Garrisons and fecure Scotland? Thus the late Duke of Marlborough declar'd, as I have been told, on a very important Occafion, that he would undertake to defeat any Body of Men, which could poffibly be landed upon us by Surprize, with only his own Regiment of Guards, 2 or 3 Regiments of Dragoons, and fuch a Train af Artillery as he could eafily draw out against them; whereas they could not poffibly bring any with them of any Confequence. K. William, indeed, had a wonderful Concurrence of Incidents in his Favour; and yet all might not have been fufficient, if the Way had not been pav'd for him by that well-grounded Difaffection to K. James, which had fpread itfelf fo generally amongst all C Ranks of People. of the Thames, when the P. of But let us fuppofe, that fome fo- E To return: Militias are the natural, ftrongest and maft proper Defence of free Countries. They have always been rely'd upon in England as fuch, till K. Charles IId's Reign, and were never found infufficient. Sir Robert Cotton being confulted on an important Occafion, in the Beginning of King Charles Ift's. Reign, gave this Advice at the CouncilTable. There must be, to withstand a foreign Invafion, a Proportion of Sea and Land Forces; and it is to be conThis Armyfider'd that no March by Land can be of that Speed to make Head against the Landing of an Enemy. Then it follows. that there is no fuch Prevention as to be Mafters of the Sea. For the LandForces, if it were for an offensive War, the Men of lefs Livelyhood were beft fpared; and we used formerly to make fuch War Purgamenta Reipublicæ, if we made no farther Purchaje by it. But for the Safety of the Commonwealth, the Wijdom of all Times did never intruft the publick Canfe to any other than to fuch as bad a G Portion in the publick Adventure ; and that we faw in 1588, when the Care of the Queen and of the Council did make the Body of that large Army (to hall never march 20 Miles into the Country; for they cannot put themfelves in a marching Pofture in lefs than a Fortnight, or 3 Weeks, and by that Time We may have 100,000 Militia drawn down upon them; whereof 10,000 fhall be Horle, and as many Dragoons as we please; and if this Militia does nothing else but drive the Country, cut off their Foragers and Stragglers; poflefs themselves of the Defilees, and intercept Provifions, their Army must be destroy'd in a fhort Time. What Danger then can we apprehend, When our Militia is back'd by a Body of 5 or 6000 regular Troops, beides a fuficient Number to man our F oppoje oppofe the Spanish Armada) no other London Journal, Jan. 6. No 706. Tyranny, Anarchy, and Free-Go vernments. WE E may be the forter here, be caufe Socrates fays a great many Things which he had jaid in fome former Papers, and almost in the very jame Words. A State of Nature (fays he) is a State where Men live without any Common Power over them; where every Man is acknowledged to have a Right to his own Perion, and whatever he can get by his honeft Laa bour: And, in Fact, thefe Common Rights are fo eafily feen, and fo generally acknowledged, that the IndiCans (who are in this natural State, and who are untaught by any Being, but Him who teaches all Creatures in the Universe their Duty,) live much better than Men under any Tyranny or arbitrary Government upon Earth. For, 'tis a Truth known to all who have converfed and lived fome time among thofe People whom we favrgely call Savages, that there are more Virtues and fewer Vices among them, than among thofe who live under Tyrannies; more Sincerity, Good-will, Friendship, Humanity, and Gratitude. They herd together I would not be thought to mean, (fays D'Anvers) that our prefent untrain'd Bands are fit for this Service, B (of defending their Country) or indeed for any Service, befides furnishing the Town with a ridiculous Diverfion, and cramming their Guts at the Expence of their induftrious Fellow-Subjects. For this Reafon, they have been long laid afide, for the Eafe of the People, in all the Counties of England, except Middlefex; where there feems, at prefent, to be the leaft Occafion for them; and where an Intermiffion, for one Year, gave the Inhabitants Reafon to hope for a continued Relief, as long as it D fhall be judg'd neceflary to keep up fo large a Number of regular Forces; but we may fee, even from this Inftance, how hard it is to deliver ourfelves from an Army, of any Kind, when once establifh'd; fo juft is that witty Sarcasm of the late Mr. Gay; E Soldiers are perfect devils in their way, When once they're rais'd, they're curfed bard to lay. But nothing can be more abfurd than to fuppofe that the Militia cannot be made ufeful; tho' it be ridiculous to propofe any Scheme for it, whilft there is so manifelt a Diûnclination to the Thing itself, and no Pains are fpar'd to make the Militia contemptible as well as ufelefs. There are fume other Arguments in this long Paper, which, as they may G be found in the Debates of Parliament, in our Ift Vol. we here omit. in little Clans and Societies; Mutual Affiftance is dealt round; Fidelity in Contracts is strictly obferved, Justice generally practifed, and the Reason of Virtue evidently feen; and, indeed, was it not for one Folly, viz. heaping up Wealth