[The History of England from the Accession of James II. by Thomas Babington Macaulay]@TWC D-Link book
The History of England from the Accession of James II.

CHAPTER XXIII
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Standing Armies--Sunderland--Lord Spencer--Controversy touching Standing Armies--Meeting of Parliament--The King's Speech well received; Debate on a Peace Establishment--Sunderland attacked--The Nation averse to a Standing Army--Mutiny Act; the Navy Acts concerning High Treason--Earl of Clancarty--Ways and Means; Rights of the Sovereign in reference to Crown Lands--Proceedings in Parliament on Grants of Crown Lands--Montague accused of Peculation--Bill of Pains and Penalties against Duncombe--Dissension between the houses--Commercial Questions--Irish Manufactures--East India Companies--Fire at Whitehall--Visit of the Czar--Portland's Embassy to France--The Spanish Succession--The Count of Tallard's Embassy--Newmarket Meeting: the insecure State of the Roads--Further Negotiations relating to the Spanish Succession--The King goes to Holland--Portland returns from his Embassy--William is reconciled to Marlborough THE rejoicings, by which London, on the second of December 1697, celebrated the return of peace and prosperity, continued till long after midnight.

On the following morning the Parliament met; and one of the most laborious sessions of that age commenced.
Among the questions which it was necessary that the Houses should speedily decide, one stood forth preeminent in interest and importance.
Even in the first transports of joy with which the bearer of the treaty of Ryswick had been welcomed to England, men had eagerly and anxiously asked one another what was to be done with that army which had been formed in Ireland and Belgium, which had learned, in many hard campaigns, to obey and to conquer, and which now consisted of eighty-seven thousand excellent soldiers.

Was any part of this great force to be retained in the service of the State?
And, if any part, what part?
The last two kings had, without the consent of the legislature, maintained military establishments in time of peace.

But that they had done this in violation of the fundamental laws of England was acknowledged by all jurists, and had been expressly affirmed in the Bill of Rights.

It was therefore impossible for William, now that the country was threatened by no foreign and no domestic enemy, to keep up even a single battalion without the sanction of the Estates of the Realm; and it might well be doubted whether such a sanction would be given.
It is not easy for us to see this question in the light in which it appeared to our ancestors.
No man of sense has, in our days, or in the days of our fathers, seriously maintained that our island could be safe without an army.
And, even if our island were perfectly secure from attack, an army would still be indispensably necessary to us.


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