A against the Wickedness and Danger of Stand- 5 But Gentlemen say, in Opposition prefent Motion, where is the Advan. this honourable Peace, this profound quillity that is fo much boafted of? His Maje they fay, has told us in his Speech, tha was obtained upon fuch Terms as can giv no juft Reason of Provocation to any of the Powers of Europe, and that it hath taken nothing from any Power; Where then is the Danger now? Whom have we to fear? And what are the Motives from whence these Troops are asked? If we are to keep up the fame Force in Peace, where is the Benent of it? Gentlemen, who talk in thi Strain now, were of another Opinion the first Day of the Seffion; they could not then fee that we had an advantageous Peace, that we had this profound Tranquillity; 'twas then only a Wound skinned over, that had Gangrenes and Mortifications underneath it, which would foon break out again; 'twas then only a popular Covering to perfuade the Parliament into good Humour on the firft Day of the Selfion. Have these Gentlemen then really changed their Opinion? Did they think it a bad Peace on the firft Day of the Seffion, and do they now think it a lafting honourable one? Or do they only use these Expreffions for a prefent Purpole? And will their good Opinion of the publick Tranquillity laft longer this Seffion must bind them in the next; but this cannot be the Cafe; furely, Sir, every Body will be as much at Liberty to vote against them next Year, as they are now. It will never be faid to any Gentleman, Sir, you vated for them laft Tear, therefore you must this: No, Sir, every Gentleman knows he fall be as much at Liberty to vote according to his E Opinion and Confcience then as he is now. Let us then confider what is now asked of us; it is 17000 Men, and these for one Year; they are the Soldiers of the People, kept for their Safety only, for the Support of the Nation against foreign Invafions; What is it then that Gentleman are afraid of? Do they think thefe Soldiers are defigned to be made ufe of F against our Liberties? Do they think their Arms are to be turned againft their Country? I will not make use of the Name of the KING, I think it ought to have no Awe on our Debates, not will I ever attempt it. I am in that Way of thinking, and do hold the Maxim juft, that the KING can do no Wrong, neither by LAW nor FORCE, and his Minifters are G refpenfible for every Thing; therefore I will with all my Soul put the Fate of the Question, and the whole Debate upon this Iffue. I defire every Gentleman to look into his own Breaft, and to appeal to his own Confcience: Let him ask himself, if he does feriously think that the Miniftry, who ask thefe Forces, have H any Intention to employ them against our Liberties, to turn them againft our Rights? And let every Gentleman fpeak as his Confcience dictates in this Affair; I fhall very gladly fubmit the Queftion to this Decifion, and do fincerely make this Appeal to the Heart of every Gentleman. than a few Hours? As I believe this is really the Cafe with these Gentlemen, I think they can upon no Pretence, with no Colour of Argument, oppofe the Maintenance of thefe Soldiers; for if Affairs be as they appre hend, if the Wound is only skinned over, if we are in as much Danger as before, we ought by no Means to disband our Forces: They, Sir, furely can never recommend his Majefty to leave his Kingdom naked and defencelefs in fuch a Situation; and therefore thefe Gen tlemen should never be against the presenc Queftion. Nor can I think it proper to leffen our Forces at this Juncture, though the Peace be established on the moft juft, most solid Foundations. It is an Infant juft born, a hopeful Child it is, and I hope it will grow up to Manhood: But fhall we defert it in its In fancy? Shall the first grateful Return, which we make to his Majeffy, be Diftruft, and depriving him of his Forces ? All the Courts of Europe now look upon the Diffatisfaction among us, to arise from the Enemies of the Proteftant Succeffion. The Cafe of Difaffection is now reduced quite to Jacobitifm; I know that fome Gendemen would gladly have this looked on only as a Bugbear; and they would rejoyce to fee the Time, when any Alarms, any Infinuations of Danger from that Quarter, fhould be received with Ridicule, and turned into Joke. I had like to have faid, that I was forry here was no Jacobite in this Houfe. No, Sir, I am heartily glad of it; but if 1 was in an Af fembly of Jacobites, I would ask them, If they had not very lately, in fome Corners, in fome private Meetings, in fome fecret Cabals, flat tered mfelves, and given one another great Ation, that a favourable Time was not to advance the Intereft of the PretendAt this be true, thefe Gentlemen would very glad to fee our Forces reduced, our THI Fog's Journal, Jan. 6. No. 218. HIS Writer having already publifh'd two Journals cenfuring Mr Osborne's Letters in the London Four Angdom in fuch a situation, as might afford Anal (ke p. 974, 1021) in this conti ur Enemies little Difficulty to make an