy's fituatioa
pointing out the moment that mull fentence
each diftrict : left the fuperabundance of zeal
caufe unneceflary devaftition. — There are vil-
lages fheltered by rivers, woods, or morafTes
which by a little attention to guard and fortify
their bridge, avenue or caufeway, might pre-
ferve their property to the • laft. An open
country denies thefe advantages, and as all
forage in fuch is generally the lefs eafily pro-
cured, by.fo much the urgency of having it
timely cut off is augmented.
It is not to be expected that the neighbour-
hood who pour in the firft day or two of a
landing, are to effect more in point of fighting
than what the mere prefence of armed men will
do ; which is to keep the enemy extremely
reftlefs and unquiet, to turn out his guards all
night, and prevent his reconnoitring, fo as to
fecure important pa'iTes before the arrival of
your army. — The impeding his route by mul-
tiplied obfcacles is perfectly adapted to the
body
body thus affembled, and may be effected to
inconquerable perfection. — Trous des loups and
fougafles if they have plenty of powder, are of
eafy fabric, and a few chofen markfmen in am-
bufh near them would feldom fail difconcerting
a vanguard. Thefe are the very perfection of
irregulars ; they are operations attended with
little hazard to themfelves, and infinite incon-
venience to the enemy. An induflrious per-
fevering annoyance will fupply all defiderata
of military fkill, and keep the invader at bay,
partly by real difficulties, and partly through
ignorance of what he has to cop&with.
Whatever advantages this country affords
which the enemy cannot ib equally pofTefs muft
always be attended to. Hence the introduction
of fencible cavalry is judicious, in cafe a conti-
nental war fhould call our own abroad, howe-
ver fuperfluous it may appear at prefent. — The
quantity, the calibre, and efpecially the length
of artillery, are ftill more efTential objects.
The enemy can bring none but what is of light
tranfport, whereas every refource of horfes,
forage and roads is open to us and impractica-
ble >
( '37 )
ble for him, even if the difficulties of landing
were furmounted. — There is however, one ex-
ception to long cannon, for whofoever unites
the love of his country to intelligence in the
art of gunnery will, above all things recommend
the ufe of howitzer, as excelling every other
piece of ordnance yet difcovered, Suppofing
their {hell to act only as a ball in fome in-
flances, the ftroke of it is not lefs fatal than
any other, and its direction infinitely more
certain -, but the properties of (hells are won-
derfully more tremendous ; for befides their
actual effects the very fight of them with
burning fufees rolling amongft the ranks,
creates more difmay than the rapid execution
of ten times as many cannon balls. Cafe fhot
of any nature may be adapted to them for
clofe aclion with prodigious fuccefs, as a pier-
rier their ufe in many fitualions would be ad-
mirable j and with a trifling alteration in the
conftrudtion of their carnages, they become
fuperior to a firnilar mortar, and produce a
greater range. Their commodious form, fmall
confumption of powder, and a variety of other
arguments might be alledged, all which may
T be
( '38 )
be much better derived from the fountain head :
meaning the corps of artillery ; towhofe diftin-
guifhed merits, the united fuffrages of all that
have fcen fervice in the Britijh army do ample
juftice. — Not even the navy of England pre-
eminent as it fhines over every other line, can
furpafs this body in well-adapted profefiional
talents. Here are no idle extravagancies of
attitude in tofTmg about a firelock ; no precife
unmeaning motions tempting Jacquet Droz
to advertife a portable flugal man of clock
work, that fhould perform the manual exactly
in two feconds and an half, according to the
ordinance. All here is reafoning and obferva-
vation ; philofophy lends her aid to mathema-
tics, the laws of motion, the flight of found,
the principles of gravitation, become the ob-
jects of ferious ftudy and have the invei'iigation
of daily practice. — An effay on national de-
fence muft lofe fight of its object, if it omitted
to lament the neglect of a body fo efTential to
its purpofes. Reafon, experience and the prac-
tice of wifer nations all revolt at their treat-
ment j while common fenfe remains in painful
dubiety whether it be more unjuft, or more \
impolitic 1
C '39.).,
impolitic to reward fuch a corps with the pro*
fpect of repeated promotions around, in which
themfelves are not included j and to obferve
that the higheft exertions (which with as laud-
able wifhes inferior officers in the army have
feldom an opportunity of equalling) leave
them, after many years invaluable fervice, junior
in rank to every man they flafted with, whofe
better fortune placed him in a marching regi-
ment.— However fatal this may ultimately
provp to a corps on which our conquefts and
fecurity depend, its fource is not difficult to
trace. Intereft and money being fure grounds
of promotion in the army naturally tempt men
of family thither, while the inferior diftinctions
of merit and long fervice are the only plea for
preferment in the artillery. Under fuch diffe-
rent patronage, the rife of each may eafily be
forefeen, but it will hardly be wife to urge the
difparity too far.
An obje<fl fo important to the military
powers of this nation is by no means a di-
grefiion, and fmce the fyfterh of modern war
allows fuch confcquence to artillery, all the
T 2 militia
( 140 )
militia fhould be trained to the familiar
branches of it. Nor merely for the fake of in-
forming them as militia, but in the hope that
when they are difbanded, every town may fur-
nifh a number of men capable of working the
guns which fhould be difperfed throughout the
kingdom. Every populous fpot near the coafts
that feems of confequence, fhould be provided
in time with a fmall train and fuitable ftores,
which it requires no multiplication of offices
to entruft in proper hands. The captain of the
neighbouring aflbciation, the neareft juftice of
the peace, even the churchwarden of the pa-
rifh could difcharge fuch a trufl with fidelity,
for the public good.
I have in my pofTefiion fome lances made for
an aflbciation in one of our maritime counties
about the year 1745, a fpecies of arms proba-
bly adopte^. from neceflityj or on falfe prin-
ciples, if preferred for the purpofe of forcing
an enemy from the clifts. It requires the
obfervation of veteran troops to difcover the
general inefficacy of fire arms, of which among
many inflances to be found, Marjhal Saxs
vouches
vouches for one very remarkable. It is of two
German battalions giving a general volley at a
large body of Turkijb horfe, not more than forty
paces diftant and killing only thirty-two men,
in confequence of -which the cavalry rufhed
upon them, and they were all cut to pieces in
an inflant. — It is univerfally allowed that not
one fhot in thirty takes place j nor can this be
wondered at when we confider that hitting the
mark, which is the perfection of a foldier in
action, conftitutes the leaft part of his military
education. — In the fmall number of trials, I
have feen, very few from want of habitude
attain the object even in the cool moments of
exercife ; no wonder then, fo many fliots are
thrown away when all the paflions are afloat.——
It is not hence to be inferred that the influence
of fear is by any means predominant ; for it
is certain that in the field it rarely occurs as a
principle for individuals -, although there are
inflances of momentary impreflions, creating a
general pannic amongfc the braved troops *.
* Marjhal Saxe alfo mentions an alarm fpread through
a vi&orious army, only by a cafual exclamation of, We
are cut of*
A young
A young partridge (hooter milling through the
•whole day, has certainly no fears about him :
yet in the moment of eagernefs, nothing can
bring the piece to its proper level but frequent
practice, and the being long inured to its di-
rection.
Thofe who in a feries of engagements, have
experienced the comparative harmlefnefs of
fmall arms, might upon occafion, ufe the pike
fuccefsfully. But a body of raw peafants im-
preffed with murderous ideas of a gun, how-
ever they might brave the enemy on equal
terms, will never be induced to hazard the flrfr.
onfet within reach of their lances. Yet per-
haps, thefe ought not to be wholly exploded,
on fudden emergencies in default of better
array. For though inefficacious on the coafls,
there are fituations in the more internal parts,
where trenches might be fupported by ^thern,
joined to the fire arms with which the maritime
counties, who had retired inwards, were all
provided. This however, fuppofes a cafe of
cbflinate refinance, which hardly even ought
to happen, and alfo a deficiency of mufkets
and
( 143 >;
and bayonets, always to be preferred. Sup-
poling government only to fupply thefe for the
fea ports, yet there is an eafy way of eftablifri-
ing a flandard of arnns for the whole kingdom,
adapted to the army ammunition. — And this
by a heavy tax on gun barrels not made con-
formable to the flandard for carrying an ounce
ball. This can be no grievance, for if every
Englijhman have a right to arms, for the de-
fence of his own houfe, this is equal to any
in other refpects, and fuperior as a branch of
national defence. If qualified gentlemen chofe
to indulge themfelves in other diverfions for
their fport, the tax would only fall upon a
luxury, with the additional fatisfaclion to the
financier, of being afiured by that very quali-
fication, of the party's ability as well as incli-
nation to incur it.
Whenever the invaded are driven to the ne-
ceiTity of active war, it can be no ether than
a war of ports. Their frequent enterprizes,
may attack thofe of die enemy, but their
hourly attention muft be to the defence of
their own. It is needlefs to repeat that the
cxercifes of kifure, fhould be the rehearfals of
fervice
( 144 )
fervice. Regiments fhould frequently be thrown
into out- houfes, courts, orchards, church-yards,
&c. They fhould be taught to feek a breaft-
work in every bank, and a rampart in every
wall. They fhould fee at the inflant, what an-
gles of it flanked an enemy's approach ; and
v/hat other angles, buildings, or abuttments,
prevented themfelves being enfiladed. If no
fuch are found, the farmers facks ready
filled as they may be, or fluffed with earth
from his garden, from fuch a traverfe in an
inflant. The advantges of an abbatis, are
fometimes to be compleatly procured in the
fhorteft time, and there are fituations wherein
they are of efTential fervice, A caufeway, a
ford, a hollow pafs, invite fuch a defence. It
is applicable to every road where the adjoin-
ing meadows are divided by ditches, as they
are near London, ;md in all low grounds; it is
flili more fo, where the inclofures are formed
by high and woody banks, like Devonjhire.
No man fhould be ignorant of the flrength
his village would acquire by cutting down a
few trees, and difperfing them if pofTible, in
fome faliant angle, which he can contrive to
flank. With the habitude of feeking thefe ad-.
vantages, \
( I4S )
vantages, every cottage is a fortrefs. But
place me a parade ferjeant in a hamlet with a
dozen fpruce foldiers, and let them be alTailed
by a fuperiorhy of force ; courage may brave
the unequal combat, prudence may effect a
retreat through the gardens, but wifdom would
have feen how fafely the poft was to be main-
tained, had you ever taught it him j or incuU
cated, that to obftruct the enemy with the
lead hazard to the invaded, is the leading
principle to defenfive war.
There is no danger of cenfurable tautology,
in perpetual repititions of the necefiity of
works for this purpofe. They fliould be con-
ilrucled every where, and arranged in fuch mi-
nute detail, that every village fliould know
where to ered them, and on what plan,
whatever fide the enemy advanced on. Thus
pre-inftructed, it fhould be their care to have
them ready againft the arrival of the army
who were to defend them, in cafe themfelves
are inefficient for the purpofe. Thefe works
ought by no means to be fo refolutely main-
tained as to hazard the troops within, who
U muft
muft never be expofed to be ftormed or cut
off. So long as their retreat is fafely effected,
the enemy obtains no victory, and perhaps, after
a fcvere Caughter, only finds himfelf matter
of a few hundred yards, prefenting a ftill *
flronger work before him. The precife point
of time, at which evacuation is neceflary, muft
depend on the facility of the retreat, the dif-
tance of the next poft, and the flrength of
that they are defending. Some are tenable
if well fraizsd or palifadoed, till the enemy
reach the very ditch ; a paffage through the
abbatisy or more remote defence, may decide
the fate of others : but the fundamental maxim
of all is flill the fame ; to defend them only
fo long as to fecure retreat. For thefe reafons,
therefore, it fhould have been obferved, that
affociations need not abfolutely confiil of men
with arms in their hands, fince a corps of ar-
tificers from every village, with hatchets, pick-
axes, and fpades, might be as ufefully em-
ployed half a mile beyond the fcene of action,
in conftructing a breaft-work for the reft.
