-
10 Of the Army, Fleet, and Fortresses
- Liberty Fund
- Chapter
- Additional Information
90 CHAPTER X Of the Army, Fleet, and Fortresses Having done with the Revenue, I come in the next place to shew how those Sums are expended: And it is certain, that the levying of them is not more grievous to the Subject than the Reason for which they are levied, viz. the Maintenance of a great standing Army: so that the People are Contributors to their own Misery; and their Purses are drain’d in order to their Slavery. Thus the King of France makes the rich Towns he takes be at the Charge of building Citadels to keep themselves in awe: and it is that Master of the Art of Reigning, as his Flatterers call him, that has instructed the Court of Denmark, as well as the other Princes and States of Europe, the pernicious Secret of making one part of the People, both the Bridle and Scourge of the other; which in time must needs end in a general Desolation. The King of Denmark has been but too apt a Pupil to such a Master, and has endeavoured even to exceed his Original; which he finds to his cost at this day, in raising more Men than his Country can maintain. Soldiers are, through I know not what mistaken Policy, esteemed the Riches of the Northern Kings, and other German Princes; for when they make Chapter X 91 an estimate of each others Wealth, it is not by the usual and ancient manner of Computation, the Fertility or Extent of the Territory, the Traffick, Industry, Number, or Riches of the People; but by so many Horse and Foot. For the subsistence of which they are forced, after they have eaten up their own Subjects, to make use of a hundred cruel and unjust Shifts, to the Ruin of their Neighbours. And when they cannot accomplish such a destructive Project in the manner they wish, then they are constrained to foment Quarrels between more potent Princes, that they may have the opportunity of selling to one or other those Forces which themselves cannot possibly maintain: so that at present Soldiers are grown to be as saleable Ware, as Sheep or Oxen, and are as little concern’d when they are sold; for provided the Officers be rendered content by the Purchaser, in having liberty to plunder the laborious and honest Country People in their Marches, and a fat Winter-quarter, with Permission to defraud their own Men of their Pay: the common Soldier goes with no more sense than a Beast to the Slaughter; having no such Sentiment, as Love of Honour, Country, Religion, Liberty, or any thing more than mere fear of being hanged for a Deserter. But this mischievous Custom of Princes esteeming Soldiers the only true Riches, was first begun and established by the French King, and is grown general by his Care to cultivate this Opinion in the Minds of the German Princes, whose poor Countries he foresees will be soon ruined by such a practice. This he principally aims at, and it has brought Matters to such a pass, that War and Destruction are grown absolutely necessary. For as all Men that lay up Wealth never think they have enough; so these that consider Soldiers as the only Riches, never cease enlarging their Number, till they are necessitated for their Subsistence, either to come to Blows with their Neighbours, or to create Animosities between other; wherein they have found the knack of being employed, and receiving Pay without interesting themselves in the Quarrel.Where this will end, God Almighty knows, and can only prevent the apparent Mischiefs threatened by it, viz. the universal Misery and Depopulation of Europe. For since this Practice is grown so general, none of these Kings or Princes, though endowed with a more peaceable Spirit and better Judgment than the rest, dares lead the [44.200.145.114] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 22:14 GMT) 92 An Account of Denmark Dance, and disarm, for fear of his Armed Neighbours, whose Necessities make them wait only for an opportunity to fall upon him that is worst provided to make Resistance: And this is none of the least Calamities which the French Tyranny has forced upon the World, having reduced all the Princes and Commonwealths of it to this hard choice; either to submit themselves to an intolerable Foreign Yoak, or maintain Vipers at home to gnaw their own Bowels. But the Consequences of these unjust Practices have...