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3. The Memoirs and the Standing Army Controversy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2009

Extract

In 1697 the pattern of political allegiances in England was profoundly affected by the Treaty of Ryswick. Despite the return of peace, William III was determined to retain the bulk of the land forces which had been used against France. His resolve provoked the ‘standing army controversy’ which raged from 1697 to 1699. The debate cut across Whig-Tory divisions and—as Toland was quick to point out—made possible the creation of an effective ‘country’, or anti-court, alliance. The controversy revealed the extent of the mistrust of William's constitutional intentions held by backbench M.P.s, and showed how widespread was the anxiety about the uses to which a standing army might be put by William's successors. It also brought into the open tensions within the Whig party which had been growing since 1693–4. The Whigs were held together before 1697, and were to be held together again after 1699, by fear of France. In the interim, however, the support given by Somers and his fellow ‘junto’ Whigs to the retention of William's land forces seemed to ‘country’ Whigs a final confirmation of the junto's apostacy from the revolutionary principles of 1688–9.

Type
Introduction
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1978

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References

page 39 note 171 Above, p. 30.

page 39 note 172 The Militia Reformed, pp. 7, 32.Google Scholar

page 40 note 173 Letters from…. Shaftesbury to Robert Molesworth, p. ix.Google Scholar

page 40 note 174 With the title Discourses concerning Government —the title of the Sidney publication of the same year.

page 40 note 175 On the ideology and the tradition, see Robbins, The Eighteenth-Century Commonwealthsman and Two Republican Tracts; Fink, The Classical Republicans; Colbourn, H. T., The Lamp of Experience (North Carolina, 1965)Google Scholar; Raab, Felix, The English Face of Machiavelli (1964)Google Scholar; Pocock, J. G. A., Politics, Language and Time (New York, 1971)Google Scholar, ch. iv, and The Machiavellian Moment (Princeton, 1975)Google Scholar, ch. xii; Skinner, Quentin, ‘The Principles and Practice of Opposition’, in N. McKendrick (ed.), Historical Perspectives (1974), pp. 93ffGoogle Scholar. Schwoerer, , ‘No Standing Armies!Google Scholar,is the best recent introduction to the controversy of 1697–9, although it is still hard to resist Macaulay's discussion in ch. xxiii of his History of England. The most eloquent testimony to the influence of the anti-standing army ideology in eighteenth-century England seems to me to be Gibbon's Decline and Fall: see Everyman edition (6 vols., 1974), e.g. i. 56–7, 59, 101–3, 120, 133, 153–4, 162, 188–9, 227, ii. 109–10, 217, 326, 378 and n. 2, iii. 177, 194, 217–19, 286, 427 (and it is interesting to notice Gibbon's debt to Walter Moyle: ibid., e.g. i. 191n., 491n., ii. 39n., 40n., 41n., iii. 119n., 122n.). See also (e.g.) Forbes, Duncan, The Political Philosophy of Hume (Cambridge, 1975), p. 212Google Scholar and n.; The Works of William Robertson (1831), p. 439bGoogle Scholar; Pope's Iliad, xix. line 145n.

page 41 note 176 Two relatively well-informed replies to pamphlets against standing armies suggest that An Argument, which is normally attributed to Walter Moyle and John Trenchard, was written by the author of A Short History, and one of them claims that the author of both pamphlets was the author of The Militia Reformed, i.e. Toland: A True Account of the Land Forces in England (1699), pp. 78, 1415, 67Google Scholar; An Argument proving, that a small number of regulated Forces established during the present Parliament…. (1698)Google Scholar, preface (and see p. 24). Toland apparently claimed to have written A Short History: see Remarks on the Life of Mr. Milton (1699), p. 14Google Scholar. Compare too the reference to ‘surly patriots’ on pp. 38–9 of A Short History with Toland's remark about ‘surly Whigs’ in The Art of Governing by Partys, pp. 47–8. An Argument is attributed to Toland in Watt's Bibliotheca Britiannica. It may have drawn on Ludlow's manuscript: An Argument, p. 10Google Scholar. The posthumous edition of the Works of Walter Moyle (2 vols., 1726, published by John Darby jr.) is worth comparing with Desmaizeaux's edition of Toland's posthumous works in the same year. It is interesting, too, to read Moyle's writings—especially ‘An Essay upon the Roman Government’—with Toland in mind.

page 41 note 177 A Short History, pp. 2, 5, 89.Google Scholar

page 41 note 178 B.L., Add. MS. 40072, fo. 357v, Vernon to King, 29 November 1698, and Add. MS. 17677SS, fos. 415&v, report of Dutch envoys, 12 December 1698; A True Account of the Land Forces, p. 44.Google Scholar

page 42 note 179 B.L., Add. MS. 40773, fo. 333, Vernon to Portland, 29 April 1699.