This fort of chicanery may be extended to
the moft infurmountable degree; there are
pofts
( 147 )
pofts which cannot be turned, and to effect
this in any cafe, the enemy, under a variety
of difadvantges, muft traverfe a larger orbit,
whilft the defenders unembarraffed, matter of
the territory, and acquainted with its roads,-
move in the interior circle. This mull al-
ways enable them to perform their marches
with fuch fuperior rapidity, as to prcfent equal
difficultes in every new line of operation to.
which the invaded may be driven; befides,
that all this is effectually gaining time. — And
time, by enabling the nation to call forth its
moft diftant reiburces, is in itfelf an hourly
victory.
Thofe who have hitherto written on the dif-
ferent branches of fortification, have confidered
it abftratledly, without any relative confidera-
tion of circumftances. However bewildered
and fubdivided in detail this fcience may be,
its firft principles like that of many others,
are extremely fimple j and there is no man of
common underftanding, with as decent a fhare
of mathematics as every gentleman ought to
poffefs, but what could acquire a very compe-
V ? tent
tent fkill in it, more eafily, than himfelf ex-
pects. Every fcience, it is true, difplays gra-
dations of merit amongft its profeflbrs, and
our corps of engineers, are very far from the
bottom of the fcalej fome there are, whofe
talents, the proudeft difnlay of foreign fchools,
might wifely emulate -, yet I have never hap-
pened to meet with any fyftem of field forti-
cation, adapted exprefsly to defenfive warj and
ftill further, to defenfive war in Great Britain.
There is a captious facility in putting quef-
tions, that might afk if the whole bufinefs of
entrenchment, be not defenfive war, and it will
be agreed to in a large extent ; but great defi-
derata ftill remain. We are taught ably to de-
fend a poft, teach us to defend a country;
thefe are furely ideas beyond bare repitition,
and multiplication. One reflection arifes from
human nature itfelf. Men will fight on better
terms, knowing a fecure retreat to works re-
plete with new difficulties to the afTailant. —
Another circumftance feems to alter every ef-
tablllhed rule of fortification, which is, that
(excepting one pofiible cafe, the laft works
round the capital) the troops of the country
muft
( '49 )
muft never be expofed to being cut off, and
therefore, the flanking fire fhould be directed
to a remoter diflance than the ditch of the fa-
liant angle. The title of Le Cointes fcience des
foftes militairey promifes more than it performs.
Clairac has not an idea of it -, and Capt. Pleydell
leaves us to wiih he would enlarge his fcale.
Againft a nation properly and univerfally
aflbciated for its defence, the lhalloweft poli-
tician of an hoftile ftate would hardly projedl
an invafion. To level an attack immediately
at the ftrongefl fide is too grofs an error for
the youngeft foldier j and to land a body of
troops in a country like this when arrayed,
would be relinquifhing all chance of equal
confli<5t, with a certainty of incurring every
poffible military difadvantage, far from every
fource of fupply for repairing the cafual lofles,
or necefiary expenditure of war. Whilfl the
inhabitants with armies ever recruiting, re-
fources ever fp ringing, and advantages ever in-
creafing, would acquire ftrength and confidence
every hour. Montcfqulm indeed reports a fay-
ing, "that <c the Englijh were never fo eafy to
" conquer
( 1 5° )
fc conquer as at home/* which he qualifies by
agreeing that it only holds good in the cafe of
her being exhaufted by diflant wars j and thus
far it is an oracle to warn us againft the dan-
gers of our prefent lituation, and point out the
urgency of warding the blow, to which our
wild heroics in America have expofed us. Great
Britain, deflituteof allies, kept at bay by her
own colonies, and aflailed by the moft formid-
able confederacy, that ever threatened her do-
minion, has no army to look up to. 1 hat
continent wherein the active valour of a Tar-
Ictcn has been debafed, hardly admired, never
applauded * j where Burgoyne with courage and
with conduct was difgraced, and where ten
thoufand gallant undiftinguirtied efforts have
been configncd to periihable infamy. That
fatal continent which not the mofl delirious
fallies of the Swedijh Charles could dream of
conquering, has facrificed an army, that in
* i The Toil cf War,
Which hath as eft a ftand'rous Epitaph,
As Record of fair Aft ; nay, many time,
Doth ill deferve, by doing well : what's worfe,
JVJuft CBrt'fey at the Cenfure. CYMBELINE.
defence
defence of this nation might have Iraved a
world in arms. What then remains for our
fecurity but to array every citizen and defend
ourfelves. Long e'er the art of fubfidizing
troops created a military fyftem ufeful to com-
mercial ftates, which made a merchandize of
fervice, the nations round bore their own arms,
and a man's helmet fitted himfelf alone. Thus
our anceftors were their own avengers, till
civilization united to wealth, introduced a
more commodious and in moft refpects a better
plan ; but if neceflity obliges us to revert to
antique cuftoms, we fhall confole ourfelves by
the recollection that fuch have been praclifed
with fuccefs, and need not abandon our hopes
while we can ferve ourfelves.
CHAP,
( '5* )
CHAP. V.
0?i the Militia.
.
WHEN the abolition of the feudal tenures
had difarmed the yeomanry and pea-
fants, whofe vafialage heretofore rendered
them immediate foldiers at the call of their
refpective lords, while thefe held their own
pofTefiions under the fovereign, as lord para-
mount; it became neceflary to frame fome
eftablifhment of troops, prepared for the in-
flantaneous defence of the realm, in cafe of
ludden emergencies. But as neither the exi-
gencies of theftate, or its constitution, required
thefe to be conftantly embodied ; they were
only occafionally trained, and then, on max-
ims of the foundefl policy, returned to their
different occupations. No human inftitution
could
( '53 )
could be more wifely planned. A body of
men, firft chofen by lot, were particularly de-
figned and marked out, whofe fervices in the
field the nation was entitled to exact without
delay. But this was at moft periods, a remote
consideration, while their duties as citizens
were indifpenfable, and of daily advantge to
the community. To this fyftem, tinder vari-
ous modifications, we owe our prefcnt militia>
the great fterling defence of this kingdom, and
the only army its unfophifticated conftitution
could acknowledge. Whatever variations have
been introduced in partial claufes, the legifla-
ture has never yet loil fight of the original in-
ftitution. The inhabitants are felected by bal-
lot. Thofe of the neighbourhood are exprefs-
ly directed to be polled together. Qualifica-
tions too, have been uniformly infifted on for*
the officers, in order to give Weight, arid fecu-
rity to the eftablifhment. The executive partj
has not however kept pace with the fpirit that
enacted thefe falutary laws. The fundamental
principle of embodying the inhabitants of a
county, under the aufpices of their landlords
and neighbours, has been completely forgotten,
X Qualifications
( IJ+ )
Qualifications have firfl been fhamefully evaded,
and then necefTarily difpenfed with. The ad-
miflion of fubftitutes, in itfelf a fair and rea-
fonable accommodation under proper reftric-
tions, has been univerfally allowed without any
limitation, or regulation whatever, to the ut-
ter difgrace and difparagement of the fervicc.
Whenever the perfonal abilities, manual {kill,
or commercial connexions of an individual can,
by advancing fcience, improving manufactures,
or any other mode, increafe national wealth,
or ftrengthen natural defence more than his
perfonal fervice could effect, every idea of
moral juftice unites with political expediency,
in accepting fuch a compromife as Ihall be
moft beneficial to the party, as well as to the
community at large. But then fubftitutes
themfeves, fhould invariably be procured from
the fame county; for neither the private or
even the relative fituation of any fubjecl, can
authorife an alteration that deflroys the firft
principle of the eftablifhment itfelf, and inftead
of arming the moft repectable body of the
neighbourhood, furnifhes a corps of aliens
to the counties they reprefent ; unacquainted
with
•with its defence, unconnected with its inter-
efts, and the heaviefl clog to the recruiting
that army, which an annual law, declares ne~
cefTary for the Cf fafety of this kingdom, the
<c defence of the pofTeffions of the crown of
" Great Britain, and the prefervation of the -
tc balance of power in Europe *."
Befides this, it feems that by the fpirit of
the Militia Laws, our anceftors had in view
the training by fuccefiion, a much larger body
of citizens to the fcience of defenfive war,
than can poflibly be effected under their prefent
fyftem. For this reafon, among many others,
by way of prelude to perfonal fervice, it is to
be wilhed, that during the time of war, when
the militia was actually called out and embo-
died, it could be reduced from triennial to
annual. For although the former be a reafon-
able period for a peace-eftablifhment, yet it
will hardly be contended, that one year of con-
ftant excercife, is not more than equivalent to
the thrice twenty-eight days, as well as abun-
dantly fufficient for all the practice and infor-
* Preamble to the Mutiny Aft.
X 2
mation, necefTary to make the inhabitant ufe-
ful. At any rate, the ufage of hiring fubfti-
tutes, fhould be clogged with fome reftrictions ;
and whenever difficulties occur, they can be
adj Lifted by no mode fo congenial to the prin-
ciples of our legiflation, as by the fummary
verdict of a jury, before the deputy lieute-
nants. The rights of exemption from perfo-
nal fervice, pleadable in fuch inftances, might
be the practice of any liberal art, an exten-
five commerce, a beneficial manufactory, ill
health, and above all, a jus trium liberonim : or
fome fimilar indulgence, ought full to be al-
lowed in this inftance, as in the prefent depo-
pulating period, it (hould be in a variety of
others. There are alfo cafes, in which a libe-
ral government might indulge inclination, in
order to obviate all imprefilons of difguft to a
fervice, that ihould be rendered pleafant. But
then caprice is a fair fubje£fc for taxation. Con-
fequently, an exemption from perfonal fervice,,
fhould be allowed de jure, without any fpecific
plea for hiring a fubftitute, on payment of a.
fine not lefs than 20 1. or exceeding fifty, to be
by the jury, according to the ability
of
of the party. Without recurring to the ac-
knowledged maxim, of {offering a partial evil
that a general good may refult, in order to
palliate inconvenience, and in fome cafes to
fanctify oppreaion ; it may not be difficult to
fhew, that the militia, on its true constitutional
footing, is no fuch bugbear as to induce very
frequent appeals from the ballot. Reduced, as
it is to the footing of a regular army, it ac-
quires inconveniencies not its own, which the
farmer, the mechanic, and even the common
hufbanclman muil wifli to obviate, before he
can readily embrace it, but thefe grievances,
conftitute no part of the militia eflabiifhment ;
on the contrary, they are in confident with
found policy, repugnant to the fpirit of its
laws, and foreign to the genius of the confli-
tution itfelf. A militia-man fairly conndered,
is not a foldier, either by choice or by law.
