considerable diminution of his revenue. With- | said, take the field. Among the civilized naout the intervention of his labour, Nature tions of modern Europe, it is commonly com. does herself the greater part of the work which puted, that not more than the one hundredth remains to be done. But the moment that an part of the inhabitants of any country can be artificer, a smith, a carpenter, or a weaver, for example, quits his workhouse, the sole source of his revenue is completely dried up. Nature does nothing for him; he does all for himself. When he takes the field, therefore, in defence of the public, as he has no revenue employed as soldiers, without ruin to the country which pays the expense of their service. The expense of preparing the army for the field seems not to have become considerable in any nation, till long after that of maintainto maintain himself, he must necessarily be ing it in the field had devolved entirely upon maintained by the public. But in a country, the sovereign or commonwealth. In all the of which a great part of the inhabitants are different republics of ancient Greece, to learn artificers and manufacturers, a great part of his military exercises, was a necessary part of the people who go to war must be drawn from education imposed by the state upon every those classes, and must, therefore, be main- free citizen. In every city there seems to tained by the public as long as they are em- have been a public field, in which, under the ployed in its service. protection of the public magistrate, the young When the art of war, too, has gradually people were taught their different exercises grown up to be a very intricate and compli- by different masters. In this very simple in. cated science; when the event of war ceases stitution consisted the whole expense whicl to be determined, as in the first ages of so- any Grecian state seems ever to have been at, ciety, by a single irregular skirmish or battle; in preparing its citizens for war. In ancient out when the contest is generally spun out Rome, the exercises of the Campus Martius t'hrough several different campaigns, each of answered the same purpose with those of the which lasts during the greater part of the Gymnasium in ancient Greece. Under the year; it becomes universally necessary that feudal governments, the many public ordi.. the public should maintain those who serve nances, that the citizens of every district should the public in war, at least while they are em- practise archery, as well as several other mili ployed in that service. Whatever, in time of peace, might be the ordinary occupation of those who go to war, so very tedious and expensive a service would otherwise be by far too heavy a burden upon them. After the second Persian war, accordingly, the armies of Athens seem to have been generally composed of mercenary troops, consisting, indeed, partly of citizens, but partly, too, of foreigners; and all of them equally hired and paid at the expense of the state. From the time of the siege of Veii, the armies of Rome received pay for their service during the time which they remained in the field. Under the feudal governments, the military service, both of the great lords, and of their immediate dependents, was, after a certain period, universally exchanged for a payment in money, which was employed to maintain those who served in their stead. tary exercises, were intended for promoting the same purpose, but do not seem to have promoted it so well. Either from want of interest in the officers entrusted with the execution of those ordinances, or from some other cause, they appear to have been universally neglected; and in the progress of all those governments, military exercises seem to have gone gradually into disuse among the great body of the people. In the republics of ancient Greece and Rome, during the whole period of their existence, and under the feudal governments, for a considerable time after their first establishment, the trade of a soldier was not a separate, distinct trade, which constituted the sole or principal occupation of a particular class of citizens; every subject of the state, whatever might be the ordinary trade or occupation by which he gained his livelihood, considered himself, upon all ordinary occasions, as fit likewise to exercise the trade of a soldier, and, upon many extraordinary occasions, as bound to exercise it. The number of those who can go to war, in proportion to the whole number of the people, is necessarily much smaller in a civilized than in a rude state of society. In a civilized society, as the soldiers are mainThe art of war, however, as it is certainly tained altogether by the labour of those the noblest of all arts, so, in the progress of who are not soldiers, the number of the for- improvement, it necessarily becomes one of mer can never exceed what the latter can the most complicated among them. The state maintain, over and above maintaining, in a of the mechanical, as well as some other arts, manner suitable to their respective stations, with which it is necessarily connected, deterboth themselves and the other officers of go- mines the degree of perfection to which it is vernment and law, whom they are obliged to capable of being carried at any particular maintain. In the little agrarian states of an- time. But in order to carry it to this degree tient Greece, a fourth or a fifth part of the of perfection, it is necessary that it should bewhole body of the people considered them- come the sole or principal occupation of a serves as soldiers, and would