ΤΟ Arguments in favour of a Scots militia. confidence in the breast of our fovereign, I To the publisher. Read, in your Wednesday's paper, a letter, which deferves, and I hope has gained the attention of every lover of his country. The writer of it, whoever he is, fupports no feigned character of patriotifm: His heart feels every word he writes, and he throws with violence into the breafts of other men, a brand from that fire which burns in his own. Never was there a nation upon earth, whose situation was more alarining, and more exafperating to a generous mind, than that of Scotland now is, and has been, Gince the militia-bill [xxii. 513.] was rejected. The warm and fertile imagination of Fletcher, chafed with oppofition in the union-parliament, and heated with zeal for his native country, figured many cafes of violation and injury, that, in confequence of an union, might happen to the smaller ftate: but his imagination, bold and unconfined as it was, could not feign any thing like the reality that we have beheld and fuffered. The people of England ftand at this moment armed and difciplined to defend their country, rouzed and elevated with a consciousness of their own condition; while we crawl under them, difarmed, difpirited, a defenceless prey, not to an enemy who comes with fleets and armies, but to a pirate, or privateer, who cruifes with a fingle vefel. Yet we do not feem to be in the leaft uneafy at our difgraceful and deplorable condition. If our anceflors had not been caft in a different mould from their defcendents, la fierte Ecoffcife, the Scottish pride," would not have been a proverb over all Vol. xxiv Europe, to the honour of our forefathers, and the reproach of their abject pofterity. Fain would I make fome excule for our lukewarmness, and find out fome plaufible reason to account for our tameness and fubmiffion; but I can think of none. Some people fatisfy themfelves with fuppofing, that if the English militia is continued, the militia for Scotland will certainly follow. I am not fure whether it will or not: but fure I am, that it is the duty, the indifpenfable duty, of every member of a free state, to demand for himself and his countrymen the privileges of freedom. We have been once refufed, let us af again, and repeat for ever (till it is granted) our just request. The bill for the Englifh militia was rejected more than once: but did the advocates for it defpond, defpair, and fubmit? No; they persisted, they increafed the vehemence and peremptoriness of their demand, till their adverfaries durft no longer deny what was fo boldly claimed. What hinders us from doing the fame? Nothing but our own bafenefs. 'Tis said with a fneer in the metropolis of G. Britain, That the zeal of the Scots for a militia is much abated, fince the great proportion given to that country in the new levies. If that is the true reafon of the prefent languor, the fympton is mortal, and there is an end of the pu blic in this part of the island. Thofe ve ry men, who, for the fake of commiffion to their relations, now abandon the mili tia, will, from the fame motive, their own intereft, abandon, and betray every right and privilege of their country. But I do not incline to puth this argu ment; it leads to horrible confequences and raises spectres before their time. I see Defpotifm ftriding over G. Britain he mufters his janifaries; their counte nances are cruel; they rejoice in the worl of vengeance, in bereaving the fouth o that liberty which the north had loft. There is another fuppofition made u of as a pretence for inactivity, and it i this: That the attempt is vain; that th English have confpired against us, and de termined to keep this country in a stat of inferiority and fubjection. This is th excufe of the fluggard, who fays to him felf, There is a lion in the way. W know very well by whofe influence th Scottish militia-bill was rejected; by th influence of thofe minifters, who fo long and fo ftrenuously oppofed the English m torren litia, and, though forced to yield to th torrent of a free people, retained their meterate animofity, and endeavoured to give a ftab to the militia of England trough the naked fide of Scotland. This is the matter of fact without a dubt; and if the fact was doubtful, it ught in reafon and candour to be thus affmed; for it bears too hard on human nature to fuppofe, that the opinion of any man who gave a vote in that question, was determined by national prejudices, and that the heart of one Englishman was vile nough to take advantage of the fuperiority of his country in the legislature, and establish so cruel, and unjust a distinction to the difadvantage of the Scots. The times are altered fince that bill was rejected. Those minifters have less power than they had then, and the generous prince who now fills the throne is a declared friend of militia, and an avowed eneby to all diftinctions among his people. We ourselves, iny country-men, are now called upon by the most urgent neceflity ftand forth for the honour, and for the Lafety of our country. A Spanish war is expectedly added to all those wars we were before engaged in; the peace which we longed for is vanished; and he must poffefs wildom more than human, who can foresee a period to the commotions of Europe. Is it not then full time that Scotland, bleeding at every vein, and exhanted with fupplying the carnage of war every quarter of the world, thould be permitted to arm in her own defence a few of her people that yet remain ? Have you forgot how Thurot fwept your coafts, and terrified your defenceless cities [xxii. 98.]