The inhabitants of a country find it neceffary,
amidft the hoftilities that ravage the globe, to
have fome internal eftablifhment of defence;
jnftead of hiring dorceftic or foreign troops,
a certain evil, for a precarious good: they
adopt the wifer plan of agreeing by their re-
prefentatives,
prefentatlves, that a number from their own
body fhall be configned to this charge; and
they caft lots, to afcertain the perfons to be
arrayed, for a certain ftipulated period. But
the men thus elected, are by no reafonable
confiruclion, fubjeftto any other covenants than
thofe of being in readinefs, and in fufficient
training, for the purpofes of national defence.
They have never embraced the profeflion of
arms, or devoted themfelves to the caprice of
reforming generals. They have abandoned no
privileges, by felling the laws of their country,
and accepting an arbitrary code in exchange.
Their difcipline, fays Black/lone, is LIBERAL AND
EASY, and he thinks the articles of war an hard-
fhip on them, which taken in their extent, they
certainly arej for, granting that it may be ex-
pedient to form new regulations for every dif-
ferent incorporation of men, it does not there-
fore follow, that an involuntary and fortuitous
predicament, fhould fubjecl a man to the fame
penalties for failure in parade, etiqutte, or even
in fome degree, neglecting a three years charge
of a fmgle ifland •, as for abandoning the duties
of a profelfion, which by his ov/n afb he had
devoted
devoted himfelf to for life, fubjecl: to Hated
regulations, extending to all parts of the globe,
and who, at the very making this contraft, had
received what he chofe to imagine an equi-
valent.
Faffing however the articles of war, (not-
withftanding the authority of a Black/lone, and
the palpable injuftice of difproportioned or ar-
bitrary punifhments) to avoid all experiment
of innovation in the hour of peril. There are
points flill more effential, which that very
peril magnifies the importance of. Too long
have the maffive chains of prejudice rivettcd
our underftandings; we have equally loft fight
of what is equitable towards others or ufeful
to ourfelves j and in the exercife, the difcipline, -
the regulation of the militia, we have fuffered
faihion to introduce all her abfurdities, to the
total fubverfion of more eflential defenfive
principles, and with an outrageous violation of
contract, that nothing can extenuate. — It may
perhaps require ibme degree of military (kill,
or rather an enfranchifement from military pre-
judice to detecl the manual exercife itfelf, which
like
( 160 )
}ike the hocus-pocus of a juggler, or Mr.
Bayes's plot, is merely calculated to elevate and
furprife ; yet however well it may ferve to
iinarten, or fill up the time of a foot-foldier is
worfe than abfuid when extended further. — It
is not legerdemain, or teaching a man the
tricks of a monkey, that can either defend his
country, or annoy his enemy. All thefe cere-
monial performances ought therefore to be in-
flantly exploded as fenfelefs and unmeaning;
even if the right itfelf of fadling them upon
the militia were enquired into, it would hard-
ly bear difcuffion, unlefs they could be proved
contributory to the purpofes of national de-
fence, for which alone the citizens of this ftate
have agreed to arm. — It is no juftification of
this right to alledge that the act of Charles
II. which declares the militia under the com-
mand of the crown, fubmitted generally the
mode, of training it. — For it would be replied
that it could only fubmit the training it as a
militia and not as an army. — To urge Mill fur-
ther a fovereign and fole power of judging
what is right, would be yet more unfatisfactory.
To an unbounded uncontroulable prerogative,
the
the wifdom of this nation has never annexed
exiftence, and no general in fupport of this
unlimitted command will venture as yet to
fend a militia regiment chained on board the
gallies, by way of experiment to prove rowing
a part of their exercife. — The fupreme com-
mand refides ultimately here, as in every other
inftance is the common fenfe of the nation,
the fovereign is but the mouth-piece to de-
clare their will, and if he perverts the employ
of the militia by directing it to any other pur-
pofes than thofe of national defence, he arro-
gates an authority never delegated, and rebels
againft that facred fource of all power, the
majefiy of the people.
When an old officer is feen putting a militia
corps through all the exhibition of a parade
field day, revolted reafon enquires how many
of thofe pretty ceremonies are applicable to his
country's fervice, and candour itfdf but re-
ftrains the laugh through refpect for the nn-
pliancy of high military notions, early imbibed,
and confecrated by cotemporary folly. — The
greateft (kill in the fmalleft matters isa the
Y chara&eriftic
characteriftic of modern tallies. A certain ton
and bel ufuage have erected a fyflem of which
the art of reafoning conftitutes no part. What
in the name of wonder can it fignify whether
fuch a militia regiment ftep off with one leg,
or with the other ? reft the firelock or order
it ? turn to the right or left about ? It were
better perhaps for this country, to have them
do it the way called wrong than right, provided
it be equally expeditious ; for the time taken
up in learning thefe matters, whether one hour
or one month, might be much more ufefully
employed. — Inftead of infulting the rational
faculties of country gentlemen with all the
puppy ifms of parade, can no exercife be formed
on ideas of utility, and might not a little Ihow
be facrificed in Times like thefe, to objects of
intrinfic importance. If the pnrpofe of the
mufltet be to fire with precifion and rapidity,
might not thefe be practifed at a target,
with fome propriety. To be well acquainted
with the forte and foible of their own coafts ; to
judge the natural flrength of pofts, and the
artificial modes of augmenting it, are at leaf!
a,s dTential, as to have hats exactly the fame
cock*
cock, and qucus exactly the fame length. But
thefe notions are a fort of hcrefy in tactics,
where ferioiis debates have arifen, whether a
foldier's legs ought to be all white, or all black,
or half of both, although neither fignified
three flraws, or anfwered any end, except that
of exciting difgufl in every man of common
underftanding. Such however, are at prefent,
important fubjects; and a war of buttons, is
carried on with more pertinacity, than any
other object of the campaign.
There is a maxim, which might fafely be
extended to armies in general, but is an incon-
trovertible axiom when applied to militia, this
is, That all duty Jhould be carried on with the Isaft
poffible inconvenience, confiftent with real utility. The
mind employed in objects worthy its attention,
will ever give it ; but long trifled with, it re-
taliates, and trifles in its turn. So few ufeful
points are to be obtained in a feries of modern
field days, that the minute portion of ore is
hardly worth refining from its quantity of drofs,
nor do many poflfefs the microfcopic eye re-
quired, to feek it there. When an independent
Y i country1
country gentleman, relinquishing his fortune
and his eafe, fteps forth to infpire his tenants
with patriotic animation, with what fenfations
can one endure a pert adjutant from the army,
whifpering an ignoramus colonel, (who con-
ceives difcipline depends upon it) that Captain
Such-an-one wears a fcratch wig, when he
ought to appear in a bob. In the name of
wonder, cannot a plain honeft EngUJbman^ dif-
play the fterling energy of his character, with-
out having it debafed by foppery, and fophifti-
cated by conceit? May not a glorious ardor
irnpell a man to ferve his country, although he
poffefs no talents for the ton. The modifh re-
finements of polite life, may not have reached
the happier villages which flourifhed under his
paternal magiitracy; or perchance, the uncon-
querable fpirit of CreJJy and Agmcourt, has ren-
derd the ftern foul of fome modern CaraRacus,
impervious to their penetration. Hampden, and
Sidney, were plain men, whofe appearance,
would now be as unfafhi enable as their tenets ;
and even Cromwell, no bad foldier in his day,
would make a forry figure at the Horje Guards.
For heaven's fake, let the prevalence of folly
model
model as it will that {landing army, which
ilate necefiity and continental madnefs, im-
pofes on our freedom ; and if a foldier cannot
exift otherwife, at lead let us be militia-men
without being coxcombs. — Whenever it ihall
be demonftrated that a man in a red waiftcoat
is thereby incapable of being equally brave
with his neighbour in a white one ; it will be-
come a naticnal concern, and the militia muft
be worried into conformity ; but until that
fhall be clearly afcertained the fting of ridicule
muft await a bigotry fo idolatrous. Happy
for this nation were it only laughable, but if
by hunting men of fenfe and confequence from
the fcrvice it become pernicious, the joke exifts
no longer. — A declining empire cannot afford
to facrifice flable and conilitutional fecurity to
idle foppery and the unreal advantage of mili-
tary vagaries. To conflrucl redoubts, to throw
up lines, to form abbatis, and defend pofts
already formed, are the true employments of
fuch troops. Even fougaftes, trous de loups,
and all the variety of device which ingenious
man has invented for his own deftruction, be-
come (to ufe a courtly phrafe,) " The arms wfacb
" Ccd
lc God and Nature have furni/hed" and perhaps
not worfe applied to the defence of our laws,
our liberties and our religion, than in the
attempt to deprive our children of thefc
bleflings.
Field days fhould no longer confft of a for-
mal bill of fare, divided like the acts of a play
into a regular ftring of manoeuvres. — Inftead
of thefe fliould be fubflituted frequent marches,
and the reprefentation of actual war over a line
of country ; rehearfmg as much as could be
forefeen on the very fpots moft liable to be the
icenes of defence. — Flying camps fliould often
vifit the principal landing places, form on the
neighbouring heights, take pofts and fecure
them ; in their retreat to others, explore the
ihortefl communication of bye roads, try every
ford, ascertain the poftibility of inundations,
found every mcrafs, and know the extent of
every plain. Thefe are occupations that add
ftrength, infjrire confidence, and carry con-
viction.— To break up roads effectually, and
with expedition ; to fcour the country in de-
tached parties with fuch geographic knowledge
as
as always to fall back in the fhorteft line to
a fupporting body, are things not to be
omitted ; for although the troops of this coun-
try would be under no neccfiity of feeking
forage for themfelves ; yet the effectually cut*
ting off all means of procuring it from the
enemy is a moft material concern, and would
now be feebly executed. — All militia ought to
be light infantry, not by the fafhionar le mode
of cutting off their fkirts, but by the rapidity
of their movements, and the burthenfome ir-
regularity of their attacks. — Their exercifes
fliould rarely lead them to march the grand
road : that cannot be miflaken, the enemy
himfelf will follow it without erring j but to
know the diilance, the bearings, the ftrcngth of
bye-ways, with the moil expeditious track to
regain their own camp through a thoufand in-
tricacies, are advantages he cannot pofiefs,
and we iliould not be without. Many a de~
tachment had been fccure in gaining a pofb
within an hundred yards, when they were loft
for want of knowing it. How many cnterpriles
have failed from troops miffing their way ?
How many furprifes might have been effected,
that
( 1*8 )
that were never thought of through the fame
defed ? Our militia captains are all fox-hun-
ters, and well imprefled with the convenience
of knowing a country. Never did a general
revifit in peaceful hours the fcenes of his former
campaign without being ftriick with the difco-
very of advantages miffed on both fides. — I
have twice feen regiments in England lofe
their way in fituations, that had been fatal, if
an enemy had exifled ; and if this can happen
without either the confufion of action or terrors
of defeat, how fludioufly fhould it be guarded
againit, when thefe have a poffibility of
uniting ?