sotnetimes, it is particular class of citizens; and the division of labour is as necessary for the improvement whatever other trade or profession they may of this, as of every other art. Into other happen to carry on. arts, the division of labour is naturally intro-❘ Or, secondly, by maintaining and employduced by the prudence of individuals, who ing a certain number of citizens in the confind that they promote their private interest stant practice of military exercises, it may better by confining themselves to a particular render the trade of a soldier a particular trade, trade, than by exercising a great number. separate and distinct from all others. But it is the wisdom of the state only, which If the state has recourse to the first of those can render the trade of a soldier a particular two expedients, its military force is said to trade, separate and distinct from all others. consist in a militia; if to the second, it is A private citizen, who, in time of profound said to consist in a standing army. The pracpeace, and without any particular encourage- tice of military exercises is the sole or princiment from the public, should spend the greater pal occupation of the soldiers of a standing part of his time in military exercises, might, army, and the maintenance or pay which the no doubt, both improve himself very much in state affords them is the principal and ordithem, and amuse himself very well; but he nary fund of their subsistence. The practice certainly would not promote his own interest. of military exercises is only the occasional ocIt is the wisdom of the state only, which can cupation of the soldiers of a militia, and they render it for his interest to give up the greater derive the principal and ordinary fund of their part of his time to this peculiar occupation; subsistence from some other occupation. In and states have not always had this wisdom, a militia, the character of the labourer, artitieven when their circumstances had become cer, or tradesman, predominates over that of such, that the preservation of their existence the soldier; in a standing army, that of the required that they should have it. soldier predominates over every other character; and in this distinction seems to consist the essential difference between those two different species of military force. A shepherd has a great deal of leisure; a husbandman, in the rude state of husbandry, has some; an artificer or manufacturer has none at all. The first may, without any loss, Militias have been of several different kinds. employ a great deal of his time in martial ex- In some countries, the citizens destined for ercises; the second may employ some part of defending the state seem to have been exerit; but the last cannot employ a single hour cised only, without being, if I may say so, rein them without some loss, and his attention gimented; that is, without being divided into his own interest naturally leads him to ne- to separate and distinct bodies of troops, each glect them altogether. Those improvements in of which performed its exercises under its husbandry, too, which the progress of arts own proper and permanent officers. In the and inanufactures necessarily introduces, leave republics of ancient Greece and Rome, each the husbandman as little leisure as the artifi- citizen, as long as he remained at home, seems cer. Military exercises come to be as much to have practised his exercises, either sepa. neglected by the inhabitants of the country as rately and independently, or with such of his by those of the town, and the great body of the equals as he liked best; and not to have been people becomes altogether unwarlike. That attached to any particular body of troops, till wealth, at the same time, which always follows he was actually called upon to take the field. the improvements of agriculture and manufac- In other countries, the militia has not only tures, and which, in reality, is no more than been exercised, but regimented. In England, the accumulated produce of those improve- in Switzerland, and, I believe, in every other ments, provokes the invasion of all their country of modern Europe, where any imneighbours. An industrious, and, upon that perfect military force of this kind has been account, a wealthy nation, is of all nations the most likely to be attacked; and unless the state takes some new measure for the public defence, the natural habits of the people render them altogether incapable of defending themselves. established, every militiaman is, even in time of peace, attached to a particular body of troops, which performs its exercises under its own proper and permanent officers. Before the invention of fire-arms, that army was superior in which the soldiers had, each In these circumstances, there seem to be individually, the greatest skill and dexterity but two methods by which the state can in the use of their arms. Strength and agimake any tolerable provision for the public lity of body were of the highest consequence, and commonly determined the fate of battles. defence. It may either, first, by means of a very ri- But this skill and dexterity in the use of their gorous police, and in spite of the whole bent arms could be acquired only, in the same of the interest, genius, and inclinations of the manner as fencing is at present, by practising, people, enforce the practice of military exer- not in great bodies, but each man separately, cises, and oblige either all the citizens of the military age, or a certain number of them, to join in some measure the trade of a soldier to in a particular