Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 4.djvu/370

362 both among lords and commons at that time, as well in favour of the elector, as against the pretender, are an argument, beyond all conviction, that some years must have been spent in altering the dispositions of the people. Upon this occasion, I shall not soon forget what a great minister then said to me, and which I have been since assured was likewise the duke of Shrewsbury's opinion: "That there could be no doubt of the elector's undisturbed succession; but the chief difficulty lay in the future disaffection of the church and people, and landed interest, from that universal change of men and measures, which he foresaw would arrive." And it must be, to all impartial men, above a thousand witnesses, how innocent her majesty's servants were upon this article; that knowing so well through what channels all favour was to pass upon the queen's demise, they, by their coming into power, had utterly and for ever broken all measures with the opposite party; and that in the beginning of their administration, there wanted not, perhaps, certain favourable junctures, which some future circumstances would not have failed to cultivate. Yet their actions showed them so far from any view toward the pretender, that they neglected pursuing those measures, which they had constantly in their power, not only of securing themselves, but the interest of the church, without any violence to the protestant succession in the person of the elector. And this unhappy neglect I take to have been the only disgrace of their ministry. To prevent this evil, was, I confess, the chief point wherein all my little politicks terminated; and the methods were easy