Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/115

Rh that lay in his own power, toward the support of the common cause. There were two points, which he thought of the utmost importance, and which therefore demanded the highest attention: the one was, to put an end to the cabals of the October club, which threatened the most dangerous consequences to the ministry: the other was, the making of a peace; without which, it was a maxim with him that the ministry could not stand. The first of these points he soon accomplished. He procured a meeting of some of the principal members of the club at a tavern; where he gave them such cogent reasons for the conduct of the ministry, as removed their fears and jealousies. This meeting occasioned a suspicion in many of the absent members, which was followed by a division of the club; after which, their meetings being neither so numerous nor so frequent, they gradually dwindled away; and, upon the seasonable publication of a little pamphlet, by Swift, called, "Some Advice to the Members of the October Club," they were in general so well satisfied, that their meetings were no more heard of; and these very members were afterward the staunchest friends that the ministry had in the house of commons. The affair of the peace was at a greater distance, and a point of infinitely more difficulty. Necessary as it was that it should be accomplished, in the disposition that the nation then was, the ministry did not even dare to hint it, and there was but one way in which they could attempt it, with the least degree of safety to themselves; and that was, by raising such a clamour for peace, as should make the steps taken toward it by the ministry, appear to be in consequence of the attention due to VOL. I.