page 42 note 180 Desmaizeaux, Toland, i. lix–lxiGoogle Scholar, ii. 217–18, 345, 349–50; The Art of Restoring, dedication; Kemble, European State Papers, pp. 463–5Google Scholar; The Wentworth Papers (1882), pp. 132, 136Google Scholar (cf. Macinnes, Angus, ‘The Political Ideas of Robert Harley’, History, 1965, p. 321n.Google Scholar); Somers Tracts, xii. 557Google Scholar; H.M.C.R. Portland, iv. 408–10, 491, 572Google Scholar, v. 4, 120, 126, 258–60, viii. 279, ix. 289–90; Heinemann, F. H., ‘A Prolegomena to a Bibliography of John Toland’, Notes and Queries, 25 09 1943Google Scholar, and Review of English Studies, 1944, pp. 136–7Google Scholar; Snyder, H. L. (ed.), The Marlborough-Godolphin Correspondence (3 vols., Oxford, 1975), ii. 1059, 1165, 1171Google Scholar; Swift, Jonathan, A Discourse of the Contests between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, ed. Ellis, F. H. (Oxford, 1967), pp. 3642Google Scholar. Toland proclaimed throughout Europe that he was Harley's agent, and was consequently disbelieved, but there may have been something in it—although Snyder's normally exemplary work has a misleading footnote on the subject (ii. 1059). I have found nothing to connect Harley with Ludlow's Memoirs. It is likely that Harley was not involved in the publication of Holles's Memoirs (see B.L., Loan MS. 29/189, fo. 84), but he could have been involved in Toland's plan for an edition of Fairfax's Memorials: Harley had inherited a copy of Fairfax's manuscript (now B.L., Harleian MS. 1786) from his father.

page 42 note 181 Ballard MS. iv, fo. 53V, Tanner to Charlett, 6 May 1700; Harrington's Works, p. vGoogle Scholar; The Life of John Sharp, pp. 273–4Google Scholar; Lambeth MS. 933, no. 74; Jacob, , The Newtonians and the English Revolution, pp. 220–2, 226.Google Scholar

page 42 note 182 Lambeth MS. 933, no. 74; Francis, A. D., The Methuens and Portugal (Cambridge, 1966), pp. 357–8Google Scholar; Anglia Libera, pp. 164–5Google Scholar; cf. The State-Anatomy, p. 96.Google Scholar

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page 42 note 185 B.L., Add. MS. 4295, fo. 57; P.R.O., 30/24/21, no. 231.

page 43 note 185 Rand, , Shaftesbury, pp. 325–6.Google Scholar

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page 43 note 187 Forster, T. (ed.), Original Letters of Locke, Algernon Sidney, and Anthony, Lord Shaftesbury (1847), pp. 75–7, 82–3, 92, 110–11Google Scholar; P.R.O., 30/24/21, no 231, 30/24/45, part i, fo. 73V; Letters from….Shaftesbury to Robert Molesworth, pp. vii–viiiGoogle Scholar, xv ff. To Shaftesbury—as to Toland—there was a natural connection between ‘mercenary’ politics and the prevalent ‘mercenary’ morality; see Aldridge, A. O., ‘Shaftesbury and the Deist Manifesto’, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1951, pp. 297ff.Google Scholar

page 43 note 188 MS. Locke c. 7, fo. 120.

page 44 note 189 Dedication; P.R.O., 30/24/30, fos. 135–6 (with which compare Toland, An Account of the Courts of Prussia and Hanover (1705), pp. 3841Google Scholar; see also Toland, , A Philippick Oration, p. 23).Google Scholar

page 44 note 190 Heinemann (Notes and Queries, 25 09 1943Google Scholar) suggested that Shaftesbury was the sole or at least the principal author, but neither the internal nor the external evidence seems to me to support his view. Desmaizeaux, Toland, i. lxxxviiGoogle Scholar; Letters from….Shaftesbury to Robert Molesworth, p. xxiGoogle Scholar; The Art of Governing by Partys, p. 69Google Scholar; ‘Bibliotheca Collinsiana’ (library of King's College, Cambridge: photocopy in the Bodleian, MS. Facs. c. 43), p. 468. Shaftesbury's clandestine support of pamphlets was probably widespread (Rand, , Shaftesbury, p. 307Google Scholar; Forster, , Letters, pp. 121, 188Google Scholar), but he was often accused of writing tracts for which he was not in fact responsible (B.L., Add. MS. 4288 (Desmaizeaux papers), fo. 95V). The Danger of Mercenary Parliaments is sometimes dated earlier than 1698; but, in the form in which we have it, it can be seen from internal evidence to have been an election manifesto of that year; see also The True Englishman's Choice of Parliament-Men (1698).Google Scholar

page 44 note 191 In the letter Shaftesbury gave expression to his revulsion from the philosophy (although not from the personality) of Locke—an indication of the profound change in Shaftesbury's views since 1699.

