Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/384

376 emperor, as by the laws of the empire they are obliged to do; but gave for their excuse, that we had already hired all they could possibly spare.

But, if all this be true; if, according to what I have affirmed, we began this war contrary to reason; if, as the other party themselves upon all occasions acknowledge, the success we have had was more than we could reasonably expect; if, after all our success, we have not made that use of it which in reason we ought to have done; if we have made weak and foolish bargains with our allies; suffered them tamely to break every article, even in those bargains to our disadvantage, and allowed them to treat us with insolence and contempt, at the very instant when we were gaining towns, provinces, and kingdoms for them, at the price of our ruin, and without any prospect of interest to ourselves; if we have consumed all our strength in attacking the enemy on the strongest side, where (as the old duke of Schomberg expressed it) to engage with France was to take a bull by the horns; and left wholly unattempted that part of the war, which could only enable us to continue or to end it; if all this, I say, be our case, it is a very obvious question to ask, by what motives, or what management, we are thus become the dupes and bubbles of Europe? Surely it cannot be owing to the stupidity arising from the coldness of our climate; since those among our allies, who have given us most reason to complain, are as far removed from the sun as ourselves.

If, in laying open the real causes of our present misery, I am forced to speak with some freedom, I think it will require no apology. Reputation is the smallest sacrifice those can make us, who have been the instru-