(see also 1. 14). This may mean either the Crown, or the Executive, or those responsible guides of public opinion, to whose influence the maintenance of the present balance must be entrusted. Swift is probably, of set purpose, indefinite in his reference. The rest of the balance seems to mean either the 'adjustment,' or, perhaps, in a material sense, the 'tongue' of the balance. Swift forgot that a balance ceases to be true, as soon as its adjustment is entrusted to any one. It must either be maintained by its own equilibrium, or it becomes a pretence, sustained only by the application of arbitrary force. And indeed, in refusing to admit the justification of a standing army, Swift rendered the application of this force impossible.