page 44 note 192 It was in Toland's version that Shaftesbury encouraged Desmaizeaux—and probably continued to encourage him at least until 1705–to translate it into French: P.R.O., 30/24/21, no. 227, 30/24/27, 17, i–iv, 30/24/30, fos. 383&v; B.L., Add. MS. 4288, fos. 95–9. The fourth Earl claimed that his father had so resented the publication of Toland's version that he had bought up all the available copies in circulation. In reality, Toland's version was being advertised by John Darby jr. as late as 1706 (State Tracts, iii; see also the advertisements in the 1704 edition of Sidney's Discourses)— although it is possible that Shaftesbury was uneasy about this publicity: see P.R.O., 30/24/27/7, p. 16.

page 44 note 193 Jacob, , The Newtonians and the English Revolution, p. 24Google Scholar; Reflections upon Mr. Stephens's Sermon (n.d.: 1700?), esp. p. 33. For Stephens's connection with Toland and Darby see also Regicides no Saints, p. 134Google Scholar, and Snyder, Marlborough-Godolphin Correspondence, ii. 1165Google Scholar. For evidence of support for Anne Baldwin in Parliament, see Journals of the House of Commons, 20 12 1699Google Scholar, 17–24 January, 6, 12 February, 1 March 1700. For Shaftesbury and Stephens see also Rand, , Shaftesbury, p. 314.Google Scholar

page 44 note 194 Manuscript annotation (evidently written in 1700) in a copy of the sermon in the Cambridge University Library, classmark 6. 21. 113.

page 44 note 195 P.R.O., 30/24/22/2, fo. 178, 30/24/22/3, pp. 57–8.

page 44 note 196 P.R.O., 30/24/45, part i, fo. 42; Forster, , Letters, pp. 71, 120Google Scholar (and see ibid., p. 88).

page 45 note 197 P.R.O., 30/24/45, part i, fos. 41, 52–3, 60, 73&v, 90v, 304; Hertfordshire Record Office, D/EP/F29 (Diary of Sarah Cowper), pp. 152–3; Anglia Libera, passim.; Vindicius Liberius, pp. 155–7Google Scholar; An Account of the Courts of Prussia and Hanover, pp. 58–9, 63–5, 69Google Scholar: cf. Poems on Affairs of State (7 vols., 19631975)Google Scholar, engraving opposite vi (ed. F. H. Ellis), 659.

page 45 note 198 Klopp, , Correspondence de Leibniz, ii. 333–4Google Scholar; Anglia Libera, pp. 50–1Google Scholar; but cf. Some Queries which Deserve no Consideration, Answered (n.d.: 1701?), p. 5.Google Scholar

page 45 note 199 Forster, , Letters, pp. 105–6Google Scholar; and see P.R.O., 30/24/21, no. 231.

page 45 note 200 Klopp, , Correspondence de Leibniz, ii. 403Google Scholar; Rand, , Shaftesbury, pp. 318–20, 32–3, 335Google Scholar (and see p. 279); Kemble, , European State Papers, p. 377Google Scholar. Given Shaftesbury's friendship with the Electress Sophia and her daughter Sophia Charlotte, and the contacts established in England by their adviser Leibniz, it seems unlikely that Shaftesbury and Leibniz, whose views about the Protestant succession in England and about European diplomacy were so similar, were not in touch by 1701. The only direct evidence we seem to have about their relationship concerns Leibniz's view of Shaftesbury's philosophy: see Leibniz's ‘Remarques sur un“Lettre sur L'Enthusiasme”’, in Recueit des diverses Pièces, tom, xii (Amsterdam, 1720)Google Scholar; Riley, P. (ed.), The Political Writings of Leibniz (Cambridge, 1972), pp. 192–8.Google Scholar

page 45 note 201 Forster, , Letters, pp. 122, 147Google Scholar; ‘Bibliotheca Collinsiana’, p. 469Google Scholar; Desmaizeaux, Toland, i. livGoogle Scholar; [E. Curll?], An Historical Account of…. John Toland (1722), p. 98Google Scholar; Klopp, , Correspondence de Leibniz, ii. 341–2Google Scholar; advertisement page (evidently of works by Toland) in Vindicius Liberius; P.R.O., 30/24/20, no. 68.

