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Show [ ~ J the main Force of our Arms to, tho' it be not fo good as we could have wilh'd, there is no P.~:etence for fi11ding any Fault upon this Head : 1\nd they that do fo, can mean nothing elfe, but to condemn indireCl:ly the War it felf;. whic):i, had it depended upon them, they do in effeCl: fay, :lhould never have been begun. But to come nearer the Point, and to judge whether it be wrong to ma\;.e Flanders the chief Seat of the War, we muft compare it with what other Places it COJlld be pufli'd 'in; and a :lhort Comparifon ~vii\ decide this Matter:, to an}' Man of tolera] lle Underllandirrg; if he have with it what I confefs is· hot fo common, Tolerable Ho'nefty: For ·integrity and Honefty of Mind can't preferve themfelves, where the violent Prejudices of Parry and Fa'Cl:ion have <ihce got Poffe!Iion. Now all t'he other Places the War could have been pu:lh'd in, are Spain, Italy, and the Rhine. The firft of t)1efe I have alrea,dy :!hewn, till I have tir'd you, is impraCl:icable: And I think Experience has abundanHy-convinc'd us, how little is to be .hap'd for from the other two. Befides,. an Experiment of the Second has been made; and when 'the War had been remov'd with incredible SuccefS and Speed, from the Dcq~ttb, to t~e Rhine, -and from thence to the Mofelle, the next Year a great Army was carry'd thither, to penetrate Frana, on that which is confdTedly the weakeft Side. Bvc how did this end? Much indeed to the Honour of the General, who by that Glorious March outdid himfelf; but thro' the Difappoi'ncn1ents he met with, not at all to the Ad- . ·· vantage [ 3 J vantage of the Common Caufe : He was forc'd to return to Flandm, where the Fi'encb had made his Prefence abfolutely neceffary. If this had not been try'd, thefe Gentlemen might have complain'd, tho' for fome Reaions, I fcarce think they would ; but to complain now, when the Experiment has b~n made, is impofing too groily upon us. Well then, what is next? Would they have had the D. of M. have march'd with a great Army to Savoy, as a proper Place to be the main Seat of the War? I :!hall :!hew you by and by, it was not the D. of M.'s Fault he did not go to Italy, when our Affairs there were moft defperate: but lhould he, when there was no fuch Nece!Iity for it, have carry'd Forty or Fifty thoufand Men thither, what Treatment muft he have expeCted from rhofe Men, who made his March to Bavarit: {o great a Crime; as we all remember this Party did, in the Interval between the Actions of Schellmberg and Blenbeim ? And even that great unparallel'd Succefs, and a!! the f!;lorious Conquefts of that Year, could not divert the Malice that fome fwell'd with or hinder the Rage from breaking out whicl~ they hop'd to vent with fo much Plcafure and Revenge. I mention this only to {hew the Senfe of the Party, and wh;t might have been expeCl:ed from them, who were fo angry at that, Glorious March, if the D. of M. had carry d his Army to I~aly or Savoy when T_urin >~as reliev'd, and no pre!Iing Nece!Iittes call d for it. . Bt:t the ~em ion of. that Jn~erYal puts me 111 nund of ano:hcr dung, wluch the fame Pamphlets |