At prefent the firft drilling of a militia-
man confifls in marching flow time ; a bufmefs
he need never be confined to above a week,
for Itately as it is, adding dignity to motion,
it conftitutes no part of defcnfive operation. —
I remember formerly to have acquiefced in the
long continuance of this practice, from a con-
viction of the necefiity of fome meafured pace,
that fhould reduce the different movements of
individuals to uniform certainty j and by uni-
ting
ting the whole body teach it to acquire one
momentum. — This fecmed likely to be com-
pafled with greater eafe and precifion, by com-
mencing with paces more flow and ftrongly
marked •, however tfre experience of an whole
regiment marching in battalion with the ut-
mofl exaftnefs, without ever praclifing the flow
ftep ten days, has convinced me it is not ne-
ceflary. — If it be allowable as matter of rudi-
ment, it fhould never be hunted down for the
purpofes of parade. It certainly does fet the
foldier upright, and (hew him in the handfomcfl
ilile, and wherever thefe are eflential points,
it ought to be the firft object of dicipline, but
if one atom of convenience is to be facrifked,
no advantages prefent themfclvcs to authorife
ita fo long as the militia are not confidered as
holliday puppets for the mob to gaze at. — On
the contrary, the curved attitude, neceflary for
many trades and moft operations of hufbandry,
fo habituate the dorfal mufcles to inflexion,
that at a certain time of life it becomes as
painful for thcfe people to maintain an erect
pofition, as it would be for a gentleman to
remain long {looping ; and that this is no trU
Z fling
fling inconvenience every one has experienced
in a variety of exercifes. — For what purpofe
then is the frame of man to be diflorted ? Will
he be more a<5Hve, or better enabled to endure
fatigue, in a diftrefsful than in a natural po-
fition ? — To fuppofe that an attitude is e^fy,
becaufe it pleafes the eye of tafte, is irrational.
•—The flowing elegance of the Antinous imi-
tated for ten minutes would be more incon-
venient than the pillory. Few trivial points
are more graceful than turning out the toes,
yet the lectures, of a public academy have very
ably demonftrated this to be an unnatural
diftortion, which if not early adopted muft be
more than unpleafant to acquire. — Hence if
caprice and fafhion are to new model our .
frames, at any age, the iron bed of Prccrufies
may be again introduced. Or if fome future
Alexander fhould have one (boulder higher than
the other, the modifh conformity of his
courtiers, for aught we can forefee may deform
the whole army j but even then I ihould vote
for leaving the militia as their Creator formed
them ; it is not every general that is competent
to mend his works.
Sup- 1
Suppofing the militia thus trained, to march
with order and rapidity in the pofture they
can mod eafily fupport> every unmeaning exhi-*-
bition of the manual difcarded ; the platoon-
exercife becomes an object of attention, con-
ftantly to be practifed, with all the celerity
that exactitude can furnifh. In this, however,
the fpringing the ramrod fhould be avoided -t it
is a motion of fignal effect on the ear as well
as on the eye, but not adequate to its purpofe.
Whoever going to fire at a mark, much more
to hazard his life upon a fhot, would load in fo
precarious, fo flovenly a flile. Neither fhould
the motions of loading demand that exact pre-
cifion of time, neceffary in marching or ma-
noeuvres : the fize, the age, or the agility of
a man, mud create fome variance ; one half
can never ram down their charge at all, if all
are expected to do it in equal time ; and to
keep a part waiting for the reft, is reducing
the whole to the level of the awk«irdeft, at the
very moment aftivity is the moil defireable.
Hence the irregular or independent fire acquires
one of its advantages, its continuity and the
uncertainty it imprefles on an enemy's advance,
Z a are
arc additional ones j but perhaps the firing by
platoons, or any larger divifions, would be en-
tirely exploded, by confidering what further
facrifice muft await its regular performance.
Admitting that human nature, in every fitu-
ation, is capable of only a certain degree of
attention, which we may exprefs numerically,
by calling it equal to fix ; then if one, two, or
three of thefe degrees are employed in obferving
to fire together, there remains fo many lefs to
be exerted in levelling properly at the object;
whereas in the independent firings, this alone
occupies the mind. At prefent, it is greatly
too much to fuppofe the attention equally
divided ; at leaft five fixths of it go to the
word of command* while the obtaining a pro-
per fight becomes a very inferior confideration.
The militia therefore, not having to learn the
knack of firing together, which a fet of Auto-
matons would do infinitely better by a fmgle
fpring, have no occafion for wafting powder in
the acquifition of ridiculous applaufe. Car-
tridges of this fort, fhould be referved for birth-
day fquibs : they fhould receive none without
a ball, and with fuch they cannot praftife too
often
( '73 )
often, fo long as the definition of an enemy
is necefiary to conqueft, and their country's
prefervation. — But on the other hand, if the
powers expected to invade, are, like the Indian^
on the fiffr, inroads of Chriftian bu cancers, to
be difmayed by the very found of fire-arms,
let us in pity to humanity, obtain bloodlefs
vi dories, and leave the platoon filing in the
full difplay of fonorous infignificance.
Whatever is here fpoken of militia, extends
no general reference to regular troops ; whofe
eftablifhment, whole contract, whofe purpofes
are different ; but there are fome inflances,
which common fenfe may pofiibly apply.
A proper cloathing is neceflary to cleanli-
nefs, and all its falutary confluences ; it
fliould be that which is moft convenient far
exercife, and moft conducive to health. A
light jacket is generally beft adapted to the
former, a large cloak will be frequently dc-
firable for the latter.
A fierce*
( 174 )
A fierce-cocked hat, looks valiant, but pof-
fibly has not in itfelf the faculty cf creating
courage. If not, a round one is a better de-
fence againft the fun and rain j a fort of fo-
raging cap with flaps, would anfwer both pur-
pofes, and be convenient to lie down in be-
fides. — Good fhoes, and worfted flocking, or
thread with worfted feet, are requifite for fre-
quent marches, and by keeping up the tem-
perature of the extremeties, obviate many dif-
eafes. The free ufe of the mufcles of the leg,
and joints of the knee and ancle, is too eflen-
tial to be facrifked to gaiters and tops, which
in a greater or fmaller degree, impede their
motion. Some defence againft cold and dirt,
fhould be procured in Winter, and againft gra-
vel and briars, at all leafons. A kind of boot,
or rather upper itocking, of woollen cloth,
foft tanned leather, or canvas made tolerably
loofe, fhould be adapted to the feafon. Thefe
could be no obftade in walking, and would
fparethe eternal trouble of buttoning and clean-
ing the prefent cumberfome equipment.
Aeon-
A conftant attention to cleanlinefs fhould
fupcrfede all confiderations of parade, and with
this view the hair might be cropped like
a fchool-boys, for the mofl diftant profpect of
utility is not to be neglected for mere orna-
ment, efpecially in a body with whom we have
no right to play tricks for entertainment -, who
are devoted to purpofes too facred to be bur-
lefqued with the impertinence of foppery.
The plain rough hewn Engti/b peafant ought
after three year's fervice to be returned unfo-
phifticated to the plough tail, whereas now a
militia education ruins every hufbandman it gets
hold of. If this is not fatal to the agriculture of
this country it is becaufe the enrollments of
this clafs have not been very numerous, and,
that they have not been fo, is the fortunate re-
fult of another evil, the too common admiffion
of fubflitutes. If a fmall proportion of
hufbandmen are drawn away, it is becaufe only
a fmall proportion of the nation are trained to
arms. Thofe firft ballotted infteaa of fuper-
adding the bufmefs of a militia-man to theijr-
own profefiions, relinquish, thefe and become
downright foldiers. At the clofe of the warx
fb few of them1 return to labour, that it is for-
tunate if \\ e retain foreign garrifons enough to
cafe the talk of jufuce ; for if marching regi-
ments cannot provide for them ; idlenefs will.
TMs however is a ibrry exchange for the com-
munity. Inftead of having at the end of feven
years, near ninety thoufancl induftrious citizens
inftruc"bed in national defence, the utmoft we
can now hope is to have thirty thoufand men
torn from us and trained to arms, at the im-
menfe facrifke of every other occupation.
Thefe are times in which national wealth can
hardly afford thi?, or national fecurity autho-
rize it. The morals of the militia (once re-
florcd to a conftitutional footing) are a more
important object than any yet confidered ; this
h a facred charge entrusted to the good faith
of the officers, their neighbours have indivi
dually cldiais upon the benevolence of thofe
T*ho ars to lead their children forth in a new
Kne, and public jufcice eftablifhes this attendon
as a debt, not only to the county, but to the
Jiingdom at large. \Vhen a regiment is to be
disbanded, it is by no means indifferent whe-
ther a well-regulated body is to be rcflored
to
to fociety, or a gang of banditti turned loofe
upon the neighbourhood.
To march the coaft militia out of their rcfpeclii's
counties is to weaken the powers of national de-
fence ; and this fo materially in every military
point of view, that it is hardly pofiible for the
moft prudential arrangements in other refpecls
to counterbalance the inconveniencies of the
prefent abfurd and illegal fyflem. Knowledge
of the country is amongft the firft and prin-
cipal advantages which troops at home poffefs
over an enemy. To fhift every militia from
its own coaft, and bring ftrangers as little
acquainted with it as with the coafts of Otaheite>
is an ingenious contrivance for deflroying this
-fuperiority, and reducing us to "act upon terms
equally unfavourable. Tis true we fhall not
want guides ; nor probably will they : but the
officer who can fleer for himfelf flands on a
very different footing. Suppofing it otherwife,
the moft defireable cafe is, that fome perfon
converfant in military matters could be found
to conduct his party, and then the odds are
very considerable that he never attains the exact
A a pofition
( 17* )
pofition fuited to the intention of the officer
who is to aft in it. Thus like the ancient
drama, wherein one of the perfonages enacted,
what was recited by the other, the whole can
never be of a piece; nor is it poflible for
the communication of ideas to be as perfect and
diftindt as their conception.
If an intimate acquaintance with the ground
be advantageous, the ftate of its fupplies in
horfes, forage, Mores, carriages, artificers, &c.
is no lefs fo ; this is only to be found at home,
and thofe even of the next county muft be de-
ficient. The fuperior countenance and afilflance
furnifhed by their own militia to all provincial
affociations muft not be forgotten ; but above
all the facred ardor which a man feels for his
own houfehold gods. In one flep further the
enemy deftroys the venerable cottage of his
grandfire. His family already fhudder at the
profpect of roaming the unfheltered wafle.
Good heavens ! if this fituation could happen
but once, and were confined to the feelings of a
fmgle individual,, it promifes more for Britain's
fafety, than every thing that can be urged for
moving them. Indeed I never heard one ar-
gument for this, that was not abfurd and dif-
graceful. For if any colonel be incompetent to
training the militia properly at home; he is
certainly unfit to be entrufted with it elfewhere.
The flation of the inland regiments ought
therefore to be the neareft coafts where it is
thought proper "to place luch a body. — Above
all things it (hould never be forgotten that the
quarters of every militia man ought to be the
neareft to his own abode confift'ent with public
fafety. — It muft be confidered how foon he
may return to the duties of private life, and
how neceflary it is for him to keep up the
citizen in the foldier, which was indifputably
the conflitutional object of our anceftors.
That a man fhould be within reach of his own
little concerns, is by no means indifferent to
his country, which he may enrich as well as
defend. His farrn, his hop-garden, a few
looms at home may all derive advantage from
his fuperintendance. Let us again confider,
that the dangers to which this kingdom might
be expofed from foreign enemies, when the
A a 2 influx
( i3o )
influx of commerce had dedroyed the univer-
fal array of lefs wealthy periods, fird induced
the inhabitants tD agree by their reprefenta-
tives that a certain number of themfelves fhould
be trained for its defence. To chufe thofe
perfons by lot for a dated time was a fair and
9, reafonable plan, but they were of courfe
to be fubject to the lead pofiible inconve-
nience confident with public fecurity.
