Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/411

Rh we so much depend. All this considered, with the circumstances of that government, where the prince is master of the lives and fortunes of so mighty a kingdom, shows that monarch not to be so sunk in his affairs as we have imagined, and have long flattered ourselves with the hopes of.

Those who are against any peace without Spain, seem likewise to have been mistaken in judging our victories, and other successes, to have been of greater consequence than they really were.

When our armies take a town in Flanders, the Dutch are immediately put into possession, and we at home make bonfires. I have sometimes pitied the deluded people, to see them squandering away their fuel to so little purpose. For example: what is it to us that Bouchain is taken, about which the warlike politicians of the coffeehouse make such a clutter? What though the garrison surrendered prisoners of war, and in sight of the enemy? we are not now in a condition to be fed with points of honour. What advantage have we, but that of spending three or four millions more to get another town for the States, which may open them a new country for contributions, and increase the perquisites of the general?

In that war of ten years under the late king, when our commanders and soldiers were raw and unexperienced, in comparison of what they are at present, we lost battles and towns, as well as we gained them of late, since those gentlemen have Rh