of their constitution, with the same alacrity as against an
army of invaders ravaging the coasts; they will lose all sense of social
duty, and of social happiness, and think nothing illustrious but to
enslave and destroy.

So fatal, sir, will be the effects of an establishment of barracks, or
petty garrisons, in this kingdom; and, therefore, as barracks must be
built when innkeepers are ruined, and our concurrence with this proposal
must produce their ruin, I hope it-will not be necessary to prove by any
other argument, that the motion ought to be rejected.

Mr. PELHAM spoke next, in terms to this purpose:--Sir, though I am not
inclined, by loud exaggerations and affected expressions of tenderness,
to depress the courage or inflame the suspicions of the people, to teach
them to complain of miseries which they do not feel, or ward against ill
designs, which were never formed, yet no man is more really solicitous
for their happiness, or more desirous of removing every real cause of
fear and occasion of hardships.

This affection to the people, an affection steady, regular, and
unshaken, has always prompted me to prefer their real to their seeming
interest, and rather to consult the security of their privileges than
the gratification of their passions; it has hitherto determined me to
vote for such a body of troops, as may defend us against sudden inroads
and wanton insults, and now incites me to propose that some efficacious
method may be struck out for their support, without exasperating either
the soldiers or their landlords by perpetual wrangles, or adding to the
burden of a military establishment the necessity of contentions in
courts of law.

I know not with what view those have spoken, by whom the proposal first
made has been opposed; they have, indeed, produced objections, some of
which are such as may be easily removed, and others such as arise from
the nature of things, and ought not, therefore, to be mentioned, because
they have no other tendency than to inflame the minds of those that hear
them against an army, at a time when it is allowed to be necessary, and
prove only what was never denied, that no human measures are absolutely
perfect, and that it is often impossible to avoid a greater evil, but by
suffering a less.

The question before us, sir, is in its own nature so simple, so little
connected with circumstances that may distract our attention, or induce
different men to different considerations, th