probably be misapprehended, even by those who think they have the best information. Nay, I will venture to go one step farther, by adding, that although it may not be prudent to speak out upon this occasion; yet whoever will reason impartially upon the whole state of affairs, must entirely acquit the ministry of that delay and neutrality, which have been laid to their charge. Or, suppose some small part of this accusation were true, (which I positively know to be otherwise, whereof the world will soon be convinced) yet the consequences of any resentment at this time, must either be none at all, or the most fatal that can be imagined; for, if the present ministry be made so uneasy, that a change he thought necessary, things will return of course into the old hands of those, whose little fingers will be found heavier than their predecessors loins. The whig faction is so dextrous at corrupting, and the people so susceptible of it, that you cannot be igno rant how easy it will be, after such a turn of affairs, upon a new election, to procure a majority against you. They will resume their power, with a spirit like that of Marius or Sylla, or the last triumvirate ; and those ministers who have been most censured for too much hestitation, will fall the first sacrifices to their vengeance: but these are the smallest mischiefs to be apprehended from such returning exiles. What security can a prince hope for his person, or his crown, or even for the monarchy itself? He must expect to see his best friends brought to the scaffold, for asserting his rights; to see his prerogative trampled on, and his treasure applied to feed the avarice of those, who make themselves his keepers; to hear himself treated with insolence and contempt; to have his family purged at pleasure by their humour and malice and to retain even the name and shadow of a king, no longer than his ephori shall think

These are the inevitable consequences of such a change of affairs, as that envenomed party is now projecting; which will best be prevented by your firmly adhering to the present ministry, until this domestick enemy is out of all possibility of making head any more.

THE

CONDUCT

OF

THE ALLIES

AND OF

THE LATE MINISTRY,

IN BEGINNING AND CARRYING ON

THE PRESENT WAR*.

Partem tibi Gallia nostri

Eripuit: Partem duris Hispania bellis :

Pars jacet Hesperia, totoque exercitus orbe

Te vincente perit.

Odimus accipitrem quia semper vivit in armis.

Victrix Provincia ploratif.

*First published by J. Morphew, Nov. 27, 1711; a second edition. Nov. 30; the third, Dec. 2; and the fourrh, Dec. 6. + One of these mottos was furnished by the lord treasurer. See Journal to Stella, Nov. 27. N.

"The Conduct of the Allies," "Remarks on the Barrier Treaty," the "Examiner," and the "Public Spirit of the Whigs," all conspire to lay open the secret springs of affairs, not only in England, but throughout Europe. The first of them particularly will be the basis for all who write the history of those times to build upon; as it detects the artifices of the ministry, which the nation was at that time diverted from at. tending to by a course of victories; and exposes the baldness of our general, that ought not to be concealed by his laurels. The author, being admitted to an intimacy with the new prime minister, received, no doubt, assistance from so able a friend and he tells us, he detained the publication of three several edi tions of this piece, that he might have all the advantage he could from his enemies. This tract (which was written preparatory to the peace which the ministers were then concluding), and the Remarks on the Barrier Treaty, contain the principal facts, which the author of John Bull has thrown into allegory; and greatly illustrate that piece, of which indeed it is possible they were the ground-work.

The purpose of this pamphlet was, to persuade the nation to a peace'; and never had any writer more success. The people, who had been amused with bonfires and triumphal processions, and looked with idolatry on the general and his friends, who, as they thought, had made England the arbitress of nations, were confounded between shame and rage, when they found that "inines had been exhausted, and millions destroyed," to secure the Dutch, or aggrandize the Emperor, without any advantage to ourselves; that we had been bribing our neighbours to fight their own quarrel; and that amongst our enemies we might number our allies. That is now no longer doubted, of which the nation was then first informed, that the war was unnecessarily protracted, to fill the pockets of Marlborough; and that it would have been continued without end, if he could have continued his annual plunder. But Swift, I suppose, did not yet know what he has since written, that a commission was drawn, which would have `appointed him general for life, had it not become ineffectual by the resolution of Lord Cowper, who refused the seal Johnson. The uncommon pains which were taken by Dr. Swift in writing this pamphlet will appear by an attentive perusal of his Journal to Stella, from Oct. 30 to Dec. 13, inclusive. N.

PREFACE.

I CANNOT sufficiently admire the industry of a sort of men, wholly out of favour with the prince and people, and openly professing a separate interest from the bulk of the landed men, who yet are able to raise at this juncture so great a clamour against a peace, without offering one single reason, but what we find in their ballads. I lay it down for a maxim, that no reasonable man, whether whig or tory, (since it is necessary to use those foolish terms) can be of opinion for continuing the war upon the footing it now is, unless he be a gainer by it, or hopes it may occasion some new turn of affairs at home, to the advantage of his party; or, lastly, unless he be very ignorant of the kingdom's condition, and by what means we have been reduced to it. Upon the two first cases, where interest is concerned, I have nothing to say but, as to the last, I think it highly necessary, that the publick should be freely and im partially told, what circumstances they are in, after what manner they have been treated by those, whom they trusted so many years with the disposal of their blood and treasure, and what the consequences of this management are likely to be, upon themselves, and their posterity.

Those who, either by writing or discourse, have undertaken to defend the proceedings of the late ministry in the management of the war, and of the treaty at Gertruydenburgh, have spent time in celebrating the conduct and valour of our leaders and