When an individual is thus compelled to a
profeflion, he has undoubted claims upon all
its fair conditions ; and it is a very fair one,
that he fhould not be harrafTed by any employ-
ment, fervice, or removal, not efie Finally con-
ducive to the public fafety. It goes far be-
yond expedience and propriety ; it is the un-
doubted right of every maritime militia to remahr
in its own county, unlejs the public danger be thereby
augmented^ which can rarely happen, except on
fuch coads as appear otherwife defended, or
very remote from all probability of invafion •,
or in cafe of actual intelligence of an enemy's
defigns elfewhere. On the fame principle, the
militia of every inland county, has a juft claim
to be ftationed at the neared pod. Thus be-
fides
fides the great national benefit as a firft object;
many will have the advantage of their own
homes, moft of their families, friends and for-
tunes, together with a thoufand comforts, which
they never meant to relinquifh ; and which it
is an unjuft, impolitic, and indecent violation
of the contract, for government to deprive
them of.
Nothing but a total ignorance of the wife
principles of our laws, or an arbitrary perver-
fion of them, could have introduced the pre -
fent unreafonable practice: our ftatutes from
the very firft notice taken of the militia, are
exprefs in fupport of this doctrine : and fubfe-
quent acts have continued the fame equitable
regulations, till very late periods. — The words
of the aft of parliament, ift Ed. III. Ch. $.
are,
" That no man be compelled to go out of
" his (hire, but where necefiity requireth, and
" and fuddain coming of fbrange enemies into
f the realm, and then it (hall be done as hath
" been ufed in times pair., for the defence of
" the
" the realm." This is confirmed by 4th of
Hot. IV.
Cbartes the Second, in aflerting his right of
command over the militia, only claimed to
move them in cafes of infurrection, rebellion,
or invafion, as will appear by the following
extract, 13 & 14 Cb. II. chap. 3.
. c* Which lieutenants fhall have full power
'< and authority, to call together all fuch perfons
" at fuch times, and to arm and array them
" in fuch manner as is hereafter exprefTed and
11 declared, and to form them into companies,
lf troops, and regiments : And in cafe of in-
" June ft ion, rebellion, or invafion 9 then to lead,
" conduil, and employ, or caule to be led,
" conducted, and employed, as well within the
" laid feveral counties, cities, and places afore-
<f faid, for which they fhall be commifiioned
" refpeclively ; as alfo into any other the
" counties and places aforefaid, for fuppreffing
cc of all fuch infurrec~nons and rebellions, and
cc repelling invafions, as may happen to be,
t( according as they fhall from time to time, re-
" ceive
C 183 )
*' ceive directions from his Majefty, his heirs,
" and fucceflbrs."
The wife of every age, have agreed in own-
ing how dangerous it is, to trufl even the moft
moderate man with power, and that the tempt-
ing command of it, which the extent of milU
tary difcipline affords j has been long too fa-
tally alluring *. Thofe very perfons whofe in-
fluence and abilities fhould protect the rights
of the militia, have acquiefced in facrificing
them frequently to theirownjauthority. Ayoung
nobleman, called by the moil generous impulfe
to the head of a corps, overlooks in the animated
purity of his intentions, what other objects
may be devoted to making a fine regiment.
His own credit feems flaked ; his emulation
is roufed, a little vanity fpurs him on, and the
body entrufled to his charge, for purpofes that
ought to have been accomplished in the eafieft
manner, is harraffed through all the manceuvres
* C'eft une experience eternelle que tout homme qai
a du pouvoir eft porte a en abufer ; 11 va jufqu 'a ce
qu'il trouve des limittcs — Qui Ic diroit! la vertu mene
a befoin des limittcs. E/prit des Loix.
of
( 1 84 )
of modern tactics. One half of thefe are
.abfurdities when faddled upon the regulars.
Nine-tenths are unconftitutionally extended to
the militia j even if this proceeding did no
harm, its grofs injuftice muft prevent its being
treated merely as ridiculous ; but when it is big
with fuch fatal mifchiefs, it becomes criminal,
and Ihould be feverely punifhed. The moft
atrocious of all treafons, is treafon againft the
majefty of the people, and fuch is this. The
fafety of this kingdom, can never depend upon
the fooleries of the firelock, or the puppyifms
of parade j but her danger muft be augmented
by their injudicious introduction. Whoever
would put a militia on the footing of a march-
ing regiment, muft facrifice a greater object,
a more ftable, a more constitutional fecurity ;
and by direct confequence, whoever is defirous
of promoting that equality, has views incom-
patible with the wellfare of his country. It
might appear a ftrong affertion, to fay at once,
that the militia ought not to be foldiers ; yet
fureiy the idea of armed citizens, is more fa-
cred and not lefs invincible •, more endeared to
the feelings of a Briton^ and infinitely more
har-
harmonized to the principles of the conftitudonV
The doctrine of Judge Black/tone, has already
been taken notice of, and the opinions of this
great man, when unperverted by courtly poli-
tics, were drawn from the - richefi fources of
our invaluable code, and digefted by the moft
profound reflection. It is the want of that li-
beral and eafy fyftem he mentions, that at this
moment reduces the militia infinitely beloW
what it might be. Men of weight and confe-
quence, not immediately in command, foort
ficken of a fervice replete with troublefome,
trifling, and unneceffary fatigue ; hence the of-
ficers dwindle fo faft, that if it be better not td
enact laws, than to lead people into difobeying
them, rhe qualification claufes will want re-
pealing before next feffions. The mere life of
a foot-foldier, is naturally enough a bugbear
that deters the fons of farmers and decent
tradefmen, from perfonal fervice ; and on the
prcfent footing, it would be unreafonable to
compell it. But, there are modes of reftoring
k to credit; of training in thd coiirfe of a few*
years, a much larger proportion of the nation,
and thefe principally of the molt refpedable
B b elates*
claffes, whofe property and character would en-
noble the eftabliihmentwith fentiment, rivaling
what the boafted houlhold troops of France
could ever poflefs.
One of the firft fteps to this defireable
reform, is to fend all the militia in winter
not only to their own counties, which (except
in cafes of adtual invafion elfewhere) it is
madnefs ever to remove them from ; but to
their own homes. The private concerns of
every individual are objects worthy the atten-
tion of the ftate. Much of its wealth depends
upon them ; and this alone according to the
prefent financial fyftem of war becomes a
part of military arrangement. — His children
too, the feeds of future armies are not to be
negledled, for if the population of this king-
dom decreafe as japidly as a late eminent
writer * conceives, every p-ofpecl: of repairing
the havock is a matter of national importance.
The perfonal labours of thirty thoufand men
during five months annually are not to be
overlooked in times of poverty, any more than
• Dr. Price.
the
the additional exertions their prefence , might
occafion in the induftry of their families. In
the pay and cloathing fomething might be
faved, and if the convenience of the public
be thrown into the fcale all thefe together
will have weight. — The adjutant and ferjeants
being in fact regulars employed to train the -
militia, might remain to take charge of re-
cruits ; for in order that the whole fhould on
emergencies have a competent knowledge of
their bufmefs, it would be necefiary to make a
refervation of fuch as joined late in the Au-
tumn ; but which might be a good deal ob-
viated in future, if all ballots except cafual
ones took place in the Spring. The moral
good effects of this meafure might be traced
beyond the re-uniting thofe bonds of fociety,
which fhould never be diiTolved, and which as
well as the principles of qualification, the im-
mortal Mentejquieu extends to armies in general*.
* " Pour que cclui qui execute nepuifTe pas opprimcr,
" il faut que les armes qu'on lui confie foient peuple,
" et ayent le meme efprit que le peuple. * * * et que
" ceux que 1'on employe dans 1'arrnee, syent afTez de
" bien pour repondre cie Jeur conduite aux autres ci-
•* toyens, * * * — que les foldats habitent aVec les citoyen?,
" et qu'il n'y ait ni camp fepare, ni caferacs, ni place
" de guerre."
B b 2 • . No
No military objection can be raifed upon
any reafonable grounds to fending men home,
periodically, and the practice of the King of
Prujfia with the highefl dreft troops in the
univerfe muft filence the cavils of the igno-
rant.— At any rate, furloughs ought in mod
occafions to be granted on the eafieft terms ;
always to bufmefs, or - emolument j frequently
to-inclination, and even to caprice. To invite
proper' perfons into the fervice, the going out
ihould be perfectly eafy j a difcharge mould
never be a matter of difficulty, hardly even of
favour i for under certain regulations, it mould
be a matter of right. — No one who can derive
cflential advantage from quitting, mould be
detained on finding a fubflitute. If a young
man was fure of getting off, when he could
engage a farm or mop, he would readily ferve
'till fuch opportunities offered -, and numbers
would be ready to fupply his place on fimilar
conditions. Thefe changes would not be very
frequent, but the more fo the better, for a
greater number of inhabitants would thereby
{>e trained to the bufmefs of defence.
The
( 189 )
The appointment of a fecond captain to
each company would anfwer fome purpofes of
accommoc'atioD, and enable country gentlemen
of greater corifequence to quit their homes
when the period was Ihort and ftated. One
only of thefe to be in pay at a time, and to re-
lieve each other every three months. A militia
on this footing would fubject the officers to few
inconveniencies, thofe of the firft property
would be tempted to fland forth j and even
if the qualifications were doubled, enough
would then be found. Subalterns would
probably be procured with equal facility, if the.
duty were really liberal and eafy ; fuppofmg the
fame indulgence propofed for the men of occa-
fional leave of abfence to be flill more fre-
quently extended here. The pay would be no
obje<5l to the defcription of gentlemen who
would crowd in, nor would the duty of either
commifiion be infupportably troublefome. On
the prefent footing, a fcarcity of fubalterns may
in time produce improper appointments, un-
lefs it be obviated. — Something like this might
be done by reducing the captain's pay to eight
{hillings per diem> augmenting the lieutenants
with
with this faving to fix {Killings and eight pence,
and giving army rank to the enfigns after two
years fervice ; this would induce young men of
family fometimes to ferve firfl here, under the
eye of their friends and in the way of promo-
tion. The engaging fuch is a defireable and
conftitutional object, nor could it materially
affect the regulars, which extending rank to
lieutenants might do.
Since the value of money has fc much lef-
fened its proportion to the necefi'aries of life,
the pay of foldiers is become a pittiance, that
requires forne exertions of judgment, to regu-
late its oceconornical expenditure ; and for the
honour of humanity, there are many officers
who have beftowed the moft meritorious at-
tention on it. That a foldier fhould be well
fed, well cloathed, and well lodged, are three
points, which in length of fervice muft fuper-
fede every other. Thofe who are called out
for a temporary exertion, may poflibly fhift for
themfelves ; but in all permanent eftablifli-
ments, the army in which thefe matters are
beft regulated, will have fuch advantages over
that
that in which they are neglected, as nothing
can outbalance. Good order, health, and fo-
briety, the very foul of difcipline, depend upon
them. The fuperintendence of markets, and
eftablifhment of meffes are no ignoble attentions.
By the firft, a wholefome and proper diet is
felected at an attainable price; by the laft, fuel
and utenfils are faved : and, the very water that
boils the meat, converted into a nutritious
aliment. A foldier may fight feme day, he
muft eat every day ; and a parade of puddings,
affords more folid advantages, than twenty of-
tentatious roll-callings, with half as much
flower wailed on the hair.
