Page:Letters of Junius, volume 1 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/83

Rh a more respectable footing, as to all the essentials that can form good soldiers, than it is at present. Junius is forced to allow, that our army at home may be in some tolerable order; yet, how kindly does he invite our late enemies to the invasion of Ireland, by assuring them, that the army in that kingdom is totally ruined! (The colonels of that army are much obliged to him.) I have too great an opinion of the military talents of the lord-lieutenant, and of all their diligence and capacity, to believe it. If, from some strange, unaccountable fatality, the people of that kingdom cannot be induced to consult their own security, by such an effectual augmentation as may enable the troops there to act with power and energy, is the commander in chief here to blame? Or, is he to blame, because the troops in the Mediterranean, in the West Indies, in America, labour under great difficulties, from the scarcity of men, which is but too visible all over these kingdoms! Many of our forces are in climates unfavourable to British constitutions: their loss is in proportion. Britain must recruit all these regiments from her own emaciated bosom, or, more precariously, by Catholicks from Ireland. We are likewise subject to the