Franco-Gallia - Or, An Account of the Ancient Free State of France, and - Most Other Parts of Europe, Before the Loss of Their - Liberties by François Hotman
page 19 of 172 (11%)
page 19 of 172 (11%)
|
Time, the first Sort will become almost as desolate as _Old Sarum_, and
will as well deserve to lose their Right of sending Representatives to Parliament. For certainly a _Waste_ or a _Desert_ has no Right to be represented, nor by our original Constitution was ever intended to be: yet I would by no means have those Deputies lost to the Commons, but transferr'd to wiser, more industrious, and better peopled Places, worthy (thro their Numbers and Wealth) of being represented. A _Whig_ is against the raising or keeping up a _Standing Army_ in Time of Peace: but with this Distinction, that if at any time an _Army_ (tho even in Time of Peace) shou'd be necessary to the Support of this very Maxim, a _Whig_ is not for being too hasty to destroy that which is to be the Defender of his Liberty. I desire to be well understood. Suppose then, that Persons, whose known Principle and Practice it has been (during the Attempts for arbitrary Government) to plead for and promote such an Army in Time of Peace, as wou'd be subservient to the Will of a Tyrant, and contribute towards the enslaving the Nation; shou'd, under a _legal Government_ (yet before the _Ferment_ of the People was appeas'd) cry down a _Standing Army_ in Time of Peace: I shou'd shrewdly suspect, that the Principles of such Persons are not changed, but that either they like not the Hands that _Army_ is in, or the _Cause_ which it espouses; and look upon it as an Obstruction to _another_ Sort of Army, which they shou'd like _even in Time of Peace_. I say then, that altho the Maxim in general be certainly _true_, yet a _Whig_ (without the just Imputation of having deserted his Principles) may be for the _keeping_ up such a Standing Army even in Time of Peace, till the Nation have recover'd its _Wits_ again, and chuses Representatives who are against _Tyranny in any Hands whatsoever_; till the Enemies of our Liberties want the Power of raising _another_ Army of _quite different Sentiments_: for till that time, a _Whiggish_ Army is the _Guardian of |
|