STATE PAPERS. 



141 



to be useful. And the supineness of in the executive power, to introt 



parliament, in the reign of king duce any number, without hrait, o 



James the Second, when so many armed men foreign hirelings mto 



acts, notoriously illegal, were com- any country, without the previous 



mitted by the crown, and yet passed and express consent of the leg.s.a- 



unnoticed by the two houses, ckarly ture, is totally incompatible with 



proves, that, from the want of vigi 

 lance in certain parliaments, pre- 

 cedents may be established, subver- 

 sive of the first piinciplcs of national 

 freedom. 



4. Becatise the maintaining of a 

 foreign army on the establishment, 

 or within the territory of this king- 

 dom, is in open defiance ot the very 

 act of parliament which settles the 

 crown on the present royal family 

 (namely, the 12th and 13th of Wil- 

 liam III. chap, the 2d.) which ex- 

 pressly enacts, " I'hat no person 



born out of the kingdoms of Eng- ilp^-otest of earl Radnor against the re- 

 land, Scotland, or Irekind, or the j.^ti^,,^/ the Indemnity Billjhr 



any form of a free constitution; for, 

 not only that government is tyran- 

 nical, which is actually tyrannically 

 administered, but that government 

 also is tyrannical (however admini- 

 stered) where there is no sufficient 

 security againstits beingtyrannically 

 administered in future. And I so- 

 lemnly protest against a measure 

 which tends to endanger the right.? 

 and liberties of my fellow-citizens, 

 of whom I consider myself only as a 

 trustee. Stanhope. 



dominions thereunto belonging (al- 

 though he be naturalized, or made 

 a denizen, except such as ;iie born 

 of English parents) shall beiH|jable 

 to enjoy any office or place of trust, 

 either civil or military." And the 

 act of ilie 29ih George II. ciiap. the 

 5th, is a proof that the lej.;islatuic 

 deemed a special act of parliament 

 necessary, to enable the king to em- 

 ploy even a limited number of sub- 

 altern foreign ofticers in America, 

 only under certain restrictions and 

 qualifications. 



,'5. Bf-cause " foreign mercenaries 

 have always been unuseful, or dan- 

 gerous to those who employ tlicm. 

 Their conduct, at first, has gene- 

 rally been ptaceablc and cnsnanng; 

 at last, sediti(itis and ('estiuclive ; 

 and those states that have carried 

 the points which they intended, by 

 their assistance, have usually in the 

 event been enslaved by Iheiu." 



4'\nd 0th. Because a prero^^ative 



the landing of troops in this kingdom 

 uithout the consent ofparltamcnt; 

 wliich was moved hy the earl of 

 Albemarle, 



I. T3ECAUSE, with the ex- 

 J3 ception of only one noble 

 lord, not one of his majesty's mini- 

 sters, it was in the debate unani- 

 mously admitted, th^t the keeping 

 in this country troops, whether na- 

 tive or foreign, in time either of 

 war or peace, without the consent 

 of parliament, is unconslituti- nal. 

 And as it was also admitted, unani- 

 m lusly and uneciuivocall)', that ths 

 troops in question are heir upon 

 grounds of fitness and expediency; 

 and as the consideration of fitness 

 and expediency, though tbey render, 

 and in fact in the present ipstance 

 do render, not only justifiable, but 

 highly meritorious, do in no degree 

 so change the nature a-; to make it 

 more or less coni;titutso:ui'.. 



■i This 