school, under a particular master, or with his own particular equals and companions. Since the invention of fire arms, strength and agility of body, or even to ready obedience, with those whose whole extraordinary dexterity and skill in the use of life and conduct are every day directed by arms, though they are far from being of no him, and who every day even rise and go to consequence, are, however, of less conse- bed, or at least retire to their quarters, accordquence. The nature of the weapon, though ing to his orders. In what is called disciit by no means puts the awkward upon a pline, or in the habit of ready obedience, a level with the skilful, puts him more nearly militia must always be still more inferior to a so than he ever was before. All the dexterity standing army, than it may sometimes be in and skill, it is supposed, which are necessary what is called the manual exercise, or in the for using it, can be well enough acquired by management and use of its arms. But, in practising in great bodies. modern war, the habit of ready and instant Regularity, order, and prompt obedience to obedience is of much greater consequence command, are qualities which, in modern than a considerable superiority in the managearmies, are of more importance towards de-ment of arms. termining the fate of battles, than the dexter- Those militias which, like the Tartar or Arab ity and skill of the soldiers in the use of their militia, go to war under the same chieftains arms. But the noise of fire-arms, the smoke, whom they are accustomed to obey in peace, and the invisible death to which every man are by far the best. In respect for their feels himself every moment exposed, as soon officers, in the habit of ready obedience, as he comes within cannon-shot, and fre- they approach nearest to standing armies quently a long time before the battle can be The Highland militia, when it served under well said to be engaged, must render it very its own chieftains, had some advantage of the difficult to maintain any considerable degree same kind. As the Highlanders, however, of this regularity, order, and prompt obe- were not wandering, but stationary shepherds, dience, even in the beginning of a modern as they had all a fixed habitation, and were battle. In an ancient battle, there was no not, in peaceable times, accustomed to follow noise but what arose from the human voice; their chieftain from place to place; so, in there was no smoke, there was no invisible time of war, they were less willing to follow cause of wounds or death. Every man, till him to any considerable distance, or to consome mortal weapon actually did approach tinue for any long time in the field. When him, saw clearly that no such weapon was they had acquired any booty, they were eager near him. In these circumstances, and to return home, and his authority was seldom among troops who had some confidence in sufficient to detain them. In point of obetheir own skill and dexterity in the use of dience, they were always much inferior to their arms, it must have been a good deal what is reported of the Tartars and Arabs. less difficult to preserve some degree of regu- As the Highlanders, too, from their stationary larity and order, not only in the beginning, life, spend less of their time in the open air, but through the whole progress of an ancient they were always less accustomed to military battle, and till one of the two armies was exercises, and were less expert in the use of fairly defeated. But the habits of regularity, their arms than the Tartars and Arabs are said order, and prompt obedience to command, to be. can be acquired only by troops which are exercised in great bodies. A militia, however, in whatever manner it may be either disciplined or exercised, must always be much inferior to a well disciplined and well exercised standing army. suc A militia of any kind, it must be observed, however, which has served for several cessive campaigns in the field, becomes in every respect a standing army. The soldiers are every day exercised in the use of their arms, and, being constantly under the comThe soldiers who are exercised only once a- mand of their officers, are habituated to the week, or once a-month, can never be so expert same prompt obedience which takes place in in the use of their arms, as those who are standing armies. What they were before exercised every day, or every other day; and they took the field, is of little importance. though this circumstance may not be of so They necessarily become in every respect a much consequence in modern, as it was in standing army, after they have passed a few ancient times, yet the acknowledged superior- campaigns in it. Should the war in America ity of the Prussian troops, owing, it is said, drag out through another campaign, the very much to their superior expertness in American militia may become, in every retheir exercise, may satisfy us that it is, even spect, a match for that standing army, of at this day, of very considerable consequence. which the valour appeared, in the last war at The soldiers, who are bound to obey their least, not inferior to that of the hardiest veteofficer only once a-week, or once a-month, rans of France and Spain. and who are at all other times at liberty to This distinction being well understood, the manage their own affairs their own way, history of all ages, it will be found, bears without being, in any respect, accountable to testimony to the irresistible superiority which him, can never be under the same awe in his a well regulated standing army has