But these arguments had little effect on Cavaliers who still remembered with bitterness the stern rule of the Protector.

The general feeling was forcibly expressed by the first of the Tory country gentlemen of England, Edward Seymour.

He admitted that the militia was not in a satisfactory state, but maintained that it might be remodelled.

The remodelling might require money; but, for his own part, he would rather give a million to keep up a force from which he had nothing to fear, than half a million to keep up a force of which he must ever be afraid.
Let the trainbands be disciplined; let the navy be strengthened; and the country would be secure.

A standing army was at best a mere drain on the public resources.