Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/276

268 of his country, and the advice of Socrates, to prevent an ill man from coming in.

Upon the whole, I do not see any one ground of suspicion or dislike, which you, gentlemen, or others who wish well to their country, may have entertained about persons or proceedings, but what may probably be misapprehended, even by those who think they have the best information. Nay, I will venture to go one step farther, by adding, that although it may not be prudent to speak out upon this occasion; yet whoever will reason impartially upon the whole state of affairs, must entirely acquit the ministry of that delay and neutrality, which have been laid to their charge. Or, suppose some small part of this accusation were true, (which I positively know to be otherwise, whereof the world will soon be convinced) yet the consequences of any resentment at this time, must either be none at all, or the most fatal that can be imagined; for, if the present ministry be made so uneasy, that a change be thought necessary, things will return of course into the old hands of those, whose little fingers will be found heavier than their predecessors loins. The whig faction is so dextrous at corrupting, and the people so susceptible of it, that you cannot be ignorant how easy it will be, after such a turn of affairs, upon a new election, to procure a majority against you. They will resume their power, with a spirit like that of Marius or Sylla, or the last triumvirate; and those ministers who have been most censured for too much hesitation, will fall the first sacrifices to their vengeance: but these are the smallest mischiefs to be apprehended from such returning exiles. What security can