No. XXIII.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1710-11.

Bellum ita suscipiatur, ut nihil aliud nisi Pax quæsita videatur. War should be undertaken only with a view to procure a solid and lasting peace.

I AM satisfied, that no reasonable man of either party can justly be offended at any thing I said in one of my papers relating to the army. From the maxims I there laid down, perhaps many persons may conclude, that I had a mind the world should think there had been occasion given by some late abuses among men of that calling; and they conclude right: for my intention is, that my hints may be understood, and my quotations and allegories applied; and I am in some pain to think, that in the Orcades on one side, and the western coasts of Ireland on the other, the Examiner may want a key in several parts, which I wish I could furnish them with. As to the French king, I am under no concern at all; I hear he has left off reading my papers, and by what he has found in them, dislikes our proceedings more than ever; and intends either to make great additions to his armies, or propose new terms for a peace. So false is that which is commonly reported, of his mighty satisfaction in our change of ministry. * And I think it clear,

*

Alluding to a pretended intercepted letter from the Bavarian

that his letter of thanks to the Tories of Great Britain must either have been extorted from him against his judgment, or was a cast of his politics to set the people against the present ministry, wherein it has wonderfully succeeded.

But, though I have never heard, or never regarded any objections made against that paper which mentions the army, yet I intended this as a sort of apology for it. And first I declare, (because we live in a mistaking world,) that at hinting at some proceedings, wherein a few persons are said to be concerned, I did not intend to charge them upon the body of the army. I have too much detested that barbarous injustice among the writers of a late party, to be ever guilty of it myself; I mean, the accusing of societies for the crimes of a few. On the other side, I must take leave to believe, that armies are no more exempt from corruptions than other numbers of men. The maxims proposed were occasionally introduced by the report of certain facts, which I am bound to believe are true, because I am sure, considering what has passed, it would be a crime to think otherwise. All posts in the army, all employments at court, and many others, are, or ought to be, given and resumed at the mere pleasure of the prince; yet, when I see a great officer broke, a change made in the court or the ministry, and this under the most just and gracious princess that ever reigned, I must naturally conclude, it is done upon pru

minister at Paris, dated Versailles, October 18, 1710, in which the French king and ministry are described as overjoyed at the change of government in England, and as promising to themselves the greatest advantages. It is published in French and English, in the Fourteenth Number of the MEDLEY.

dent considerations, and for some great demerit in the sufferers. But then, is not the punishment sufficient? Is it generous or charitable to trample on the unfortunate, and expose their faults to the world in the strongest colours? And would it not suit better with magnanimity, as well as common good nature, to leave them at quiet to their own thoughts and repentance? Yes, without question; provided it could be so contrived, that their very names, as well as actions, might be forgotten for ever: such an act of oblivion would be for the honour of the nation, and beget a better opinion of us with posterity; and then I might have spared the world and myself the trouble of examining. But at present there is a cruel dilemma in the case; the friends and abettors of the late ministry are every day publishing their praises to the world, and casting reflections upon the present This is so barefaced an aspersion uppersons in power. on the queen, that I know not how any good subject can with patience endure it, although he were ever so indifferent with regard to the opinions in dispute. Shall they, who have lost all power and love of the people, be allowed to scatter their poison? and shall not those, who are at least of the strongest side, be suffered to bring an antidote? And how can we undeceive the deluded remainder, but by letting them see, that these discarded statesmen were justly laid aside; and producing as many instances to prove it as we can, not from any personal hatred to them, but in justification to the best of queens. The many scurrilities I have heard and read against this poor paper of mine are in such a strain, that, considering the present state of affairs, they look like a jest. They usually run after the following manner: "What! Shall this insolent writer presume to censure the late

ministry, the ablest, the most faithful, and truest lovers of their country and its constitution, that ever served a prince? Shall he reflect on the best House of Commons that ever sat within those walls? Has not the queen changed both, for a ministry and parliament of Jacobites and highfliers, who are selling us to France, and bringing over the Pretender?" This is the very sum and force of all their reasonings, and this is their method of complaining against the Examiner. In them, it is humble and loyal to reflect upon the queen, and the ministry and parliament she has chosen with the universal applause of her people in us, it is insolent to defend her majesty and her choice, or to answer their objections, by showing the reasons why those changes were necessary.

The same style has been used in the late case concerning some gentlemen in the army. * Such a clamour was raised by a set of men, who had the boldness to tax the administration with cruelty and injustice, that I thought it necessary to interfere a little, by showing the ill consequences that might arise from some proceedings, although without application to particular persons. And what do they offer in answer? Nothing but a few poor common-places against calumny and informers, which might have been full as just and seasonable in a plot against the sacred person of the of the queen.t

But by the way, why are these idle people so indis

* Macartney, Meredith, Honeywood, and others, dismissed for drinking damnation to the queen's new ministry.

+ He alludes to the MEDLEY, No. 13, which exclaims against the trifling babblers or prating knaves, "who reported what was done or spoken in private companies, and trusts that the information of such persons had not been allowed to cancel the merit of the soldier's services."

creet to name those two words, which afford occasion of laying open to the world such an infamous scene of subornation and perjury, as well as calumny and informing, as, I believe, is without example; when a whole cabal attempted an action, wherein a condemned criminal * refused to join with them for the reward of his life? Not that I disapprove their sagacity who could foretell so long before by what hand they should one day fall, and therefore thought any means justifiable, by which they might prevent it.

But, waving this at present, it must be owned in justice to the army, that those violences did not proceed so far among them as some have believed; nor ought the madness of a few to be laid at their doors. For the rest, I am so far from denying the due praises to those brave, troops who did their part in procuring so many victories for the allies, that I could wish every officer and private soldier had their full share of honour, in proportion to their deserts; being thus far of the Athenians' mind, who, when it was proposed that the statue of Miltiades should be set up alone in some public place of the city, said, they would agree to it, whenever he conquered alone, but not before. Neither do I at all blame the officers of the army for preferring in their hearts the late ministry before the present; or, if wishing alone could be of any use for wishing their continuance, because then they might be secure of the war's continuance too : whereas, since affairs have been put into other hands,

* Greg, a clerk in Harley's office, being convicted of a treasonable correspondence with France, great pains was taken by that statesman's political adversaries to involve him in the guilt of his subaltern. See much more of this hereafter.