? Are you better provided for refiftance now? Can the English titia march from their own country in time to fave yours from the infults of an enemy? for this is the hope and confidence of fome amongst us: We are fafe, y they, under the protection of the Eng Shmilitia; and we ought to be thankful to the people of England, for taking upon em the expence and trouble of defendus. Surely there are fome things that en would chufe to take the trouble of thing for themselves: yet it is difficult to determine the pitch of baseness to which man nature can descend. There lived in the Orkneys, not many years ago, a petty tyrant, who had fo effectually fubdued and cruthed the fouls of 's tenants. that he uled to vifit their tones, as the great Turk does the apartt of his feraglio. Once it happen ed, that an unfortunate man coming into his own houfe, found the knight in bed with his wife. The miferable husband pulled off his bonnet, and thanked his Ho nour for taking the trouble of doing his work for him. If this country remains long without a militia, the time may come, when the officers, nay the foldiers of a victorious ene my, may domineer over us in this manner, and the hufbands and the fathers be compelled to fuffer the violation of their wives and daughters, without daring to mutter refentment; I fay, the fathers and the husbands; for there will no young men be left in this unhappy country. The young and the brave will fly from the region of fervitude and fhame, and carry to other countries that perfonal spirit and valour which cannot act nor exist in a land of flaves denied the ufe of arms. E. Cour. Jan. 20. Letter from a country gentleman to his neigh bour. Had the pleasure of yours on Saturday, defiring my opinion of a letter publifhed in the Courant, the 13th of last month, the title whereof is, Copy of a letter from the country; which I think would have expreffed the contents and design of it more properly, had it been called, An inflammatory addrefs to the paffions of the people in Scotland. - -Ever fince the happy union, the legislature of G. Britain has been taking every poffible method to put an end to thofe odious diftinctions which only ferved to kindle and keep alive a fpirit of national animofity; and he is furely a wrong-headed, or falle-hearted patriot, who makes it his bufinefs to revive them. The author of the letter would gladly put himself at the head of that party, who may be justly faid to be militia-mad. His fentiments are the feelings of phrenzy, his words the language of rage. A paffion for his favourite object, by ftifling the dictates of his reafon, has run him into the ufe of words unheard of in our language, and metaphors abunnantly abfurd: Frivolity is an inftance of the one, and propagating the race of la bourers by the hand, an example of the other.He does not pretend to argue, but to rail; and, by a falfe reprefentation of facts, endeavours to awaken that hateful fpirit of pride, which was lately the curfe of our country, and the fource of all our poverty and contempt. For this purpofe he figures us as a people poor, abject, difpirited and enfla wed; ved; our men torn from us by violence, and fent abroad, where they are scattered as leaves in the autumn, never to be gathered again; our women reduced to the neceffity of cultivating the ground, and by being expofed to the inclemency of the feafons, funburnt, haggard, and lean. I appeal to the inhabitants of the cultivated parts of Scotland, if there is one word of truth in all this. From the Grampian mountains to the Cheviot hills, where is the fpot where women are obliged to neglect their proper exercifes, and perform the labours of the men? Let any one look into our churches or markets, the ufual rendez. vous of our commons, and fay, whether our country appears to be in a depopulated state. The farmers indeed complain of the scarcity of men-fervants, and of the high wages they are obliged to give them; but, fure, it would be a grofs miftake, to refolve this entirely into the numbers gone abroad. We might, with equal propriety, align it as the reafon of the fcarcity of women-fervants, were we not fatisfied, that not one fingle regiment of Amazons has been raised, and fent from Scotland, fince the commencement of the prefent war. This fcarcity both of the one and the other may be eafily accounted for, from the attonithing increase of our manufactures; in carrying on of which, they find encouragement, greater than what the ufual profits of agriculture can poffibly afford. We are indeed a poor people, poor in comparison of our opulent neighbours in England; but rich we certainly are, in refpect of what we were, when first incorporated with that wealthy nation; and did we carefully pursue the measure pointed out to us by the British parliament, we fhould foon become rich and powerful, and rife above every species of contempt. Nor is the author of the letter more candid or more compofed in the picture he gives us of the treatment our country has received from that auguft affembly, the parliament of G. Britain, which, he fays, has informed us, not in mere words, or petulant farcafms, not in terms of je fting and raillery, but in terms of law and acts of parliament, That we are an inferior clafs of men, not fit to be intrusted with the privileges of British fubjects, nor fit to maintain the honour of our country. Had any act of parliament paffed of late in thefe terins, I thould not have been furprised to fee the fpirit of our nation, ever but too Jealous of its honour, rouzed to the high Sin eft degree of indignation and refentme but as this is an event I have not obsery to happen, I must conclude, that th terms are his own, and not the terms law. And how any British fubject d prefume to pervert the intention of an of