Invalion. If it be all Chimera, if there be no Danger of this Kind, I fhould be very glad to know it. This I am fure of, that our Forces never have been leflened, but it gave Occafion to foreign Powers to form Designs upon us, and attempt Invafions; and yet it never hath been done but with great Pretences, great B fhew of Zeal for the Safety of the People. The Pill must be gilded with Popularity; it was fo in the Queen's Time, and I believe no Gentleman doubts with what View our Forces were then reduced. C I believe Gentlemen imagine, that the Re'duation which they propofe of 5oco Men, will be a greater Saving to the Publick than it really will; for, of thefe 5000 to be difbanded, 2000 will be Invalids, that must return to Chelsea College; fo that the Saving from them will be but a Farthing a Day, which will make the whole not fo confiderable as may be apprehended Gentlemen feem to me to have let flip out of their Memory, what was dropt in the Opening of the Debate; that if there should be any Power in D Europe, that can be induced to form any Defigns against us, this mult be the favourable Jun&ture, when their Arms have no Call any other Way. While the Affairs of Europe, were unfettled, and Danger was threatned from every Quarter, and on every Hand, there was no Temptation to embroil themtelves in new Difficulties; but now, Sir, there is Leifure for Ambition to look round, nues his Remarks to the fame Purpose. Uniformity, especially in a voluminous Writer, has ever been esteemed a great Perfection; and no-body can more justly claim the Merit of it than Mr Osborne; for, whatever happens to be the Subject of Debate, he has continually Recourfe to his legerdemain abstract Principles of Right and Wrong. In moral Science his Method is the fame; and if the Conclufiveness of any Part of his Argument be queftioned, he only changes the Pofition or Poftulatum, with which, in the first Inftance, he fupported the Proof, for another, which he applies in the fame manner; and at last draws fo boisterous Conclufion, that he ufually puts his Adverfary to Flight. a a He has the Vanity to ftile himself Politician, altho' he is not inftructed even in the first Principles of Policy. The Queftion concerning Excifes is too abftrufe and knotty for him to have any Share in it, and therefore he prudently declines it; tho' juft before it began, he gave us a general Teitimony, how well he flood difpofed towards the Scheme (fee p. 813) By a peculiar Talent of Reafoning, Mr Osborne can prove a Treaty calcuFlated for the wifeft Ends, or that all Treaties are ufelefs, ridiculous Ceremonies, and confequently, that there is no Wijdem in any Treaty. I am the more convinced of the Hopes of the Enemies of the Proteftant Succeffion, and that it would give them great Pleafure to fee our Forces reduced, and cur Kingdom defenceless, from an Accident that happened laft Night, which I will beg leave to relate to the Houfe. I had the Honour to be prefent at a Committee of Council, where no lefs than five Bills were laid before us from Ireland, to prevent the Growth and Encouragement of Popery, which prevailed and flourished fo much in that Kingdom, as was very alarming. There was a Council who pleaded on their Behalf; a Gentleman of great Learning, and who made the best of a bad G Caufe. In the Courfe of his Pleading, he cited the Articles of Limerick, which being called for by the Lords of the Council, a Popish Solicitor, who attended on this Affair, produced it in a little Book, which he took out of his Pocket. I had the Curiofity to look into this Book, which I fuppofed might be his H Vade Mecum, and I found it to be a Collection f five Pamphlets, the first was the Articles of Limerick, the fecond was the French King's Declaration, and the three others were THREE ARGUMENTS AGAINST A STANDINGARMY, He would be efteemed a Judge of tho' he has no Acquaintance with any Hiftory, both antient and modern; albut his Mother Tongue, nor does he feem to understand one half of the Words in the English Language. He lately complimented Rapin as an Hiftorian, at the Expence of all the Greek and Latin Hiftorians Characters (fee p. 1023;) tho' about 12 Months ago, this Great Hiftorian was the Object of Mr Osborne's Contempt. Con Concludes with a Remark on a Paper of his, intitled, A Difcourfe on Infidelity, fign'd SOCRATES (fee p. 1071.) Whatever imaginary Deity he would be- A flow on Virtue and Morality, in Oppofition to the Principle of Self-Love, he is actually efpoufing the Caufe of Immorality, by defiroying the natural and genuine Principle by which alone it can subfift. If the Pleasure which each Individual propofes to himself, in the doing a virtuous and friendly Action, be not the Motive upon which he acts, it's impoffible any Principle fhould be found in human Nature, upon which Mrality can be fupported. It will therefore be incumbent on him to prove, that the Concern which a friendly Man feels at the Misfortunes of one he has a Regard for, proceeds from any other Motive, than the Pleafure