Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 4.djvu/225

Rh of Ormond, upon the delivery of Dunkirk, the British plenipotentiaries very earnestly pressed those of Holland to come into a general armistice; for, if the whole confederacy acted in conjunction, this would certainly be the best means for hanging the common enemy to reasonable terms of peace: but the States, deluded by the boundless promises of count Zinzendorf, and the undertaking talent of prince Eugene, who dreaded the conclusion of the war, as the period of his glory, would not hear of a cessation. The loss of eighteen thousand Britons, was not a diminution of weight in the balance of such an ally as the emperor, and such a general as the prince. Besides, they looked upon themselves to be still superiour to France in the field; and although their computation was certainly right in point of number, yet, in my opinion, the conclusion drawn from it was grounded upon a great mistake. I have been assured by several persons of our own country, and some foreigners of the first rank both for skill and station in arms, that in most victories obtained in the present war, the British troops were ever employed in the post of danger and honour, and usually began the attack; (being allowed to be naturally more fearless than the people of any other country) by which they were not only an example of courage to the rest, but must be acknowledged, without partiality, to have governed the fortune of the day; since it is known enough, how small a part of an army is generally engaged in any battle. It may likewise be added, that nothing is of greater moment in war than opinion. The French, by their frequent losses, which they chiefly attributed to the courage of our men, believed that a British Rh