Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/270

262 Whatever occasions may have been given for complaints that enough has not been done, those complaints should not be carried so far, as to make us forget what hath been done; which, at first, was a great deal more than we hoped, or thought practicable; and you may be assured, that so much courage and address were not employed in the beginning of so great a work, without a resolution of carrying it through, as fast as opportunities would offer. Any of the most sanguine gentlemen in your club, would gladly have compounded two years ago, to have been assured of seeing affairs in the present situation: it is principally to the abilities of one great person, that you, gendemen, owe the happiness of meeting together, to cultivate the good principles, and form yourselves into a body for defending your country, against a restless and dangerous faction. It is to the same we all owe that mighty change in the most important posts of the kingdom; that we see the sacred person of our prince encompassed by those, whom we ourselves would have chosen, if it had been left to our power: and if every thing besides that you could wish, has not been hitherto done, you will be but just to impute it to some powerful, though unknown impediments, wherein the ministry is more to be lamented than blamed. But there is good reason to hope, from the vigorous proceedings of the court, that these impediments will in a short time effectually be removed: and one great motive to hasten the removal of them, will doubtless be, the reflection upon those dangerous consequences, which had like to have ensued upon not removing them before.