A _Whig_ is against the raising or keeping up a _Standing Army_ in Time of Peace: but with this Distinction, that if at any time an _Army_ (tho even in Time of Peace) shou'd be necessary to the Support of this very Maxim, a _Whig_ is not for being too hasty to destroy that which is to be the Defender of his Liberty. I desire to be well understood. Suppose then, that Persons, whose known Principle and Practice it has been (during the Attempts for arbitrary Government) to plead for and promote such an Army in Time of Peace, as wou'd be subservient to the Will of a Tyrant, and contribute towards the enslaving the Nation; shou'd, under a _legal Government_ (yet before the _Ferment_ of the People was appeas'd) cry down a _Standing Army_ in Time of Peace: I shou'd shrewdly suspect, that the Principles of such Persons are not changed, but that either they like not the Hands that _Army_ is in, or the _Cause_ which it espouses; and look upon it as an Obstruction to _another_ Sort of Army, which they shou'd like _even in Time of Peace_. I say then, that altho the Maxim in general be certainly _true_, yet a _Whig_ (without the just Imputation of having deserted his Principles) may be for the _keeping_ up such a Standing Army even in Time of Peace, till the Nation have recover'd its _Wits_ again, and chuses Representatives who are against _Tyranny in any Hands whatsoever_; till the Enemies of our Liberties want the Power of raising _another_ Army of _quite different Sentiments_: for till that time, a _Whiggish_ Army is the _Guardian of our Liberties_, and secures to us the Power of _disbanding its self_, and prevents the raising of another of a _different Kidney_. As soon as this is done effectually, by my Consent, no such thing as a mercenary Soldier should subsist in _England_. And therefore The _arming_ and _training_ of all the _Freeholders_ of _England_, as it is our undoubted ancient Constitution, and consequently our Right; so it is the Opinion of most _Whigs_, that it ought to be put in Practice. This wou'd put us out of all Fear of foreign Invasions, or disappoint any such when attempted: This wou'd soon take away the Necessity of maintaining _Standing_ Armies of _Mercenaries_ in Time of Peace: This wou'd render us a hundred times more formidable to our Neighbours than we are; and secure effectually our Liberties against any _King_ that shou'd have a mind to invade them at home, which perhaps was the Reason some of our late _Kings_ were so averse to it: And whereas, as the Case now stands, Ten Thousand disciplin'd Soldiers (once landed) might march without _considerable_ Opposition from one End of _England_ to the other; were our _Militia_ well regulated, and _Fire-Arms_ substituted in the Place of _Bills, Bows_, and _Arrows_ (the Weapons in Use when our _training Laws_ were in their Vigor, and for which our Laws are yet in Force) we need not fear a Hundred Thousand Enemies, were it possible to land so many among us.