The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. - Volume 07: Historical and Political Tracts-IrishSwift, Jonathan
General
The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. - Volume 07: Historical and Political Tracts-Irish
Swift, Jonathan
Ireland -- Politics and government -- 18th century
the contrary, whereupon an order was made to take their number, which
was found to amount, as I remember, to about thirty thousand. The affair
was again brought before the council, and great reproaches made the
first minister, for his ill computation; who, presently took the other
handle, said, he had reason to believe the number yet greater than what
was returned; and then gravely offered to the king's consideration,
whether it were safe to render desperate so great a body of able men,
who had little to lose, and whom any hard treatment would only serve to
unite into a power capable of disturbing, if not destroying the peace of
the kingdom. And so they were suffered to continue.
A PROPOSAL
FOR THE
UNIVERSAL USE OF IRISH MANUFACTURE.
NOTE.
This pamphlet constitutes the opening of a campaign against his
political enemies in England on whom Swift had, it must be
presumed, determined to take revenge. When the fall of Harley's
administration was complete and irrevocable, Swift returned to
Ireland and, for six years, he lived the simple life of the Dean of
St. Patrick's, unheard of except by a few of his more intimate
friends in England. Accustomed by years of intimacy with the
ministers of Anne's court, and by his own temperament, to act the
part of leader and adviser, Swift's compulsory silence must have
chafed and irritated him to a degree. His opportunities for
advancement had passed with the passing of Harley and Bolingbroke
from power, and he had given too ardent and enthusiastic a support
to these friends of his for Walpole to look to him for a like
service. Moreover, however strong may have been these personal
motives, Swift's detestation of Walpole's Irish policy must have
been deep and bitter, even before he began to express himself on
the matter. His sincerity cannot be doubted, even if we make an
ample allowance for a private grudge against the great English
minister. The condition of Ireland, at this time, was such as to
arouse the warmest indignation from the most indifferent and
unprejudiced--and it was a condition for which English misrule was
mainly responsible. It cannot therefore be wondered at that Swift
should be among the strenuous and persistent opponents of a policy
which spelled ruin to his country, and his patriotism must be
recognized even if we accept the existence of a personal motive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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