or in the Neighbourhood. And therefore such Towns (through
the Mischief arising by _Combinations_ and _By-Laws_) are at best at a
Stand; very few in a thriving Condition (and those are where the
_By-Laws_ are least _restrictive_) but _most_ throughout _England_ fall
to visible Decay, whilst new Villages _not_ incorporated, or more
liberal of their Privileges, grow up in their stead; till, in Process of
Time, the first Sort will become almost as desolate as _Old Sarum_, and
will as well deserve to lose their Right of sending Representatives to
Parliament. For certainly a _Waste_ or a _Desert_ has no Right to be
represented, nor by our original Constitution was ever intended to be:
yet I would by no means have those Deputies lost to the Commons, but
transferr'd to wiser, more industrious, and better peopled Places,
worthy (thro their Numbers and Wealth) of being represented.

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