The fame fedulous regard fhould extend it-
felf every where to the lodging of troops, fre-
quently liable to be much crouded together. —
The windows of their apartments fhould be
constantly open in the day-time. — Air, if the
firft cf vital requifites is furely net the laft of
medical ones ; and indeed the greatcft improve-
ments of modern practice have their origin jn
attention to its effects ; hence the fuperior
afcendancy acquired over inflammatory com-
plaints
( '9* )
plaints, hence too the fmall pox which fo lately
defolated Europe like a fecond plague, has
loft its horrors j while youth and beauty tri-
umph in its defeat. — In fultry weather, a free
circulation is abfolutely necefTary to exiflence ;
putrid fevers of the moil dangerous kind are the
immediate confequences of ftagnated air. In
dry cold weather, however the hazards of ne-
glecting this may be lefTened, it ftill prefents
advantages to the conltitution. While the at-
mofphere ads as a perpetual cold bath, it re-
Itores the elaftic tone of the fibres, and repairs
that debility, which unwearied relaxation would
foon produce. When the rooms in which
foldiers lodge are tolerably fpacious, I am no
advocate for this communication with the
external atmofphere in very damp weather ;
\vhichin this climate produces more chronic dif-
orders, than every other caufe united; this,
however is fubject to fome regulation of feafons
andfpace; for generally frefh air with all the
confequences of dampnefs is lefs dangerous than
a foul contaminated medium. — By means of
proper covering, principally woollen, the pores
may in -many inftances be protected from ex-
cels
cefs of moifture, while the lungs are better
fupplied for the purpofes of refpiration. — Clean-
linefs is amongft the principal articles of quar-
tering foldiers, and fhould be moft feduloufly
attended to by the fcrjeants and corporals, on
•whom it principally depends ; for officers can-
not be conftantly in quarters. By frequent air-
ing and changing of bedding, fweeping or
wafhing rooms, moft cutaneous and many con-
tagious difeafes may be prevented.
To keep men wilfully out in bad weather,
who have few changes or conveniencies for re-
floring falutary warmth, is equally impolitic
and inhuman. It requires no practice to endure
fnow or rain when exigencies render it necefTaryj
but on the contrary frequent expofures hazard
the ftrongeft confiitution in fpight of every
effort of the will. Julius C<efar himfelf would be
no more proof againft a Rheumatifm, than a
common drummer ; and illnefs would as effe<ftu-
ally difable the one as the other. The ap-
pellation of fair-weather foldiers may be pro-
digioufly facetious ; but until it ftjall be fettled
that valour confifts in braving a hail florm,
C c every
every good officer will avoid trifling with the
health of individuals, efpecially when it is im-
material to the fervice, whether the field-day
commence this inftant, or to-morrow. For this
reafon alfo, the Summer bufmefs fhould be car-
ried on in the cooleft hours, and moft airy or
{haded fituation. The exercifes of this feafon,
Jhould be the leaft violent j pra&ifmg to load
with expertnefs, firing at marks, and fuch like,
Thofe of the Spring and Autumn, on the con-
trary, fhould never confifl of few movements,
or be on bleak expofures ; rapid marches, and
the operations of field engineering, fliould at
this time conftitute the principal employments.
Not that pofitive reflections are neceflary to
any feafon, but fome general outline fhould
ever be preferved.
If any details attendant on the militia were
to be entered into, we fhould be ftruck at firft
fight, with the fhameful neglect of articles,
whofe influence on natural defence, is of the
firft confequence -, and it would be impoflible
pot to remark, that much of the powder fup-
plied by the ordnance is too weak to range its
ball
( «9S )
ball to a proper diftance with efFe6t j and this
from a variety of mifmanagemcnt in that myfte-
rious and inexplicable board. Their flints alfo,
are fo fcandaloufly bad, as to be almoft uni-
verfally unfit for ufe ; fuch as no man would
think of rifking his diverfion upon after game,
are yet to be entrufted with the lives, liberties,
properties, perhaps the very exiftence of this
kingdom -, and this merely to anfwer the pur-
pofe of fome vile job, fince the expence of pro-
curing the very befl is of the moft trifling na-
ture. If the fire of 20,000 men well appointed,
be fuperior to that of 30,000 witji the prefent
unferviceable flints, (and it is at leafi in that
proportion) it muft follow, that the nation
which can afford to throw away one third of its
defence, has too large an army ; or, that if the
whole, may by any poffibility be wanted, fome
reform is neceflfary in the article that waftes it*
Having obferved as the moft eflential of all
points, that the militia ought invariably to be
fent to their own homes in Winter, and to re-*
main in their own counties at all times 5 it fhould
be added, that flying camps enabling them to
C C 2 Vlflt
( '96 )
vffit the landing-places therein, and rendering
them ftill more perfectly matters of its defence,
fhould be their Summer deftination ; confidering
always how foon they are to return to their
ftations in private life ; which that they may
not be feduced from, or lofe fight of, all op-
portunities of working at their refpe6tive trades
fhould be caught at, and the implements of
them carried at the public expence, when not
too unwieldy. Every ftimulus to induftry
Hiould be conflantly applied, and premiums
given to reward it. This is by no means in-
compatible with their martial eftablifhment, if
national wealth he a part of natural ftrength,
which will hardly be denied. But military ideas
are too apt to abforb every other confideration
if its tendency to the fame objecVbe at all re-
mote, however ultimately decifive in effect.
The philofopher reads with admiration of only
one army, whofe forefight during a tedious
fiege, detached a part of its force for the ra<
tional purpofe of begetting children for the
ftatc at home; and however ludicrouily the
Cubjeft may now be handled, it was no con-
temp table ftroke in the politics of war.
Upon
( 197 )
Upon the fame principles, an attention to
the landed interefls of the nation demands that
the militia encampments break up the begin-
ning of harveft, unlefs in times of immediate
danger. Their fervices then will be beneficial,
and bad policy alone can make an eftablifhment
burthenfome, which offers fuperior advantages
by being ufeful in every fituation. — Nothing
can extenuate the phyfical error of keeping
them out fo late, as was done in 1778 and
1779, it is obvious how weighty and numerous
the arguments are againft it, and the conve-
nience of publicans the only one in its favour :
for the probability of an enemy's chufing that
time of the year for invafion has very little ra-
tional foundation, — To argue however the
impoflibility of this, would be equally abfurd,
the added difficulties of the feafon are not in-
furmountable, and the French minifters may
chufe to incur them ; there is no reafoning
upon the future deliberations of a cabinet, when
our own has fo ftedfaftly borne witnefs to the
truth of De Wit's obfervation, " that no wife
" man can forefee the extent of folly" — However,
it may be aflferted that no well-planned expedi-
tion
C 198 )
tion could take place very late with a profpeft
of fuccefs. Our climate itfelf would defeat
it during the winter months, when joined to
the fatigues and hardfhips flrangcrs muft en-
dure. The lands would afford no forage, the
country no fuflenance ; thus Nature herfelf is
our ally. — But even allowing fome latitude to
the injudicious timidity of government, if
troops muft be kept together, the mofl incon-
venient cantonments are preferable to tents in
November ; barns, flables, out-buildings, arc
always to be procured, and in the preicnt flate
of commerce all the warehoufes on our coafts
are not employed.
No talk is more replete with Herculean dif-
ficulties, than that of combatting prejudices
early imbibed, and there is fcarce a rank more
overwhelmed with thefe, than the gentlemen of
the army. — Entering young into a profefilon,
to which they facrifice that very freedom, which
in maturer years nothing could tempt a Briton
to relinquish; fortunately for their country,
they imbibe new opinions with new laws, and
feeing with juflice that their profeflion is the
moft
( 199 )
mofl honourable, eafily conceive it the moft
perfect. — Hence the defpotic edict of command
bears a ftamp of higher authority, than the fa-
cred mandates of the decalogue. — Subordina-
tion and eternal conflraint become deities for
them, and relaxation the demon that rebels
againft the heaven of difcipline. — Such is their
religion ; and in every age, tenets early adhered
to, have effectually overpowered every effort
of the moft nervous underdanding. Ccnfucixs
worfhipped the idol of a Paged, as ftedfadly
as the fages of Egypt their monkies or their-
onions j even the moft enlightened moderns
have been attached by this lethargy cf reafon,
and thus it is that officers from the army, en-
dowed with matchlefs abilities and fuperior
talents, bring the bigottry of their earlier
creed uncorrected to fophifticate the miLtia.
If therefore the gloomy hemifphere of fact
intrude a mournful profpect on the eye, at
leaft we may travel the regions of imagina-
tion, where fancy's mirror can prefcnt a clearer
funfhine. Let us for a moment forget the per-
verfion of that liberal and eafy fyflem eita-
biiihed
( 200 )
blifhed by our anceftors, and rcftove, at leaft
in idea, a millitia formed on the broad bafis
of conflitutional right. Un-awed by military
prejudice, their difcipline fhall be the child of
reafon, not the abortion of ferviiity. — They Jhall
be the foldiers of the people. — Receiving their
orders from the crown, they fhall feel that ar
monarch's right of command, and their duty of
obedience depend on conformity to public
weal. — Referring to the origin of all power,
it will be found delegated for general good ;
and r.n acquiescence under it on other terms is
to abandon thofe very principles they are fe-
lecled to protect. Their fovereign can only
fpeak the voice of the people* they can obey
no other, fo long as they continue the guardians
of the nation's rights, and not, the flaves of
perverted authority. — The eafe of their difci-
pline, the utility of their employments, the
glory of the caufe would exhilerate every hour
of fervice, and fill the ranks with men of
property and fentiment. — Sentiment which the
importance of their charge, the love of thofe
laws, thofe liberties and that religion, they
were entrulted to preferve would animate to
the
( 201 )
the moft enthufiaitic heroifm. A filial attach-
ment to their native foil, will be fublimed into
patriotic ardour, by a grateful recollection of
thofe bleffings which no other land beftov?.
• — The peafant in the humbleft cottage of a
village, owns the felicity of that conflitution,
which leaves him fecure from oppreffion in the
enjoyment of more imdifturbed tranquility,
than the grandee of every defpotic government.
— Happy, thrice happy ! if he feel thefe inva-
luable privileges enough to watch over them
with a jealous eye, -convinced that whatever al-
lurements may induce the rich to relinquifh
them, he, who mares no part in a fyftcm of
plunder and corruption, obtains not the fhadow
of an equivalent, nor can have any thing left
worth preferving, if robbed of thefe. F.ven if
his own interefls could be lulled, where is the
Briton who could bafely defert his children's
title to inherit thofe privileges, purchafed with
the blood of their anceftors, and confided to
his arm to be tranfmitted down with undimi-
nifhed luftre. And fhould a period arrive,
which heaven avert ! when this glorious fabric
becomes endangered, either by the depravity
D d of
( 202 )
of domeftic minifters, or the invafion of foreign
enemies j there is virtue enough in this king-
dom to avenge itfeifmoft amply. — Every inha-
bitant would fly to arms, and in fuch a caufe
the weakefl becomes invincible. There was an
energy in the fouls of thofe who grafped Magna
Charta from the hands of a tyrant, that ftill
flows in the veins of their progeny ; and even
if the flroke were levelled too ludden'y to
roufe the nation at large, the militia glory
to exift for its protection, and will ftand
forth the great bulwark of their country's
freedom.
FINIS.
APPENDIX.
COTTON. MSS. JULIUS, C. iv.
A. x. Edw. III.
Proclamacio quod qidlilet armis mumatur.
