Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/320

312 against peace, that they hope for a sudden revolution in England. In the mean time, this appearance of the emperor's being forsaken by his ally, will serve to increase the clamour, both here and in Holland, against her majesty and those she employs.

Mr. Steele says, there can be no crime in affirming (if it be truth) that the house of Bourbon is at this juncture become more formidable, and bids fairer for a universal monarchy, and to engross the whole trade of Europe, than it did before the war.

No crime in affirming it, if it be truth. I will for once allow his proposition. But, if it be false, then I affirm, that whoever advances so seditious a falsehood, deserves to be hanged. Does he mean by the house of Bourbon, the two kings of France and Spain? If so, I reject his meaning, which would insinuate, that the interests and designs of both those princes will be the same; whereas they are more opposite than those of any two other monarchs in Christendom. This is the whole foolish slander so frequently flung upon the peace, and as frequently refuted. These factious undertakers of the press write with great advantage; they strenuously affirm a thousand falsehoods, without fear, wit, conscience, or knowledge; and we, who answer them, must be at the expense of an argument for each; after which, in the very next pamphlet we see the same assertions produced again, without the least notice of what has been said to disprove them. By the house of Bourbon, does he mean only the French king for the time being? If so, and his assertion be true, then that prince must deal with the devil, or else the money and blood spent in our ten years victories against