parliament, and clothe it with expr fions equally invidious and falfe, is affurance, which none but a thought paffionate man would be guilty of. we became one kingdom with Englan we have been always used by them w the utmost tenderness and affection. is not the low fcurrility which Scotfm fometimes meet with on the Tham from the boorish watermen, that is to regarded. What has not the governme done to bury invidious distinctions, and make us a truly free, and profperous, a happy people? I fay invidious diftinction for it must be allowed, they have disti guifhed us in many particulars very muc to our advantage; the diftinctions the have made between themselves and have been, for the most part, greatly our favour. Witnefs the land and m. tax: not to mention the poors rates, tax we have only heard of, a burden ur der which the English in general groa [xi. 70. 132.]. Befides, as the riches ftrength, and populoufnefs of the unite kingdoms, depend upon manufactures trade and commerce, has not the govern ment done every thing to promote the in our country? What laws have the not made? what encouragement have the not given us? Is there a port upon th occean open to them, and thut to us Are not the bounties and drawbacks up exportation meant for our benefit as we as theirs? and do we not share in the pe cuniary encouragements granted by a of parliament for promoting the whal and herring fifhings? Has not the lay alfo provided the equivalent-money to b employed for advancing trade and manu factures in Scotland? And, after an un provoked rebellion, which coft the Engli nation fo much money to extinguith, when one would have naturally thought the produce of the forfeited eftates would have paffed into the English treasury, was not money fent down from thence, to pay off the feveral incumbrances, and the year ly rents appointed to be employed in prometing fisheries and manufactures in the highlands and islands [ziv. 161.] of Scotland? By thefe, and fuch laws as thefe, has the British legiflature put us in the way of being rich. But as industry and Pavery are abfolutely incompatible, from that fame friendly fource have we been made to tafte the sweets of liberty; infeFor jurisdictions have been abolished 333, 65], ward-holding laws put an end to; the cottager is as free as his maer, the vaflal as independent as his lord. Our perfons, our properties, our reputations are fecured to us by laws, wife, determinate, and well known; nor are thele facred poffeffions any longer at the mercy of a petty tyrant or infolent mater. And what, pray, would we have more? Is there any thing in all this that can lead us to think that we are the objects of the contempt of the English, or that they really mean to opprefs us? But, fays the angry writer, they have embodieda militia, and put arms in their hands, and will not allow us the fame method of defence: A mighty indignity this furely, and only to be refented with blood and Wounds! Let us however lay afide our rational pride and paffion for a moment, and confider this matter with coolness and impartiality. Senfible that agriculture, trace, and manufactures, in this country, are but in their infant ftate; how cruel would it have been in the British parlament, to have called off from those branches of bufinefs 6 or 7000 of our best hands, by the want of whofe labour, e. very day they were learning the ufe of ats, the nation must have fuffered the s of 300 1. Sterling? But this is not al: for though thefe 6000 men, by being tagaged in ufeful bufine fs from their youth, may have acquired the habits of xury and application; yet having earned from their parents in their child and the martial atchievements of their ancestors, the traditional hiftory whereef is commonly handed down from father fen, efpecially in families in the north parts of Scotland, fentiments of war and hting are early impreffed upon their inds; which impretions, ftifled for a by an affiduous application to bui revive with uncommon force, fo as arins are put into their hands; and they are to continue in the poffeffion of at ftated times for the courfe of ree years, during that period the marfpirit will acquire a ftrength fufficito withdraw the heart and attention the more neceflary labours of life. This not being the cafe with Englishmen, certainly one good reafon for not extending the burthenfome militia-act to Scotland. We have fill more reafon to thank the British parliament for their kind partiality to us, when we confider, that though they had faddled us with a national militia, it could not have answered the purposes of a national defence. The 6000 men who were first raised, would naturally contract fuch an habit of idlenefs during their three years fervice, that it is not' to be imagined they would eafily prevail upon themselves to return to their former occupations, but would rather offer themfelves to be hired by those whofe turn it thould next be to take the field; and as the law allows of fuch a fubftitution, thofe engaged in more lucrative employments would readily take the benefit of it: and thus, inftead of difciplining the whole body of the people, 6 or 7000 men would be the highest number that would at any one time understand the ufe of arms in Scotland; who living fcattered in the different and most diftant parishes of it, could not be drawn together to any one place in lefs than fix or eight weeks; and, confidering the extent of our fea-coafts, could be of no manner of ufe in protecting the country from the attacks of pirates, or in giving check to an invading enemy. Befides, when we call to mind the cir-' cumftances which attended the execution of the militia-act in England, what oppofition it met