OPPOSITION TO A STANDING ARMY.

Nor was the success of the court interest in the house of commons altogether pure, and free from exception and dispute. When the charge of the land forces fell under the consideration of the commons, and Mr. Henry Pelham, secretary at war, moved that the number of effective men for the land service of the ensuing year should be fixed at seventeen thousand seven hundred and nine, Mr. Pulteney insisted upon its being reduced to twelve thousand. Mr. Shippen affirmed that Mr. Pelham’s motion was a flat negative to the address for which he voted on the first day of the session, as it plainly implied a distrust of the validity of the late treaty, which he then assured the house would immediately produce all the blessings of an absolute peace, and deliver the kingdom from the apprehensions and inconveniences of a war. He said the motion tended directly towards the establishment of an army in Great Britain, which he hoped would never be so far germanized as tamely to submit to a military government. He observed, that the nation could have no occasion for all the troops that were demanded, considering the glorious scene of affairs which was now opened to all Europe. “They are not necessary,” said he, “to awe Spain into a firm adherence to its own treaty; they are not necessary to force the emperor into an immediate accession, nor are they in any sort necessary for the safety of his majesty’s person and government. Force and violence are the resort of usurpers and tyrants only; because they are, with good reason, distrustful of the people whom they oppress; and because they have no other security for the continuance of their unlawful and unnatural dominion, than what depends entirely on the strength of their armies.” The motion, however, was carried in the affirmative.