ce, which are not easily to be found in a mind contracted by a
mean education, and depressed by long habits of subjection.

It is not, indeed, sir, universally and unvariably certain, that a man,
raised from meanness and poverty, will be insolent and oppressive; nor
do I doubt but there are many now languishing in obscurity, whose
abilities might add new lustre to the highest honours, and whose
integrity would very faithfully discharge the most important trust, and
in their favour, wherever they can be discovered, some exceptions ought
to be made; but as general rules are generally to be followed, as well
in military regulations as other transactions, it will be found, upon
the exactest inquiry, by no means improper to advance gentlemen to posts
of command rather than private sentinels, however skilful or courageous.

It is to be considered, sir, that the present state of the continent,
has for many years made it necessary to support an army, even when we
are not engaged in an actual war; that this army, though of late it has,
for the ease of the people, been sometimes encamped during the summer,
is, for the greatest part, quartered in towns, and mingled with the rest
of the community, but governed, at the same time, by the officers, and
subject to the martial law. It has often been observed by those who have
argued against standing forces, that this difference of government makes
different societies, which do not combine in the same interest, nor much
favour one another; and it is, indeed, certain, that feuds are sometimes
produced, that when any private quarrel happens, either by drunkenness
or accident, or claims really disputable, between a soldier and any
other, person, each applies for support and assistance to those in the
same condition with himself, the cause becomes general, and the soldiers
and townsmen are not easily restrained from blows and bloodshed.

It is true, likewise, that the rhetorick of the patriots has been so
efficacious, that their arguments have been so clamorously echoed, and
their weekly productions so diligently dispersed, that a great part of
the nation, as men always willingly admit what will produce immediate
ease or advantage, believes the army to be an useless burden imposed
upon the people for the support of the ministry; that the landlord,
therefore, looks upon the soldier as an intruder forced into his house,
and rioting in sloth at his expense; and the farmer and manufacturer
have