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than his profuseness? Were any years of his reign so grievous to the people, so offensive to the nobles, as the first days of her's? When she was driven out, did Stephen correct his former bad conduct? Did he dismiss his odious foreign favourite? Did he discharge his lawless foreign hirelings, who had been so long the scourge and the reproach of England? Have they not lived ever since upon free quarter, by plundering our houses and burning our cities? And now, to compleat our miseries, a new army of foreigners, Angevins, Gascons, Poictevins, I know not who, are come over with Henry Plantagenet, the son of Matilda: and many more, no doubt, will be called to assist him as soon as ever his affairs abroad will permit; by whose help, if he be victorious, England must pay the price of their services : our lands our honours must be the hire of these rapacious invaders. But suppose we should have the fortune to conquer for Stephen, what will be the consequence? Will victory teach him moderation? Will he learn from security that regard to our liberties, which he could not learn from danger? Alas! the only fruit of our good success will be this; the estates of the earl of Leicester and others of our countrymen, who have now quitted the party of the king, will be forfeited; and new confiscations will accrue to William of Ipres.

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But let us not hope, that be our victory ever so complete, it will give any lasting peace to this kingdom. Should Henry fall in this battle, there are two other brothers to succeed to his claim, and support his faction, perhaps with less merit, but certainly with as much ambition. as he. What shall we do then to free ourselves

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from all these misfortunes? --Let us prefer the interest of our country to that of our party, and to all those passions, which are apt, in civil dissensions, to inflame zeal into madness, and render men the blind instruments of those very evils, which they fight to avoid. Let us prevent all the crimes and all the horrors that attend a war of this kind, in which conquest itself is full of calamity, and our most happy victories deserve to be celebrated only by tears. Nature herself is dismayed, and shrinks back from a combat, where every blow that we strike, may murder a friend, a relation, a parent. Let us hearken to her voice, which commands us to refrain from that guilt. Is there one of us here, who would not think it a happy and glorious act, to save the life of one of his countrymen? What a felicity then, and what a glory, must it be to us all, if we save the lives of thousands of Englishmen, that must otherwise fall in this battle, and in many other battles, which, hereafter, may be fought on this quarrel? It is in our power to do so It is in our power to end the controversy, both safely and honourably, by an amicable agreement; not by the sword. Stephen may enjoy the royal dignity for his life, and the succession may be secured to the young duke of Normandy, with such a present rank in the state as befits the heir of the crown. Even the bitterest enemies of the king must acknowledge, that he is valiant generous, and good natured; his warmest friends cannot deny, that he has a great deal of rashness and indiscretion. Both may therefore conclude, that he should not be deprived of the royal authority, but that he ought to be restrained from a further abuse of it; which can be done by no means so certain and effectual as what I propose for thus his power will be

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tempered by the presence, the counsels, and influence of Prince Henry; who from his own interest in the weal of the kingdom which he is to iuberit, will always have a right to interpose his advice, and even his authority, if it be necessary, against any future violation of our liberties; and to procure an effectual redress of our grievances, which we have hitherto sought in vain. If all the English in both armies unite as I hope they may, in this plan of pacification they will be able to give the law to the foreigners, and oblige both the king and the duke to consent to it. This will secure the public tranquillity, and leave no secret stings of resentment, to rankle in the hearts of a suffering party, and produce future disturbances. As there will be no triumph, no insolence, no exclusive right to favour on either side, there can be no shame no anger, no uneasy desire of change. It will be the work of the whole nation and all must wish to support what all have established. The sons of Stephen indeed may endeavour to oppose it but their efforts will be fruitless and must end very soon, either in their submission, or their ruin. Nor have they any reasonable cause to complain. Their father himself did not come to the crown by hereditary right. He was elected in preference to a woman and an infant, who were deemed not to be capable of ruling & kingdom. By that election our allegiance is bound to him during his life but neither that bond, nor the reason for wihch we chose him will hold, as to the choise of a snccessor. Henry Plantagenet is now grown up to an ange of maturity, and every way qualified to succeed to the crown. He is the grandson of a king whose memory is dear to us, and the nearest

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heir male to him in the course of descent: he appears to resemble him in all his good qualities, and to be worthy to reign over the Normans and English, whose noblest blood, united enriches his veins. Normandy has already submitted to him with pleasure. Why should we now divide that duchy from England, when it is so greatly the interest of our nobility to keep them always connected? If we had no other inducement to make us desire a reconciliation between him and Stephen, this would be sufficient. Our estates in both countries will by that means be secured, which otherwise we must forfeit, in the one or the other, while Henry remains possessed of Normandy: and it will not be an easy matter to drive him from thence, even though we should compel him to retire from England. But, by amicably compounding his quarrel with Stephen, we shall maintain all our interests, private and public. His greatness abroad will increase the power of his kingdom; it will make us respectable and formidable to France; England will be the head of all those ample dominions, which extend from the British ocean to the Pyrenean mountains. By governing, in his youth, so many different 'states, he will learn to govern us, and come to the crown after the decease of king Stephen, accomplished in all the arts of good policy. His mother has willingly resigned to him her pretensions, or rather she acknowledges that his are superior we therefore can have nothing to apprehend on that side. In every view, our peace, our safety, the repose of our consciences, the quiet and happiness of our posterity, will be firmly established by the means I propose. Let Stephen continue to wear the crown that we give him,

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as long as he lives; but after his death let it descend to that prince, who alone can put an end to our unhappy divisions. If you approve my advice, and will empower me to treat in your names, I will immediately convey your desires to the king and the duke.

LORD LYTTLETON.

CHA P. VIII.

Mr. Pulteney's Speech on the motion for reducing the Army.

SIR,

WE have heard a great deal about parlia

mentary armies, and about an army continued from year to year; I have always been, Sir and always shall be, against a standing army of any kind: to me it is a terrible thing, whether under that of Parliamentary or any other desig→ nation: a standing army is still a standing army, whatever name it be called by; they are a body of men distinct from the body of the people; they are governed by different laws and blind obedience, and an entire submission to the orders of their commanding officer is their only principle. The nations around us, Sir, are already enslaved, and have been enslaved by those very means; by means of their standing armies they have every one lost their liberties; it is indeed impossible that the liberties of the people can be preserved in any country where a numerous standing army is kept up. Shall we then take any of our measures from the examples of our neighbours? No, Sir, on the contrary, from their misfortunes we ought to avoid those rocks upon which they have split.

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