Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 6.djvu/314

288 Orange; the long war with France, entered into by the said prince, and renewed by his successor, the present queen; wherein the greatest powers of Christendom were engaged, and which still continued: I computed at his request, that about a million of yahoos might have been killed, in the whole progress of it; and perhaps a hundred or more cities taken, and five times as many ships burnt or sunk.

He asked me what were the usual causes or motives that made one country go to war with another. I answered they were innumerable; but I should only mention a few of the chief. Sometimes, the ambition of princes, who never think they have land or people enough to govern. Sometimes, the corruption of ministers, who engage their master in a war, in order to stifle or divert the clamour of the subjects against their evil administration. Difference in opinions has cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether the juice of a certain berry be blood or wine ; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue ; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire ; what is the best colour for a coat, whether black, white, red, or gray; and whether it should be long or short, narrow or wide, dirty or clean, with many more. Neither are any wars so furious and bloody, or of so long continuance, as those occasioned by difference in opinion, especially if it be in things indifferent. Rh