over a presence, can never have the same disposition militia. One of the first standing armies, of which disciplined and well exercised standing army; and the superiority of Annibal grew every day less and less. Asdrubal judged it ne. cessary to lead the whole, or almost the whole, of the standing army which he commanded in Spain, to the assistance of his brother in Italy. In this march, he is said to have been misled by his guides; and in a country which he did not know, was sur. prised and attacked, by another standing army, in every respect equal or superior to his own, and was entirely defeated. we have any distinct account in any well authenticated history, is that of Philip of Macedon. His frequent wars with the Thracians, Illyrians, Thessalians, and some of the Greek cities in the neighbourhood of Macedon, gradually formed his troops, which in the beginning were probably militia, to the exact discipline of a standing army. When he was at peace, which he was very seldom, and never for any long time together, he was careful not to disband that army. It vanquished and subdued, after a long and violent struggle, indeed, the gallant and well exercised militias of the principal republics of ancient Greece; and afterwards, with very little struggle, the effeminate and ill exercised of the war, his own militia necessarily became militia of the great Persian empire. The a well disciplined and well exercised standing fall of the Greek republics, and of the Per- army. That standing army was afterwards sian empire was the effect of the irresistible superiority which a standing army has over every other sort of militia. It is the first great revolution in the affairs of mankind of which history has preserved any distinct and circumstantial account. The fall of Carthage, and the consequent elevation of Rome, is the second. All the varieties in the fortune of those two famous republics may very well be accounted for from the same cause. When Asdrubal had left Spain, the great Scipio found nothing to oppose him but a militia inferior to his own. He conquered and subdued that militia, and, in the course carried to Africa, where it found nothing but a militia to oppose it. In order to defend Carthage, it became necessary to recal the standing army of Annibal. The disheartened and frequently defeated African militia joined it, and, at the battle of Zama, composed the greater part of the troops of Annibal. The event of that day determined the fate of the two rival republics. From the end of the second Carthaginian war till the fall of the Roman republic, the armies of Rome were in every respect standing armies. The standing army of Macedon made some resistance to their arms. In the height of their grandeur, it cost them two great wars, and three great battles, to subdue that little kingdom, of which the conquest would probably have been still more difficult, From the end of the first to the beginning of the second Carthaginian war, the armies of Carthage were continually in the field, and employed under three great generals, who succeeded one another in the command; Amilcar, his son-in-law Asdrubal, and his son Annibal: first in chastising their own rebellious slaves, afterwards in subduing the had it not been for the cowardice of its last revolted nations of Africa; and lastly, in king. The militias of all the civilized nations conquering the great kingdom of Spain. The of the ancient world, of Greece, of Syria, army which Annibal led from Spain into and of Egypt, made but a feeble resistance Italy must necessarily, in those different to the standing armies of Rome. The miwars, have been gradually formed to the litias of some barbarous nations defended exact discipline of a standing army. The themselves much better. The Scythian or Romans, in the meantime, though they had not been altogether at peace, yet they had not, during this period, been engaged in any war of very great consequence; and their military discipline, it is generally said, was a good deal relaxed. The Roman armies which Annibal encountered at Trebi, Thrasymenus, and Cannæ, were militia opposed to a standing army. This circumstance, it is probable, contributed more than any other to determine the fate of those battles. The standing army which Annibal left behind him in Spain had the like superiority over the militia which the Romans sent to oppose it; and, in a few years, under the command of nis brother, the younger Asdrubal, expelled them almost entirely from that country. Annibal was ill supplied from home. The Roman militia, being continually in the field, became, in the progress of the war, a well Tartar militia, which Mithridates drew from the countries north of the Euxine and Caspian seas, were the most formidable enemies whom the Romans had to encounter after the second Carthaginian war. The Parthian and German militias, too, were always respectable, and upon several occasions, gained very considerable advantages over the Roman armies. In general, however, and when the Roman armies were well commanded, they appear to have been very much superior; and if the Romans did not pursue the final conquest either of Parthia or Germany, it was probably because they judged that it was not worth while to add those two barbarous countries to an empire which was already too large. The ancient Parthians appear to have been a nation of Scythian or Tartar extraction, and to have always retained a good deal of the manners of their ancestors. The ancient Germans were, like the Scythians or Tartars, a nation of wandering shepherds, who went