he propofes to himfelf of being BDolizers of Power have to debauch'd fo Blinds of Men with falle Nothe tions of human Nature, Morals, and Politicks, that fome celebrated Writers have fuppofed Mankind fo ill made, that they could not fubfift without Subjection to Power. Anarchy, or the State of Man without Government, they have reprefented as Chaos and Confufion; and a State of Nature, as a continual War of every Man against every Man: Thus human Nature, Truth, Juftice, and the Honour of freed from the Uneafinefs he feels on D God, are prostituted to the Support of Account of his Friend; and that the Relief he gives him is not acting upon the Principle of Self-Love: Since, if the Misfortunes of his Friend gave him no Uneafinefs, he could have no Motive to relieve him." To fay, that a benevolent Man and E a felff Man are diftinct Characters, is faying nothing. They are indeed diftinct in the Estimation of Mankind, and in Nature too, while the benevoLent Man's Uneafinefs is produced by the Regard he has for his Friends, and F the felf Man's by the Regard he has for himself; but does this prove Self-Love is not the immediate Motive of both their Actions? Are they not both prompted to Action from fome Uneafinefs, in the removing of which G a Good is propofed to each Individual? The Caufe of this Uneafinefs is not material. Socrates can't diftinguish between the immediate Spring of moral Actions, which is the Defire of Good founded upon Uneafiness, and that which produces this Uneafinefs. When he has thought of this, he will hardly burt his Head again in a Controversy, which, in the Manner he conducts it, H arbitrary Power; altho' a State of Nature is infinitely preferable to Tyranny and arbitrary Power. A State of Nature is, where every Man's allowed to do what he will with his own Perfon and Property, confiftent with otherMen's; and those common Rights are fo easily difcerned, that the Indians live much better than Men under any Tyranny and arbitrary Government. Their Virtue and Happiness are owing to their being untaught by thofe whofe highest Intereft it is to deceive them. The great Inequality of Property is the Source of almost all Murders, Robberies, and other Vices among ourfelves; which the wiser and happier Savages knowing nothing of, are bleffed with Security and Eafe: For, they naturally affent to that divine Truth, fufficient unto the Day is the Evil, and the Good thereof too; every Man provides for himself and his Offspring, and, invading no Man's Property, is invaded by no Man; and they are content to die as they live, not worth a Groat; when they have no Occafion for it, they have no Occafion for Go A ernment: For all Government owes its Neceffity to the Inequality of Property. They who have learnt to admire the Power of Tyranny as Sacred and Divine, are debauch'd as much in their Religion as Morals: Publick Good, in their Apprehenfion, is as little the Measure of Government in the Univerfe, as in the State. Omnipotence, they think, would hardly be itself, was it not at liberty to difpenfe with the B Laws of Equity, and change at Pleafure the Standard of moral Rectitude. That Government only is just and perfectly free, where there are no Laws but what relate to the Security of Perfon and Property; where the Sub- C ject may do what he pleafes with his Perfon and Property, confiftently with the Rights of others; and where there is no Power but the Civil, where there are no Laws but of a Civil Nature, and thofe Laws the ftanding Measure D of Government and Obedience; and where there is also a dernier Resort, or real Power left in the Community to defend themselves against any Attack on their Liberties. a Dniversal Spectato?, Jan. 6. No. 222. Of ACTION. ACTION is the Art of proper Gesture, expreffing our Ideas and Conceptions in the most graceful and intelligible Manner; and deferves the closest Application of a Performer. By this the Powers and Faculties of Nature are taught to exert themselves in proper and becoming Manner. Suppose, for inftance, an Actor, by the poetical Juftice of an Author, is in the fame Perfon and Play, obliged to perfonate the different Parts of a King and a Begger. Before he can be Mafter of the Action proper for each Perfonage, he must lay down certain Principles by which he is to govern himfelf in the Reprefentation: As thus: He confiders that the Perfon of a King is attended with Magnificence, Grandeur, and Majefty; his Speech wife, grave, and folemn; his Deportment ftately and majeftick; and his Actions great and heroic: But the fame Man reduced to the calamitous Circumftances of a Begger, fpeaks, acts, and behaves in a Manner fuitable to fuch a Condition. Thus, by a Propriety of Gesture, the Actor will poffefs the very Souls as well as the Eyes and Ears of an Audience, and communicate to them the fame Fury and Paffion_by which he himself is agitated. The intelligent Actor confiders the Gestures that are proper to exprefs that particular Species of Humour allotted him by the Poet, enters upon it with a