How does Swift portray himself throughout the essay?

The speaker, apparently Swift, tries to represent the spirit of the title of the essay. He wants to be seen as reasonable and practical. The irony lies within the fact that, although sounding reasonable, his "modest proposal" is preposterous and morbid. At times he sounds like a lawyer stating a humble and reasonable argument: I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection. It would seem that he has put great thought into his proposal, children as a food source, which makes any literal interpretation of his case to be silly and morbid.