1 6 Febr. Quia ex nonullorum relationibus
regi eft intimatum, quod qnidam homines dc
Scotia quafdam allegationes, &c. ut fupra.,
Rex mandavit fingulls vicecomites per Angiiam
quod publice proclamari faciant quod omnes
homines inter etates Ix. & xvi. annorum ex-
iftentes. Ac omnes alii homines tarn milites
quam armigeri, ad pugnandam potentes fub
pcena forfiturs vitas & membroruiri, terrarum^
tenementorum, bonorum & catallorum. ac om-
nium quae regi forfitafle potcrunt, armis com-
D d 2 peten-
( 204 )
petentibus, juxta formam ftatuti apudWinton.
editam, fe munlant abfque dilatationc qua-
cunquc. luque quod ipfi fie muniti fmt pa-
,rati ad proficieiidum pro defcnfione regni, et
cxpugnanclum omnes illos qui idem regnum
per tcrram vel per marc aut populum fuum,
gravare refumpferint, &c. quando ex parte
regis premuniti fuerint.
De Jlgnis fariendis.
Et mandatum eil fmgulis fupradidis cufto-
dibus portuum et littorum prsedidlorum fepc-
ratim, quod aliquod commune fignum per ig-
nem fuper montes, vel alio modo, in comita-
tibus prediftis fieri faciant, prout alias in hujuf-
modi cafu fieri confuevit per quod propria dc
periculis potent premuniri.
Eodem mcdo aflignantur feperatim alii ho-
mines ad arraiandum omnes homines tarn mi-
lites, &c. in fmgulis comitatibus Anglic, et ad
eos ducendos ad cuftodes portuum et littorum
eorundem. m. 24. et m. 21.
Po-
( 205 >
•' f
Potentes altos Juljliterent.
Ordinatio fa<5ta per regem et concilium, de
hominibus impotentibus terrarum, tenimentar.
et catalla, ad valorem fupradict. habentibus,
alios loco fuo muniendos juxta formam prc-
dictam. Et quod omnes alii, tencmenta &
catalla ad valent. predict, non habentes, viz.
tarn foreftarii, fervientes religioforum, et alii
quicunque certis minutis armaturis muniantur,.
&c. dorf. m. 24.
Et confimilis commifllones diriguntur quam
plurimis civitatibus et oppidis primariis regni,
de hominibus in iifdem morantibus, arraiandis
& armandis juxta formam fuprafcriptam. In
dorfo, m. 24.
Pro hominibus in pcrtubus regni arraiandis.
3 Oftobr. Licet rex nuper affignaverit quof-
dam fideles fuos ad arraiandum omnes homines
clefenfibiles in comitatu NorfF. & alibi infra
regnum Anglic, & ad aflidendum ad arma
juxta formam ftatuti Winton. &c. pro eo ta-
rn en
( 206 )
men quod alieni gentis congregato navigio
regnum fuum invadere nituntur. Ac proptef
alia nova regi delata. Rex ex abundant! man-
davit majore et balivis villas dc Lyne, fub fori-
fkura omnium que regi forfitafTe poterunt,
quod omnes homines dictre villas defenhbiles
fine dilatione arraiari et parari faciant. Ita quod
fmt parati, pro defenfione villas preditftas pro
repellendis hoftibus prediftis, fi illuc vene-
runt, &c. In dorfo, m. 9.
Eodem modo mandatum eft majoribus et
balivis villarum de, &c.
De bominibusper totmn regnum Anglla arralar.dis
contra hcftium in-vajicnes.
3 Offcbr. Cum rex nuper adignavcrit Jo.
Segrave, G. &:c. in comitatu Kantiae, ad om-
nes homines ibidem corporis potentes armari
faciendum, viz. 40 et 20 libras tcrre, vel red-
ditus, habentcs, armis competentibus et eqni-
taturis juxta datum fuum, &c. et omnes alios
habentes cxv. li. terre & catalla ad valentiam
xl. in earum habitatione. capello, ferreo, gla-
dius,
( 207 )
dius, &c. Ac jam in magno coniilio regis apud
Nottingham convocato, audito rumore quod
alienigene magnum navigium fupra mare con-
gregare fecerunt, fatagentes hoftiliter invadere
regnum funm, habitaque in difto confilio de
liberatione qualiter fufficiens poffe infra di<5lum
regnum citius afiumi poterit & ipfnm regnum
defenfari : ibidem ordinatum fuit pro poten-
tiori repulfione hoftium prediclorum, ac minor!
onere & gravemine populi. Quod de qualibet
villa ejufdem regni, eligantur unus, duo, tres
vel quatuor, et ultra lecundum quod ville illc
minores fmt vel m.ijores, de fortioribus ct
potentioribus hominibus vcllarum earundem,
qui juxta flatus fui decentiam armis competen-
tibus muniantur.
Eodem modo afilgnantur allii commi.Tiona-
rii in aliis comitatibus ad certbs numeros,
ibidem eligend. arraiand. &c. viz.
Eborum - 4500
In Weft Riding, 1500,
exceptis villis de Fomfret
& Doncaflcr.
In
208 )
In North Riding, 1500,
exceptis villis Rippon &
Eborum.
In Eafl Riding, 1500,
except, vill. Beverley.
In partibus de Lindefey,
Lane. - 4000
Lincoln - 4000
In partibus de Kefteven,
J333> exceptis villis dc
Stamford & Grantham.
In partibus de Holland,
1333> excepta villa de
Sto. Botholpho.
Nott. * 1500 exceptis villis de Netting.
& Newarke.
Leic. - 2000 excepta villa de Leicefler.
North. - 3000 excepta villa North.
Rutt. - - 400
Cantabar. - 1500 excepta villa de Cantorberi.
Hunt. - 1500 excepta villa de Huntingdon.
Norff. - 6000 excepta villa de Norwich.
Suff. - - 2500 excepta villa de S&o. Ed-
munda.
EfTex
EfTex -
Hertf.
Bucks.
Bedd. -
Oxon.
Berks.
Warn -
Staff. -
Salopp.
V/igorn.
Glouc.
Heref.
SufTex. •
Surr. -.
Southn.
Somerfet
Dorfct •
Devon.
Cornub.
Midd. -
Wilts. -
( 209 )
5000 excepta villa de Colceftr.
1000 excepta villa de S. Albano.
1500 excepra villa de Buck.
1500 excepta villa dc Bedford.
1500 excepta villa de Oxfon.
1000 excepta villa de Reding.
1500 excepta villa de Warr.
2000 excepta villa de Stafford.
2000 excepta villa de Salop.
1500 excepta villa de Wigcrn,
2500 exceptis villis de Glouc. &
Briftowe,
2000 excepta villa de Hereford,
2O«o excepta villa de Cicefler.
jooo excepta villa de Guilford.
1500 exceptis villis de Southt. &
Win ton.
3000
1500
5000 excepta civ it. Exon.
4000
400
2400 excepra civit. Sarum.
Ee
Ccnfimlle in cfaitat. & burgh regni.
Cum in magno confiiio regis apud Nottin^-h.
convocato, audito rtimore quod alienigene
magnum navigium, &c. ut fupra ordinatum
fuerit; quod &c. ut fupra. Rex volens con-
cordiam preditftam efficacem, forte ri rran-
davit major! & balivis civitatis Cantuar. quod
centum homines dc civitate et fuburbiis cli-
gant & armis muniri facianr, &c. Ita quod
arraiata et munita uno flandardo, pro eis
ordinato prompt! fint et parati ad proficien-
dum, &c. cum vi6luaiibus pro tribus fepta?
menis, &c, ut fupra.
Et manchtum eft omnibus & fingulis COT
mitibus, baronibus, militibus, miniftris & aliis
fidelibus regis ad periculis ponderatis, & con-
fidecato quod primogenitores fui reges Anglias
in turbaciones inter ipfos &: aiics ex terrarum
terrarum dominos motis. Domini maris & tranf-
marini pafiagii totis temporibus retraftis cxti-
terunt, et quod plurimum ipfum lederct, fi
honor fuus regius fuis temporibus in aliquo
lederetur. Qucdque ipfi & ceteri homines dc
regne
( "I )
regno fuo pro clefennone ejm'ciern, fe & fua
conrra hoilium invafiones exponere tenentur.
Prefatis archiepifcopo, epifcopo, &c. in'pre-
diclo traftatu intcndentcs fmt & obfequentes.
Et potefhs conccfla eft prefato archiep. &c,
cafiigandum e* puniendum rebclles, ^cc. m. 3.,
HARLEANMS, 168, p. 132.
letters to the lord Ihutcnants and CGmmitJichers'
for the r.niftsrs in the federal ccuntiss here-
under named that are to Jsnd fii-p^lles to the ma~
ritime counties.
1599. Your lordihips lhall understand that
her majefty hath lately received divers and
fundrie advercifements, that the king of Spain
doth renew his operations by fea, and cloth add
to Lis other forces of (hipping a number of
gallies, and are either already arrived or very
Ihortly to arrive at the haven of Brcft irl
Brittanye, which is an evident argument that
he hath a purpofe to make fome attempt on
fome part of the eoaft of this realm, and
therefore her majeftie, in her princely wifdom
Eei and
and provident care for the defence of this her
kingdom and loving fubjects, doth forfee by
timely provision to withfrand and prevent his
malicious attempts ; for which purpofc we have
written our letters to the maritime counties
to have their forces of horfc and foot in a rea-
dinefs, ancj we are alfo to put you in mind of
thefe fpecial directions you have received from
us by her majefty's commandment, at fuch
time as the like danger was threatened and
expected thefe late years, wherein particular
directions were fet *dow;i in what fort your
lordfhip was to govern youifelf, and to direct
the forces of that county of A. upon notice
given you from the lieutenants and com-
miffioners of mu£ers for the counties of Devon,
Dorfet and Southampton, in fending 2000 men
into either county, that you fhall be required
upon appearance and intended courie of the
ejiemy difcovered to land in either of thofe
counties, to whom befides the forefaid number
of foot, you are to fend alfo all the horfes
that are inrolled in fhat county, or fo many as
fhall be required of you with fuch other necef-
fary provifion. as by our former direction hath
been
been prefcribed unto you, whereunto we do
refer you and fpecially require of you for the
furtherance of her majefties fervice to perufc
diligently our former directions and inilruc-
tions given you in that behalf, that there may
no default be found in you in thefe occafions,
concerning the defence of the realm, and with-
{landing the attempts of the enemy. So we
bid you farewell.
f Devon,
Wilts, to fend 2000 to <JDorfet, or
C Scmerfet.
f Devon,
Somerfet 4000 — < r
I Dorfet.
Berks 3000 — Southampton,
Southampton,
Sufiex — 4000
f South
I Kent.
f Southampton,
Surrey, 1000 — ^
I Kent.
j Kent,
London, 3000 — <J
( SufTex.
1000 ElTex,
500 Suffolk.
Cam-
Harteford <
C Suffolk,
CamDndge roo
(Norfolk.
-i
500 Suffolk,
Huntingdon «J
500 Norfolk.
Lincolnfhire . ^ooo Norfolk.
HA.RLEIAN MS. 168, p. 137, b.
A letter from the lords cf the council Fo the Earl
of Pembroke , requiring him to fee the hwje and
foci to b& in rscdinefs -within the Principality of
WaleS) and aljo to take order that th: beacons
h duly. watched.