becoming Affurance, and performs it with that Life and Energy, that our GEyes are apt to give our Knowledge the The Government of England comes E the nearest to this Plan of any in the World. We have our Defects indeed; and one is, a Spiritual Power extending to Men's Perfons and Properties, iffuing out Writs and Proceffes in its own Name, by virtue of an Authority which feemed diftinct from Civil. There hould be no Power Spiritual, but what relates to Spirits or Minds, fuch as turning out diforderly Members; and that should be without any confequent Penalties relating to Body or Eftate. We have other Defects, fuch as being unequally reprefented, the Ufelefness of fome Laws, the Unreasonablenefs of others, &c. But with all our Defects, our Government is fo good, that it deferves to be well guarded. We fhould guard against the Growth of Prerogative, and the least Exercise of Ecclefiaftical Power; but above all, against Corruption in ourfelves, by living within our own Fortunes. F Lie, and almost to perfwade us, that that is real which we know to be Fiction, Representation, and Nature at fecond hand. The Weekly Miscellany, Jan. 6. No. 4• THE following Letter was written before the Diffenters Refolved to defift from their attempt to get the Cor pora poration and Teft Acts repealed; but C THE Common Question in all Companies is, Do the Diffenters go on with their Defign of petitioning the Parliament for a Repeal of the Corporation and Test Aa?] For my Part, fays this Writer, I could never think they had B any fuch Defign. The Style of their Refolutions and Writings fhew the contrary. For a Petition is always used in the Nature of a Prayer, and the Subject Matter of a Prayer is fome Favour. But the Diffenters openly declare, that what they mean to apply for, is not Matter of Favour, but of ftrict Justice. What Methods they intend to use they beft know (tho' Hiftory is not filent in this Point) but with respect to the Miniftry they speak plainly, that unless they will do them Juftice, they will oppole them at the next Election for Members of Parliament. This is declar'd by way of Menace; as thinking their Intereft of fuch Confequence, that the Miniftry dares not difoblige them. By these moderate Measures the E Conftitution was over-turned in the Reign of K. Charles I. D ciple advanced in a Paper pretended to be written by a Friend of his Majefty, viz, That the People are the Fountain of all Power and Authority; (See P. 950.) and then the Parliament being the Reprefentatives of the People, all Applications ought to be made to them. An uncommon Zeal for the Honour of Religion is another of their Pretences. For fome Time they have been all filent about the Repeal, and now many of them think it an improper Time. Why? Their Pamphlets affign Reafons of Policy. If, as they affirm, the making the Sacrament a Teft, is profaning and perverting the most folemn Act of Chriftian Worship, the Repeal of it ought not to be deferred upon any Confideration, because finful in itself. It has been justly observed by the Author of the Dispute adjusted, That they offer'd a Claufe a little after the Revi lution, that the receiving the Sacrament in their own Meetings should be a Qualification; as if the Place occafion'd any Alteration in the Action. We have lived with them inoffenfively for many Years; they have enjoyed their Opinions, and the Profeffion of them uninterrupted and unenvied; even the Liberty of voting in They would be thought to have a Elections for our Preachers; which is particular Regard for his Majefty's Per- a greater Inftance of our Moderation fan, and Affection for his Government. than of their Modefty. From His Ma¬ But they manifeftly flight his Majesty's Fjely they have met with as much Perfen, and fhew more Attachment to Grace and Favour as is confiftent with their own Intereft than bis. In all their our Constitution; from our Conftitulate Meetings, and Pamphlets, no No- tion as much Indulgence as the Legi tice is taken of the King; no Talk of lature thought fafe to grant them : addreffing bis Majesty, tho' this is a Yet fo far are they from being thankful, Point which immediately affects his that they accuse the Legiflature of Of Majefty's Safety, as well as the In-preffion; the Bishops and Clergy of tereft of the Nation; especially in matters of Religion, where the Supremacy of the King is more peculiarly con cerned; and highly fitting it was, in Reafon and Decency, they fhould first have refolved upon addreffing his Majefty concerning the Qualification of his own Servants, on whose Integrity and Abilities fo much depends. But their Conduct is agreeable to that Prin G H Tyrannical Pride and Ambition; the whole Communion with the Want of the Spirit of Religion, Honour, and Liberty; the whole World, who think Eftablishments and Difqualifications lawful, of Bigotry and Self-Intereft. If by fober Argument they can fhew the Unlawfulness of all Difqualifications, or this particular Teft, let them do it; they have tried heretofore and were foiled. |