Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/304

296 I cannot sufficiently commend our ancestors, for transmitting to us the blessing of liberty; yet having laid out their blood and treasure upon the purchase, I do not see how they acted parsimoniously, because I can conceive nothing more generous, than that of employing our blood and treasure for the service of others. But I am suddenly struck with the thought, that I have found his meaning; our ancestors acted parsimoniously, because they spent only their own treasure for the good of their posterity; whereas we squandered away the treasures of our posterity too; but whether they will be thankful, and think it was done for the preservation of their liberty, must be left to themselves for a decision.

I verily believe, although I could not prove it in Westminster hall before a lord chief justice, that by enemies to our present establishment, Mr. Steele would desire to be understood to mean, my lord treasurer and the rest of the ministry: by those who are grown supine, in proportion to the danger to which our liberty is every day more exposed, I should guess he means the tories: and by honest men, who ought to look up with a spirit that becomes honesty, he understands the whigs: I likewise believe, he would take it ill, or think me stupid, if I did not thus expound him, I say then, that according to this exposition, the four great officers of state, together with the rest of the cabinet council, (except the archbishop of Canterbury ) are "enemies to our establishment, making artful and open attacks upon our constitution, and are now practising indirect arts, and mean subtleties, to weaken the security