for ourselves and Succeffors to the End of the World, Mankind would have very few Vices. The great Inequality of Property is the Source of almost all Murders, Robberies, Thefts, and other Vices among ourselves; which, the wifer and happier Savages knowing nothing of, are blefs'd with Security and Eafe; and whilst this is the Cafe, they have no Occafion for Government: For a!! all Government owes its original Neceffity to the Inequality of Property, and a boundless Defire of engroffing and monopolizing that Earth which the Father of the World left in common among all his Sons. This is the happy State of Nature, which hath been fo infamously traduced by flavish Writers on Politicks; who have told us, that any Government is better than none; and that Tyranny is infinitely preferable to 4narchy, or a State of Nature. Monftrous Affertion! For what is Tyranny, but fetting up a Power upon the Ruins of all the natural Rights of Mankind? a Power which fubverts the very End for which all Governments were formed; a Power which reverses Nature, and counter-ats all the Orders and Inftitutions of Providence. No Wonder then, that under Tyrannies (with which Superftition goes always hand in hand) there fhould be less Virtue than in a State of Nature, and under Free Governments. lecism in Government that can be imagined. We have other Defects; fuch as the People's being fo unequally represented, the Ufelessness of fome Laws, the Unreasonableness of others, &c. But, with all our Defects and A Imperfections, our Government is the best that is, or perhaps ever was, upon Earth. TH HIS Author (who wrote two former Letters, fee Vol. I. p. 359. and feems angry at what Mr. O. has faid against the Philofophical Differtation on Death, fee Vol. I. p. 460.) fays; Uniformity, efpecially in Ca voluminous Writer, has ever been efteem'd a great Perfection; and Mr. O. feems throughout his weekly Labours, to have had the ftrictest Eye to that Character; and therefore we find him, invariably attempting to fix the abstract Boundaries of what he calls Right and Wrong; so that whatever political Point happens to be the Subject of Debate, Mr. O. has immediate Recourfe to his Legerdemain abftract Principles, and before he enters upon the Debate, generally lays down fome Pofitions concerning them; which he afterwards applies with fuch amazing Dexterity, that we ever find him, before his Paper is two Thirds finish'd, begin to fum up the Evidence, (a Phrafe he is mighty fond of ;) and the Conclufion is, Tyranny and Free Governments are the very Reverse of each other. Ty D rannies are Powers built upon the DeAruction of all the natural Rights of Mankind. Free Governments are only Recognitions, Establishments, Enforcements and Securities of all thofe Rights. That Government only is just and perfectly free, where there are no Laws but what relate to the Security of Perfon and Property; and where every Subject is left at full Liberty to do what he pleases with his Person and Property, as far as is confiftent with the Rights of all other Subjects. The Government of England comes the nearest to this Plan of any Government now in the World. We have our Defects indeed; and one great Defect, is a fpiritual Power extending itself to Men's Perfons and Properties: A fpiritual Power iffuing out Writs and Proceffes, in its own Name, and by vertue of an Authority, which feems diftinct from the Civil Authority. This is the greatest So E Thus have we vindicated the Mi Fniftry from the infamous Charge of the Craftsman, and thus have we demonftrated, that all Things are right at home and abroad.' In moral Science, his Pofitions are ftill of greater Ufe; if one will not do, he takes another, and draws fo G.boiflerous a Conclufion, that he usually puts his Adverfaries to flight. His Reputation as a Writer was of very fhort Duration; for it foon appear'd, pear'd, that his whole Merit confifted in the heavy Repetition of what had merely the Shape of Argument, and was only a more regular and grave Sort of Nonfenfe, than the World had been us'd to. He deals much in Generals, and A feems to have juft Difcernment enough to know, that particular Enquiries are improper for him to engage in, fince the Application of his general Pofitions fuits only general Enquiries. The Subject of Excifes is too ab- B ftrufe for him, and therefore he prudently declines the Controverfy; and whilft Mr. D'Anvers is endeavouring to refcue his Country from Slavery, this unmeaning Writer (under the Name of Socrates, to fanctify his Dulness) is repeating his fenfeless Ef- C fays about the great Law of Nature against Infidels and unhappy Prisoners, for taking the fame Liberty in a Philofophical Differtation on Death, which this worthy Writer (in all his Journals) has done with the Religion of his Country, throughout which we find the fame dull Sentiments repeated, in the fame dul! Words. of one Half of the Words even in the English Language. Univerfal Speator, Jah. 6. N° 222. A Of Action. CTION is the Art of proper Gesture in exprefling our Ideas and Conceptions in the most graceful and intelligible Manner. 