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had destroyed the free institutions of the neighbouring nations.The Tories had repeated as constantly that, in our own island, -a standing army had subverted the Church, oppressed the gentry,and murdered the King. No leader of either party could, with-out laying himself open to the charge of gross inconsistency,propose that such an army should henceforth be one of thepermanent establishments of the realm. The mutiny at Ipswich,and the panic which that mutiny produced, made it easy to effectwhat would otherwise have been in the highest degree difficult.A short bill was brought in which began by declaring, in explicitterms, that standing armies and courts martial were unknownto the law of England. It was then enacted that, on account ofthe extreme perils impending at that moment over the state,no man mustered on pay in the sendee of the crown should, onpain of death, or of such lighter punishment as a court martialshould deem sufficient, desert his colours or mutiny against hiscommanding officers. This statute was to be in force only sixmonths; and many of those who voted for it probably believedthat it would, at the close of that period, be suffered to expire.The bill passed rapidly and easily. Not a single division wastaken upon it in the House of Commons. A mitigating clauseindeed, which illustrates somewhat curiously the manners ofthat age, was added by way of rider after the third reading.This clause provided that no court martial should pass sentenceof death except between the hours of six in the morning andone in the afternoon. The dinner hour was then early; and itw r as but too probable that a gentleman who had dined wouldbe in a state in which he could not safely be trusted with thelives of his fellow creatures. With this amendment, the firstand most concise of our many Mutiny Bills was sent up to theLords, and was, in a few hours, hurried by them through allits stages and passed by the King.*

* Stat. 1 AV. & M. sess. 1. c. 5.; Commons’ Journals, March 28. 3689.

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