CHARLES I. z8z

officers, who are qualified for higher commandsthan they are now possessed of. And though itbecomes not men , engaged in such a cause, soput truji in the arm of flesh, yet he could assurethem, that their troops contained generals, fit tocommand in any enterprise in Christendom. Thearmy indeed, he was sorry to say it, did notcorrespond, by its discipline, to the merit of theofficers; nor were there any hopes, till the pre-sent vices and disorders, which prevail amongthe soldiers, were repressed by a new model,that their forces would ever be attended withsignal success in any undertaking.

In opposition to this reasoning of the independ-ents, many of the prefbyterians showed the in-convenience and danger of the projected alteration.Whitlocke, in particular, a man of honor, wholoved his country, though , in every change ofgovernment , he always adhered to the rulingpower, said, that, besides the ingratitude of dis-carding, and that by fraud and artifice, so manynoble persons, to whom the parliament had hi-therto owed. its chief support; they would find itextremely difficult to supply the place of men,now formed by experience to command andauthority: That the rank alone, possessed bysuch as were members of either house, preventedenvy, retained the army in obedience, and gaveweight to military orders: That greater confidencemight safely be reposed in men of family andfortune, than in mere adventurers, who wouldbe apt to entertain separate views from those

II A P.

LVII.

16 M.