Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/97

N° 23. , that the latter should be absolutely in subjection to the former; otherwise one of these two inconveniences must arise, either to be perpetually in war, or to turn the civil institution into a military.

I am ready to allow all that has been said of the valour and experience of our troops, who have fully contributed their part to the great successes abroad; nor is it their fault that those important victories had no better consequences at home, though it may be their advantage. War is their trade and business: to improve and cultivate the advantages of success, is an affair of the cabinet; and the neglect of this, whether proceeding from weakness or corruption, according to the usual uncertainty of wars, may be of the most fatal consequence to a nation. For, pray let me represent our condition in such a light, as I believe both parties will allow, though perhaps not the consequences I shall deduce from it. We have been for above nine years blessed with a queen, who, beside all virtues that can enter into the composition of a private person, possesses every regal quality that can contribute to make a people happy: of great wisdom, yet ready to receive the advice of her counsellors: of much discernment in choosing proper instruments, when she follows her own judgment; and only capable of being deceived by that excess of goodness, which makes her judge of others by herself: frugal in her management, in order to contribute to the publick, which in proportion she does, and that voluntarily, beyond any of her subjects; but from her own nature generous and charitable to all, who want or deserve; and, in order to exercise those virtues, denying herself all enter-