1599. Whereas her majcfric hath of late
received divers and fundrie advertifements,
that the king of Spain maketh great prepara-
tions by fea, both of fhips and gallics, with
purpofe and intent to invade feme part of this
realm, as we have written our letter by her
majeflies exprefs commandment both to the
maritime and fundry inland counties of the
realm, to have all the horfc and foot in readi-
nefs to withftand the attempt of the enemy,
with direction how the maritime counties (hall
be
{ eiS )
jbe fupplied out of other counties adjoining as
occafion ihali require. So we have thought
good likewife to give your lordfhip notice
thereof. And do pray you to caufe all the
numbers of horfc and foot within the feveral
counties in the principality of Wales (efpecialy
in the maritime counties) to be likewife in rea-
dinefs, as hath been in former times, and to
fee the beacons duly and carefully watched
alongelt the fea coaft, and meete places near
the fea cofle, better to difcover any attempt,
navie, or number of fhips that may come to-
wards any part of that coafl, and to take fpecial
regard of Milford Haven, to which end you
fhall give directions that one of the deputy-
lieutenants may be there in perfon, wherein
praying your good lordfhippe to take prcfent
order: we bid, &c.
HAR-
( 216 )
HARLEAN MSS. 1 6 8. p. 146, b.
A letter to the Lord Cobham, Lieutenant of the
county of Kent, requiring him to take order for
the making of trenches upon tbcfe places where
the enemy is likelies to land.
1599. Her Majefty by advice that comes
from fundry parts finding the intelligence your
lordfoip hath heard of the Spanifh preparations
to be confirmed, and that it is greatly fufpecled
by the manner of their preparations, that cor-
refpondencc is held with his forces of the Low
Countries, and by advertifements and other
reafons, that he will attempt to land his forces
either in the Downes, or at Margett j her ma-
jcfties pleafure is, your lordfhip fhall prefently
fend to Sir Thomas Wilford, being one of the
deputy lieutenants for the Eaft part, and to
command him forthwith to coimder where
and how fome provifion may be made by caft-
ing up trenches, or any other way of impeach-*
ment, at their likeft landing places, either in
the Downes or at Margett, which may ferve
alfo
alfo for defence of thofe forces which fhall be
ufed againft them, the performance whereof
we pray your lordfhip to leave to his confide-
ration, fo it be done with all expedition; and
further as we doubt not but your lordfhip will
have all the foot companies in readinefs, fo
befides your ordinary horfe bands we pray your
lordfhip to forefee that the number of horfes
may be increafed, by moving the gentlemen
to bring as many of their fervants well horfed
to fuch place of rendezvous as fhall be ap-
pointed. And thus, &c.
HARLEAV. MSS. 5844. p. 55.
Memorial of injlruftions for fuch martial men, as
Jhall be employed into the maritime coafts.
For the better defence of the maritime coun-
ties, and avoyding of confufion, upon any at-
tempt to be made by the enemy. It is necef-
fary to make choice of martial men, having
fkill in fortification and martial affairs, to be
fent down to conferr with the lieutenants or
deputy lieutenants upon the points following,
and to make report unto his majefcie or the
Ff lords
lords of the councell, how they find the coun-
ties furnifhed, and put in order for defence.
Firft, it is necefiary to view the places of
defcent, and to confider what fconces or other
kind of defences may be made to impeach the
enemy, and how fuch field-pieces as may be
in the county already, or to be fent down, or
furnilhed by the country, may be employed
for impeaching of the faid defcent.
They having viewed the trained bands (hall
moove the lieutenants or deputies, to appoint
fomeof-the beft bands that have the moft fkil-
ful leaders, to make head to the enemy upon
any fuch defcent, and fhall aifo infinite them
how and in what fort they (hall make head,
and how they fhall make retreat, in cafe the
enemy fhall fet foot on land.
They fhall alfo, having viewed the ground
neare to the place of defcent, make choice of
fit places to retreat, to be re-inforced by
pioners, whilft the trayned bands be employ-
ed in impeaching the defcent of the enemy,
where
\vhere it Ihall be meete to place fome part of
the flrength of the body of the fhire to make
head againlt the enemy.
They fhall alfo confider how the horfemen
of the county may be employed to the beft
purpofe to annoy the enemy. And therefore it
is meete they fhould be very well trayned -, to
which purpofe they are to be advifed to make
choice of fome men of fkill, to traine them out
of hand, and commandment to be given to
the lieutenants, that fuch as are bound to find
horfes or geldings, during thefe times of dan-
ger, keep them in the liable.
That the lieutenants hazard not to fight with
the enemy, otherwife than to impeach their
defcent, until they receive direction from his
mojetiy, or the lords of the councell how to
govern themfelves. And therefore forne fe-
cond place of retreat is to be thought on, in
cafe the firft fliall be forced by the enemy.
To re-info rce the places of retreat, and fof
other good purpofes to annoy and impeach the
F f 2 enemy
enemy, the proportion of loopyoneers to every
1000 foldiers, is to be obferved. And they are
alfo to be reduced under captains, and every
pioneer to be furniihed with a fkull and a
black bill. To be captain of the pioneers, the
high conftable will be the fitteft man, having
fome fpecial gentleman appointed to be their
collonell.
Places of afTembly to be appointed near to
the places of defcent, whereunto upon the
firing of any beacon, the trayned bands and
other forces of the (hire might repair. As alfo
the pioneers to be ready at hand to be em-
ployed according to fuch plotts as lhall be fett
down by the faid martial men, upon conference
vith the lieutenants. To which end they are
before-hand prefently to take an exact furvey
of all grounds and paflages, that with fmall
labour and induftry may be made of ufe to flop
the enemy. And in this cafe, if the numbers
of pyoneers proportioned fhall not be fufficient
for the work, that the countrie, being there-
unto required by the lord lieutenants or deputy
lieu-
lieutenants, fend in as many others furnifhed,
as ftiall be poffible.
That none frail repaire to the places of
affembly, but fuch as by the lieutenants fhall
be appointed; and therefore it will be fit,
that in all great towns, thoroughfares, and
bridges, certain Handing v/atches be appointed
to examine all paflengers, and to fuffer none
to pafs, but fuch as are of the known bands,
and fuch as fhall have certain fpecial marks
to be agreed on by the lieutenants, whereby
it may appear that they be of the number
that fliould repair to the faid places cf
afTembly.
And for the better execution hereof, it fliall
be necefTary that fome difcreet gentleman dwel-
ling near the faid thoroughfares and paffages,
be appointed to have the overfight of the faid
(landing watches, who are to have an eye to
perfons doubtfull, leaft they be employed by
ill-affected fubjecls towards the enemy.
The
The lieutenants according to former direction,
to appoint captains to the reft of the (hire befides
the trayned bands, who are alfo to be exereifed
with fuch arms as are to be found, and mufl be
moved to provide drumms and enfigns, which
will be fome terror to the [enemy, when he
fhall fee the troops which are to make head
againfl him are put in fome martial order.
The captains of the trayned bands men
would be perfuaded to entertayn fome fkilful
lieutenants and farjeants, the charge whereof
would be defrayed upon fome public contri-
bution ; wherein the recufants who do not an-
fwer to his majefty, the penalty appointed by
the ftatute, would not be forgotten.
Some fkilful men in matters of fortification
would be procured from the Low Countries for
directing the pyoneers, and diftributed in the
maritime counties to be ufed in cafe of ne-
cefiity.
That as well the bands of pyoneers as fol-
diers have a proportion of victuals for #days,
and
and carriages appointed for conveying the fame
from place to place. For execution thereof
fome fpecial perfons would be appointed to
have the charge and overfight hereof.
Some carriages to be appointed for mat-
tocks, Jhovells, pick-axes, and other like
tools meete for pyoneers -, and becaufe it will
be necefikry befides pyoneers to ufe divers ar-
tificers, as fmiths, carpenters, and wheel-
wrights, it is meete that in every band of
pyoneers, fome fuch artificers be placed.
That competent forces be afllgned for de-
fence of the coaft of Effex. And that befides
the defence alreacy made for Harwich, there
be muftered and enrolled 200 able men out
of the towns next adjoining, befides the proper
forces of that place, to repair thither upon in
hours warning for defence of the fame, untill
the greater forces appointed thither may
come. The faid 200 men to be armed and
fedd by the town, and conducted by fome
feleded perfons.
That
( 422 )
That to fuch principal commanders, as fhall
be fent into the maritime counties, certain
experienced captains be adjoined, to the num-
ber of 8 or 10, to each principal com-
mander.
HARLEAN MS. 6844. p. 58.
MINUTES OF COUNCIL, 1558.
Letter to the Lord Mayor to enquire and certife
vjhat ftore of powder remains in the hands of
particular perfons within the city of London.
The directions to the maritime counties,
for withftanding the landing of an enemy,
and what affiftance fhall be fent to their fuc-
cours from the adjoining counties, to be re-
£olved on, that letters may be prepared.
The return of the certificates of the trayn-
ed bands in all counties to be haflened
for the perfecting of this proportion.
To
( "5 )
To confider what experienced perfons mail
be fent, to view the 'places of defcent, and
have the conduct and ordering of fuch forces,
as fhall be afligned for defence of thofe
places.
Orders to be given for the commifllcn,
touching maintenance of ftallions and mares
for breed, and gelding for fervice.
L. RuffePs propofitions touching horfe in
Devonmire to be confidered.
Propofitions in 1588, over and above thofe things
in ivhich there is or:'er now given,
To fee how the forces who are to repair
to the places of defcent for withftanding the
landing of the enemy, may be covered from
the mot of the enemy with trenches or pa-
rapetts.
To make ditches and pitts where the land-
ing is eafy.
To
( 226 )
To plant fharp flakes deep in the ground.
To have fome field pieces and munkion
with victuals and carnages.
The horfes to be kept in the ftable.
And befides the horfe that are reduced into
band, to have the horfes of the gentlemen
with their retinue in readinefs.
The horfe as well as the arms of the recu-
fants, to be fcqueftred into the hands of per-
fons well affected.
Upon firing of the beacons, to beware of
confufed repair to the fea coafls, but to places
of rendezvous
None to flirr but the appointed numbers
without direction.
Strong watches to be placed and kept at
sill bridges, pafTages and thoroughfares.
Turn-
Turnpikes to be fet up infuch places*
The captains of the trayned companies not
to be abfent.
To know what martial experienced men arc
in the feveral counties,
It was alfo propounded that private cap-
tains fhould have under their command only
one fort of weapon.
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*«1
Hence it appears, that the numbers actually
armed at this time were 105,827. Befides the
forces upon the Borders and the forces of York-
fhire, referved to -anfwer the fervices North-
ward, which were 40,000 foot and near 10,000
horfe, and fundry fhires which are not certified.
— The Marquis of Winchefter furniihed 4037
men, and the Earl of SulTcx, 2678 ; — and we
have a very numerous lift of nobility and others,
who raifed bodies at their own expence, the
numbers of which are not fpecified, only in ge-
neral terms, that they amounted to Jeveral
y horfe and foot.
It is by fimilar exertions, that a fifter-king-
dom has proved competent to her own de-
fence, and perhaps been no lefs fuccefsful in
preferving her property from foreign inroads,
than from home-born-oppreffion. — 1 he fpirit,
the unanimity, the unconquerable ardour, which,
animated the AfTociators of Ireland, merited
fomething more than domeftic fecurity. — Glo-
rying
lying in the caufe of freedom, their vrews
were enlarged beyond all partial emolument,
and in the glorious fatisfaflion of emancipat-,
ing the commerce of their country, Public
Virtue met its firft reward in the Public Good.
FINIS.
i
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
This book is DUE on the last date stamped belov
134&
•
,940
DEff 2 1940
10m -8, '38(7752)
OF CAUFORHlA
AT
L08 ANGELES
LIBRARY
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