Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/319

Rh became a partizan of the peace; yet I do not remember any clamour then raised here against the duke upon that account. Again, when the French invaded Douay, after the confederates had deserted the duke of Ormond, prince Eugene was violently bent upon a battle, and said they should never have another so good an opportunity; but monsieur, a private deputy, rose up, and opposed it so far, that the prince was forced to desist. Was it then more criminal in the duke of Ormond to refuse fighting by express command of the queen, and in order to get possession of Dunkirk, than for the duke of Marlborough to give the same refusal, without any such orders, or any such advantage? or shall a Dutch deputy assume more power than the queen of Great Britain's general, acting by the immediate commands of his sovereign?

The emperor and the empire (says Mr. Steele by way of admiration) continue the war! Is his Imperial majesty able to continue it or not? if he be, then Great Britain has been strangely used for ten years past; then how came it to pass, that of about ten thousand men in his service in Italy at the time of the battle of Turin, there were not above four thousand paid by himself? if he be not able to continue it, why does he go on? The reasons are clear; because the war only affects the princes of the empire, whom he is willing enough to expose, but not his own dominions. Besides, his Imperial ministers are in daily expectation of the queen's death; which they hope will give a new turn to affairs, and rekindle the war in Europe upon the old foot; and we know how the ministers of that court publickly assign it for a reason of their obstinacy Rh