INTRODUCTION

то THE

PROCEEDINGS of the COMMITTEE

APFOINTED TO MANAGE THE

Contributions begun at London, Dec. 18, 1758, for cloathing French Prifoners of War.

TH

HE Committee entrusted with the money contributed to the relief of the subjects of France, now prifoners in the British dominions, here lay before the publick an exact account of all the fums received and expended, that the donors may judge how properly their benefactions have been applied.

Charity would lose its name, were it influenced by fo mean a motive as human praife: it is therefore not intended to celebrate by any particular memorial, the liberality of fingle perfons, or diftinct focieties; it is fufficient that their works praise them.

Yet he who is far from seeking honour, may very justly obviate cenfure. If a good example has been fet, it may lose its influence by misreprefentation; and to free charity from reproach, is itself a charitable action.

Against the relief of the French only one argument has been brought; but that one is fo popular and fpecious, that if it were to remain unexamined,

it would by many be thought irrefragable. It has been urged, that charity, like other virtues, may be improperly and unfeafonably exerted; that while we are relieving Frenchmen, there remain many Englishmen unrelieved; that while we lavish pity on our enemies, we forget the mifery of our friends.

Grant this argument all it can prove, and what is the conclufion?--That to relieve the French is a good action, but that a better may be conceived. This is all the refult, and this all is very little. To do the best can feldom be the lot of man; it is fufficient if, when opportunities are prefented, he is ready to do good. How little virtue could be practifed, if beneficence were to wait always for the most proper objects, and the nobleft occafions; occafions that may never happen, and objects that may never be found.

New

It is far from certain, that a fingle Englishman will fuffer by the charity to the French. fcenes of mifery make new impreffions; and much of the charity which produced thefe donations, may be supposed to have been generated by a species of calamity never known among us before. Some imagine that the laws have provided all neceffary relief in common cafes, and remit the poor to the care of the publick; fome have been deceived by fictitious mifery, and are afraid of encouraging imposture; many have obferved want to be the effect of vice, and consider casual almsgivers as patrons of idlenefs. But all thefe difficulties vanish in the prefent cafe: we know that for the Prisoners of War there is no legal provifion; we fee their distress, and are certain of its caufe; we know

that

that they are poor and naked, and poor and naked without a crime.

But it is not neceffary to make any conceffions. The opponents of this charity muft allow it to be good, and will not eafily prove it not to be the beft. That charity is beft, of which the confequences are most extenfive: the relief of enemies has a tendency to unite mankind in fraternal affection; to soften the acrimony of adverse nations, and difpofe them to peace and amity in the mean time, it alleviates captivity, and takes away fomething from the miferies of war. The rage of war, however mitigated, will always fill the world with calamity and horror: let it not then be unneceffarily extended; let animofity and hoftility ceafe together; and no man be longer deemed an enemy, than while his sword is drawn against us.

The effects of thefe contributions may, perhaps, reach ftill further. Truth is beft fupported by virtue: we may hope from thofe who feel or who fee our charity, that they fhall no longer deteft as herefy that religion, which makes its profeffors the followers of Him, who has commanded us to "do "good to them that hate us."

BRAVERY

OF THE

ENGLISH COMMON SOLDIERS.

Y those who have compared the military genius

Br

of the English with that of the French nation, it is remarked, that the French officers will always lead, if the foldiers will follow; and that the English foldiers will always follow, if their officers will lead.

In all pointed fentences, fome degree of accuracy must be facrificed to conciseness; and, in this comparison, our officers feem to lofe what our foldiers gain. I know not any reafon for fuppofing that the English officers are lefs willing than the French to lead; but it is, I think, univerfally allowed, that the English foldiers are more willing to follow. Our nation may boast, beyond any other people in the world, of a kind of epidemick bravery, diffused equally through all its ranks. We can fhew a peasantry of heroes, and fill our armies with clowns, whose courage may vie with that of their general.

There may be fome pleasure in tracing the caufes of this plebeian magnanimity. The qualities which commonly make an army formidable, are long habits of regularity, great exactnefs of discipline, and

great

great confidence in the commander. Regularity may, in time, produce a kind of mechanical obedience to fignals and commands, like that which the perverse Cartefians impute to animals; difcipline may imprefs fuch an awe upon the mind, that any danger fhall be lefs dreaded than the danger of pu. nishment; and confidence in the wifdom or fortune of the general, may induce the foldiers to follow him blindly to the most dangerous enterprize.

What may be done by difcipline and regularity, may be seen in the troops of the Ruffian emprefs and Pruffian monarch. We find that they may be broken without confufion, and repulfed without flight.

But the English troops have none of these requifites in any eminent degree. Regularity is by no means part of their character: they are rarely exercised, and therefore fhew very little dexterity in their evolutions as bodies of men, or in the manual use of their weapons as individuals; they neither are thought by others, nor by themselves, more active or exact than their enemies, and therefore derive none of their courage from fuch imaginary fuperiority.

The manner in which they are difperfed in quarters over the country during times of peace, naturally produces laxity of difcipline: they are very little in fight of their officers; and, when they are not engaged in the flight duty of the guard, are fuffered to live every man his own way.

The equality of English privileges, the impartiality of our laws, the freedom of our tenures, and the profperity of our trade, difpofe us very little to

2

reverence