page 45 note 202 Rand, , Shaftesbury, pp. 345–6Google Scholar; cf. Locke MS. c. 7, fo. 124.

page 46 note 203 Locke MS. f. 29 (notebook), p. 14.

page 46 note 204 Ballard MS. xxxvii, fo. 4, Hinton to Charlett, 31 January 1694–5; see also Jacob, , The Newtonians and the English Revolution, p. 214n.Google Scholar

page 46 note 205 The Works of John Locke, viii. 422, 425–6.Google Scholar

page 47 note 206 Robbins, , Two Republican Tracts, pp. 196–8Google Scholar. I suspect that Toland may also have been influenced by Burnet's life of Matthew Hale, published in 1682 and popularised in an abridged form in the 1690s.

page 47 note 207 Ludlow possessed most of the accoutrements of a gentleman, but Toland adds a few (such as an interest in horse-breeding: Darby, , iii. 910Google Scholar: Firth, , ii. 267Google Scholar). To take another obvious—although by itself relatively minor—example of Toland's technique: the Memoirs normally refer to Ludlow's fellow country gentlemen by their full names and ranks, whereas in the manuscript Ludlow tends to provide only their surnames.

page 47 note 208 Bodleian Library, MS. Eng. hist. b. 209, fos. 87v, 93v.

page 47 note 209 Darby, , ii. 674–5, 816Google Scholar, iii. 118: Firth, , ii. 99, 212, 345.Google Scholar

page 48 note 210 Darby, , iii. 235Google Scholar: Firth, , ii. 427Google Scholar. Compare Darbishire, The Early Lives of Milton, pp. 17, 49Google Scholar; and see Desmaizeaux, Toland, i. 15Google Scholar: ‘As the fundamental law of a historian is, daring to say whatever is true …. so he ought of course to be a man of no time or country’ (see also ibid., p. 18, and A Philippick Oration, p. viiGoogle Scholar). Compare too the passage from The Life of John Milton qupted below, p. 62.

page 48 note 211 Cf. Darby, , i. 4Google Scholar: Firth, , i. 5.Google Scholar

page 48 note 212 Below, pp. 72–4. See too the passage, inserted by Toland, about the corruption prevalent ‘since the late Revolution’: Darby, , iii. 402Google Scholar: Firth, , ii. 332.Google Scholar

page 49 note 213 Firth, , i. xii–xiii.Google Scholar

page 49 note 214 Not least by Shaftesbury: e.g. Forster, , Letters, pp. 76, 110–11.Google Scholar

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page 50 note 217 B.L., Add. MS. 4289 (Desmaizeaux papers), fo. 130v.

page 50 note 218 Above, p. 47; below, p. 73.

page 51 note 219 Robbins, , The Eighteenth-Century Commonwealthsman, p. 274.Google Scholar

page 51 note 220 In the American colonies, in particular, the classical aura in which the execution of Charles I was placed may have dignified the event and reduced its horror. Colbourn, The Lamp of Experience, has interesting information about the reception of Ludlow's Memoirs in eighteenth-century America; see also Bailyn, , The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, pp. 118n, 140n.Google Scholar

page 51 note 221 See e.g. the title-page of King Charles I no such Saint….

page 52 note 222 For their relations see the sources cited above, p. 42, n. 180.

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page 53 note 224 Ballard MS. xxvii, fos. 37v–38, 41v, Ayerst to Charlett, 26 November 1707, 31 March 1708 (cf. Desmaizeaux, Toland, i. lxiiGoogle Scholar); H.M.C.R. Portland, iv. 456, 491, ix. 289–90Google Scholar; Kemble, , European State Papers and Correspondence, pp. 459–60, 462–3, 466–7.Google Scholar

page 53 note 225 B.L., Add. MS. 4465, fo. 3; H.M.C.R. Portland, vii. 441.Google Scholar

page 53 note 226 Desmaizeaux, Toland, i. v–vi, lxii.Google Scholar

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page 54 note 230 B.L., Add. MS. 4295, fos. 41–42v.

page 54 note 231 Desmaizeaux, Toland, ii. 338–9.Google Scholar

page 54 note 232 See above, pp. 40, 51n.

page 54 note 233 Cf. Shackleton, Robert, ‘Montesquieu and Machiavelli: A Reappraisal’, Comparative Literature Studies, 1964, at pp. 810.Google Scholar

page 54 note 234 A publisher's note at the beginning of the 1698 reprint of Plato Redivivus suggests that the work had previously existed only in manuscript—a ruse which surely would have been risked only if the two editions of 1681 had been forgotten.

page 55 note 235 ‘Voyce’, immediately prior to p. 1355.