Ireland is here summoned to assert her independence in the indignant voice
of a nation that has borne the yoke of slavery far too long. Every line in
this letter is instinct with life, and thrilling with sarcastic force. No
more waste of words. The question is simply one of might against right: as
old as human nature, but never brought into shorter compass. The printer
of this letter was thrown into prison, as if to shame the undoubted author
into surrender. Ireland was now under a new rule, the refined and
cultivated Carteret was appointed Lord-Lieutenant in 1724. Swift used the
privilege of an old friend in writing to him freely on the subject of the
coinage. He was sorry to see his friend used as the tool of the
Government, which occasioned the outburst, "What in God's name do _you_
here? Get you gone, and send us our boobies again."