'Tis an Art. Take a Youth bred up in a Cottage upon a Common, who never faw any better Company than his Father's Cows, his Hogs, or his Sheep, and who is, in a Word, the pure uncultivated Product of Nature. Oppofe to him the Squire's Son of the next Village, of the fame Age and natural Capacity, but refined by the beft Education; add to this the Advantage of keeping the politeft Company: Introduce thefe Lads into a large Affembly of the genteeleft Behaviour, and obferve the Action of the one and of the other; and the Supereminency of Nature thus cultivated, above Nature undress'd, and Din her own Simplicity, will be easily diftingulfhed, and our Affertion as readily granted, That Action is an Art. And that it is fo with regard to the Stage, appears, if we suppose an Actor was to act two different Parts in a Play; For by confidering what is due to each Character, he forms an Idea of his Action, and expreffes it accordingly. He has given as many Instances as he has wrote Papers, that he can't even vary his Language, nor give his old Ideas new Names; and therefore all his Journals are one continued Mono- E tony: And as he has but one Set of Ideas in his Head, which upon a moderate Computation amount to about fifteen, fo he is always obliged to give the fame Ideas the fame Utterance; and this is fo evident, that whoever will take the Pains to compare all his Journals, which are about 200, will find two Thirds of them, only a Repetition of the fame Words, in the jame Order they ftand in the remaining third Part. He would be efteemed a Judge of Hiftory, both antient and modern; tho' he has no Acquaintance with any other Language but his mother Tongue, and feems not to underfland the Ute F 'Tis the Art of proper Gesture. A School Boy reads the finest Orations in Cicero, without any Variation of Tone, Alteration of Voice, or Ca dence in Expreffion; but a compleat Actor confiders the Geftures proper to exprefs that particular Species of Humour which the Poet has allotted him, enters upon it with a becoming Affurance, and performs it with that Life and Energy, that our G Eyes are apt to give our Knowledge the Lye, and almoft to perfuade us that that is real, which we know to be Fiction. -In In expreffing our Ideas and Conceptions. Thro' the Body the Soul receives and difcharges her Senfibility of Anger, Hatred, Envy, Love, Joy, and of every Paffion that gives her Pleasure or Disturbance, Pain or Alcrity and according as the Body A performs its feveral Functions, the Spectator is more or lefs affected by its Operations, and interested in its Cause. In the most graceful and intelligible Manner. If, fays Horace, you would have me weep, you must firft weep yourself. Tho' this Affertion, taken generally, may admit of Exceptions; yet it must be allowed that the Graceof Action depends on a lively and intelligible Gesture: Action has the Refemblance of Painting. In either, whatever is done well appears with an Air of Life, and feems the very Thing it reprefents, and is easily diftinguished from the unskilful Performance of a Bungler: In the one you have Nature fet off with the Embellishments of Art; and Beauty, Vigour, and Proportion run thro' the Whole: but in the other you fee Nature distorted, maim'd, and diffigur'd, and in a worfe Condition than in its own uncouth Simplicity. Juan de Braganza declar'd himself in Favour of his Country, the People adher'd to him, a total Revolution was effected at once; and the long projected Scheme for bringing in Slavery turn'd in one Night the Caufe of restoring Liberty. The Nobility of Denmark had a very extenfive Authority, which they improv'd by Degrees into a boundless Jurifdiction; and after the Commons, at their earnest Entreaty, and induc'd by their fair Promifes, had been chiefly inftrumental in delivering Copenhagen, which was befieged by the Swedes; Money being wanting, the Nobles were for laying the whole Load on those they fo lately carefs'd. The Commons, ftung with Refentment, took a ftrange Way of revenging themfelves: They complimented their Prince with arbitrary Power; conftrain'd the Nobles to a bafe Submiflion; and, fince they would not allow the People a reafonable Liberty, the People have by this Means, reduced them to be on a Level in Subjection. D C E F Portugal was feiz'd by the Spaniards; and the Portugueze were willing to be Subjects; but the Spani- G ards thought themselves unfafe, if they did not make them Slaves. When Things came to a Crifis, Don VOL. II. B Faction is as pernicious as Power over-ftrain'd, and has undone almost every free Government mention'd in Antiquity. The Roman Republick fupported itself in its Infancy against foreign Enemies; yet, when fhe had nothing to fear from others, Faction forc'd her to turn her Arms upon herfelf; by which Means she at laft entirely loft her Liberty. Athens, Carthage, Sparta, all were ruin'd by the fame Means; Sufpicions of thofe in Power paved the Way to their Destruction; and then the pretended Patriots ufurp'd all that they decry'd in others. But what to me appears the most cogent Argument on this Subject is, that the wifeft and most lafting free Government that perhaps the Worid has ever feen, I mean the State of Venice, has been obliged to make a tyrannick Jurifdiction a Part of its Conftitution, in order to crush Faction in its Bud, and |