to war under the same chiefs whom they were accustomed to follow in peace. Their militia was exactly of the sam kind with that of the Scythians or Tartars, from whom, too, they were probably descended. new settlements, as it had been in their ori. ginal country. It was a militia of shepherds and husbandmen, which, in time of war, took the field under the command of the same chieftains whom it was accustomed to obey in peace. It was, therefore, tolerably well ex. Many different causes contributed to relax ercised, and tolerably well disciplined. As the discipline of the Roman armies. Its ex-arts and industry advanced, however, the au. treme severity was, perhaps, one of those thority of the chieftians gradually decayed, and causes. In the days of their grandeur, when the great body of the people had less time to no enemy appeared capable of opposing them, spare for military exercises. Both the distheir heavy armour was laid aside as unneces- cipline and the exercise of the feudal militia, sarily burdensome, their laborious exercises therefore, went gradually to ruin, and standwere neglected, as unnecessarily toilsome. ing armies were gradually introduced to Under the Roman emperors, besides, the supply the place of it. When the expedient standing armies of Rome, those particularly of a standing army, besides, had once been which guarded the German and Pannonian adopted by one civilized nation, it became frontiers, became dangerous to their masters, necessary that all its neighbours should follow against whom they used frequently to set up the example. They soon found that their their own generals. In order to render them safety depended upon their doing so, and that less formidable, according to some authors, their own militia was altogether incapable of Dioclesian, according to others, Constantine, first withdrew them from the frontier, where they had always before been encamped in great bodies, generally of two or three legions each, resisting the attack of such an army. The soldiers of a standing army, though they may never have seen an enemy, yet have frequently appeared to possess all the courage and dispersed them in small bodies through of veteran troops, and, the very moment that the different provincial towns, from whence they took the field, to have been fit to face they were scarce ever removed, but when it the hardiest and most experienced veterans. became necessary to repel an invasion. Small In 1756, when the Russian army marched bodies of soldiers, quartered in trading and into Poland, the valour of the Russian solmanufacturing towns, and seldom removed diers did not appear inferior to that of the from those quarters, became themselves Prussians, at that time supposed to be the tradesmen, artificers, and manufacturers. hardiest and most experienced veterans in The civil came to predominate over the mi- Europe. The Russian empire, however, litary character; and the standing armies of had enjoyed a profound peace for near twenty Rome gradually degenerated into a corrupt, years before, and could at that time have very neglected, and undisciplined militia, incapa- few soldiers who had ever seen an enemy. ble of resisting the attack of the German and Scythian militias, which soon afterwards invaded the western empire. It was only by hiring the militia of some of those nations to of her soldiers, however, far from being cor oppose to that of others, that the emperors rupted by that long peace, was never more were for some time able to defend themselves. distinguished than in the attempt upon CarThe fall of the western empire is the third thagena, the first unfortunate exploit of that great revolution in the affairs of mankind, of unfortunate war. In a long peace, the gewhich ancient history has preserved any dis- nerals, perhaps, may sometimes forget their tinct or circumstantial account. It was skill; but where a well regulated standing brought about by the irresistible superiority army has been kept up, the soldiers seem newhich the militia of a barbarous has over ver to forget their valour. When the Spanish war broke out in 1739, England had enjoyed a profound peace for about eight-and-twenty years. The valour that of a civilized nation; which the militia When a civilized nation depends for its of a nation of shepherds has over that of a na- defence upon a militia, it is at all times extion of husbandmen, artificers, and manufac- posed to be conquered by any barbarous naturers. The victories which have been gained tion which happens to be in its neighbourby militias have generally been, not over stand- hood. The frequent conquests of all the ing armies, but over other militias, in exercise civilized countries in Asia by the Tartars, and discipline inferior to themselves. Such sufficiently demonstrates the natural superiwere the victories which the Greek militia ority which the militia of a barbarous has gained over that of the Persian empire; and over that of a civilized nation. A well resuch, too, were those which, in later times, gulated standing army is superior to every the Swiss militia gained over that of the Au- militia. Such an army, as it can best be strians and Burgundians. maintained by an opulent and civilized nation, The military force of the German and Scy- so it can alone defend such a nation against thian nations, who established themselves up- the invasion of a poor and barbarous neighon the ruins of the western empire, continued bour. It is only by means of a standing for some time to be of the same kind in their army, therefore, that the civilization of any |