the laws of his country, he expressed his hope that he should
never see the nation reduced to such unfortunate circumstances: he said,
a law which the civil power was unable to execute, must either be in
itself oppressive, or such a one as afforded a handle for oppression.
In arguing for a reduction of the forces, he took notice of the
great increase of the national expense. He observed, that before the
revolution, the people of England did not raise above two millions for
the whole of the public charges; but now what was called the current
expense, for which the parliament annually provided, exceeded that sum;
besides the civil list, the interest due to the public creditors,
and the sinking fund, which, added together, composed a burden of
six millions yearly. The earl of Chesterfield, on the same subject,
affirmed, that slavery and arbitrary power were the certain consequences
of keeping up a standing army for any number of years. It is the machine
by which the chains of slavery are rivetted upon a free people. They
may be secretly prepared by corruption; but, unless a standing army
protected those that forged them, the people would break them asunder,
and chop off the polluted hands by which they were prepared. By degrees
a free people must be accustomed to be governed by an army; by degrees
that army must be made strong enough to hold them in subjection.
England had for many years been accustomed to a standing army, under
the pretence of its being necessary to assist the civil power; and
by degrees the number and strength of it have been increasing. At the
accession of the late king it did not exceed six thousand; it soon
amounted to double that number, which has been since augmented under
various pretences. He therefore concluded, that slavery, under the
disguise of an army for protecting the liberties of the people, was
creeping in upon them by degrees; if no reduction should be made, he
declared he should expect in a few years to hear some minister, or
favourite of a minister, terrifying the house with imaginary plots and
invasions, and making the tour of Europe in search of possible dangers,
to show the necessity of keeping up a mercenary standing army, three
times as numerous as the present. In spite of those suggestions, the
standing army maintained its ground. The same noblemen, assisted by
lord Bathurst, distinguished themselves in a debate upon the Spanish
depredations, which comprehended the same arguments t