with, what mutinies it created, what blood fhed it was the occafion of, and how that in fome counties they have not been able to make it effectual to this day [xxi. 385.], we may easily conceive the formidable notions they entertain of it: and fhall we wantonly wish to bring upon ourselves a burthen, which our ftronger and more powerful neighbours have, by fad experience, found themfelves not able to bear? fhall we, like the abject mean-fpirited Cappadocians of old, run back to flavery and chains, and refufe to be free? I fhall only take notice of one thing further, which I apprehend lies at the bottom of all this noife and uproar, vis. That the English have given a negative to a Scots militia, from a perfuafion that our people are Jacobites, and difaffected to the prefent government. If they really are of this opinion, nothing can be more natural, nothing can be more agreeable to common fenfe, than the measure they have taken to prevent their enemies having it in their power to hurt them; the Jacobites themfelves would have deIpifed the weaknefs and folly of acting oC therwile. therwife. That the nation is in general well affected to the prefent royal family, is not to be denied; nor can it be refufed, that there are a great many Jacobites ftill remaining among us. The 8 or 10,000 profefled ones, who joined the fon of the pretender, were but a part of those who fecretly wished well to his caufe: many of them are still alive: aud it scarce will be denied, that there till are many, whom the lenity of the King and government has not. had the influence altogether to convince. While this is our fituation, it must be the opinion of every man who is more than a diflembled friend to his king and conftitution, that nothing would be more abfurd in fpeculation, or dangerous in practice, than to establish a militia where fuch diftinction is not totally exLinguished. Thefe are fome of my objections against a Scotch militia. Thanks to the wifdom of the British parliament, they have done better for us, than fome of us would have done by ourselves; and I fhall be extremely for ry, to find any of my country en foolish enough to push a measure which, fooner or later, muft ruin our manufactures, hurt our conftitution, and endanger the liberties of the people. Jacobitifin, I am told, is on the decline: I hope it is; may it die more and more every day: but let it be once fairly dead, before we think of eftablishing a militia. Thus whatever may happen to our trade and manufactures, our conftitution will be fafe, which is the life and foul of the whole. Ed. C. Feb. 10. To the publisher. I am glad likewife, that this ger man has taken the trouble of difplay at large the happiness of our state, the advantages which we derive from connection with England. That hap nefs and thofe advantages are inestima and furely there was no occafion to f the account, by articles which are sti lated in the treaty of union, nor by permillion which we enjoy of maintain our poor as we think proper. As he fo much in the humour of enumerating ligations, I should think, that the spa of freedom and public fpirit which are mitted into this country, from the vi rous fire which burns in our neighbourho might have deferved a preference in account. It is true, that the legislature of G. B tain have done much to promote manufa tures. They have made laws, and giv encouragements; our wealth has acco dingly increated. And the gentlem might have added, that the fame legif ture have provided, by a national and co ftitutional defence, for the prefervation thofe advantages, at least in one part the kingdom. It will be recorded for the honour of British administration, and may stand a monument of good intention, that a the clofe of the rebellion, a plan was lai if not to reconcile the difaffected, at lea to render them fond of domeftic peace, opening to them the fources of wealth. 1 was likewife part of this plan, as your wr ter obferves, to abolith inferior jurifdi tions, and thereby remove the found tions of family-influence in Scotland. Pe continuance of that influence here, bi none at all from the influence of a min fter at London. A Bout a month ago, you inferted a let-petual abufe was apprehended from ter in your paper, to which I have Jately feen an answer. From the attention to ftyle, which is difcovered in that anfwer, it may be fuppofed, that the writer has employed this interval in ftudying and correcting his own. He and his autagonist however may compare their ftyles as they think proper; but I do not fee why a question of fo much importance to this country fhould be determined by the merits of either. I am very glad that one of them at least has taken the part of comforting us, on the article of our fuppofed diftrefs from the depopulated ftate of our country: but I with that he and his partifans would fettle it among themselves, and tell us for which of the two reafons we are to abandon the object of a militia; whether because we are depopulated, or because, as he pretends, we are not depopulated. Here I would gladly paufe, and wish th I could difguife the reft; for, falutary this medicine appeared, it has broughti poisonous ingredients along with it: it the very medicine by which princes fome states of Europe have purged the feudal monarchies into defpotifm. Befo this boafted law, its effects had been poin ed out by M. Montefquieu: I hope, f the fake of human nature, that none our politicians were learned enongh read or understand his writings. By th change every ftation and every office b came dependent on the crown: and ger tlemen who extol it fo much, have pe haps tafted the fweets of the reformation We have known as much cloquence fo |